Guilin, Sea, Hong Kong & Macau
Tuesday, 9 May, 2006, 04:50 AM - China
Protoze se fotky hromadi, ale clanky nejak ne, tady je par odkazu na fotky za posledni dva vikendy, clanky napisu casem. Ikyz zrovna prijel dalsi Mexikan, tak nevim, jak mi to pujde.
Guilin - Protoze Cina slavila svatek prace trema dny misto jednoho jako u nas, v patek vecer jsme vyrazili s lidma z prace na organizovany vylet do Guilin - mista v sousedni provincii, ktere nabizi obrovske jeskyne, nadherny vapencovy formace a pohled na venkovsky zivot.
Fotky: Guilin
Plaz - V pondeli rano jsme se utahani vratili z Guilinu, dali si na pet hodin oraz a odpoledne vyrazili na fantastickou plaz, kde jsme si pujcili stany, prespali na plazi, druhej den se utahali fotbalem a koupanim a vsichni kluci zcervenali jako raci, protoze chlapi se samozrejme nemazou, ne.
Fotky: Plaz
Hong Kong & Macau - Dalsi vikend jsem tu nemel zadne Mexikany ani Cechy, tak jsem se sam vydal na dva dny do Hong Kongu a v nedeli take ostrov na druhe strane zalivu Perletove reky - Macau. Pocasi super, lidi super, jidlo super, jen horko, ze si me z toho docela tocila palice.
Fotky: Hong Kong & Macau
I have accumulated quite a few photos over the last two weekends, however it's not the same case with articles. Enjoy photos which I hope are a little bit descriptive and I will write articles later on.
Guilin - First, Chinese celebrated the Labour day for three days so we took advantage of five days holiday and went to Guilin which is a very nice spot with enormous caves, beautifully carved limestone peaks, grand night performances and river rides.
Photos: Guilin
The Beach - We came back on Monday morning, had hardly any rest and went to a beach to enjoy sea, sleeping on a beach, visiting a close-by island and enjoying great seafood. Even though it was cloudy, we came back boiled like lobsters because I was told that sun cream is only for girls.
Photos: The Beach
Hong Kong & Macau - Since nobody from foreigners was around for the last weekend and locals were still tired from the previous five days of holiday, I went to Hong Kong on my own for the weekend including a day visit to a near-by island of Macau.
Photos: Hong Kong & Macau
Splendid China - Windows of the World
Monday, 17 April, 2006, 01:50 PM - China
Splendid China by se dalo prelozit jako Nadherna Cina a Windows of the world jako Okna do sveta. Obe dve to jsou atrakce, ktery Cinani tuze dobre vymysleli, aby clovek nemusel cestovat po cele Cine nebo dokonce po celem svete. Zhodnoceni, jestli se jim to povedlo, je na kazdem z nas.
Splendid China - Do tohoto zabavneho parku jsem se vypravil minuly tyden sam, protoze mym cinskym kolegum se nelibilo pocasi. Napsali me listecek 'vyhodte me z autobusu u Splendid China', rekli odkud a ktery autobus tam jede autobus tam jede a tak jsem vyrazil.
Tenhleten park se sklada ze dvou casti. Jedna pulka je ve tvaru Ciny a na odpovidajicich mistach jsou miniatury vsech dulezitych staveb z cele Ciny vcetne Tibetu!!! Druha pulka je v podstate skanzem cinskych minorit s pravidelnyma prehlidkama, jak tam lide ziji. To by nebyli Cinani, aby vsechno neudelali ve velkem. Listek je na mistni pomery docela drahy, ale pote jsou uz veskera predstaveni zdarma.
Prvni byl pribeh z cinsko-mongolske hranice - bitva na konich. Okamzite me prekvapila sila koni a zucastnenych lidi. Koni jsem napocital snad pres ctyricet, lidi nejmin dvojnasobne. Odpoledne jsem zasel na polobaletni predstaveni vyjevu z cinske historie. Baletaci byli opravdu profici, nekteri dokonce skloubili balet s cvicenim na kruhach, super, nedelam si srandu. Tady pocitam, ze lidi bylo uz neco kolem stovky. To uz bylo jasny, jak bude vypadat gala zakonceni vecera.
Taky ze jo. Predstaveni zaclo po setmeni spustenim baletaku ze stropu, dobrych tricet metru nad nasima hlavama. Pote nasledovala prehlidka dalsich vyjevu z historie, tentokrate s dvojnasobnym ansablem prersovana prijezdem motorizovanych draku, ktery byly zaroven ohnostroje a nebo zapalenou skalou. Tohle bylo opravdu dobry, borec z jedny strany dvacet metru nad nama strelil sip pres cele jeviste a trefil bazen benzinu na druhy strane.
