Category: Travel

Keeping it Classy in Guangzhou

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I did not plan on writing a blog about my apartment hunting experience because it’s probably not interesting for you to read my thought process in comparing 1 bedrooms vs. 2 bedroom’s and the building with a pool as opposed to a building with a nice view, blah, blah, blah. So, this post is not to bore you with those details, but to share the experience in dealing with the Apartment Agents and the long journey to actually secure the place, all of which is so incredibly frustrating. And to be honest, I really don’t think my frustration stems from the language barrier but more from the fact that the Agents have their own financial motives.

Agent #1: “Kaiser”
“Kaiser” was pretty competent but thought he was the Donald Trump of Guangzhou. I found an apartment on an Expat website and emailed him to take a look. He gave me an easy to find meeting place and showed me the beautiful apartment. I was immediately interested but when I told him we’d only be staying for 6 months, the price doubled. This is Guangzhou, not Manhattan, buddy.

Agent #2: “Jenny”
The biggest mess of all. I found an ad on Craigslist for an apartment for 98 square meters, 2 bedrooms, 3800 RMB per month and 1 metro stop from where Fabien’s company picks him up in the morning. Turns out the apartment is 98 square meters, 2 bedrooms, 5000 RMB and 3 Metro stops from the pick up point. The reason I know this is because I was walking around the wrong area for 2 hours looking for the place. So you can imagine my extreme irritation when she told me the price was 5000 RMB. And then she got lost when we were trying to exit the enormous building. We ended up walking around the parking structure underneath the building for 20 minutes trying to find the exit. I just stopped speaking to her at this point. Then she had the audacity to email me later that night saying she’d like to show me more apartments.

Agent #3: “Marlene”
I liked (notice the “d” at the end) Marlene. After getting lost because of Jenny’s misdirection, I was very happy when Marlene promised to meet me directly outside of the Metro exit. Marlene spoke excellent English and looked very professional, even though her teeth were rotting out of her mouth. She showed me a 1 bedroom, completely furnished and so new that we would be the first ones living there. The biggest downside was that it was 2 Metro stops from Fabien’s pick up and there was nothing in the area. So, I asked her to show me a few others later that week, which lead to our relationship going down hill. I explained the requirements and she took to me see an apartment 5 Metro stops from where we wanted (and a 20 minute walk), for more money and a beautiful view of a construction site where they are currently jackhammering a parking lot. I felt like Chris Tucker talking to Jackie Chan….”Do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth?”

Agent #4: “Ken”
It should first be noted that Ken’s teeth were also rotting out of his mouth. He worked at an agency that I just walked into in the area we wanted to live. He showed me two properties that met all of our criteria.  Hallelujah. The first one smelled a little funny and had a 1970’s style decor. The next one smelled really funny and had a nice view of the next building’s walls.

After this, I decided I was done looking at apartments and it was just time to make a decision. So, because we like to keep it classy, we went with the Ron Burgandy, 1970’s style place.  Side note: If you have no idea who Ron Burgandy is, please rent the movie Anchorman immediately.  It has 2 bedrooms, amazing gold curtains, lots of mirrors on the walls, a glass bar, a decent view, a pool, tennis court, gym, billiards room, Supermarket less than a block away and it’s right next to the Metro station. Phew….so we thought.

Signing the lease was another s@#t show complete with them trying to get us to sign the lease in Chinese which lead to one of the Apartment Agents taking a taxi to get an English contract. And then Fabien reading the contract line by line. And then our bank not allowing us to withdrawal the entire amount needed due to a maximum daily withdrawal limit. After all was said and done, it took 4 hours to get the lease signed. The good news is that I think poor little, rotten tooth Ken is so scared of Fabien that the place will look immaculate when we move in today.

There are a few pictures of the new place in the Photo Gallery, but I will post more later. Also we spent our Sunday afternoon at Xiqiao Mountain, which is simply amazing. There are a few pics of that excursion as well.

It Could Happen to You

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First things first….let me apologize for this post. It’s horrifying, graphic and, mostly, humiliating BUT completely necessary. I am writing it because 1) I think it’s funny and 2) to prepare you if you ever travel to Asia or another part of the world where you could encounter what I have. If you are easily grossed out, go ahead and skip this one. Thanks and sorry.

In the past, I had heard rumors about Turkish toilets but I was that ignorant and invincible mentality person….It will never happen to me. The stories always included scary moments of backsplashing and peeing on yourself which were naturally followed by laughs. I can now personally attest that Turkish toilets (also called Squat toilets) are no laughing matter and that the rumors are absolutely 100% true.  Sadly,  backsplash and peeing on yourself are not always the worst case scenarios.

I know your curiosity is higher than it’s ever been before, so go ahead and click this link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squat_toilet

Now, wipe the horror off your face.

