Zhuhai, China – 26-28 April 2024

When I notice the rain has stopped, I make a run from the office just after 4.30pm, on Friday 26 April 2024. Even though I won’t be outside for long I’m more worried about the hole in my shoe, which I really noticed this morning.

I’m heading to Zhuhai, China by boat for the weekend.

On arrival at Macau Ferry Pier in Sheung Wan I follow the signs to Zhuhai (I don’t want to end up on the boat to Macau thank you very much). There is basically no one else around so it’s a clear run through Hong Kong immigration to the boarding gate.

I leave it until the last minute to board the boat. I’m worried the sea might be choppy due to the rain, wind and hail. Fingers crossed it’s not!

We depart Hong Kong right on 5.30pm. The 1 hour 10 minute journey passes by quickly - having something to watch helps. Thankfully it wasn’t too choppy.

Yet again I have more than one person “helping” at Immigration. For the first time for a very long time (perhaps even forever) I’m asked the purpose of my visit. Eeks. I answer business meeting and tourism. A few minutes later I’m asked the same question by someone else. Ok. Same answer. I quickly show them my return boat ticket, which they seem surprised I had. Clearly most people just rock up on the day to purchase the tickets. No not me. In the end I’m through. Phew!

Earlier today I’d taken a photo of the hotel’s details in Chinese.  This helped immensely with the taxi driver.

The whole taxi journey to the hotel I spend trying to get onto my WeChat on my personal phone and fail. Grrrrr. Thank goodness I didn’t have issues accessing on my work phone.

The lady at check-in is super sweet and helpful. When she wasn’t sure of the English words she spoke into her phone then showed me the English translation. I had two separate reservations which made check-in a little more complicated. I had booked tomorrow nights stay a few weeks ago and got a good deal, hence the two separate nights. She kindly upgraded my room tonight to club lounge access as well. Great!

I’m informed happy hour is to 8.30pm, wow! It’s only 7.10pm so I have heaps of time.

I quickly unpack my things - takes all of 30 seconds given I’m here for 2 nights only.

On arrival at the club lounge, which is rather big, I’m the only one here so have the pick of the tables. Window seat it is.

The white wine is Sauvignon Blanc.  That’s a strong no. Onto the red wine I go.  The food selection is not just happy hour snacks, rather proper food.

And relax!

 

 

Saturday 27 April my alarm wakes me at 8.30am. I’m not surprised as it’s been another pretty full on week work wise so not much sleep was had. When I open the curtains there is no rain. Let’s hope it stays like this!

Luckily I come to breakfast when I do! About 10 minutes after being here a staff member goes around each table saying we are closing at 10am. Right. I could have sworn I was told 10.30am when I checked in last night. Hey ho.

I order poached eggs, let’s see what comes out…..

 

There is something soothing about hearing people chit chat around you but have absolutely zero idea what they are talking about.

My friends are in Macau for the day for their daughter’s rugby so I decide to head over there. All going well of course at the border!!!

A taxi arrives a few minutes after ordering one and within seconds we are off to Gongbei Port. I really like the big open spaces, especially compared to the densely populated Hong Kong.

I follow the crowds until I start to see some signs in English. Thankfully crossing the border is much easier than it was coming in last night!

As I walk through to Macau immigration my eyes are scanning for APEC line. Not today. There are people everywhere! I’m clearly not the only person wanting to cross over the border. I definitely chose the wrong lane! We are on the complete go slow. It’s my turn next, I notice in the aisle next to me a man has his HK ID card - I’ll do the same.

I hand over my passport and HK ID card which totally confuses the immigration officer. He tells me I can enter on my HK ID card, excellent. Saves space in my passport!

I arrive into Macau and I follow the signs to the taxi stand. No idea how I’m going to pay as I don’t have cash on me….hey ho! Vanliza has said she has money.

As soon as I get into the taxi I try to put my seatbelt on. The driver immediately tells me it’s not needed. Maybe but I want to put it on. Grrrr it’s not working. Right next thing, do you take card? No, only cash or Weixun Pay (the official name of Wechat pay). Bingo, I have that!

We finally arrive at The International School of Macao and of course my Weixun Pay isn’t working. Grrrrr. I try numerous times on both phones without success. A call to Vanliza has her coming to pay for me!

