For more than a year my Asian monger mentor, Crazier, has been prodding me to come to visit China. I hesitated because my prior encounters with mainland Chinese girls had resulted in rather mercenary sessions and concerns over a large language barrier. Let me tell you, I am kicking myself for missing out on a year of China action. This exploratory trip was a real success, and I think that there is a segment of Hombres who would likewise love the China mongering experience.

Let me get the boring logistics out of the way in this chapter. I am not too good a writing up the ¡°how to¡± part of these trip reports so that others can easily follow in my footsteps. But given the dearth of information on these areas I am going to give it the old college try.

My itinerary was to arrive in Macau and proceed to cross the border into Zhuhai and meet up with Crazier. After two nights in Zhuhai, we took a two hour bus ride and spent four nights in Changping in the city of Dongguan. Then I returned to Macau and spent on night.



Visa Issues;

As an American, I had to get a Chinese visa in advance. From my discussions with the PRC Embassy in China, and with the Chinese border control between Macao and Zhuhai there is no visa on arrival available for American passport holders. I got my visa in at the Chinese embassy in Singapore and it was very easy but not cheap. For a single entry tourist visa good for a stay up to 30 days it costs; S$90 for a four day wait, S$135 for next day service, and S$150 same day service. Note that you enter China within three months of the embassy issuing the Visa, so don¡¯t get it too far in advance.

http://www.chinaembassy.org.sg/eng/lsqw/default.htm

Here is the website for the Chinese embassy in Bangkok

http://www.chinaembassy.or.th/eng/lsfw/default.htm

For those who want to get their Visa In Hong Kong I found this info on the ISG.info forums. "You can get your Visa at the PRC visa office at 7th floor, lower block, 26 Harbour Rd., Wanchai (entrance is below the China Arts and Craft store at China Resources Bldg, go down to street level by escalator, go towards the flyover bridge - opposite of Central Plaza and you will find the plain entrance hallway) phones 852-3413-2424, 3413-2300, fax 3413-2312

website: http://www.fmcoprc.gov.hk

At the visa office you will ONLY be charged the cost of the visa - versus a nice hefty mark-up that all Travel Agencies (including China Travel Service) charges. PLUS it will require a shorter period of time (the travel agents also needs to go there and collect the passport back) PLUS you know that you're handing over your passport to an official government agency versus the schlocky receipts you get from these travel agents."

The only information I have found on getting a visa in Macao (if you can't get VOA at the border) is the following agency China Travel Service Macau Xin Hua, rua de nagasaki, ZAPE,Macau Tel.700888. I would expect that it will take overnight at a minimum.

Transportation:

Getting to Macau:
I flew to Macau direct from Singapore on Tiger Airways. The Macau airport is rather small. I noticed that Air Asia also offers direct flights to Macau from Bangkok and KL. Also you can get to Macau by ferry from Hong Kong Island or HKIA.

Getting from Macau airport to Zhuhai:
From the airport I took the local bus AP1 which cost only 3.2 Patacas (less than fifty cents) but it took almost and hour and a half to reach the border crossing into China. Next time I will take a private direct shuttle which only takes 15-20 minute for $25HK (about $3.50.) I read that a taxi will cost about $50HK. Supposedly there is a coach option that will take you from Macao directly to the mainland points such as Zhuhai and Changping. Further I read that this takes a bit of time but if you have a lot of luggage may be the best option.

Crossing the border into China:
This is a huge border crossing. Just follow the obvious flow of foot traffic. First you will have to exit through Macao immigration. Then you will walk past some gigantic Duty free complex and into the mainland Chinese immigration check point. There are tons of lanes for Chinese national to use but only a couple for foreign visitors, make sure you get in one of these lanes by looking at the lighted signage above the lanes. Keep following the traffic past customs and out the building. It took me about 30 minutes to cross the border. However, I could see this taking a lot longer if you timed it badly for weekend or holiday traffic. As you enter the city of Zhuhai the town at the border is called Gongbei.

