Guangzhou now!

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The gamble did not pay off at Nanchang. My cheap plan of travelling to Guangzhou on two over night trains was thwarted by every seat and hard sleeper being full, apart from soft sleeper cabins at 430RMB a piece leaving at 15:30. I checked out the hotel situation as a backup plan but to no avail, and decided to buy the over priced tickets leaving in a few short hours time.

Luckily, within two minutes of being in the centre of Nanchang, as the Lonely Planet foretold, I was grateful to be leaving quickly. The whole of Nanchang smells really horrid - we had already prepared ourselves for a not-so-great adventure by the warnings of a horrid, grey-bricked old communist town with nothing to do. The place was crawling with crippled beggars; I made the mistake of giving one of them my change and was the accosted by at least ten of them - every 5 minutes I was approached by someone crying out for more handouts. Luckily I found some solace with a local girl who spoke some broken English and chatted to her for a while. Eventually Duncan showed up at arrivals and we headed to lunch. After an hour or so, finding nowhere with an English menu, he set off to find a supermarket while I watched over the bags. During this time I was grabbed by a little Chinese baby for 10 minutes, which was quite lovely, and a few more beggars, not so lovely, before we were off to meet El and investigate the ‘soft sleeper’ cabins.

We headed into the packed, hot and smelly train station. We suddenly realised that the main advantage to having a soft seat/sleeper ticket is the separate waiting area; sofas, charging points, air-con. Perfect! After a few games of cards we were on our way to Guangzhou.

I was very impressed, we both were. The whole carriage was carpeted, with drapes and lace throughout. Our little cabin contained 4 beds (with springs - the first mattress I have seen in 2.5 months!!), carpet, lace curtains, backs to the beds to form sofas, a heating and lighting control box, a separate luggage storage area, and the best thing of all; charging points for films/TV/laptop galore!!

We decided to buy a few beers (that’s right - beers!) and settle into watch some films.

Unfortunately it just happened to be the worst sleep of the entire trip so far, perpetuated by the locals having control over the lights and heating in the cabin, and a random guard waking me up at 3am when I’d finally gone to sleep, we stepped off in humid, hot Guangzhou and met El.

On arrival, my first impressions were awful; no food or room available at 7am. We waited and waited until 10:30 when a female dorm room became available, I decided, unlike the other two that I didn’t want to go to bed and waste the day. I wandered out for a cigarette and ran into Dan, a 31 year old Boston based Dr, and an Israeli, Yaniv, who was teaching voluntarily in Yangshou and travelling on weekends. We spent an hour chatting and they invited me out with them to spend the day touring the city.

We took the metro on the gorgeous tropical day (soooo grateful for the warmth) to a central park to visit the monuments and Dr Sun Yat-Sen (founder of the KMT) memorial hall. You might remember my description of trying to find his mausoleum in Nanjing to no avail.

The display was rather dry, but I found it reasonably interesting due to my research in the KMT and downfall of the dynasty eras. For those of you that don’t know, the KMT was founded during the revolution in the early 1900’s whereby the first Chinese government was founded and the dynasty emperors were overthrown. We walked through the endless displays of information, through a giant auditorium where the founding took place and then walked on to the end of the grounds to see some of the statues on display. All the while I kept in mind how much praise and gratitude there was for this man. Little did he, or many of the people visiting his museum know, that the KMT were responsible for thousands of atrocities on the people, including rape and pillaging of money and stock from innocent people, for no reason other than gross abuse of power.

We walked up literally hundreds of steps around the surrounding parks, my muscles killing me all the way, to a giant needle-looking monument with the Drs last will and testament engraved onto its sides. After a quick breather, we headed back down, passing a giant statue of 5 mythical rams that apparently came down from the skies a few thousand years ago.