Jocelyn’s playing in a rugby tournament – under 9’s, mixed team.  The games are 12 minutes long, and at times it’s quite stressful. Some of the parents (of the other teams) are extremely aggressive on the sidelines.

Once it’s all over we relax in the local campus restaurant / bar before walking to Old Taipa town to find food.

As it’s after 4pm the choices aren’t large, so we decide on a pub which serves food.  Sangria and food are ordered!

We put James and Jocelyn in a taxi to head back to Hong Kong then wait for a taxi for us to go in the opposite direction. 




















As the taxi arrives at the border there are people everywhere. And I mean EVERYWHERE! Wholly molley. I’m so glad I’m not alone. Vanliza is joining me for the night. It’s sooooo much busier than it was this morning and I thought this morning was busy. NOPE!

We follow the crowds to Macau immigration, where we join a long but moving line.

We are through - now for China immigration.

As a foreigner I need to go down the foreigner line. We definitely chose the wrong line….talk about a complete go slow! As I get closer to the front of the line I remember I need to complete a form. Aaah. We get chatting to the guy behind us and he asks someone in the lane next to us to get forms when he makes it to the front. Result. Means I can fill in the form now rather than wait to get a form from the immigration officer, then fill in the form. Which would have meant more time in this line!!

When the lady in front of me gets to the counter she’s given a form and told to complete it. She then asks Vanliza to complete it for her.

The immigration officer asks me why I’m coming to Zhuhai - thankfully it was just one question. She then informs me I could have gone down the diplomatic line, ooh thank you. I did know that but we chose this lane because we thought it was moving faster…..

And we are through to China!

We follow the crowds, changing direction as we see a sign for taxi. Perfect!

On entering the taxi I hand the driver my phone with the hotels address. He then starts speaking, nope, not to me. Over to Vanliza. They chit chat the whole way. Every now and again he will try to converse with me, the problem is it’s in Chinese and he’s shouting. That won’t help me sorry.

Thankfully I have no issues with Weixun Pay when we arrive at the hotel. He definitely took us on the tourist route! It’s more expensive than the taxi this morning - but both are still super cheap (especially compared with HK and Macau)!!!

We head straight up the club lounge for wine and food.

 

After adding Vanliza to my room we decide on wine and food in the lobby (as the alcohol had stopped upstairs).

Unfortunately the food takes over an hour to arrive – absolutely ridiculous!!! When it does finally arrive, Vanliza’s soup had very clearly been microwaved.  NO thank you! Both food items are sent back.

Time to head back to the room where we put on face masks. A nice and relaxing way to end a day.

Sunday 28 April I wake just after 8am. It has been a short night! The power in the hotel went off a couple of times, each time it woke me. More sleep is absolutely needed!!!!

Breakfast is nice and relaxed.

Thankfully it’s not raining so we decide to go for a wander around the hotel area. 

 

We return to the hotel to pack up before checking-out. Of course that’s not straight forward but we get there in the end!

Vanliza had earlier researched a couple of different restaurants in a mall, so that is our next destination.

Within what appears to be minutes the taxi is pulling up outside the shopping mall.  Korean BBQ here we come!

 

 

 

As we walk out of the shopping mall there are two taxis waiting - perfect! I say goodbye to Vanliza then hand my driver the piece of paper the hotel did for me earlier (with the name of the pier in Chinese) and bingo, we are away.

Eeks alive, driving along the waterfront the sea is super choppy. It’s going to be a very unpleasant journey back to Hong Kong. Let’s hope the sea sickness tablets work!

The 12 minute drive was nice and easy. On entering the ferry terminal building I ask if there is an earlier boat to HK, no. No worries, I’ll sit and wait.

I definitely arrived too early, but you never do know. They don’t open the departure hall area until 2.25pm (for a 3pm boat). Even then it’s not exactly clear on what needs to happen. Looking around it's very clear I’m the only foreigner…….might make going through immigration nice and easy. Time will tell!

Immigration thankfully goes smoothly as I’m the only person going through the two foreigner lines.

We depart Zhuhai right on time. It’s been a lovely weekend away - being able to cross the border super easily into Macau was an added bonus as well.

Goodbye Zhuhai, Xie Xie for having me! Home Kong here I come.