Walking directions to Lian Hua Lu or Lotus Road (the walking street with all the outdoor bars) Once you exit the building you can¡¯t miss the prominent entrance into a huge underground shopping center. You want to enter this mall and quickly you will come to choose one of five branches. Take the second one from your right. Follow this all the way to the exit. Once you exit, head to the right and you will quickly see an entrance onto Lian Hua Lu or Lotus road. There will be a small bus station on your right as you enter this street. After a block on this street you will see the first beer bars on your right. These bars will see no street walker traffic. Continue across the cross street and the Walking street opens into a small square. Here you will find the Min An Hotel where we stayed. Continuing up the street you will start to see a stretch of outdoor bars on your right for two blocks, Here the street girls will be working.

On the map below the shaded street is LHL street.


Getting to Changping:

From Zhuhai you can take a bus. However, you can take the bus from Gongbei station but rather a bigger bus station the next town over. Take bus from Xiang Zhou bus station in ZhuHai. Here is the directions passed to me from Crazier, "Cost is RMB70 and every hour departure, earliest is 8 am. If you come out of customs in GongBei and take taxi to Xiang Zhou bus station, around RMB50, or by bus, RMB2 for aircon and RMB1 for non aircon. The bus from Zhuhai to CP will take approximately 3 hours and it will stop in Dongguan City before proceeding to Chang Ping, Dongguan." For us the bus took 2.5 hours going to Zhuhai and about 2 hours coming back.

From Hong Kong: There are a myriad of options. Here is some of the collective wisdom from the posters on Sammyboy.com.

1) The most direct and simple approach via the KCR is a direct Train From HungHom (Kowloon) to Chang Ping, Dongguan.

Take the Airport Express from HKIA to the Kowloon station. There, hop on the free shuttle bus (the K1 bus) to KCR's HungHom station. A single ticket on the Airport Express will cost you HK$90. There are only 8 or 9 trains per day on these KCR's Hong Kong to Guangzhou trains that stop over in Chang Ping, Dongguan. They are popular and it's best to book in advance to minimize waiting time. You can do so on the interenet. However, you will have to collect the tickets at the station before getting on the train. The passenger must produce the credit card at that point. One way fare on the First Class Train is 145 rmb and 135 rmb on the Standard train.

http://www.it3.kcrc.com/B2C/UserPage/sysTimeTable_Eng.asp

This option helps you to avoid potential jam at the Luohu checkpoint during weekends since you do the immigration and custom clearance on arrival in Chang Ping, Dongguan on arrival there.

2) Here is a Cheaper Charlie way from the HKIA airport. For efficieny & speed, and costs.

Step A: The best route is to take A43 to Sheung Shui. The journey is about 50 mins to Sheung Shui. Frequencies about 15-20 mins. The number of stops are less than 10 throughout the journey. Operation: 0700 - 2400. Operator: Long Win. Cost:28 HKD.

http://www.hongkongairport.com/eng/aguide/bus.html

There is a Bus Ticket Office at the Bus Terminal of HKIA situated about 5m directly behind the queue for Bus#A43. Here, you need not have the exact amount. However, you can purchase the Octopus (stored value) Card available at HKIA, if you intend to make future trips. You can also use this card for KCR train (as well as many other establishments in HongKong, including 7-11) and save much time. There is no expiry date for the stored value.

Step B: If you take Bus A43 from HKIA to Sheung Shui, and alight at the 2nd stop there. On alighting, you DON'T have to cross the road, you will be able to see the Sheung Shui KCR Station. Walk towards the station, follow the crowd and take the escalator up the station and TURN RIGHT. Continue to follow the crowd and you will see ticket booth for the trains. Buy the ticket(s), and follow the crowd to board the train to go to LOWU. Most Mainland people going to Shenzhen will take this route. Sheung Shui KCR Station to LuoWu KCR Station - ONLY 1 stop. Train is very frequenct and costs 20 HKD

http://www.kcrc.com/html/eng/index.asp (Select East Line)

Cost from HKIA - LuoWu : 28 HKD + 20 HKD = Total 48 HKD

Step C: At Lowu, you have to exit HK immigration. And walk over to Shenzhen to enter China at Shenzhen's immigration.

Step D: Walk to Guang Shen Train Station and take the train from Shenzhen to Chang Ping (Dongguan) - Cost: 35rmb (RMB35). The journey from Shenzhen to Chang Ping station takes approx 30 mins.

