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Our man in China: Contest winner shares his experience while travelling to China with the Mission Chamber

Rahman Shafi won a free trip thanks to a contest presented by the chamber and the Mission Record.
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Members of the Mission and Regional Chamber of Commerce

Members of the Mission and Regional Chamber of Commerce, along with some local business owners, are in China. Along with the group is Rahman Shafi who won a free trip thanks to a contest presented by the chamber and the Mission Record. Shafi is sharing his thoughts with Record readers with an update of his day-to-day activities.

 

Day 1:

Well after 24 hours of traveling we made it to Beijing, the 11 hour and 53 minute flight from Vancouver to Shanghai wasn’t as bad as you think. Most of us had somewhat of a decent sleep, the food wasn’t too bad either. Had TVs with movies and TV shows for when we couldn’t sleep.

Landed in Shanghai at about 4 a.m., then we had a very long wait. Most of the group ventured off to find coffee/breakfast. Some of us found empty benches to sleep. We made it through security and waited for another four hours, finally the time came (12:10 p.m.) to board our flight to Beijing.

It was a rocking flight but the two hours went by pretty quick. After getting our bags we met up with the two tour guides and we split up to take the buses to the hotel. We made a quick stop by the Olympic venues to take a few pictures, then we had a lovely dinner.

We made it to the hotel by 7:30 p.m. Now we are all just relaxing/ possibly sleeping, because tomorrow will be an early day.

 

Day 2:

We had an early wake up call, had a nice breakfast, met up in the lobby got on the buses and headed to the summer palace.

As we were walking down the street there were people on the streets trying to sell us “souvenirs” such as pins, funny hats and real fake rolexes. Some of the group caved in and bought a few things cause they had dropped the price. The summer palace was incredible and so well preserved over all these years. Most of us walked down the full length of the longest corridor in the world. We are very fortunate that the weather has been good to us while we are visiting.

After we left the summer palace, we went to the Pearl Factory. They showed us how to tell if pearls are real or fake, we got to look around and purchase jewelry, most of the guys found chairs to lounge on while the ladies were shopping.

By the time we were finished in the pearl factory it was time for lunch. Each group was put into separate rooms and they brought out all kinds of delicious foods.

After we had lunch we headed to Tieamen Square and the Forbidden City. It was just incredible. The forbidden city is 700m wide and about 960m long. And yup you guessed it we walked from one end to another. After a long walk like this a Peking Duck dinner was in order.

Reviews from the group about the duck were that it was very good, fattier then chicken but tasty. The group had split up to either go back to the hotel or go watch a kung fu show.

It was nice to come back and relax after a long day of walking.

 

The Guy In China!

Rahman - “not like the noodles.”