Last week we tought we deserved a free weekend to relax, so we decided to visit the Xiamen team. Xiamen, about a thousand kilometers away, was for us the ideal location to enjoy another China. Thus, some organisation was necessary. We needed a flight, and certainly a place to sleep. The tickets were booked by Vicky and a taxi to the 'tshitchang' (chinese for airport) was arranged by Mike, one of the translators.
Our hotel in Xiamen was the Asia Gulf Hotel, as the name it says: it was more than nice! Superb rooms with a nice shower and good beds.
The choice for this hotel was based on the stay of the Xiamen team. More exact, the team from Xiamen stays for one month in this beautiful hotel. We were happy that we could also enjoy their accomodation.
For dinner we went to an Italian restaurant 'Tuto Bene' in the centre of Xiamen. The taxi ride to there was worse than ever before. After ten minutes, the taxi was shaking like an ostrich with a caffeine rush... The taxidriver hits his breaks and we tought we must do the rest by feet. But no, his engine starts again and we arrived well at our destination. The court at the resto was very good and when we heared that the cook was a belgian person, we were not suprised.
After a good dinner, a good party is necessary. On the other side of the street there was a club 'La bomba'. For Dirk it was okay, his quote was to the point: 'Dees club is helemaal fout, maar hoe fouter hoe liever!'. We took a look inside but decided to go to a more famous club, the KK (pronounced as kaka).
This was to good!! It's something totaly other than we are used to. A lot of dancers and live singers on different stages. We were settled in the top floor of the club and had a nice overview. Later in the evening the dancers got no attention anymore because the stages were charmed by us.
Next morning Anne-Sophie, Paulien, Evelien and Dirk went to the pressconference, while the boys were sleeping and enjoying a nice breakfast. Afterwards we took a swim in the awesome pool of the hotel. To get in, a bathing cap was obligatory as you can see on the picture.
After a nice lunch, a dive in the sea was refreshing.
In the afternoon we went to Xiamen city. Let's do some shopping!! It was more than a crowded place. Shops and stands everywhere, legal and fake stuff, apparantly everything is possible in China.... In one particular shop, fake stuff was hidden behind the cupboards and the later were put away when we came in. To crazy!!
Just before we took our plane back to Shanghai we visited a Mc Donalds. We found it crazy that they eat their burgers with one tiny plastic glove when they are so dirty as hell. Eek!
When we arrived at the airport we couldn't check in because there was a problem with the tickets. It seems that it were no electronic tickets. Somewhere a mistake was made... Not by us, we just showed up with our pasport. After a long discussion, a lot of calls and even some stress we were forced to buy a new ticket. Fortently we got the confirmation that the other one will be refund. We rushed like a chicken without head trough the airport to get our flight and crashed in the business seats... Oh yeah!
It was more than a nice trip and we are looking forward to see the Xiamen team in Shanghai next week!
Nigge nigge!
Tha Shanghai Team
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