Fotky: Splendid China
Video: Tradicni hudba
Windows of the World - Do Oken sveta jsem se vypravil spolecne s Alanem mexikanem a Tinou, nasi cinskou pruvodkyni. Tak ja nevim, na jednu stranu je dobry, ze clovek vidi ruzna mista z celeho sveta, ale na druhou stranu me to pekne nagrgavalo, protoze bych je radsi videl osobne a ne jejich reprodukce. Byli jsme ale tri, tak byla sranda.
Nema cenu vyjmenovavat, co bylo k videni, od Eifellovky pres Tower az k Niagarskym vodopadum. Co bylo ale dobry, ze Tina nikdy nezkusila lyzovat a v parku byl i umely kopec-lednicka, neco na zpusob Milton Keynes. Na hodinu jsme se prevlikli z tricek do sustaku a vyrazili na sedmdestati metrovy svah. Tina dostala instruktora-fesaka a my s Alanem vyrazil jezdit. Byli jsme jedini na lyzich, vsechno ostatni byli snowboardaci-profici od hlavy az k pate ohozeni podle posledni mody. Sakra, ze jsem si nepujcil snowboard. Na druhou stranu jsem byl jeden z nejlepsich lyzaru na svahu, o snowboardu by se to nedalo rict. Mistnaci sem chodi pravidelne a bylo to znat. Docela se me libil vlek nahoru. Bylo to ledove koryto, takze clovek mohl jet snowboardem i pricne k smeru vleku aniz by zahranil.
Vecer jsme vyjeli na vrchol zmensene Eifellovky a poprve poradne videli Shenzhen vcetne Hong Kongu v dali. Jo, jeste jednu vec, soucasti parku byla i umela stena, tak jsme si vsichni zalezli. Tak rychle jsem uz dlouho nemel napumpovany ruce. Pro vylezeni az na vrchol byla cena, ale ty mrzaci pred vrcholem dal pidi chyty. No dobre, je to jenom moje vymluva, ze jsem nevylezl az na konec, ale vyhral jsem treti cenu - Batman privesek na klice ;-)
Fotky: Windows of the World
For the last two Sundays, I visited two major attractions in Shenzhen. Both of them are mainly aimed at Chinese tourists where they present all sights from China and all over the world - lazy Chinese, they do not need to travel at all - all sights in one place :-)
Splendid China -The idea of this park is to show all China in one place so that you don't need to travel the whole China. One part is in a shape of China with all major sights in a right place, the sights are in a 1:50 ratio. The second part is much more interesting with replica houses of Chinese minorities living all over the coutry.
Since it's a Chinese sight, everything is made big. The first show was about a horse battle somewhere on a Mongolian-Chinese border. There were fourty or so horses and double amount of troops running around and fighting frantically. I thought that was it. I had already seen the biggest show. Of course not.
There was another show around five o'clock, it was performed in a theatre this time. It was a sort of dance and ballet with around one hundred actors, quite powerful experience.
The evening was finished with a grand performance full of fights, dance, music and special effects such as motorised dragons loaded with fireworks.
Photos: Splendid China
Video: Traditional Music
Windows of the World - This park is similar to a previous one where this one shows everything outside China. You could find ourself wandering around Eifell Tower, enjoying Niagara falls or Thai noodles in Venice ;-)
The park is more on a funny side than the Splendid China. I was surprised that an artificial mountain isn't in Milton Keynes only, but you can find it in China too. Since Tina, our Chinese guide had never skied before, we got changed into a winter gear and went skiing for an hour. It felt really strange leaving subtropics and entering 'Alps' during winter time ;-) We were the only ones on skis. It seems that skiing is dead in China, everybody is a snowboarder and all of them were really good.
Photos: Windows of the World
I can't say if these parks are good or bad. My personal feeling was that they made me willing to go to these places, what was good. On the other hand, I saw a performance of 'American' indians which ressembled everything but Indians.
Hong Kong
Friday, 7 April, 2006, 10:40 AM - China
Prvni dva mexikani - Luis a Oswaldo - opousteli Longhua v patek dopoledne se tridenni zastavkou v Hong Kongu, tak jsem se k nim prifaril, protoze oba to jsou spravny pohodari a Luis uz mel Hong Kong proslapanej.
