Erica O'Hearn: Kande International Hotel

Today we started off with two group activities; one was where we split up into our two age groups and tangled our arms together trying to get out in a perfect circle without letting go of each other’s hands, the other activity had us standing in a large circle with everyone holding hands they had to squeeze one another hands and make it all away around the circle as fast as they could. It took the group two tries to beat their first time. As well with the untangling activity both groups ended up with two separate circles, one mini and the other one larger.

Our day began with us going on a bus tour with Lynn showing us around Huizhou. He showed us all the new buildings in Huizhou, as well as some of the rundown buildings. On our tour we saw the housing of where all the workers stay while building the new apartment buildings. Some of them had holes in the roof, and they all looked run down, something we would dread having to stay in. We went to one of the markets they have in Huizhou. They had almost everything in this market. Nancy, Lynn, Casey, one of the students from Huizhou University, and I went to the floor that had everything for tea. We got to sample some teas, black tea, and green tea. We ended up buying some tea, as well as a few tea pots. Every store on this floor was crammed tight, filled with tea cup sets, tea, dishes, and more.           

After our adventure in the Market we made our way over to a mall. The mall we went to was similar to one that we would see in Vancouver. Some of us went shopping, and others window shopped and ate lunch.  We then made our way to Westlake to venture around the lake. Of course it started to rain really hard as soon as we got there. We all voted to go to the Kande Hotel instead of wondering around the lake in the pouring rain. We walked to the Kande Hotel, and as we got there we were all really wet. Kande International Hotel is a five star hotel in China. Five star hotels in China have been voluntarily reducing their ratings due to corruption. The government isn’t going to five stars anymore and is suggesting that others don’t, saying they are too expensive because of the ratings they are given.

We got to have a tour of the hotel. We saw all of their restaurants; Italian, Chinese, and Japanese. We got to see all the different styles of rooms for their guests, as well as go to all the different board rooms where people hosts dinners, or have meetings. One of the larger rooms we went in holds weddings, it had a red carpet right down the middle leading to a stage at the front, with chandeliers in the room making it look classy and elegant. They had an outdoor pool, with the gym nearby. The gym was a fair size, with a pool table inside.

It was interesting to be able to compare a five star hotel in China compared to one in Canada. Once our tour ended everyone raced towards the spa to get massages. Some of us had full body massages, and others had foot massages. Our massages were well worth it after days of walking everywhere. After our relaxation of our massages we journeyed our way back to our hotel to get ready for our Hakka dinner at the university. Tess, Natasha, Stephanie, and I shared a cab back to the hotel, and was it ever the most interesting drive back. Our driver was dodging through traffic, driving on the opposite side to get through traffic jams. We were all holding on to one another for dear life, but after had a good laugh as to how different people drive in China than they do in Vancouver. Although it rained most of the day, today was one of my favourite days in Huizhou.
                                          

Erica is a second year Bachelor of Business Adminitration student.  This is Erica's first time in China.