CHINA: life and business in the land of the rising sun!
Before I had time to cool down from the “heat of Paris”, the Motherland again “threw” me “over the hill”, this time to the east, to China. The boss “threw” me and my partner Seryoga a bunch of tasks that we had to solve in just 6 days. And you know, we did it brilliantly. And China will remain on the sidelines of my consciousness for a long time. . .
So, on March 19.2009, Sergei and I arrived at Sheremetyevo-2. There we were supposed to meet our guides on this trip - Chang Su - a Korean who was born and raised in the USSR, and with its collapse - began to live in Russia. Recently, he has mediated between Chinese and Russian companies for the supply of certain groups of goods for fishing. For a "modest" reward, he gladly decided to help us in starting a new direction for our companies. Tickets were bought through the website of the Aeroflot airline, on which they saved 15.000 per ticket (a round-trip ticket per person cost 16.200 rubles), and they generally made a visa themselves.
While we were waiting for Chang Su, we noticed a female platoon of drummers in red suits. So Sheremetyevo-2 met a new carrier, by the way, from China.
The Moscow-Shanghai flight was checked in right on schedule. We filled out declarations, went through customs. Before check-in at Sheremetyevo-2 there is a baggage screening point. The employees of this service were very interested in metal products, which we wanted to take to China for samples. And they even tried to “swindle” us for money, “they say, it’s impossible to transport such things without declaring” (moreover, this was said by an employee of the inspection service, not customs). Being not stupid people, we "got off" and went for registration. Since I booked the seats on the site, everything went like clockwork here. Now border control and passenger screening service. About the latter, I will add that in addition to scanning luggage and passengers, now they also inspect hand luggage. Yes, none other than the valiant members of our police. And people of non-Slavic appearance do it with a special predilection (as, for example, with Chang Su). I learned an interesting “chip” from one of the employees: who knows, at Sheremetyevo-2 customs is the first stage of passage to the plane. Many carry amounts that are considerably higher than allowed. And then, already in the queue, for example, at border control, they actively discuss with a partner how they managed to "carry out" customs. So you know, gentlemen, they have employees in civilian clothes in this zone, who listen to who is talking about what, and then report to the post of the very police that inspect hand luggage during the pre-flight inspection. And if they “pointed” at you, they will even look at you in p... ny until they find the coveted amount. But I won't talk about the consequences. . .
And we will return to the journey. On the Shanghai flight, Aeroflot puts the Airbus-330, popularly referred to as the Watermelons-330. The planes are “fresh”, bright and beautiful, but… It seemed to me that the economy class seats are not comfortable… Especially in the upper part – the head restraint is too small to fix the head, and if you want to use an inflatable collar, with this head restraint it becomes excessively large, and head hangs forward. I suffered for 4 hours, until I finally fell asleep... Otherwise, the flight pleased me, especially the pancakes brought for breakfast.
After 8 hours, we sat down at the Shanghai Pudong airport - simply unrealistic in size. We went through all the procedures quickly and without any surprises. I was pleased with the service with dogs that sniffed luggage at the issuance in search of something forbidden.
At the exit, Max was waiting for us - a Chinese who had lived in the Russian Far East for a long time, and a driver. Max works for Chang Soo's partner, and was the "boy in the wings" on our "tour". We immediately got into the car and drove to the factory, which was located 150 km from Shanghai in the city of Ningbo. Max was needed for translation - I speak Russian and English, my partner speaks Russian and broken English, Chang Su speaks Russian and Korean, partners at the factory speak Chinese. And Max understood Russian, Korean, Chinese, and a little bit of English.
Our path ran through the longest bridge across the sea (36 km), built last year for the Olympics. Interestingly, we saw little of the local population - abandoned houses, empty fields, free roads. Where are they, the notorious 1.5 billion population, we have not seen! But we were pleased with the quality of the roads, a lot of paid autobahns. There are practically no police (which is strange), so in cities everyone drives at random, motorists do not respect each other, and pedestrians, by the way, too.
The plant looked primitive. A two-story building - buildings almost from the time of Lenin - served as an office building, and next to it there were 2 small hangars - production, which housed what we actually came for. I will not dwell on the details of the negotiations, but I will note that the Chinese are cunning people, and they live by one deal. It is important for them to receive the money and ship the goods (good or bad, they don’t care).