Den 1 - Autobus nas vysadil na letisti, mexikani si dali kufry do uschovny a vyrazili jsme nejdrive na jidlo - testoviny a paradni presso, fantazie po dvou tydnech nudli. Nerikam, ze nudle jsou spatny, ale zmena byla super. Pote jsme vyrazili na ostrov Hong Kong, kde se nachazel nas hostel. Uz po prijezdu na letiste to byl pocit, jak navrat do Anglie. Vsude doubledeckery, stejny poznavaci znacky, rizeni na levo, vsude anglicke nazvy a pohodovi lide.
Kdyz Luis uvidel McDonald, zavelel k vystoupeni, ze pry od tama uz trefi. Po pul hodine slapani jednou ulici tam a druhou zpet jsme konecne nasli restauraci, u ktere mel byt hostel. Nebyla to ona, protoze to byl retezec australskych restauraci, ale dali nam mapu a ukazali, kde je ta nase. Po dalsi pul hodine jsme uz byli u naseho hostelu. Ubytovani? Kolik lidi? Bez rezervace? Mexikani nechali recepcniho v klidu vycukat az z neho vypadl jeden pokoj pro tri - Luis a Oswaldo si uzivali manzelske postele.
Po kratkem orazu jsme se vydali do mesta a Luis nam ukazal, kde se v Hong Kongu nakupuji nejnovejsi elektronicke vychytavky jako mobilni telefon, fotak, organizer a GPS v jednom. Staci jenom podrzet cudlik 5s a tahle vec posle aktualni souradnice zachranarum a jeste si pri tom clovek muze delat fotky, jak ho vyprostuji.
Den 2 - Rano vstavame pomerne brzo, protoze predeslou noc jsme nebyli nikde na pivu a vyrazime do klastera na sousednim ostrove. Klaster je znamy obrovskym 25m vysokym Budhou na prilehlem kopci. Nejdrive stoupame k Budhovi a pozorujem okoli, pote mirime do vlastniho klastera. V cene vstupenky je i male obcerstveni - super - soukame do sebe nudle a zeleninove rolky.
Odpoledne prijizdime na pevninu do oblasti Kowloon, kde na nabrezi prochazime ulici filmovych hvezd. Je to takova Hong Kongska obdova Holywoodu, kde kazdy vyznamny herec karatak ma svoji hvezdu a ostisk rukou - samozrejme i Jackie Chan a Bruce Lee. Od tama vyrazime privozem na druhou stranu zpatky na Hong Kong ostrov a na jeho nejvyssi kopec, ktery se jmenuje Kopec. Je 550 m vysoky, tak jsme vyse i nez ty nejvyssi mrakodrapy, pozorujeme mesto a cpeme se burgrama. Tohle je opvravdu jiny nez v Evrope, clovek vyjede na hory, vyhlidkovy bod a hnedle vedle je nakupni centrum s restauracema, pekny udelany, ale stejne, proc? To je asi malo mistem v Hong Kongu.
Vecer sjizdime dolu do mesta naskakujeme na nocni projizdku pristavem. Tady je tma uz kolem sedme, tak v osm hodin zacina svetelna show mrakodrapu za doprovodu hudby a pruvodky z bedynek na lodi. Super, hlavne dlouhy zeleny lasery. Potom se vracime na hostel, davame oraz a vyrazime do nocniho Hong Kongu. Mexikani jsou k neutahani, jejich heslo je, opijme se v kazdem meste sveta. Po chvili narazime na mistni Soho s michaninou baru a sexy klubu. Jdeme do tech prvnich, protoze, pardon, ale v tech druhejch ani hrabe bych si neoprel o nektere ze 'spolecnic'. Zrovna jsme v pulce Hong Kong Seven - rugby mezi nejlepsimy tymy sveta a kvuli tomu to je tady vsude narvany Britama. Super, hrajou dobrou hudbu, stridame bary, mexikani me uci pit jejich pivo Sol tak, jak oni to radi - s citronem - zajimavy. Ve dve toho mam plny kecy, beru si taxik a jedu do hostelu. Mexikani me zase prepili, vraci se po ctvrte po ctyrech.
Den 3 - Koukam, ze mame nove suvenyry - sombrera ze vcerejsiho baru. Kluci jeste spokojene spi, tak si davam sprchu a vyrazim na snidani dolu do Starbucksu. Ja vim, je to konzum, ale oni to kafe umi a hlavne je tam super pohoda. Potom me chvati nakupni horecka a jdu se podivat po gadgetech. Mam ho, je uplne skvelej. Byl jsem rozhodnutej pro mp3 prehravac od creative, ale kdyz jsem ho videl, davam prednost iPodu - je uplne super, ted jeste do nej schrastit hudbu.
