Zhuhai --- A Lovely Stop

Ever since budget airlines call at Macao, I've been making stops there en route to Zhuhai and then on to other parts of the vast Guangdong Province in China. There's a world apart between Macao and Zhuhai where costs are concerned although Zhuhai is only a walk across the border checkpoints just as there's a world of difference between Macao and Hong Kong though there's nothing but water in between. In Zhuhai, I could easily find accommodation at about S$20 per person per night or even less. Expect a price range double that in Macao and even more on weekends during which casino clients flock and assemble from far and near though they don't neccesarily need a room for the night. So, after taking the budget flight to Macao, costing a bit more than S$200 for a return flight, including all the extras, if you book early enough, it's only within reason that I take a shuttle bus from the airport right to the Chinese border straightaway and hop over to Zhuhai, luggage and all, to enjoy a night's stay in a room cosy enough at half the price and sumptuous food too within a comparable price range.


There are hotels galore once you set foot on the Gong Bei area just outside the checkpoint. Men and women offering their trolleys to transport your luggage to wherever you want (somewhere not too far of course, not forgetting that they are draining their raw energy for your comfort) rush to your service. Taxi drivers too are there to transfer you to points which are further off. I usually sidestep these human obstacles since I like to stay in hotels which are located nearby within walking distance.


In my latest trip in December 2008, I booked a room in Fu Hai Gang Hotel. This was recommended by a friend who had just left Zhuhai a couple of weeks ago. 'Fu Hai Gang' means 'the blessed port'. This is an old name with a new location, making it an entirely new hotel. I've asked for a smoke-free room so everything was spick and span, including the smell. The room was spacious, as advised by my friend. And all at a promotional price of S$20 per person per night. The only thing that suffers is perhaps the poor surrounding, which doesn't offer really much of a view outside the window, but I didn't really mind since I was out most of the day.


Zhuhai is situated by the sea, so the air is cool and fresh. It has a big marketplace in Gong Bei in the area just off the checkpoint. On the second level of the market building, there's a big restaurant, serving dianxin (or tim-sum) in the morning and restaurant food late into the night. It is customary for restaurants in Zhuhai to offer 40% to 50% discount off the listed price. I wonder if this is done out of keen competition, but during my first stay there, my friend and I were given a 50% discount because we settled the bill before 11a.m. and we paid just a little over S$3 each for seven or eight varieties of dianxin, which I consider a steal, a price never thought of in Singapore.


But that was about three years ago. During that visit, I remember paying only S$7 for a claypot of sea cucumber braised with fish maw (or 'hua jiao'), both expensive items on the gourmet's list. The dish would have cost at least S$28 in Singapore. During this visit, the price even in Zhuhai has gone up to S$9, but the dish is just too delicious to pass up.



Another favourite dish that hails from my mother's hometown of Shunde (or Shun Tak in Cantonese) is the 'inlaid dace'. Cantonese cuisine has reigned supreme in China and many famous dishes come from Shunde. I consider myself half a Shunde original since my late mother was from there. Dace is called 'ling yu' in Chinese and is a river fish, that means a freshwater fish. In this hometown dish, the meat from the centre is dug out without disturbing the skin and is meshed with ingredients like water chestnuts. The fish paste is then inlaid beneath the skin and fried. When the dish is served, the fish is presented as a whole, cut into pieces with some gravy. Little would you expect that the meat of the fish has undergone such a major operation, covered up so immaculately by the entire fish skin. When I savoured it, I marvelled at the skill of the chef more than I enjoyed the taste of the fish itself. As expected, I never failed to order this dish whenever I made the trip to Zhuhai.

Dace is a rare commodity in Singapore, but is readily available from Hong Kong to Guangzhou. I first fell in love with something called the 'dace ball' (or ' ling yu qiu'), fish meat diced with mushrooms, water chestnut and dried orange peel. The dace ball, somewhat bigger than the normal fish balls, are boiled in congee and are normally available in noodle and congee shops in Hong Kong and Macao. This item is also available in similar shops in Singapore, but the taste and, oh the price, are quite different.

Another item which I usually see along the roadside in Gong Bei are guavas --- fresh, green and crisp. I've always thought they are from either Taiwan or Thailand, but they appear in such great numbers that sometimes I think they can be local. Unlicensed street hawkers carry them in baskets and sell them at 10 yuans for 8 or 9 fruits, very reasonable indeed. I always carry a small knife in my luggage for cutting fruits like guavas back in my hotel room. Not every fruit is as easy to handle as bananas and sometimes your stomach may not allow you to take too much bananas.

Zhuhai may not be such a scenic, cultural or historical city, but I love it for its fresh air and good food. I don't mind passing through it everytime I touch down at Macao. It's not as crowded as Shenzhen or Guangzhou. One or two nights passing through will not make one too tired of it. Zhuhai will stay popular as long as Macao maintains its stronghold as a stop for budget airlines.