I take into account the night spent without sleep on the plane, the long road to the factory, let me overslept back to Shanghai. In the city where we were (the name did not stick in my memory), I, of course, looked at how the locals live. To say "poor" is to say nothing! I can’t imagine how you can live on a salary for a man of 100-150 greenbacks, and even feed your family!
We were in Shanghai only at 8 pm, where Chang Su's partners had been waiting for us for 2 hours (the latter became nervous at 4 o'clock, seeing that we did not have time for the “drinking” in time). Since it is difficult to pronounce and remember the names of partners, we began to call them by their positions - “director” and “commercial director”. Gentlemen, Koreans by nationality, who also built their factory in China, took us to a Korean restaurant. We ate meat that was fried in front of us, putting it in a green leaf, dipping it in sauce and drinking Korean vodka. Their vodka is weak, only 19 degrees, but without an unpleasant smell (not to be confused with Chinese, which smells disgusting and has a strength of 38 degrees). And, of course, they drank beer. The best Chinese-made beer is Chin Dao, I don’t even recommend trying the rest, just “from... that one”!
After finishing the meal, we "crawled" to the hotel. The guys suggested the Dijon 5* hotel (www. dijonhotel. cn). The cost of a good room is 600 yuan (90 US dollars). The room has everything your heart desires. The hotel is bright and "fresh", the service is at the level of the number of stars. You can come with guests, no one asks questions. I already dreamed of "cuddling with a pillow", but the gentlemen offered to go to the Shanghai Nights karaoke. I know the title is confusing, I thought the same thing that night. . .
The five-story building looked like a casino and everything glowed. Inside there was everything that the entertainment industry needs - a sauna, a casino, a disco. Three floors were occupied by karaoke booths. The cabin had 2 sofas, 2 tables, a TV with a microphone. Before we had time to drink a glass of ruff (in China, this is what whiskey + beer is called), as about thirty beautiful Chinese girls burst into the room. My instinct did not let me down - they were "moths". The “director” tried to persuade me to take one or two for the night for a long time, but I refrained. Over the years of business trips, I have never used such services, and I don’t regret it a bit.
Chang Su, unlike my partner and I, took a "beauty" for himself. We listened to Chinese songs, talked, drank another "ruff" and reached the hotel around midnight. Sleep that night was "impenetrable", I even overslept breakfast.
At 11 am, Max was waiting for us in the lobby. And he waited not in vain, we presented him with a bottle of good Russian vodka. We had to go to several places and also buy plane tickets to Tsien Jin (the third largest city in China after Beijing and Shanghai). Max did not stay, but he gave us his brother as a driver. A big mistake, because the brother charged us 500 yuan (80 US dollars) at the time. By taxi, such a trip would cost a maximum of 200 yuan. In general, I do not recommend ordering transfers and other transport services, there are plenty of taxi cars everywhere, and travel around the city costs 20 yuan (3.5 dollars).
During the trip with Max's brother, we still looked at the city a little. And the girl who was recruited by Chang Su at night stayed with us for the day (translating from Chinese to Korean). We even gave her a name - Masha!
Having finished our business, we went to the Hong Qiao Da Tong Yang Market (461 Jin Hui Road). Pleasantly surprised by the prices. Here you can buy Armani jeans for 500 rubles, and Britling watches for 1200 rubles . I also recommend visiting the tea shop located on the ground floor (Shanghai Hengeyan Tea Company). In general, according to Max, this is one of the most inexpensive markets in Shanghai. They also “ran into shopping centers”, but the prices there are no different from Moscow department stores and malls.
"Shopping" was interrupted by a call from the hotel - it was necessary to urgently pick up tickets for a domestic flight. They cost us $450 for three. Here they are, the prices of communism, while the ticket was bought a day before departure, and the plane was full.
And in the evening, the gentlemen again prepared a program for us - we went to the New Star public bath (Phone in Shanghai 021-34320777). You can talk about it for a long time, but our VIP saunas "rest" after visiting a Chinese public bath.
