Company: Jana & Martin

Planned route: Tallinn-Helsinki-Bangkok-Hong Kong-Guangzhou-Hong Kong-Helsinki-Tallinn

This trip also started from the Tallinn Airport where we took a Finncomm flight to Helsinki at 9.30 pm. The following flight to Bangkok started already at 11.50 pm with Finnair. We did not have any problems during the flight and at 2 pm the next day we landed in Bangkok airport. We had to wait for few hours for our next flight and at 4.30 pm we were already on Cathay Pacific flight towards Hong Kong. It was our first try with Cathay Pacific airlines and we were satisfied with the service and the rest of the quality also. At about 8 pm we landed in Hong Kong and took the Airport Express straight to Hong Kong Island. There after few metro stops we found our hotel called Bentley. It was in Kowloon just next to the famous Nathan Road. The room was small, but nice and after we had changed our clothes we decided to go and look around. We walked from Nathan Road straight to the bay and the view was magical- we could see the Hong Kong Island with its hundreds of light up skyscrapers. We also went to the local celebrity street where local Asian movie stars have stored their hand prints in cement. As it was almost midnight we decided to go to bed after a quick meal in McDonald’s as already next morning we were supposed to take of for the mainland China.

In the morning we packed our things and took the metro to Hung Hong station and after going through the customs we were successful and got on the train. As it is known, Estonians do not need a visa to be in Hong Kong, but they need one to enter mainland China. The train we took was comfortable and double- storage express train took us to Guangzhou with only two hours and no additional stops. For me it was already a third time in Guangzhou and for Jana it was her second. In Guangzhou East Terminal we met with our friend Simon who had come there to meet us. After welcoming and the joy of the reunion had faded a bit we took a taxi and went to the other end of the city as our hotel called New Mainland Hotel was near the Guangzhou Railway Station. As the aim for the trip was still business than this hotel was chosen as it was located closest to our main places of action. It was a big 9storage hotel but it was half- empty. It might have been because it was the off- season or due to the cold weather (it was about +10- 15 degrees).

I do not want to concentrate on explaining our business purposes, but we had 4 really busy work days in front of us during what we had to leave all personal plans behind and just concentrate solely on work.  

The day before the last one we had everything done by noon and then decided to play tourists a bit. So we decided to go to Ocean Park which is an aquarium and zoo together. As our local friend Simon had never been there than the plan was to go there all together. We made it there just at 4 pm when the aquarium show was about to begin. A lot of different tricks were performed by dolphins, seals and so on. It was pretty interesting. Then we moved on inside where the aquarium built there was very impressive and it was interesting to watch. We walked through the large area that was supposed to be the zoo, but as it was only 11 degrees outside than there were not a lot of animals outside. Then we took a taxi to Guangzhou business district Tianhe where we had a proper dinner in a local restaurant with compulsory wine and drew a conclusion to our business trip.

As both me and Jana are not big fans of Chinese food than up to this point we had enjoyed mostly cuisine at Pizza Hut, KFC and MacDonaldsi but this restaurant was a really positive surprise with good food and wine selection.

In the morning after packing our things we took a taxi to East Station where Simon was already waiting for us and we said our goodbyes. After long procedures in the customs we were finally let on a train to Hong Kong.

Read more about our trip to Hong Kong here

To sum up, I can say that Hong Kong is a fascinating place where I am always happy to go back to. It is Asia, but then again it is not. Hong Kong is highly developed and you cannot spot poverty anywhere. Gunagzhou is like a separate world where you cannot do anything with only English, the food is 90% local, prices about 2 times cheaper and so on. But Guangzhou also has its upsides and that is if there happens to be something that you want to buy than it is certain that you will find it there and with the cheapest prices in the world. People in Guangzhou can produce everything and that they also do with the cheapest prices. Guangzhou is not fulfilling in a cultural sense, but there is still something that makes you want to go back there again and again.