The popular cuisine not to miss in Hong Kong - Dimsum!

One of the delicacies that you should definitely not miss out on is the famous Dimsum in Hong Kong! Walk down the streets and you can easily find a lot of shops that offer nice yet affordable food, especially Dimsum.

Palatable Dimsum Dishes in Hong Kong Restaurant

So what exactly is Dimsum? Dimsum is a Cantonese way of referring to small bite-sized or individual portions of food traditionally served in small steamer baskets or on small plates. The most prominent way of serving fully cooked and ready-to-serve Dimsum dishes in restaurants is by pushing a cart filled with variety of dishes. Customers can simply select what they want from these carts and the waitresses would serve it to them straight. Dimsum is well-known for this unique way of serving dishes!

Take a look at the palatable Dimsum dishes my intern colleagues and I enjoyed here in Hong Kong:

Adam, Nicole and I enjoying the Dimsum

We have found this nicely decorated and posh restaurant at Hennessy Road, which sells really affordable Dimsum dishes. To add on, the Dimsum sold here is very delicious. Be sure not to miss out on this popular cuisine when you are here in Hong Kong!

Affordable Dimsum at a Posh Restaurant

You may want to visit this Dimsum restaurant, Tung Yuen Banquet at:
Address: G/F & 1/F, Hay Wah Building, 71-85 Hennessy Road, Wan Chai, Hong Kong
Phone: +852 2833 6116

A walk through Zhangjiajie National Forest Park

Whilst in China it is inevitable to leave without having had the opportunity of visiting the famous cities of the country including the mountains where the famous movie Avatar was filmed: Zhangjiajie. The mountains are located in Hunan province. The most affordable way to get there from Zhuhai is by coach and join Internchina´s crew, the agents that organize events for us.

Once in Hunan, it is very important to visit the Zhangjiajie National Forest Park listed in UNESCO´s World Heritage Sites. This park is famous for its pillar-like mountains. The unique landscape was the perfect inspiration for the floating "Hallelujah Mountains" seen in the Avatar movie.

Firstly, the coach took almost 16 hours from Zhuhai to get to Hunan, which sounds pretty long. However, it can be very exciting when lots of interns group together and play different games throughout bus rides.

We left on Sunday night and arrived Monday morning, ready to start exploring. We went inside the park and walked from one end to another, in between the mountains. It was foggy and rainy, so we all had to buy ponchos and umbrellas to stay dry. Most of the ponchos were blue, which actually went great with the Avatar theme.

The second day we actually climbed up the mountain, which was really tough as there were almost 6000 steps and it was quite warm which made it even difficult as I was sweating a lot all the time. However, once on the top of the mountains the views are spectacular; a real treasure to our eyes.

We even enjoyed having lunch at a Mc Donalds at the top of the mountain which was really surprising. As we were walking up the mountain we could see people coming down with Mc Donalds wrappers and this really motivate us to go up quickly as we new about the happy ending.

To go down the mountain we took an innovated elevator that took us right down the mountain in less than 3 minutes. Amazing!

If you interning in China for a decent amount of time don´t forget to get moving around as there are many places to encounter.

A couple of days in one of the most fastest developed cities in China: Shanghai（上海）

Moving around China is not difficult especially if there are airports located in our city. Therefore going from Zhuhai to Shanghai is very simple as it takes almost 2 hours and a half to arrive at Shanghai Pudong Airport and the tickets prices are very decent to spend a couple of days in one of the most developed cities in the world. 

Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and is a city which has massive influence in commerce, culture, finance, media, fashion, technology and last but not least transport. It also has one of the most busiest ports in the world with many imports and exports activity going on.

Being in Shanghai for a couple of days, it is inevitable to miss the amazing views of the skyline in The Bund, a real treasure for our eyes.

We can see the buildings where the movie Mission Impossible 3 was filmed in the scenes that took part in Shanghai. At night time, this view is just exceptional with the Huangpu River in the middle. We can also visit The Oriental Pearl TV Tower which is one of the main attraction sites in Shanghai that attracts many tourists the entire year.

A valuable experience in Xian (西安）

I had to get the coach from the bus station to Guangzhou Baiyun Airport start my journey from Zhuhai to Xi´an. Then we caught a 2 hour flight to Xi´an which was very tranquil. Most of the time when we want to travel around China from the south, the airports with better flight connections are located in Guangzhou and Hong Kong.

Looking into the details, Xi´an is the capital of the Shaanxi province and one of the most oldest cities in China with more than 3000 years of history. Xi´an is one of the four great ancient capitals of China and home to the Terracotta Army. This site without any doubt also appears in the list of World Cultural Heritage Sites by Unesco. 

Xi´an is a very old city where the most important and popular point of interest is obviously visiting the Terracotta Army. The museum where the army is situated is divided into 3 pits.