Kdyz prichazim na pokoj, kluci jsou jako rybicky, trochu lekli, ale vyrazime metrem do dalsiho klastera na hlavni pevnine. Super, je to hlavne pro mistni, tak pozorujem, jak se modli a prinaji jidlo pro uctivani. Pote razime do mistni cinske restiky plne mistnich. Tak nevim, je to cinska kuchyne, ale chutna tak nejak jinak, lepe, asi me uz chybi mistni kucyne po burgrove kure.
Odpoledne jeste prijizdime zpatky do centra a smajdame do padnuti parkama a ulicema Kowloonu. Kolem pate se loucim s mexikanama, kteri jedou na letiste a kupuju listek na hranice - do Lo Wu a od tama zpatky do Longhua. Super vikend, super mesto, super pruvodci.
Fotky: Hong Kong
English version to come later...
Photos: Hong Kong
Fotky nejen o jidle - Food Photos and Other Ones
Tuesday, 4 April, 2006, 02:01 PM - China
Konecne se mi podarilo dat fotografie na web. Kdyz si je prohlednete, bude se Vam zdat, ze je to tady dost o jidle. Ano, je to pravda. Jidlo je jedna z hlavnich vecernich zabav, jen doufam, ze se mi nepreji.
Galerie najdete na nasledujici strance: Galerie fotek
I have finally managed to upload photos to the web site. Quite a few are about food since it's one of the main activities we do over evenings here. Photos can look great, but believe me, Chinese food is quite different to Western one.
You can find galleries at: Photo Galleries
Shenzhen
Tuesday, 4 April, 2006, 01:48 PM - China
Omlouvam se, ze se ozyvam az ted, ale do ctvrtka tu jsou mexikani, kteri jsou opravdu zivi, tak se nastesti nemam cas nudit.
Pred tydnem a pul jsme vyrazili v nedeli do Shenzhenu, mesta na hranici s Hong Kongem, jeho dvojcetem po cinskem stylu. Mesto je asi tricet let stare a uz ted ma kolem osmi milionu lidi. Jedna se o SEZ (Special Economic Zone), kde se v podstate nemusi platit clo. Rozdil oproti Longhua je markatni, mene spiny, vyssi budovy, vice lidi, mnohem vice obchodu a Cinanu blaznivych po elektronice - hlavne mobilni telefony a mp3 prehravace na krku tady frcej (ikdyz to je jeste nic proti Hong Kongu).
Taky jsme se nechali zblbnout, Roberto si koupil digitalni fotak a ja jsem se dival po pameti. Meli tam jednu uplne fantastickou kombinaci mp3/mp4/radia/diktafonu a ja nevim jeste ceho. Dokonce menu bylo anglicky, jen kdyz jsme chteli potvrdit jazyk, tak ta krabicka uplne vytuhla - pry spatny software, to zrovna.
Po nakupech jsme vyrazili metrem, mimochodem opravdu pekne, rok stare, do Lo Wu, coz je hranicni prechod do Hong Kongu. Tady si clovek uedomi, ze je v Cine. Betty, nase pruvodkyne, jen povzdechla, ze by se tam taky jednou chtela podivat, ale bohuzel neni vyvolena. Lo Wu je mimo jine spravne misto pro nakupy napodobenin vseho druhu. Nejvice frci Rolex hodinky za nasi pet stovek. Koukal jsem na nekolik typu a opravdu k nerozeznani, dokonale. Jen jsem si rikal, jestli jim treba casem neupadnou rucicky nebo cisla na ciferniku. Luis si tam koupil Memory Stick kartu, 1GB, a kdyz ji doma zformatoval, tak zjistil, ze to je pouze 64MB, ti Cinani jsou sikulove, v krame se do pocitace hlasila jako 1GB.
Po par nakupech jsme zamirili do kramu s cajem, kde nas prijemna holcina zasvetila do oolongu, ktery chutna opravdu dobre a potom do cisteho caje, ten je ale sila. Vecer jsme upajdany se vratili do Longhua a dalsi den do prace.
Fotky: Shenzhen
On Saturday night, that's what is your Friday night, since Chinese work usually 6 days a week, we went to a hot pot restaurant called Little Sheep, ate a delicious and quite a spicy food and decided to go to Shenzhen and Lo Wu next day.
It's hard to compare Shenzhen with Longhua, it's like coming to a different world. City is bigger, cleaner and safer. People are crazy about shopping - it's their weekend activity number one so we tried how it feels. Roberto bought his camera and started taking pictures of everything including decorations in McDonalds and I wanted to by a mp3 player, but its software crashed what was a sign for me - never buy from a street stall.
