0337 hour, Oct/22/2015
killing time at the airport
after a week away from
Facebook, Intragram, Google, YouTube
holy, I even forgot how to
spell Instragram properly
wait a minute it’s Instagram right
okay.. spell it 10x please..
was supposed to drop a post before
I left but I didn’t because
was suddenly getting projects
I know right
it always happened that way
always such coincidently
Chao Zhou / Teo Chew / 潮州
it isn’t in the typical tourist’s map
and the suggested touring day is
usually 1 –2 days and
nothing more
previously were simple random thought
my grandpa on my mom’s side is
a Teo Chewist
yet understanding of
Teo Chew culture is minimal
they do not even speak the language
and at one point of time
I used to have the perception that
Chao Zhou is part of Fu Jian
but that misconception is not unfounded
despite being part of
Guang Dong / Canton / 廣東
(1) The Teo Chew dialect is similar to
some of the Fu Jian dialects
it is figure-out-able if you know those dialects
sometimes… I mean yeah
if they are not speaking too fast
(2) Chao Zhou is near to
some of the Southern Fu Jian cities
such as Zhang Zhou (漳州) and even Xia Men (廈門)
as compared to Guang Zhou and Shen Zhen
(2) The earlier Teo Chew folks were
classified into two sects of
those who migrated east-ward from Canton areas
and those migrated south-ward from Fu Jian areas
the vague ideas were realized
thanks to this guidebook
I bought at Cheng Du 4 months ago
I mean if someone can manage to produce
an entire guidebook on this city
it is probably worth-exploring
and the content in there looks good
traveled to Chao Zhou via Shen Zhen
similar route can be taken from
Guang Zhou / Xia Men
| From | To | Via |
| Shen Zhen Bao’An Airport 深圳寶安 | Shen Zhen North 深圳北火車站 |
|
| Shen Zhen North 深圳北 | Chao Shan 潮汕站 |
|
| Chao Shan 潮汕站 | Chao Zhou City 潮州市 |
|
This new high speed railway route
started operation back in 2013
runs from Shen Zhen to Xia Men
as one of the stations along
the train is quite frequent
yet we waited 3 hours for our train as
tickets were sold out
probably that was a Friday or
most people pre-booked their tickets online
reaching Chao Shan station after night fall
was planning to catch a cab
but still went on to try the bus
the problem was
language difficulty
I couldn’t really understand
the Teo Chew dialect
it took time to figure out
and the bus was dead packed
standing crowd with luggage and all
what the locals do is
just call out to the driver
and he will pull aside for
the person to alight
thanks to the reliable
Baidu GPS map with real-time location
it works even without going online
through pre-downloaded city map
I managed to track the route of the bus
and how far it is from my hotel
and will alight at the nearest possible
while I was deciding when and how to
signal the driver for a pull over
a man shouted for a drop-off
and we just followed him
and the hotel was like 10 steps away
City buses in Chao Zhou
It’s quite accessible
at least from where I was staying
a 7 Days Inn along Chao Feng road (潮楓路)
as mentioned above
the bus from railway station drops by
despite its name
7 Days Bus Terminal branch (七天汽車總站點)
just to mention
the bus terminal 潮州汽車總站
is actually for inter-city express buses
to nearby cities such as
Shan Tou 汕頭, Rao Ping 饒平, Jie Yang 揭陽
as well as other long-distance buses to
look out.. despite being on the same road
the bus terminal is a few kilometers away
on the other end… 4 bus stops away
and agoda actually labeled the wrong location
buses 1/2/8/12 goes to the Old City
where most of the attractions
are concentrated at
a huge Lotus hypermarket opposite the hotel
an ideal landmark to identify
and somewhere to kill time
after night fall
besides loitering at hypermarket
there’s really nothing much you can do
besides couching with
the 100+ (local) channels cable tv
but first let me go Lotus and
grab some chips and drinks and yogurt
the same clue-less situation
applies to their city buses
there’s no auto reminder or LED display
like the other cities do
you just have to get ready and
tell the driver you want to get off soon
The more local method
would be their trishaw
similar to Tuk-tuk in Thailand
some are electric-powered
some are manual cycling
on our way to the bus terminal
in order to catch a bus to train station
OMG.. going on reversed direction
lorries were coming and
there was another trishaw too
previously when the new Shen Zhen airport
came into operation
saw threads on Weibo about
how it is being a threat for people with
Trypophobia 密集恐懼症
can’t agree more
I guess the whole concept is about
eco-friendly, bee-hive-like for
both exterior and interior design
Chao Shan high speed rail station
Chao Shan being
Chao Zhou and Shan Tou 汕頭
a coastal city 1 hour away from Chao Zhou
looks like the security at
high speed rail station has been
furthered strengthened
(i) Buying ticket with valid identity proof
(ii) Ticket and identity verification (NEW)
(iii) Bag scanning security-check
(iv) Auto-gate ticket check-in (15 mins b4 departure)
(v) Boarding ……… Alighting
(vi) Auto-gate ticket check-out upon arrival
but no worries
everything is conducted under perfect orders
even while waiting at the platforms
it has been labeled on the floor
with the specific coach number
so that you don’t have to run panic
looking for the right coach to enter
when the train pulls in
3 minutes later
it’s off accelerating at full speed again
0600 hour
time to freshen up and walk around
before heading home at 7