The first pit was discovered by local villagers in 1974 where they found many fragments of the terracotta warriors and many bronze weapons. 

Pit No.2 is the most spectacular of the three pits. Compared to Pit No.1, the combat formations in Pit No.2 are more complex, and the units of armed forces are more complete. According to preliminary calculations, there are over 80 war chariots, about 1,300 terra cotta warriors and horses, and thousands of bronze weapons.

Pit 3 is the command center or headquarters for all the groups in the other two pits. The unearthed artifacts include 68 terracotta warriors, four horses and one chariot all arranged in a layout that is quite unique.

Many warriors and cultural experience to admire and contemplate within these three pits which is an unforgettable lifetime experience.

Spending a day in Macau (澳门）

Living in Zhuhai makes it very easy to travel to places like Macau (澳门), Hong Kong (香港) and Guangzhou（广州). For instance, going to Macau is very simple as we only need to cross the border in Gongbei, Zhuhai. This step takes almost 2 - 3 hours as in weekends there is a massive crowd of people traveling around.

Once in Macau, you can easily tell the difference from mainland China as there are more western people, some people speak English and there are many foreign restaurants. Macau is well-known for its gambling establishments as there are many casinos around the place. Possibly one of the best casinos in the world, Grand Lisboa, is also located in Macau, and it is really a treasure for our eyes once you get in you will not be able to get out. Incredible monuments, lighting and of course gambling games.

Apart from this, there are many historical places to encounter like the Taipei village and the restaurants which offer great portuguese cuisine. The city has a very curious mixture of Chinese and Portuguese culture which impossible to see anywhere else in the world.

Macau also has a very modern part in the city centre near the casinos where there are great views at night time when the lights of the skyline go on. The Tower of Macau stands right in the city centre where we can go over 300m high to have an impressive view of the scenery which is amazing. There are many activities to enjoy like one of the best bungy jumps in the world.

To go to Macau for the day, it is relatively easy to plan as we could tour around the important areas in the morning and see how lucky we are in the casinos in the evening.

Learning Chinese whilst Interning in China

One of the most valuable experiences we can get whilst interning in a Chinese company for a long-term period  is the possibility to practice and learn a completely new language. Many people simply enjoy studying foreign languages but when they think about Chinese, they say it is impossible.

I have been living in China for more than 8 months and to be very honest when I first landed in Guangzhou I thought where I am, I can´t understand anyone and it is a completely different culture. However, now after spending this amount of time in China I can say that attending lessons in the country of the native language is completely different to learning it in your local country as here we interact we with the native people. This is very important when it comes to practicing the language as in European countries I am sure that there are many schools that offer the possibilities to learn Chinese language with native Chinese teachers. However, when we leave the school there is almost nobody to practice and interact with.

Also, this is the stage where we are learning different skills that are business related and developing our CV. As we all know international businesses prefer to hire people who speak more than one language. This is because China is and will be an important business and economic partner of the US and the world.

To add, learning Chinese can actually improve your mental power by learning how to arrange thoughts into a different perspective and pattern. If employers see our language capabilities, this will always prove our spoken and written skills.

Did you know that there are more people speaking Chinese than English? Chinese is the language that is most spoken in the world and is considered to be the language of the future.

I strongly recommend you that if you are spending time in China working or interning take the opportunity to learn Chinese, it will really help you out when you travel around the country as well as it will look incredibly great in your CV which will enhance your job prospect.

Chinese is difficult, this a true fact; BUT: Impossible is Nothing!!!

Spending a Saturday and Sunday in Dongguan (东莞) and Shenzhen (深圳）

Some of the main issues with traveling around from Guangdong to different cities around China is the distance and time. The most popular and common cities in China are dispersed around the countries. However, in Guangdong we have many places to visit and explore.

This weekend I decided to visit Dongguan and Shenzhen at the same time. Dongguan, which is located in between Guangzhou and Hong Kong, is one of the major economic engines in Guangdong Province. To be very honest is not a great place to stay for a long time but it is exciting to discover some aspects of one of the most fastest developing cities in China.

The city centre itself is very modern with great skylines and has one of the most important theatres in China: Dongguan Yulan Theatre. Most of the international and important exhibitions in China take place within this establishment.

On Saturday morning I got the bus from Zhuhai to Dongguan which takes almost 2 hours. I spent a couple of hours in this city and then around 4 pm headed to Shenzhen in another bus which took 1 hour. Very simple procedures to get the bus and efficient to travel around Guangdong.

Once in Shenzhen, life is much faster and busy as it is more developed than Dongguan. The views at night from the skylines were are really treasure for my eyes. To add, at night I met many foreigners in a massive club. It is surprising the amount of European people in this city which is very developed.

This trip was something different to what I do in Zhuhai and helps me experience how other cities around roll.