After clearing mainland China Immigration & Custom checkpoint, you exit the main door, and on your left you will find a long corridor walkway to head towards the Shenzhen Train Station Building ¨C which is the same direction towards the Shenzhen Metro (subway) and Shangrila Hotel, this a good 10mins walk. At the end of the covered corridor, look out for the GZO-SZ train ticket booths to get your ticket to CP/DG (RMB35) Do not go into the main ticketing area further ahead that sell tickets to go to other parts of China. There should be a train every 30/40 mins. Get ticket for next available train . The last train is either 9:30pm or 10:00pm. The waiting area for the train to Chang Ping, Dongguan for the GS line is right next to the GS ticketing booth, separated from the area for trains going to other parts of China.

This is the Express train service from Shenzhen to Guangzhou, with limited and varying stops. It is the same route for trip from HKIA to Zhang Mo Tou which is one stop before Chang Ping. Only a few trains that stop in ZMT will also stop at Chang Ping. Similarly for ShiLong/ShiJie which lie between Chang Ping, Dongguan and Guangzhou.

For the return trip from Chang Ping to HKIA you have the reverse sequence. When you arrive on the train from Chang Ping, you will exit on the B1 level and not the Ground level of the Shenzhen Train station. You need to exit on the east gate ¨C which is the same direction to the Shangrila Hotel, or, you will end up on the wrong side and unable to get to the Lo Wu Checkpoint. Indeed, if you see Best Western Felicity Hotel (the old Forum Hotel) you are on the wrong side of the station.

3) The direct express bus or the latest "car" from HKIA to CP is for those who want a simple solution "point to point." However, the overall travel time taken is longer and the journey in those buses or "cars" is somewhat crampy. If you have lots of baggage, it may be the way to go. The most comfortable and easiest way if you are carrying some baggages is to the CP to HKIA Express Bus which make 6 to 7 trips per day. One of them is at Miraton Hotel (the hotel we stayed at) and the other at the Virgin Hotel (next door). The journey is about 3 hr plus ...Pls check the time table at least a day before hand and make resevation ahead. Price approx. : 250rmb

One here : http://www.eebus.com/international/c.../na_go_dk2.htm



From Shenzhen airport: Tiger airways flies three times a week directly from Singapore to Shenzhen. The flight arrives after 10:30 PM. I read that the best way is to take a taxi for the the 50KM ride and it should cost 210 RMB ($1 = 8 RMB)


Hotels

In Zhuhai, We stayed at the Min An hotel. This hotel was extremely convenient for the outdoor bar and street walker action. I loved its location. The price was 200RMB during the week and 220RMB on the weekend. The rooms are small but recently refurbished. The rooms had a decent sized bathroom and free high speed internet. However, there was no room safe and you could lock personal items up behind the reception desk. Also, the bed had the hardest mattress I ever slept on. If you got up early enough each room got a 10RMB voucher for use in the adjacent restaurant. The restaurant was quite nice and served decent Dim Sum.



In Changping, we stayed at the Miraton Hotel. This a super solid 4* hotel anywhere in the world, and one of the greatest hotel bargains I have ever enjoyed. We paid 265RMB a night through a friend of Crazier, although we later met a mamasan who said she could us the same rate. This hotel has a huge ostentatious lobby and very professional staff. The very large well appointed room had a firm king size mattress, in room safe, free high speed internet, and very cool modern bathroom. If you approached the bathroom, the lights automatically turned on. Also, the mirror in the bathroom had this amazing no fog technology. Also there was an extensive breakfast for two included that had both Asian and Western foods. I never got around to checking out the pool and gym. I can¡¯t stress enough what a deal this hotel is for less than $35 dollars. Plus the location was excellent and lots of taxis always around.

http://www.miratonhotel.com/english/main-e.htm





Safety and crime; On the surface Zhuhai and Changping look much more nice and developed than say Jakarta, AC, Manila and even Macau. This pleasant exterior can lead you into a false sense of security. Evidently teams on motorcycles are common and adept at drive by snatches. Crazier had an unsuccessful attempt in broad daylight at a very visible and prominent interchange. I also read about one of the girls purses being snatched as well.