Since we were in China for a week already, when we saw a sign of Pizza Hut, we entered it instantly. It's not like in Britain, Chinese treat Pizza Hut as a posh restaurant, everybody uses forks and knives, not like us Westerners eating with hands :-) Especially Roberto and Juan were enjoying to eat without a support of chopsticks. Betty was trying to balance our group with fork and knife, but gave up soon too.
In the evening, we went to Lo Wu, which is a border crossing with Hong Kong. Even though it is united with mainland China, only privileged Chinese can cross the border. This place is also famous for fake stuff shopping. You could buy a 'real' Rolex watch for 15 pounds and you woudn't spot a diffence. Well, Roberto spotted it five days later when his new designer's watch was half an hour ahead of ours :-)
Photos: Shenzhen
A uz jsem tam - First Encounter
Monday, 20 March, 2006, 02:43 AM - China
Dobre rano z ciny, nebo alespon pro me, protoze Vy jeste mate pulnoc. Z Cech jsem vyrazil v sobotu vecer pres Curych do Hongkongu, kde uz na me cekal ridic a odvezl me do Longhua, kde sidli nase firma. Jo, co Romca asi zapomela napsat je, ze tentokrate jsem nejel cestovat za poznanim, ale sluzebne.
Kdo byste hledal Longhua na mape, podivejte se na Hongkong, prejedte delici caru do Shenzhenu a prohledejte jeho predmesti. Mesto ma samo o sobe kolem 500.000 obyvatel, z toho 160.000 pracuje pro Foxconn. Vecer bylo prijemne zive i vcetne arealu, kde jsem ubytovanej. Rano to ovsem byl srumec. Uz chapu, co Kabat myslel svou pisnickou.
Vecer me pomohl s organizaci Henry, ktery pracuje v software teamu. Vzal me do mesta a ukazal, jak to tady funguje s jidlem a obchody. Tak co se tyka domluvy, to tady bude oproti jizni americe docela rachot. Cinske znaky samozrejme neprectu a anglicky umi ale hodne malo lidi. Nebyt jidelnicek v anglictine, tak si neskrtnu.
Rano jsem zasel na snidani do hotelu. Naivne jsem si rikal, ze pri nejhorsim si dam neco na evropsky zpusob - nula bodu. Hezky nudle, spenat a nejakou buchtu. U zeleniny a ovoce jsem si byl jistej, ale na zbytek jsem zatim jeste nemel odvahu. Vypada to, ze tady frci specialni druh brambor a taky tofu syr. Po chvili prisel Henry a zasvetil me do mistniho kafe - tepleho sojoveho mleka.
Fabrika je fakt sila, davy lidi furt nekam chodi. Po chvili jsme dorazili do 'nasi' budovy a stejne jako v Cechach, do papuci - tady povinne, jen ja jsem dostal na boty prezervativy. Tak to zatim vse.
Romana was right, We are travelling again, but only half of us and on a business trip. I was originally invited for a week training to our factory in China, but my boss thought that it would be nice to extend it to two months so here I'm.
I flew to Hongkong via Zurich on Saturday night arriving in Hongkong on Sunday afternoon. Transport was already oganised so a driver picked me up and drove to factory's hotel. If you were looking for a place on a map, go north-east of Hongkong to a border with China (I know they are one country, but the border still counts) when you hit Shenzhen and look for a suburb called Longhua. This town has around a half million of people where over 160.000 work for Foxconn. The company is huge.
Since I was recovering from a jet-lag, I didn't have a problem falling asleep, but when I woke up in the morning and went on a balcony, I was shocked by a quantity of people walking down on streets of Foxconn - hundreds walking in each direction.
Breakfast was quite challenging too since there was no european style option. I have to confess that chow-mein noodles were quite good, but soya milk is a bit strong for me. That's all for now.
Zase do sveta - Go East
Friday, 17 March, 2006, 02:23 PM - China
Tak a je to tady další pokracování trejtnari na cestách, teda tentokrát jenom Lukáš. Já budu sedet doma a netrpelive cekat na zprávy a fotky.
Takže od soboty teda spíš nedele 19. se nám zacne hlásit s aktualitami z Hong Kongu (nebo kam to vlastne jede).
It has been only three months since we came back to Czech Republic and the diary is going to be filled with stories from abroad again. This time it's only Lukas who is going to travel. I'll be sitting at home and waiting for his return (not really sitting I think I'll manage a few trips and climbs in meanwhile). Anyway I am looking forwart to hearing stories from Hong Kong and the rest of China.
