EPTIt feels kind of surreal to have this kind of trip on my calendar. From May 29th to June 21st this year I am heading back to China and taking a trip to Korea. My passport is at the Chinese Consulate in Chicago, and I am waiting for them to send me back a shiny, fresh visa. The coolest part, is that I am going back to my surrogate home province, Guangdong; I am particularity excited to go back to my hometown away from my hometown Zhuhai.
- 1. May 29-30 Hong Kong/Shake off Jet Lag
2. June 1-5 Trade Show in Guangzhou (Cannex Guangzhou)
3. June 6-8 Zhuhai
4. June 8-?? Korea
5. ??- June 21 Beijing
Hong Kong is the first stop, ETisME gave me some good recommendations for stops, but in all honesty Hong Kong is not my favorite place. I get to feeling especially claustrophobic in the city, but the mid levels are very fun. Lan Kwai Fong, the club district is also an interesting place for people watching, but otherwise a club is pretty much a club no matter where you go, and my favorite adage about Hong Kong is that the cheapest bar in the whole city is 7-11. Regardless, we'll be spending most of our time in Kowloon, and training into Guangzhou.
Guangzhou is where the, "work," comes into my vacation. Cannex is a trade show for all things in the canning industry, enthralling shit. what this incurs is standing in a booth for a number of hours representing my friends product, and shooting the bull with people I met a few years ago at the last show in Atlanta. The vast majority of this is social drinking, and going out to nice meals for which I don't have to pay. This is where I am earning my airfare to and from Asia, and also getting paid for my time which is pretty fucking sweet.
Then we get to Zhuhai, a small town on the coast of the Pearl Delta, right next to Macau. Not much to do or see, but for nostalgia's sake I want to go back. I want to just pop into some of the old Ex-pat bars and see who is still hanging around for kicks and giggles. There is an underground mall on the border to Macau for cheap, fraudulently made designer clothing, but that is pretty much it. After Zhuhai, it is a skip and a hop to Macau, where we'll presumably gamble some and get on a plane to Korea.
We'll be flying into Seoul, and bumming around for a good while. My temporary employer is then leaving for Australia for another business trip, but I do have an ex who teaches English over there I may go see. What I need for Seoul never having been, are ideas for what to do to occupy my time. I would love to visit the 38th parallel, I am undoubtedly going to watch several nights of Proleague or matches. and the other idea I had was renting a car and driving from Seoul to Mokpo to Busan, and back to Seoul. Seemed like a good way to see a relatively small country but I am open to suggestions especially about Hostels, and other activities we could do.
Beijing is mostly a flight of fancy, I am near enough, why the hell not kind of thing. Not to mention my actual employer has an office there so I could potentially get a bit of a comp for showing up for half a day at our Beijing offices. I assume this will be more typically touristy. I have an aversion to capitol cities as a rule of thumb, but why the hell not. Forbidden City, Great Wall where it is rebuilt and some good solo travelling time will do a body good where the air quality will definitely not.
I couldn't be more excited though, I can wait to see that new visa, and have my tickets in hand. Any thoughts or recommendations for Beijing or Korea though TL?
