Hey people. it's been a while since I have made any proper updates, and now that I am in Hong Kong (which I show as Macau, because Hong Kong is not in the list of countries that can be selected...) I think it's time for a proper report. Now this will be a long report, so I've split it into several sections. The first sections still take place in Xiamen, before I ended my internship report.

Buying Bus Tickets

So when my internship was ending, I decided that I wanted to leave the mainland asap. I mean, I liked Xiamen and everything, but I kinda missed the western world. I decided to go back to Hong Kong, because I haven't seriously explored it yet, and it was very western. Even though I'd still be technically -in- China, Hong Kong is almost in all respects a different country.

Now, how could I get to HK from Xiamen? My first hunch was to fly. Flying to HK was pretty expensive (80 euro for a 1 way ticket). But thankfully, there is Shenzhen. Shenzhen is the City on the mainland side of the mainland-HK border. Flying there would be about 40 euro, half the price, because Xiamen-Shenzhen is domestic and Xiamen-Hong Kong is international.

But can the price go even lower? Yes, if you take a bus. I actually wanted to take a bus, because it's more adventurous. So I needed to buy bus tickets. I found a place that sold bus tickets, with some discount. But my chinese isn't good enought for that. So a while ago I went there with 2 Chinese friend. I decided to go for a sleeper bus (20 euro), that would go all the way to Luohu (the border).

End Of Check-IT

And last Thursday was my final day of work. It was a chaotic day; I had to finish my internship report, and i had a package of goods to be shipped to my parents. The post office; great memories... I went there with the package. I had to fill out a form... Now, thankfully there was someone working there who could speak some english. And one of the things I had to fill out was what to do if something was undeliverable. I said: 'mark as abandoned'. He, however, recommended to send it back to my original address. Okay, re-fill the entire form. Then I discovered there were 7 carbon copies, and I didn't press the pen hard down....

Refilled a new form, pressing the pen so hard my hand hurt. Gotta love the Chinese way. Anyway, then I paid and everything was done. O wait, they later apparently gave me the wrong receipt. So I went back to get the right one, but forgot to take mine along. Another 10 minutes of Hand-Hurting followed. But I must say, all the workers, including the officials were extremely friendly. In fact, they gave me a red back with 'Happy New Year' on it, to place my drinks and CD's in (they're not allowed to be sent by mail... Chinese rules).

Yeah, I guess that's how the Chinese are. At least to foreigners. They have extremely strict rules and big bureauracy. But they are not arrogant, they help you with a smile, and genuinely are interested and keen on assisting as much as possible. Which is a big plus for China!

Sleeper Bus To Shenzhen

So the sleeper bus. Best way to travel around China IMO now :P

I was picked up by a minivan at Xiamen Railway Station and me and some other Chinese were taken to a small waiting room, somewhere randomly in Xiamen, where we had to wait for the bus to arrive. I had to wait for 2 hours.... But then the bus arrived! I boarded and I found out what sleeping was like: the bed was just long enough for me to sleep (not stretch), and wide enough to lay. Thankfully I wasn't too fat or I wouldn't have fit! Though I did have to be creative with putting my bag somewhere in the bed along with me. But it fit ^_^ And I must say, it was quite comfortable. I slept a few hours even!

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Okay, I might post a more proper version of the things I did later. Basically, I went today on a passport-filling trip: I went to Macau, Zhuhai, back to Macau and then back to HK. But I saw some cool things (and I gambled 50 HK Dollars away on the roulette table at the venetian :P) But all that possibly later!