Wai Ling Ding – One of Zhuhai’s Islands

This past weekend InternChina, the organization with who I came to China with, organized a trip to beautiful Yang Shuo (Guilin). I’ve heard a lot of great things about this place and I was really excited to there.

Unfortunately, the travel agency canceled the trip due to heavy rain in the area. Instead, InternChina planned a trip to one of Zhuhai’s many islands – Wai Ling Ding Island. As the water of the sea in Zhuhai is brown and probably poisoned due to the chemicals from the factories around, the islands are a good alternative with nice and clean water.

Wai Ling Ding is an island south of Hong Kong and a popular vacation spot. The boat ride took about 1.5 hours, the sea was a little rough, and a lot of passengers had to throw up. Luckily, I was sitting all the way in the back at the window, and I just slept the entire time. We were all happy to finally arrive.

Upon arrival, we went to the beach to find the camping area. Most of the people from the group decided to camp at the beach, only me and 3 other people preferred the hotel. I was already covered by mosquito bites and not eager to get more, and the provided camping equipment was limited to a tent and a very light mattress (can’t even be called a mattress). The hotel was located close to the beach and was an average one or two-star hotel. We didn’t spend much time in the room, so it served its purpose.

Wai Ling Ding looks like one of those small fisher villages with many fishing boats and a small center. Unlike in other Chinese cities, on this island everything was in walking distance. The beaches seemed to be man-made, because the coast line is covered by those beautiful orange/yellow stones. All in all, the scenery is beautiful.

After setting up the tents and doing the check-in at the hotel, we all had lunch together at one of the typical Chinese restaurants in the center. The weather changed completely in the afternoon. All the clouds were gone, and it was sunny and hot. We went to the beach where the tents were set up, and played volleyball, went swimming and relaxed in the sun or in the shade. When I was about to leave the water, I saw two big jellyfish. They were about 10-15 centimeters long, so I didn’t go back into the water again.

Instead, I bought a fruit juice and a delicious Hong Kong waffle for a snack. I wanted pineapple with mango but the guy at the stand told me that this isn’t a good mix, because both fruits have a strong taste. I ended up getting a mango and lemon juice. It was really refreshing.

In the evening, we walked around the island to find a nice spot to watch the sunset. We found the perfect spot but the sunset wasn’t as incredible as we hoped for, because there were some clouds. Then, we headed back to the beach and had dinner at one of the barbecue street food places, directly at the beach.

After a nice shower, at least for the ones that had a hotel room, we stayed at the beach around a bonfire and had some beers.

The plan for the next morning was to get up, have breakfast, walk around the village, and then get on the boat back to Zhuhai. It started out how we planned it, I enjoyed one of those amazing Hong Kong waffles with a mango/papaya juice. But when we were heading to the port, we got told that there were no tickets available anymore for that ferry, although we booked them through an agency. We still had 2 hours until our ferry took off.

Most people weren’t happy about the delay, because everyone was tired and not prepared for another beach day. Some of us walked around the island, others grabbed lunch or went to the beach. Eventually, our boat arrived, and the sea wasn’t as rough as when we came to the island, so people felt much better. I basically slept during the entire journey again. J

The Story Behind the Fisher Girl Statue

Here is a short post about Zhuhai’s iconic Fisher Girl. The Fisher Girl Statue is the symbol for Zhuhai and you will see it on every city advertisement. Of course, there is a myth around it.

Legend says that once upon a time an angel descended to earth and was amazed by the beauty of the earth. She wanted to stay and became a fisher girl. She earned her living with fishing for precious pearls and she used her powers to help the villagers. One day, she fell in love with a young fisher named Hai Peng.

Upon hearing some bad accusations, Hai Peng forced the fisher girl to give him her bracelet which was magical in order to prove her love for him. She told him that the she received the bracelet from the eight palace mistresses when she was the daughter of the South Sea Dragon King. Its purpose is to protect her against the thought of abandoning immortality. If she removed it, she would die. Unfortunately, Hai Peng did not believe her and removed the bracelet. She died immediately.

Hai Peng was so sad, he went to the Jiu Zhou Huan Elder to ask what he can do in order to bring his true love back. The Elder told him that he needs to go to the Jiu Zhou Island to get the Resurrection Grass which then must be fed with man’s blood. Hai Peng succeeded to find it and grew it with his own blood. It took years for the grass to grow and finally, when it was ready, he was able to revive the fisher girl with it. She became a true mortal. When they got married, she found a gigantic and magical pearl which she gave to the reverent Elder as a thank you.

