At least today we are able to sleep in, until 8 o'clock. I'm not sure that means we are in any way shape or form invigorated, but at least it was not another 5:30 wake up for yet another exhausting day in the field.
After the long leisurely dinner last night, a welcome change from fretting over what we could and could not eat, it seemed the perfect end to a long and, at times, grueling tour.Not participating in the knock off shopping tour, we stay at the hotel till we have to leave our rooms, then go downstairs and sit in the guest lounge on the ground floor until the bus comes to take us to the airport.
It's a time to summarise the tour.
We have seen China that the Chinese government wanted us to see. That urban sprawl is a model of urban living in cities that have 7 million or more. Two we visited had 10 million-plus, Beijing has 24 million and Shanghai has 27 million.
We saw hundreds of kilometers of rice paddies from the train which means their agriculture industry is huge. What we didn't see was any animals like sheep, cattle, or pigs. They're out there somewhere but not for us to see.
We saw a lot of power stations, and when you visit the cities you find out why. Everything is electric. And for the majority of our visit we do not see much pollution, though as we got closer to Shanghai, there was a lot more haziness. Luckily on most days, there was a wind that helped clear the air.
The other thing that is very noticeable is the places you are taken to purchase goods that are government-owned factories so allegedly you can buy with confidence that what you're getting is real, not fake and you will get an iron-clad guarantee to that effect.
But it will cost an arm and a leg. Nothing in any of these so-called factories is cheap.
The Chinese medicine shop, the pills they recommend for everyone are about 400 to 500 dollars Aus for a three month supply, for any type and there can three types so you're instantly looking at over a thousand Australian dollars right there.
At the pearl factory, the cost of everything is more subjective relative to whether or not you want it, but as a guide, it can cost you somewhere between 250 to 1,000 dollars Australian.
At the jade factory, everyone wants a jade bangle for good luck and good fortune, until they see how much it costs. Here you are considered lucky if you walk away from the place with change from 2,000 dollars Australian.
Next is the terra cotta replica factory, and here there are model soldiers of all sizes and prices, with other pricier goods. It's possible to escape this place for under 100 dollars Australian.
Lastly there us the silk factory and here for today only, it begins to sound like one of those infomercials on the morning show, the one that makes you turn off the telly or switch over to the
ABC because anything on there has to be better.
But...
We still buy the sheet the underlay the silk pillowcases and, you guessed it, free pillows were thrown in. And, yes, it's not steak knives but a suitcase, yes, you heard it right, a suitcase to take it all home in, or free shipping if you spend a million dollars. Well not quite that much, but it feels like it.
And yet there's more, the tea factory, the tour taken from a single room followed by the sales pitch where we are shocked and amazed by the properties of the tea. Of course, it's great if I swallow a bottle full of iodine The tea will just neutralize its effect, but as a tea, well just have to wait and see.
Yes, there are pills too, and these are also very expensive, a six month supply will set you back 1,800 dollars Australian.
So between all of the above, the smaller merchants haven't got a chance because after hitting the big six there's nothing left, or room left in your baggage if you took it with you.
At each venue, the tour guide gives you a long spiel, which is considered to be the softening up process before the real guide for the venue takes over to give the overall lecture on the product, and it's the manufacturing process.
By then, it's simply a matter of telling us the days bargain, but by that time all we want to do is escape, and, for some of us, get the goods and leave. The dangling of free shipping entices us to buy more than we were going to, but in the end, the ploy works.
The government must be making a small fortune from this inflow of supposedly rich tourists. Make the tour cheap, guide the tourists to the government factories, and bingo it's win-win for them and the guides who all get a cut of the action.
But...
What about the guides themselves.
Some are really good and some are terrible, and by that, I mean really terrible. It also depended on their English of which none could speak it without the inevitable conversion issues, and for others, well, it was painful.
We started with one of the best and we finished with one of the best, but each had their tormentors in the English language, and sometimes they struggled to find an English translation. In these cases, it only made the tour all that more enjoyable.
As for the bad guides, it ruined the whole day, as it did for us with the Shaolin temple and kung fu display. What's worse it was the most expensive and it would have been more preferable to sit in the hotel all day.
There was so much disparity in the meals supplied and the cost. There was nothing free except for breakfast. Perhaps the worst was at the Shaolin temple, not so much the food which was quite bland, but in what they gave you to drink. There was no cold water to drink with it, only hot water, and you had to pay extra for anything else other than water, and it was expensive.
As the most expensive side tour of the itinerary, including all drinks would have made the rest of the day's shortcomings more tolerable.
In contrast, the previous meal we had at the Terra Cotta Soldiers exhibition was incredible and came with all the drinks you could want, and it only cost 60 RMB, or about 13 dollars Aus. Even the evening dinner in Hutong, an amazing array of Chinese dishes accompanied by free drinks at a higher cost made that from the Temple more disappointing.
Most of us couldn't believe what had happened at the Temple lunch and the guides response when we asked for, at the very least, cold water. She completely ignored us and pretended it didn't happen.
As I said, there were good guides and terrible guides. She was terrible.
But, hang on, the other bus said their guide was worse.
And the Hotels?
God give me patience.
This is where, after the second hotel our group came up with the expression, 'it is what it is'.
All of them looked very impressive from the outside and going into the foyer level that impression improved with all the marble and expensive fittings.
But, sadly, in most cases, that's where the good impression ends.
The few lifts are small and usually fit four people and their cases. All well and good except when seven buses are using the same hotel, then it can take upwards of half an hour to get you your room.
Which is where shock sets in.
Rooms can be so small you couldn't swing a cat in them, the doors barely getting past the bed end and the distance between the end of the bed and the tv on the wall less than a foot.
Others you don't get a proper bathroom, just a shower, and toilet cubicle and in the passage a washbasin.
Others, you get a large room and a bathroom with a bath and a separate shower.
And something else that I thought was quite odd, very few of the same tour group are allocated rooms on the same floor, so our group of 28 were scattered throughout the hotel on each occasion.
My overall impression, we were using old hotels that are now very tired according to trip advisor, because discerning visitors are using the better hotels that still don't cost much more than these for a standard room.
Trip a deal could do better if they wanted to.
But as I said, it is what it is and it's not as if you're going to spend the rest of your life in any of those rooms. Besides isn't that half the fun, finding the completely unexpected, after all this is China and we cannot expect to find what we're used to here.
