🎉Today we are flying overseas! Woot woot! 🎉
In this travel series, I'll focus on my first Canton Fair experience. You'll see me working. Tho I doubt you'd actually see me working because the entire time, I was just having fun while still getting the work done. It's not black and white. You can enjoy and be serious about work and deliver what's required or at times, even beyond.
Shall we fly now? Fly with me! ✈
The country's new gem
That year Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA) opened its Terminal 2 for all International Departures to and from Cebu. I was excited to see it for the first time. I've been in and out of Mactan Airport but only at the old and only terminal in MCIA before.
It was 3:30 am when I arrived at the airport. Not too long after, Aileen from Purchasing arrived, too. The rest of the delegation arrived a few minutes later.
MCIA is said to be built out of the culture and tradition of Cebu and its neighboring Provinces in Visayas. Two specific features that I can't help but be amazed with are (1) the colorful front glass wall. The design of the wall was patterned from parol or christmas lantern.
The second amazing feature can be seen once you get inside the terminal. You can't help but stop and look at these wooden arches. It embodies freshness, a characteristic of any tropical country like ours.
When we were complete (there's five of us), we checked in all our baggages. We brought spare luggage for samples we might get from the Canton Fair.
Then time for imigration! It's not my first international flight for work but I'm still afraid of the imigration. 😱 They have all the power to offload anyone they think doesn't pass their judgment. Gladly, everyone successfully went through this process.
All we had to do was wait for the boarding time. I represented Sales, there were two representatives from Marketing and two from Puchasing.
The sun was slowly rising outside shedding light towards everyone inside the boarding area. I'm particularly happy that this is finally happening!
Then, we're inside the plane! Our flight's at 6 am so there's no way we could get breakfast before that. Upon booking the flight, breakfast meal was already included. It was so so but definitely better than not having anything to eat.
We're here!
After just three hours of air travel, we finally landed at Hongkong International Airport.
I understand that wasting time ain't in the vocabulary of executives, businessmen. Honestly tho, I don't want to travel the way executives do. I don't want fun to be out of the picture. Well, I want to see myself as an executive one day but certainly not the type who just work to the point of burnout. And that's probably why I still get to enjoy this work trip because I chose to see it as fun and as full of adventure as if I'm not here for work at all.
It was my first time in Hongkong. I couldn't hide how grateful I am to experience everything for free! To see new things, infra and everything in between. Really glad Aileen came, too! We took turns in taking photos of each other.
In transits
We rode a taxi from Hongkong International Airport to Hung Hom Station. That's about 33 km of land travel via taxi. Here are few snaps I took while on that taxi ride:
We arrived at the station and we waisted no time, got our tickets for Guangzhou and off we went inside the train.
The next photos might be blury, but all smiles out as I ride my first ever travel via train! Sorry, this might be something small to everyone but not to me. I had to document every minute of it! 😍
Yup, including the lines while waiting for our turn to get inside! Haha 😂
And finally, we're in our seats! Aileen and I sat beside each other, which made everything less nervous.
I was particularly excited to experience how it'd feel inside a moving train. "Will I feel the pressure of the train moving at a high speed?" Questions like this bombarded my mind.
By almost 1 in the afternoon we arrived in Guangzhou, China. That's 2 hours of train ride from Hongkong.
We went through imigration all over again and finally met the other people we will be going with in the Canton Fair. We arrived a day before the event because as you could see it took us almost 8 hours just to reach Guangzhou from Cebu.
Together with the China Team, we had our very late lunch. I've heard from my workmates who've been here before that food in China ain't tasty. But this food (whatever it's called, I wasn't the one who ordered) tasted heaven! I particularly like the spicy kick at the end of every bite. Yum!
It was a gloomy day outside of the train station but the huge towering glass buildings did all the magic. The streets were clean and it looked nice everywhere I look. I had a different expectation.
We arrived at the hotel by 3:20 PM. We booked the hotel in advance. It's not a smart move to not book a hotel during the Canton Fair season. I heard all hotels including the small ones are usually fully booked. Good thing our rooms were only waiting for us!
