Ivan About Town goes to China

Remember I said I had exciting travel plans coming up? I had to cancel the whitewater rafting trip in Kalinga as well as the bus ride to Samar and Leyte just for this. Hehe! I'm one of the delegates selected by the National Youth Commission to represent the Philippines at the China-ASEAN Youth Camp 2006.

We left for Guangzhou today via China Southern Airlines. Although I've been on several flights this year, all of them were on low-cost carriers. So I completely forgot they served meals on board which was good since I wasn't able to eat breakfast. Our flight left NAIA at 12 noon and landed at the Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport at 2:40 p.m.

It took quite a while for us to get out since lines were long at the health screening and immigration counters. After getting our luggage, we were met by representatives of the All China Youth Federation. We had to wait for a few more minutes since the delegation from Laos was arriving that afternoon as well. So we took a stroll around the airport in the meantime.

By the time we got back to the meeting place, the Lao delegation was already there so we boarded the coaster which took us to our residence for the next three days, the Grand View Hotel in Hongmei Town, Dongguan City which was was in between Guangzhou and Shenzen.

After resting for an hour, we had a sumptuous traditional Chinese dinner at the restaurant at the ground floor. Several dishes were served on the table which included duck, chicken, fish, squid, mushrooms, and vegetables. No pork was served since there were Muslim delegates.

We took a stroll outside the hotel after dinner but weren't able to see much since we we're not close to the city center. There was a convenience store close by so I bought my supply of dried fruits and water for the night. Since we were tired, we went straight to bed. Tomorrow is a free day while we wait for other delegates to arrive. The camp officially begins on October 24.