Also, I have read that there is a huge problem with counterfeit RMB¡¯s on the street everyone checks the money and you should inspect all your money (give it a simple feel test) especially if you are taking 50¡¯s and 10¡¯s from taxi drivers.

Taxis: Plenty of taxis in Zhuhai and their meter starts at 10 RMB. That is sufficient to cover most of your rides around town. In Changping, there are also lots of taxis. There are also tons of unofficial minivan taxis. Taxis seemed to start at 15 RMB and that seem to cover most rides. Sometimes you needed to negotiate and blow of the first taxi to get that fare.

ATM's and Moneychangers: Tons of money changers in Macau and there seemd to be adequate ATM¡¯s in Zhuhai and Changping. Exchange rates are $1 = 8 RMB = 5 HKD = 5 Macau dollars.

OK now that the boring, but necessary, stuff is out of the way. Let's talk about the great girls, partying and eats!

There are various air services serving Macau Airport incl Air Asia out of Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok.

Both Tiger and Air Asia do fly between AC and Macau too.

Then, there's Air Macau and others, information for which I do not have.

For Chang Ping alone, I would try to fly directly into China e.g. to Shenzhen or Guangzhou on Tiger from Singapore.

HK is another great gateway into Southern China and the connections/options as you can see from Mx's post here are numerous.

Mx, great start to another great post (I am looking forward to read your inner thoughts) as I had started to write this piece myself and simply ran out of time and motivation.

Great start! Always fun to hear about new exotic places. Can't wait to hear, and hopefully see, about the quality of the girls.

Fantastic blueprint for the newbie MX, the nuts and bolts type of thing are what makes a TR so great. Eagerly looking forward to the rest of your report.

Thanks for Chapter 1 and what is going to come. Some of my most memorable sessions have been with Chinese girls in Hong Kong and Macau (intermixed with some highly mercenary sessions as well though) so I suspect I would like China alot. Your guide should be very helpful in getting some of us China newbies motivated to go.

Great timing. i've been very interested in exploring china. I even picked up a learn to speak chinese during my most recent trip to sea. Hope i got the right program. What dialect of chinese do they speak there?

Soc.,

In Guangdong province, most of the locals speak the Cantonese dialect but most of the WLs come from outside of the province and Mandarin (aka "putong hua")goes a long way. The locals do speak Mandarin too.

While I am Chinese, I have always found most of the WLs outside China rather mecernary as compared with the Indos, Pinas and Thais but in China, it's as good as you get anywhere if not better esp. if you like Chinese Ladies. Looks are diverse cos it's a huge country.

There goes the neighborhood ;)

Cantonese is the local dialect, but everyone also speaks mandarin. Given such a small percentage of people/places in china speak cantonese, my recommendation is stick with mandarin.

Plus you only have 4 tones to deal with in Mandarin. Cantonese gives you 9 tones to struggle with.

Are those anything like Thai tones? I cannot even fathom *9* of them.

they are fairly easy to get used to...

Nothing like bringing a phrase book and dictionary with you and having mandarin lessons in the foot massage places.

She learns English and you learn Mandarin with loving pampering over two hours. Bet you will learn some.

I witnessed myself how Mx had the women totally charmed during the sessions and even at the restaurants where he drew a crowd not to mention the BBS places or at Amazon - nah, he has to tell it like it is from his personal experience there.

DM, are you referring to the 4 or the 9? From what I've gathered, Cantonese is considered by linguists to be one of the most difficult languages in the world, primarily because of the 9 tones. I've been told by native Mandarin speakers that THEY can't fathom Cantonese.

And even if you are just referring to the 4 tones of Mandarin, I think you're exaggerating how easy it is to learn, because you've been speaking it for so long. :-)

I am referring to mandarin of course, cantonese is a bitch. I'm not saying Mandarin is EASY, but compared to some (thai, cambodian, etc) it is quicker to grasp and learning some basic phrases is pretty painless. The hardest part of mardarin is getting used to learning to comprehend unteen hundreds of local variations. The good news is that folks can understand you--assuming they want to make the effort.

On Language, guess what I just saw in Pantip Plaza, Bangkok.