When Fabien first arrived in China he told me that the men’s bathroom at his work had a Turkish toilet. Then, the 22 year old that I met on the plane to Beijing also mentioned something about these toilets. I laughed at both stories and thought….This will never happen to me.

So, here we are. Night #2 in China. A large group of us were at a fantastic Japanese restaurant indulging in amazing food, saki and beer. Eventually, it was time to break the seal so I excused myself to the rest room. I ignorantly walked up the stairs, into the rest room and opened the door. My eyes looked at the 2 1/2 foot level. “Where is the toilet?” I go to the next stall. Again, no toilet. Then, I saw the porcelain object, on the floor that resembled the part of the seat that us women complain about touching when a man leaves the seat up. F! Seriously?!?! How could this happen to me? I rolled up my pant legs and with the first release, I completely missed the hole. Insert humiliation here. Thankfully, the next attempt was more successful. Later that night we went to a club that had a regular toilet and I was thrilled, ecstatic and relieved. From this point forward, preference will be given to business’s that have a standing, seat toilet.

Now, after I gave the Squat toilet some thought, there are some advantages:

1) I will build up my leg muscles.
2) My ass will never (hopefully) touch a place that someone else’s ass has touch. Major pro.
3) I will most definitely take my shoes off whenever I enter the apartment resulting in less sweeping and mopping at home.
4) Being that I am an animal lover, I will feel more at one with them. The next time I see Bear squatting, I’ll know exactly what he’s going through.

BUT (and I mean a big BUT), my greatest life fears are now…

1) Having to go #2 outside of the apartment.
2) Being a little tipsy and falling in someone else’s or my own pee (or something worse).
3) That I will encounter something else…..a stall without a door. I’ve heard their out there, but I don’t think, but hope and pray, that it will never happen to me.

So, consider this post a warning to you travelers. Don’t be ignorant like me because it could happen to you.

Everyday People

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I’ve been in China for a little over two days now. And when I say in China, I really, really, really mean it. We are currently staying at a hotel in Foshan. The building is the tallest in the city and being that we are on the 42nd floor, I can see that this little place sprawls for miles. Besides the fact that we are staying in the most luxurious building in the city, it’s very obvious that we are fish out of water here. I’m quite the freak show on the street. Men stare at my boobs and women and children just stare. Some point at us. One family even asked Fabien and I to hold their baby so they could take a picture. I’m like the Paris Hilton of Foshan.

The rumor is that there are more English speaking people in Asia than there are in the United States. I’m not sure where these people are, but I would love to meet one of them and ask if they could help us find an apartment. I’m guessing that whoever is throwing this stat around uses the term “speak English” very loosely. Meaning if someone knows one or two words, “Oh yeah, Wang over there speaks English.” Well, in that case, I also speak Chinese, French and Spanish. In all the millions (and I mean millions) of people that I have encountered, the one who spoke the best English was the hostess at Pizza Hut. But, I am in their country and I will adapt to them. :)

The 28 hour flight over was pretty good. It’s very easy to met other foreigners since we stand out so much. It’s just natural to strike up a conversation with someone because both parties are eager for a taste of familiarity. I have already met so many people who have interesting stories…..

  • Erin, a 22 year old from Pennsylvania has been teaching in Changchun for the past 7 months. She gave me the China lowdown on public toilets (which is what the next blog will be about) and advised me that instead of buying clothes from stores, you can just have them made for a few dollars per outfit. Her and I clicked so much that we almost shared a hotel room when I thought I missed my flight in Beijing.
  • Also on the flight to Beijing, I met another teacher, from St. Louis, who works in a village on the border of the Gobi desert. I struck up a conversation with her because she was wearing a St Patrick’s Day hat and carrying a purple plastic pumpkin that you normally see little kids carrying on Halloween to collect candy. She was bring these items to China to teach her students about American holidays. It takes her 96 hours of travel time to get from St, Louis to there. And I thought 25 hours was a long journey.
  • A man from Florida who is accompanying his 35 year old, single daughter and they are picking up her newly adopted daughter. China is the only place that would allow her to adopt being husbandless.
  • Another man from Pittsburgh who is coming to pick up his wife after navigating the US Immigration maze for 4 years.
  • Two French girls who are also here with their boyfriends. They are starting Chinese classes today at the Guangzhou University. They have both been here for 1 week.
  • A Polish guy named Michael who showed up with another French guy after our dinner Saturday night. He had just arrived from Hong Kong and has been backpacking through Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia for the past 2 months.

And then there is us. In the elevator Sunday morning, an Indian man started asking me questions about what I was doing here, where I was from, etc. I told him I was an American, here with my French boyfriend who works for an Automotive Supplier. He was very surprised and said “You don’t hear that everyday.” I never thought about it like that, but it’s just us and I also guess our story is interesting too. Hopefully, the interestingness indicator will continue to grow over the next 6 months.

There are also a couple photo links with pics in the Photo Gallery.