We didn't stay in a fancy hotel. It'll be of no use since we'd be using the room for sleeping only. The rest of the day we're out and working our asses off.
I'm excited to share more about my Guangzhou Trip for the Canton Fair that I attended a few years back! Have you been to Canton Fair or any other international fair before?
Have a great Thursday evening everyone! 🌃😁
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Ka cool uy! 😍 I'm so amazed how many pictures you've got from the trip! You had a great time gyud. Murag dili work travel related. 😍 can't wait for the part 2! Missing travel outside pinas! 💜
Hahaha Diba? Mura rag normal day ga laag sa HK/China, diskarte ra gyud na Missy! 😂
AS proof I always read peoples posts until the end, I was ready to ask how the hell did you get into China without even wearing a mask when I arrived at the end of the post lol...
Great trip, even better when the company is paying lol....I miss Hong Kong, and Manila, and especially Cebu Pacific! Ahhhhh happy old days and reminders at every turn on Hive.
Best wishes superstar :-)
Oh, I forgot to mention this was pre pandemic @nathen007! Haha saying that now made me miss traveling when Covid was just a thing we saw in movies. 😭
I know right! Plus there's a daily allowance I saved up to visit few more attractions after the work trip! Haha
You did read everything, thanks for dropping by @nathen007. If you come back and go to Cebu, I'll give you lechon. Haha 😁
Wow this new international airport really stunning. That architecture really beautiful and stunning. Can't wait for you to share more about canton fair and your work too.
Thank you, it's one of the rare infrastructures we have that the Province is just so proud of. 😁
Nope havent been in any International fun fair except for the ones they have here. Fun times whilst working. How great is that! Keep safe. 😃
I've visited local trade shows here in Cebu as well as Manila for work, @chichi18! Fun times indeed! 😁
:) Nihau?! That's one nice airport! and it looks way bigger that our local airport.
Really? It's even bigger than the one you see on my photos. I didn't get the opportunity to roam around on the other sides. We're short of time. Hehe
what the really? Nihau.. is like kamusta, right? I took 1 year of Mandarin in college.. :)
k, just googled it.. should be Ni hao :P
Yes, that's correct but didn't try to speak Chinese/Mandarin there. I'm afraid they'll think I know how to. I'd be in trouble lol hehe
😂 yea
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I missed Guangzhou. I visited a few years back. It's a nice city with many places for food. Yummy.
Hi @ace108!I've only been in Guangzhou for a couple of days and never really had the chance to explore the city more. I was limited to what places our partners in Guangzhou brought us. But nevertheless, I've seen beautiful places and yes, food was great too!
I was there for holiday and I enjoyed the place but I heard about Canton Fair from my friend before and sounds impressive.
It's unreal @ace108! We had to spend at least 3 days just to explore the entire fair. Almost actually.
I noticed you are not wearing masks in any of these photos, even in China. I'm not saying that you should wear them because I think they are useless and annoying. I'm just a bit surprised that this is allowed, especially in China.
OK, i read one of the other responses and now see that it is pre-Covid... lol
Hello @gooddream! My bad for the confusion. I guess I've been drawn to tell my story that I forgot mentioning this was pre-pandemic. I hope we all move forward from this pandemic and stop wearing masks so we can display our wonderful smiles and beautiful faces just like the old days! 😅
i totally agree with you. Where I live now it is 50/50 as far as masks are concerned and I hope it will soon become 0/100 (with zero being the amount of people that are wearing masks.) I am a smiling person but no one knows behind the mask do they?
Your photo outside the train reminds me of my own train ride on the Trans-Mongolian Rail where I travel from Beijing to St Petersburg over 25 days. Looking forward to the second part of your adventures in Canton.
What?! You did that route already? 😳😮😲 That's crazy! I've read about the route when I came across a post in Facebook narrating the journey. The sceneries were out of this world and the people she met were wonderful. That must have been life changing! Now, I'm jealous! Haha
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