Finally we have discovered that China is so mega massive that there is no way we could possibly see all of it in years let alone months, though we are going to the land that brought you Spring rolls and sweet and sour chicken (as far as most takeaways are concerned).
Many people throw the term around but I'll be honest, until that first day in Hong Kong I had never truly understood it. To be thrown into a genuine state of shock by the differences in culture is a daughnting experience. Wandering round Kowloon in the middle of the day, overheated, tired and in need of some cleaning up, we were not prepared to take on a mega city like Hong Kong. When even basic premisis that you take for granted such as opening times of shops and being able to decifer the contents of a KFC menu are not true, it does send you into genuine shock. As a result, the first day or so was quite tentative and we were very withdrawn in our exploration (on a side note though, we discovered that Pizza Hut in Hong Kong is very sophisticated, check the link if you don't believe us. http://www.pizzahut.com.hk/tc/home.html).
Hong Kong offers some spectacular sights and sound. In one day you can
The language barrier is the biggest issue at first. Not even being able to read most signs make getting around and communicating very difficult but the ex-colony status of Hong Kong means there's pleanty of English speakers around. The big test is entering mainland China.
Mal
Some background first; Guangzhou is a large commercial city similar to Hong Kong but with vastly more sprawl and a population of approx 3.2 million people. The reality is that Guangzhou is similar to any other major city, busy, noisy and very dirty.
Where we ended up is a bit of a haven from the rest of the city. Shamian Island sits in the Pearl River running through Guangzhou. As it was used by westerners as a storage island in the 19th Century (half the island was French and half British), there was a heavy western influence in the layout and architecture. It is also a big draw for westerners for this reason and most restaturants and shops on the island could speak good english (unlike lots of other parts of the city).
Finally it was time to board the train and we now got to join a completely different mass of 600 people pushing down a corridor. Once we'd all made it outside and got on the train it was a much more comfortable affair. We were greeted with carraiges filled with 6 bunk bed semi seperated compartments. And after swapping with a chinese woman we found ourselves on the top bunks. The train journey was pretty cool, the constant procession of vendors selling hot food, instant noodles and fresh fruit kept us entertained as we dared each other to find out what exactly was being served. We even had time to socialise, and I was approached by a teenage boy called Xiao Shao Bin. Within no time we exchanged email addresses, discussed our understanding of each others language and he was pointing out his home town in my lonely planet, while we both munched down on some Shantou pears (that was his home town). At 21:30 I retired to bed and we both decided to get some kip as it was lights out at 10pm. The bed wasn't too hard but the movement of the train made it difficult to lie on ones back as it moved things inside, and the climb down to the toilet in the dark would have been too much.
Next morning, having shockingly had the best nights sleep since we arrived in China we both rose at 6am. By 7am we were standing in the carpark outside Guilin train station. As this is about as far as we had planned we didn't really know how to get to Yangshuo from here, so in tried and tested method we followed the nearest group of westeners. Thank god they got on a bus to Yangshuo or we could have ended up anywhere. By 8am we had arrived in Yangshuo. This place has to have the most stunning scenery I have ever encountered. The large karsts (feel free to look up what that means) rise out of the ground and are dotted throughout the town. These enourmous formations mean that even in the middle of a large town you can still just tilt your neck up a small bit to see some of natures most amazing wonders. Anyway having the bus lady yell yangshuo at us repeatedly and gesture that we get off the bus we worriedly made our way off (we were the only people who got off the bus at this point and as far as we could tell its final destination was Yangshuo). Having been hurried off the bus at the wrong point and not having our wits about us this early in the morning, after being approached by a friendly young chinese chap called Thomas we found ourselves in the back of his car on the way to a hostel. This probably isnt the smartest thing we've done since arriving, or ever. Fortunately he only ripped us off on the price of a room as opposed to robbing us blind and leaving us for dead. On the plus side the hostel was a three storey structure which was connected entirely by outdoor terraces and staircases and built into the side of one of the Karsts had some spectacular views up to the top. The rip off aspect here was that the walls of our room had more mossies on them than paint, the toilet smelt so bad we actually purchased bleach to clean it and the stunning view from our particular window was that of an unimpressive 2 storey dwelling next door.
We now had 3 goals:1. Explore the town and find west street which apparently is a backpackers haven2. Get out of this hostel into a cheaper, cleaner one with no midnight curfew3. Find out exactly what there is to do here in the Chinese countryside
P.S No photos yet as our quest for a computer with a CD or DVD rom drive remains fruitless
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