Guangzhou and Ikea

We went to Guangzhou a couple of weekends back (about a two and a half hour drive). We mostly wanted to check out some hospitals there that some people had recommended. Overall, we were impressed with both hospitals and I could see myself delivering there. The only drawback was getting there – it was really hard for David to find both places. We couldn’t find the one place by driving so we parked and took the subway, which was also difficult, but we did eventually find it. We got really lost on the way home and got back at two in the morning. In the end, I think we are going to stick with Hong Kong. It takes us as long to get there, but we know where the hospital is, we can freely communicate with the staff in English and we know the medical care is equal to that of the US.

Guangzhou crowds

What was amazing about Guangzhou was the amount of people there. We were there on a Saturday, but it was ren shan ren hai as the Chinese say (or literally people mountain, people ocean which means people in every direction). It was pretty much like walking around at the Taste of Chicago everywhere you went – inside outside, it didn’t matter, everywhere was one long stream of people in both directions. Really, I have lived in China, the most populated country in the world for a long time. I am used to people being everywhere, but this was something exceptional.

After the hospital visits we went to Ikea. Yes, there is Ikea in China. There will soon be one in Shenzhen, but it hasn’t opened just yet. I was so very excited since I knew that this was one place where I could get a lot of the things I never see anywhere else. You can buy with an international credit card also which is truly a wonderful convenience (and not common in China). We got to eat there too which was great – Swedish meatballs, YUM. So things were wonderful until we experienced Ikea service. We ordered lots of things and we paid to have them delivered and then assembled at out house. What a nightmare. They delivered three days later, but a separate guy has to do the assembling and he didn’t come until three days after that and when he did come it was 10PM which meant he didn’t have time to finish. And he told us, putting the wall cabinets on the wall was not included in the fee. A different guy came three days after that and did agree to put the cabinets on the wall, but he said not to put too many things in them because they could fall. This is all in addition to the fact that what we ordered was not what we got. We pointed to a display piece in the store, but all we got was the skeleton. Apparently, the drawers, doors, and legs were extra and were not ordered. It really was a mistake on the seller’s part because we would have paid more for the extra parts had we been told they were extra money and not included in the order. Really, a frustrating experience. Meatballs were excellent though.

Good Meatballs

Disappointing cabinets.