I will describe the process. Come in, take off your shoes. You get disposable flip flops and a bracelet with which you use all the services inside the bathhouse. You go to the locker room, where you open the closet with your bracelet. You undress then the state in which the white light saw you . You enter the hall. On the left is the shower. On the table in front of him are an unlimited amount of toothpaste, brushes, towels, razors, etc. It's funny, but before the bath, the Chinese always brush their teeth. There are two types of gels and 3 types of shampoos in the shower. All in unlimited quantities. Then you go to the hall with pools, a jacuzzi and two baths - classical and Turkish. Plenty of steamed up, you pass into the hall in the attendants. There you will be washed as in the “best houses of Paris” - with a hard washcloth, with a special gel, then honey and salt will be applied to the body, then a mud mass, the procedure will end with milk from some plant and a full body massage. Finally, once again they will smear with mud and go to the Turkish bath for 2 sessions, then wash, and change clothes in the hall. The attendant will wipe you from head to toe, dry your hair, etc. , give you white shorts and a T-shirt. In this form, you can immediately stand before God! And then, you go up to the second floor, lie down in a special chair with a jar of juice (beer, whatever) and a pretty Chinese woman will do a foot massage for an hour. Feelings after the described are unforgettable, lightness in the legs remains for a week ahead. By the way, in the bath you can stay overnight and sleep on the same sunbed. It costs $5 more. Those who wish can go through everything in the second circle (selectively), but after the massage we went to the hotel to rest. And before leaving, we were given shoes polished to a shine. Yes, they cleaned it so well that I noticed that when I bought it, they didn’t shine so much. And another sound sleep awaited us in the DiJong hotel room.
Before going to bed, Chang Su told us to be in the lobby at 9 am tomorrow, as our flight leaves at 10.20 am. My partner and I also asked if it was too late, to which he nodded that “no! ”.
The breakfast at the hotel is just amazing. Especially after 2 days of eating exclusively Korean "cooking". It was nice to drink coffee, eat scrambled eggs and cake.
At 9 am we were in the lobby. The staff was slow with the “Check-in-out”, so we got into the car of the “commercial director” only at 9.20. To our misfortune, they also got into a traffic jam (they should not be on Sunday). And only at 9.40 we arrived at the airport (although the distance to it from the hotel is only 8 km). In general, Pudong Airport operates international flights, while Hongoyao Airport is exclusively domestic.
Seeing the crowd at the registration (by the way, for some reason all the inscriptions were only in Chinese), we decided to use the “Soviet” impudence and break through out of turn. The director and Chang Su stopped us and began to ask something from the duty officer in the registration section. The conversation took 10 minutes, and the most interesting thing is that it led to a negative result - they were "sent", and we were sent along with them! My indignation knew no bounds. The most interesting thing is that you can’t “rebook” tickets, you can return them with a fine at the company’s central office, which, for some reason, was not located at its base airport, but was on the opposite outskirts of the city. After forking out for 500 bucks, we flew on the next flight of the same airline an hour later.
Pre-flight procedures are common, as elsewhere. Of the interesting, I note that lighters are confiscated. On the way back, they even asked if there were lighters in the luggage that flies in the luggage compartment. Moreover, they show a piece of paper in English, where it is written that the measure is being introduced urgently and from February 26. Why? This question has remained unanswered.
Juneyao Airlenes is a low-cost carrier in the Chinese market. Her fleet consists of Airbuses (for non-slang pilots, Airbuses) of the 320 series. Planes are "fresh" and spacious. Flight attendants look at 10 out of 10 - young and beautiful girls deserve only the highest rating. I even met one of them. For a cute look and an innocent look, my partner and I called them “babies”. Meals are included in the ticket price, moreover, they even gave hot (flight time - 1.45 minutes).
Two hours later, we landed in China's third largest city, Tian Jin ("Chan Ji" as the locals say). The airport is modern, the service time did not exceed half an hour. We were met at the airport by another partner, Chang Su, - according to the established tradition, he received the nickname "owner" (he was the owner of several factories). For all his position, he looked very modest, earned, by the way, also
The journey to the city took 40 minutes. We, again according to the established tradition, were brought to a Korean restaurant for lunch. AT the entrance, I noticed the accumulation of wreaths at the entrance (wreaths on special pedestals decorated the entrance, while they looked like our wreaths, though funeral ones). It turns out that the partner of the “owner” and co-owner of this restaurant had his son 100 days old that day, which is considered a big holiday in China. And the guests who came to the holiday gave these wreaths. As you probably guessed, this young man got "driven" by "father" . Unlike the “owner”, he was a more prosperous person, dissected on a Chinese copy of the Lexus GeS-300, and paid royalties to the state for the birth of his second child
After lunch, we went around the city with a sightseeing tour (Chang Su, like us, was there for the first time). "Father" gave us a ride "more than", and on the way back we stopped at the cell phone market (Wee Jing Lu Street). Here is the place where my Russian soul could not stand it - you can buy an iPhone for 100 bucks, and a Nokia 8800 - for 80 at all! And if the latter needs to be reflashed in Russia, then the first device is already set to the Russian language and the broadcasting standard. This is where the business is "buried". Having bought 4 phones (Chang Su started to "cry" that he needed to rest), we went to the hotel.
