Our business trip to Guangzhou China - We were driving 1 hour to the factory , the sky was a dark charcoal colour..I commented 'Looks like we are in for a bad storm'? " Oh no " the driver said that is "Prousion" meaning of course 'polution' We were there to buy handbags & sunglasses.
The resort we we stayed at was a Villas built around a lake . The Villas on the property were mostly empty and unoccupied, I suspected, they were either to expensive for the locals to buy, or international people were not interested as there was no 'golf course' on the estate.
The gardens were neat, however, the buildings were filthy with pollution The two pools housed very 'green' water , one would not be temped to jump in, in case you encountered something strange underwater!
We were given the master suite, a huge room that opened on to a balcony , no fly screens at the windows.
Opening the balcony door to get some 'fresh air' 20,000 local insects rushed in. ...I flung a towel around frantically trying to' get 'the little invaders. I did not dare to inspect the mattress, frightened of what may be sleeping with us and sharing our bed!
The next morning another Hotel for breakfast. a buffet breakfast , the food, fish, black eggs, noodles, food that I couldn't identify, I chose steamed dumplings... something I would generally not eat for breakfast!.
After six hours of business, we were invited for lunch at a local restaurant in a private dining room.The curtains and walls were dirty; My thoughts immediately went to the food.....what would they be serving? Then came , soup! It resembled washing up water , and a black thing resembling a sole of a shoe. floating on the top.
Everyone asked, 'Why are you not eating? " After rubbing my stomach vigoriously pretending I had was sick . , immediately I was .ordered a can of coke, and some steamed rice.
After finishing our business , again another dinner invitation . Before entering the restaurant, a crowd of people were gathering I asked it was some sort of meeting I was told, that it was where the locals 'watched the news' As we got near, there was a little television tied into the fork of this rather 'dead' tree,
The restaurant was Western, and clean , I was still was not game to pick from the menu,, so, I ordered steamed rice again!
We caught the train back to Hong Kong , the next morning, back to the Gold Coast Resort Hotel on Kowloon Bay where I tucked into the best buffet, food I was confident to eat!
I Minson