Besta Cyberdict 10; a compact 5-languages (w-way0 in 1 handheld electronic dictionary with voice (sound of each and every word) for English, Thai, Korean, Chinese (modern, traditional & hanyu pinyin) & Japanese with pda-type pointer.

With max size 2 g-byte SD card (additional) so you can download and add conversation phrases too.

Total cost was 14,900 and I am probably going to buy it given my huge liking for China and my living in Bangkok!

See http://www.tohome.com/product_detail.aspx?product_id=20060500168

Some pictures of LHL entrance, The Underground Shopping Centre Exit near LHL, Signboards, Xiang Zhou Bus Station, Chang Ping Bus Station and others.

Exit of the Undergraound Shopping Mall near LHL.



Signboard at the Exit near LHL



Signboard - another view.



The Friendship Hotel you see as you exit the Underground Mall


Xiang Zhou Bus Station in Zhuhai from where you get the bus to Chang Ping from Zhuhai.


The Bus as Located at the Ziang Zhou Station. You can buy your ticket from the lady on the chair at the front of the bus.



The Bus Station in Chang Ping.


The Ticketing Counter at the Chang Ping Bus Station.


The inside of the Bus that plies between Zhuhai and Chang Ping.


Commuter Bus No 2 that you can take from Gongbei to Xiang Zhou if you are budget conscious as opposed to a taxi. 2 Yuans as opposed to about 25 yuans.



(Message edited by crazier on June 21, 2006)

Some landmarks in Chang Ping for mongers who visit the place.

The Miraton Hotel by night.


Virgin Hotel by night.


Virgin Hotel by day.


Virgin Hotel's Sex Sauna Annexe Building.


Huei Mei Foot Massage Annexe Building next to Virgin's Annexe.


Yalan Hotel near the major BBS shops.



The Junction where the Yalan Hotel is located.


The Airland Hotel's Signboard, at the same junction.


(Message edited by crazier on June 21, 2006)

Via Hunghom Station in HK., the KCR train is a great direct way to get to Chang Ping (Dongguan Station).

The Miraton Hotel's courtesy car will pick you up (by arrangement) and drop you there on departure too. (or at the bus station). Other hotels have the same service too.

Inside the KCR Train



The Chang Ping Railway Station aka Dongguan Station.


Miraton Hotel's Courtesy Car. Most of the hotels in CP provide a courtesy car which will pick you up and drop you off at the Railway / Bus Station.


(Message edited by crazier on June 21, 2006)

The "Catacombs"

Nicknamed the Catacombs by Veteran ISG monger, this downmarket place in Chang Ping is reputed to have STs (20 minutes) for the grand sum of 30 yuans! Yes, Unbelievable but true! There is no zero missing here.

Both Mx and I walked the area based on his post (information) on ISG but could not find it.

I have now downloaded a pic from his post and have it here so that others who want to avail themselves to the cheapo thrill in CP can do so.

Am also quoting his directions to get there. It's really not what both Mx and I wanted so our effort was sort of lame!


Quote :

"Hua Tai Bin Guang" which is the Hua Tai Hotel (Walter Hotel). When you get there and see a McDonalds and a Rainbow Department Store then you are in the right area. Now the tricky part is to find the school running track in the back area behind the McDonalds. It actually took me another 15 minutes or so of careful searching before I finally found the area. Did three girls in about a 1.5 hour span which is pretty interesting because that technically means I would only need to spend 90 RMB (I tipped two of the girls who had a good attitude). The girls are decent, about 6-7. After chatting with them a bit, here is some additional info I found: the 30 RMB is price for 20 minutes or so of service although one gal was giving the standard "hurry up" line after about 5 minutes. You can get a BBBJ + FS for 50 RMB. Apparently, foreigners are no uncommon, so they won't be too shy about non-Asian mongers. They do try to charge white mongers 50-100 RMB for ST. Also, the most common foreigner mongers for them are blacks/Africans.

If I had this picture with me, I would have shown it to someone in the vicinity and surely found the place for a first hand FR of the place.


(Message edited by crazier on June 21, 2006)

"Total cost was 14,900 and I am probably going to buy it given my huge liking for China and my living in Bangkok!"

Make sure you try it before you buy it. I would be sceptical of any unit under 40-50k baht.