The Fenglin Hotel (www. fenglin-hotel. com) is located in the city center near the huge stadium built for last year's Olympics. I note that it is "old", it looks, especially inside, far from "fresh". One thing was pleasing - the price, which for a single room was 45 US dollars per day. Everything is simple in the room. A set of additional accessories offered in the bathroom stands out. There is everything, for example, women's underwear, men's shorts, razors, a huge selection of condoms, especially with a vibrator. The hotel on the second floor housed a karaoke bar, made according to the principle of "Shanghai Nights". My partner and I did not pay attention to this, however, Chang Su "frequented" to this institution. Breakfast sucks (I apologize to sensitive readers), but it's beyond words. Several types of "slop" of Chinese origin, there is no tea, and a set of "sausage-cheese" familiar to Russian tourists. Of the proposed, I ate only scrambled eggs and drank coffee.
For the evening, the "owner" offered to go to the sauna again. This time Japanese sauna (www. tj-yinghua. com). We drove for a long time through the whole city until we arrived at a doorway on the outskirts. Music blared loudly from the door. We were met by a young man and escorted to the reception. The principle of this bath was the same as in Shanghai, despite the fact that it was Japanese. True, the price was 1.5 times cheaper (we paid about 300 yuan per person). I will not dwell on this, since the process was described by me above in the text.
However, there are differences. Firstly, the bath is purely for men (this is what alerted me). Secondly, one of its elements - aroma - rooms, which were not presented in Shanghai. After going through the whole cycle of procedures, we settled down in the recreation area. A guy came up to us and in Chinese offered to go somewhere. I realized that I had to go, but where, I couldn’t achieve it. We walked along the corridors of the sauna until we reached a room with glass, covered with a curtain. Opening the curtain, I was shocked: on a semicircular sofa in a room of 10 m2 there were 35-40 young girls. “Well, that’s it, prostitutes, ” I thought, and began to “excuse myself”... The young man insisted that I choose someone... I refused... Moreover, the service, as I understood then, was not cheap, and we spent a lot of money on purchases. We were approached by the "master" and Chang Su, who explained that the girls were already included in the price, and that they were not prostitutes, but masseuses. True, not simple. The massage is done “erotic”, and everything ends....No, not sex, as many thought, but something more modest...
This is where I really thought about whether to take the risk or not. I was very pleased that everything was already “all inclusive”. Decided not to risk it. And refused. Chang Su, on the contrary, went with the girl to his booth and then spent the whole evening telling us about what a giant he was and how great everything went. I emphasize that girls do not have sex!
The evening ended in a Chinese restaurant, where we ate Peking duck and washed down with Chinese vodka (the smell of vodka was just awful).
Despite the hangover of the previous day, on March 23, on Monday, we got up early. We ate a “sloppy” breakfast and set off with our “father” in his car to the factory. It was located 100 km from the city, and we went even further, to the north. I will not go into the commercial component of the trip, but I will say that it had to be seen. There were no sights and attractions for tourists, it was the usual rural and provincial China. Very poor, poor. People work 12 hours a day with three days off. At the factory we saw young girls. I saw how they live. In a room of 5x5 meters, plywood is nailed along the edges, mattresses are hardly laid on it - these are sleeping places. In the middle is a homemade table. It has kitchen utensils and a small stove for cooking. Under the ceiling stretched rope for drying clothes. A persistent smell of dampness and something moldy. The only bright element in the room is the crying of a Chinese boy group. And 12 people live here. All my adult life. . .
The next morning we had planned a trip to the market for goods. The locals offered the largest market in the city - Tabton on Shang Tong Lu Street. Prices are 2 times lower than the Shanghai market. For example, a leather suitcase (large) cost me 1.500 rubles. At the same time, the “owner” said that it was possible to bargain even more. In 3 hours at the market, I bought as much as I have not bought in the last two years. One shoe brought 8 pairs! The new suitcase was instantly filled. Prices are 5-10 times lower than Russian prices for all product groups. So I recommend all "shoppers" to start their journey from here.
