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Flying pigs in Macau

Sitting here typing this, I can see the border between Zhuhai and Macau. I have to tell you its a weird thing when you think about it. Here I am living in a communist country (although it's more capitalist than anywhere I've been to), with all its so called restrictions and lack of freedom and across the way I can see Macau, famous for all it's grand casinos and hotels, the Vegas of Asia.
Every 30 days, due to my visa restrictions, I have to exit China, enter Macau and then make my way back into China. There's not that many people who can say they spend literally 3 minutes in a country and then leave! It's a bit of a chore to be honest and the queques entering Macau last time I crossed were absurd. I think it was something to do with this Swine Flu thing thats in news of late. Phil and I have agreed that its all a load of nonsense - more people die of regular flu everyday than this new fangled flu. No news like bad news I guess.
Another sweaty humid day today, time for a shower, some reading then attempt to sleep.

Photos

This is a photo of Gongbei Port, the border between China and Macau. The building with the curvey roof is the Macau side of the border and to the right you can see the crossing for vehicles.











In the middle of this photo, in the distance, you can just make out the Lisboa casino in Macau.











On the floor, in a drunken Australia Day celebratory
mess is Phil. Attempting to rescue Phil's daughter, Tegan is Andrew. All the time, my girlfriend in the red coat looks on bemused.









On the left is my girlfriend Lucy. Next to her is Ja Ja, English name Tina; I prefer to call her Pang Pang which means Fatty - because she's skinny. Paul drools over this girl constantly, then again he drools at anything in a skirt.

Laowais and Lessons

Sheesh, I sound like a typical moaning expat...Ok, contrary to my first few posts, there are positives to living here. I like the Chinese approach to life and I have made a lot of friends here, some of which I would like to talk about here. I'll start with the expat community, who I generally try not to associate myself with but there are some who are ok and a handful I would call true friends.

A lot of the expats I know here have come to China to teach English. For a lot of them it’s a chance to experience another country and get paid for it, fair play to them. Andrew Quast falls into this category and is the one I know best. A young lad from British Columbia, Canada who is sort following his older brothers footsteps by teaching here. An intelligent young guy, who's a little rough around the edges and likes a drink; but his heart is in the right place. It is via Andrew that I know all the other teachers here of which there are around a dozen. The majority are cool people who I would call friends but there a few who fall into the douche category. One chap, who I have recently befriended, left everything behind in Australia to teach here; that’s how much he loved it here. Michael had been to Zhuhai 3 or 4 times prior to his decision to relocate here. Despite him having all the prerequisites to teach here, he is still unemployed as he has decided to enjoy his time here before embarking on his teaching career.

Although I would class him as an oddball, I find Paul, a chap from Merseyside UK pleasant company. Paul comes to Zhuhai to stay with his brother, who owns a company here and incidentally is my boss. Paul is, in my mind, typical of the kind of chap you would find in a pub in the UK; crude humour, likes a beer and likes football. Due to the fact he is from the UK and supports my team, I have a good rapport with Paul and enjoy his company.

Phil, is probably the first foreigner I met here in Zhuhai and is my closest friend here in China. Phil was recruited from Australia to work here as a specialist engineer; a job which he is very good at. We share similar interests and I always enjoy our conversations and discussions which range from the metaphysical to who is the last girl we would sleep with from the places we drink at. Believe it or not, he has taught me a lot about the social life in China. I ascribe this to his ability to party with anyone and like a stereotypical Aussie, drinks like a fish. A very good friend who I hope continues to be regardless of where either of us ends up. 

Chopsticks and chips

Although I am Chinese and love Chinese food, living here in China makes me crave what I used to eat in the UK. Living here has probably forced me to have a better diet but has opened my eyes to the fact that the everyday Chinese person is very limited in what they like to eat and what they will try. For instance, the set of friends I usually eat with all eat spicy food. EVERY dish they serve is spicy and usually has a stupid amount of chilli's in it. Forget sweet, savoury, sour or any other flavour - its all mouth burning hotness. To be fair, the majority of the people I eat are from northern China where they tend to favour the spicy foods all the time. When they try food that I like i.e. Italian, pizza, cheese, beans  etc they hate it and usually can't finish the meal.

Makes me glad that I got to try and love so many different kinds of foods but at the same time it makes me miss all the foods I can't get here. What I wouldn't give for a pie, mash potato, a roast dinner, a Donner kebab, a decent pizza (pizzas here suck), fish & chips, ..... Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying one food is better than the other; I just wish there was more variety here.

Still, I suppose it's what you are used to. I have friends in the UK who are ridiculously fussy over what they eat and do not like trying new things. As the saying goes, "how do you know you won't like if you haven't tried it?".

Travelling without moving

Every morning I take a 5 minute walk to the row of bus stops where I catch the bus to work. The row of bus stops is about 30 metres long, always crowded with people waiting for their bus. Just before the bus stops, there is always half a dozen taxis waiting; usually obstructing other traffic which is the Chinese way. Every so often there one of these taxis will slowly drive by the bus stops on the off chance that someone will jump in. Now what I find bizarre is the fact that when no one gets in a taxi and its blatantly obvious that everyone is waiting for a bus, another stupid taxi driver will drive past right behind the first taxi. I mean, c'mon - no one got in the cab ahead of you so why would they get in your cab? Don't ask me why, but I find this activity very annoying.
When I eventually reach Nanping, where the office is, I have to walk another 10 minutes to get to the office. Now as soon as I get off there's always 4 or 5 motorbike taxi's honking on their horns to get my attention. Just as annoying as the taxi cabs. Don't they realise that if I wanted their services I would wave them over? Do they not know that honking on their horns does not ever increase the likelihood of someone wanting to ride their bikes? This happens everywhere I go in Zhuhai, not just my place of work. I can be buying some cigarettes downstairs where I live and theres always 2 or 3 dumbass motorbikes blaring on their horns. Mate - I know you're there, stop with the horn bashing as it's annoying.
A few times I have caught a taxi, be it a bike or car. I tell the driver where and off we go. But guess what? He lied, he doesn't have a clue where it is. That being the case, they will call up someone that maybe will know and then drop you off where they think it is - usually miles away from where you want to be. This is bearing in mind that you can get a cab; usually around 5 - 7 pm the drivers will always ask you where you want to go before letting you in. If it's a few miles out, then forget it. They would rather drive around without a fare, wasting fuel waiting to pick up someone who wants to go to somewhere within a few blocks.

Let's Go To Work

So here I am at work; when my time should be spent doing something constructive and work related, I have decided to start a blog. Such is my attitude and hate it as I do, I accept it.
I find myself in a bizarre situation. After a year of hardcore procrastination, I am finally working. I have doubts whether this role will continue or even get me to where I want, I am doing this job to get back into the work mentality and with a hope that this will indeed get me the things I want from a job. So here I am sitting in an office with 4 girls who I can barely communicate with, tapping away at this ridiculously slow computer. Don't get me wrong, I am doing work and am being constructive, it's just that, as always I know I should be doing more. Should I be focusing more on work or should I be spending time looking at other jobs? Usually, I leave the office having achieved neither.