Isn’t this a nice story? The Chinese tourists think so as well. This is why there are always many tourists around the Fisher Girl taking pictures. Very close to the statue, there is also a nice park with beautiful flowers and a lake with small boats that you can rent. When the weather is nice on weekends, there are also some street musicians. This park is worth a visit as well.

Hello Kitty Café – A Must Go in Asia

I thought the best way to spend a rainy Sunday afternoon a few weeks ago, is going to the huge Huafa Mall in Zhuhai and looking for the Hello Kitty Café I read about somewhere.

At the Huafa Shopping Center you can find Italian fashion brands like Patrizia Pepe as well as American brands like Tommy Hilfiger and of course many interesting Chinese brands. As every large mall they also have a cinema and a lot of restaurants and cafes.

It took me a while to find the Hello Kitty Café and I almost gave up. They do have a map of the shopping mall and it indicated that the café is located on the ground floor. I walked through the entire ground floor twice but I could not find it. When I was about to leave, I noticed that there were some restaurants on the outside of the mall. I finally found it and by looking at it is hard to walk by. There are pink chairs surrounded by beautiful pink flowers in front of the café and a big Hello Kitty sticker is smiling at you from the window. 

The Bonbon Hello Kitty Café has created a real Hello Kitty world. Hello Kitty is a popular icon in China. I have seen many teenager and young adults walking around with a Hello Kitty bag that you would give to a 5-year old. I guess whoever came up with the idea of this restaurant knew how many fans such a theme restaurant must attract. The décor includes a lot of pink and cream yellow. Even the furniture is in Hello Kitty style. The tables are oval and some look like cookies. The pictures speak for themselves… 

It is not a cheap restaurant but it was lunch time when I was there and I was hungry, so I decided to get the seafood spaghettis and a watermelon juice. It wasn’t the best seafood pasta. That is not the reason why you go there, but it was definitely not bad. Eating spaghetti out of a plastic Hello Kitty plate made me feel like a child again.

I was curious how the cappuccino would look like. Would they be able to create Hello Kitty design with the milk foam? Yes, they were. And of course it came in a Hello Kitty cup.

Taking a picture with the cartoon cat is a must:

I wasn’t the only one in the restaurant. There were two mothers with their kids and they ordered huge ice-cream bowls. It looked yummy. 

This is for sure a highlight for every girl, not matter of what age. J

Welcome to Zhuhai, China!

In my first post I want to introduce you to the place where I spent the last few weeks and where I will be spending my next 2 months. The place is called Zhuhai and it is located in the South of China. You may wonder why I chose this city…

Before I resume university this fall, I decided to do an internship abroad. I have never been to the Asian part of the world and I thought this is the opportunity. The organization I’m here with is InternChina and they offer internships in 4 different places in China. I decided to go to Zhuhai, because it is in the South of China (which means warm weather), close to the beach – this is the one thing that I’m missing in my home country, Switzerland – and it is not as large as other Chinese cities. I don’t want to be too overwhelmed.

Zhuhai is part of the Guangdong province and together with the other cities of the province, Hong Kong and Macau, they form the Pearl River Delta. The region has experienced a major economic development during the past decade and offers great opportunities for global investment and trade. The area has several Special Economic Zones that make trade between China and the world easier. A bridge is also being built from Zhuhai to Hong Kong that will further connect the two cities and Macau. It is supposed to be done by this summer.

Among the Chinese, Zhuhai is also called the ˈcity for loversˈ or the ˈcity of a hundred islandsˈ. I’m definitely planning on visiting a few of them. The boardwalk along the sea is known as the ˈLovers’ Roadˈ. You can actually see many couples strolling along the sea, whereas I prefer to go running there.

Zhuhai is a popular tourism destination, especially for Chinese people. There are several sightseeing spots that I will show you during the next weeks. The Fisher Girls Statue is the town’s landmark. You will hear more about it soon.

In general, it is a very green and clean city and the population is not as dense as in other Chinese cities. Currently, it has about 1, 5 million inhabitants. Zhuhai is in the subtropical zone, so humidity is high all year round, but in spring it is the worst. I already got a taste of it and I do not like it very much, because everything is moist and you can only see a couple of meters. It feels like being in the middle of a jungle. The indigenous language is Cantonese but now the main language is Mandarin. English is still not very common.

Zhuhai is also the gateway to Macau, the former Portuguese colony and the Las Vegas of Asia. Chinese people love every kind of game, so it does not surprize that Macau actually makes more money than Las Vegas. Macau has been a popular tourism place for years, also because foreigners don’t need a visa to visit it and when China was still closed for tourism, people could travel to Macau and get a glimpse of the Chinese culture.