And in the afternoon, a flight to Shanghai was waiting for us with the same airline. At the airport, we said goodbye to Changu Soo, who flew from there to Korea. At the airport, seeing the queue for the control service, I ventured to go through the 1st class hall. For 2 minutes I smiled at the controller girl, after which we went there without any interference, except that the lighters asked again!
During the flight, the plane periodically shook, although there was practically no thunderstorm or cloud cover. And in Shanghai we were already met by Max with two brothers, one of whom had already been our driver a few days ago.
My partner wanted to go to the market again and buy gifts for the family, but I did shopping with less pleasure, because I was “packed” to the eyeballs. And I even had a bite to eat. Of the interesting things, I’ll say that the brothers intensively “sold” watches to my partner, and the approximate cost of watches in that market, as I wrote above, is 300 yuan, but for some reason we were offered 600 yuan each. It was funny to watch how Max and his petty brothers try heat up on me and my partner. And we, as if, suckers, and do not understand anything in life.
They settled us in the same hotel, which we were immensely happy with. By the way, when you re-settle, they give a 15% discount on a room of a similar category. Leaving our suitcases, we discussed plans for the evening. We decided to see how Max lives and whether he can help us if the Chinese partners let us down. Moreover, the probability of this was high, and Max himself hinted that he was ready for anything for the sake of a modest reward. We decided to drink a bottle of vodka and talk to him.
We went to the local "brothel", where we ordered food and started drinking the vodka we brought with us. The food was a weak C grade, but the vodka went with a bang. The brothers quickly got drunk. We got what we wanted from Max. I was about to go home, when my partner, being a person who loves company, offered to sit still. Big mistake. One of the brothers brought "wheels", claiming that this is a local "Viagra". I tried to explain to them that I only wanted to sleep, to which I received an unequivocal refusal.
Having finally finished the event, the gentlemen, instead of taking me to the hotel, took me and my partner to the “Shanghai Nights” already known to the reader. Apparently, they hoped that we would buy them a friend each (naive). At the same time, one of the brothers insisted that I eat the offered pill. I refused, which caused a surge of anger in his modest brain, from which he climbed on me with his fists (in the car). There were two options: to push him “on the butt”, or to get up and leave. I chose the second option. Having caught a taxi, I left, but my partner was rushing about... for some reason he believed that the negotiations had not yet been completed. But what are these negotiations? This is drunken bullshit!
They followed my taxi for a long time and even stopped it at the crossroads. My brother apologized for a long time, but I steadfastly left for the hotel and went to bed. The guys were not upset and began to breed my partner for tips for trips around the city (although Chang Su said that the car was free). Sergei forked out 30 yuan (a taxi would have cost a maximum of 150! ), although I probably would have moved “to the end”.
Everything was fast in the morning. We, taught by the bitter experience of being late for the airport, got up early. We had breakfast, packed, checked out. At 8.00, the brother-driver did not arrive, as always, he was 20 minutes late. Max did not come, apparently, he was ashamed to show his "face".
Expensive in "Pudong" took about an hour. Upon arrival, the brother again began to beg for 300 yuan, and Sergey forked out again (yes, a taxi is cheaper, definitely, but his partner thought that this would “help things”). Terminal 2, where Aeroflot flies from, was half empty. I brazenly went to the business class desk and asked to be registered. Everything would be fine, but those spare parts that the partner picked up at the first plant weighed 25 kg, as a result of which we had an overload of 32 kg. And it is paid at an extremely extortionate price - 24 US dollars per kilogram. Interestingly, credit cards are not accepted. Payment in dollars must be made strictly without change. The exchange office was at the other end of the hall. Here's stupidity at its best. We scraped up the dollars and moved on. The procedures did not take much time, and an hour later we headed for Moscow.
The Airbus 330s recently bought by Aeroflot are really good. The entertainment system is decent, the planes are comfortable and pleasant. They wanted to transfer to the “business class”, but did not agree with the conductors, as always they “raised up” the prices.
Well, “Ball Two” as always met us with a huge chaotic queue at passport control, and problems with luggage: for some reason I found my new suitcase on the tape of the flight from Seoul. But these are trifles, the main thing is that we returned home, where we wanted so much all week...
In summary, I am satisfied with the trip. And from the point of view of business, and from the side of recreation, and shopping, and knowledge of the world. I will definitely come to China again, but already as a tourist, to appreciate the culture and history of this wonderful country…