We stopped for lunch at a little cheap place and planned our next move. I didn’t enjoy lunch at all - I usually like spicy food but this was ridiculous so unfortunately I couldnt’ really taste my first Cantonese meal. With what felt like half my mouth missing, we trudged onto the mausoleum to the last king of the Ming Dynasty and his relic museum. For free, this was an excellent way to spend a hot afternoon. The soothing air con was a great relief (typical - looking forward to being warm for months and months and then sweating my arse off!) we wandered through endless exhibits of the stone pillows and vases and then finally came across the preserved tomb of the king, over 1200 years old. Unfortunately, water damage had rotted away a lot of the artefacts and coffins and nearly destroyed the bodies of the king and his 15 sacrificial victims (cooks, concubines etc), but it was still very interesting. We exhibition showing off his jade and silk body encasing was fascinating. There were fine jade disks, swords, tiny intricate gold emblem stamps and jewellery, among others.

We stopped for a quick coffee at an Arabic coffee house before Yaniv took his train back to work the next day. The place was cool and smelt delightfully of shisha pipes. On our exit, the kind owner passed around some of his mothers Arabian sweet-pastries filled with all kinds of figs, apples and other fruits. I merely asked him to congratulate his mother on her fine dessert skills and before I knew it I was walking out with half the box, for free!

After a brief goodbye and a proposal to come and stay with him after my Philippines jaunt, Dan and I said goodbye to Yaniv and went back to the hostel.

Duncan and El had only just surfaced at 6pm when I returned. We relaxed with a few beers and a bottle of Bai Jou, which we regretfully decided to mix first with sprite, and then with coke. Neither of these combinations is advisable for future travellers. We talked long into the evening, stopping only for a brief period when Dan took me to the restaurant around the block where he and Yaniv tried some great fillets of prime beef with flat noodles and spring onions (although I was curious about the item labelled ‘rape’ on the Ching-lish menu) I successfully negotiated, in Mandarin, the take-out boxes and chopsticks and we ate on the porch of the hostel. Dan was very charming and full of compliments and sweet things to say to me. I was very struck by his life - how much he has travelled and his sheer volumes of degrees! After Duncan and El went to bed, we continued chatting for hours, eventually decided to call it a night at 4am and I went to sleep a very happy Sam.

I awoke the next day to very, very curly hair - damn humidity. I’ll have to get used to it I guess!

During our daily discussion of ‘what shall we do today’ Duncan noticed my left leg was completely covered in little red dots. Feeling no pain or sickness, I dismissed them as non-itchy bedbug bites and that I had been ravaged in my sleep (and not in the good way!) and we headed off to the same park I visited with Dan and Yaniv after a wonderful lunch at a corner restaurant near the hostel.

It was so warm a gorgeous outside that we decided to get a pedal boat out on the interconnecting lakes around the park. It was great fun, although the choice of a skirt for the day was misplaced! After our tranquil ride around we strolled along the grounds of the huge tropical park. It made such a change to see flowers and colour splashed everywhere amongst the palm trees and fruit-bearing plants. Duncan and El climbed the few hundred steps up to the 5-ram statue and I decided to sit that one out as I had already seen it and it was too swelteringly hot for my lazy legs!

Most of the day was spent wandering around very, very slowly, we eventually came across a stunning Catholic cathedral (a welcome architectural break from all the temples) until we headed back to hostel. El had discovered that an old school friend was now living in Guangzhou and she had offered to show us around her favourite part of town for dinner in the evening.

We took the ferry to the island across the bay, which cost us a whooping total of 5 Jiao (less than half a penny in British terms) When El’s friends arrived (one also named El, for confusion, and her boyfriend named Yella - like the dog) we were escorted to a Mexican restaurant-come-club eatery. The food was delicious, though expensive. It was nothing compared to the drinks however, and I paid £2.50 for a can of coke which I sipped to make it go the distance. I don’t know how El and Duncan justified 5 beers each but there you go. El’s friends advised us about the biggest market in Asia and the local beautiful mountain trek and we left for the hostel again to reclaim our benches on the porch. I taught them Malaysian rummy and we continued the drinking long into the night.

The next day, the consensus was that the red bumps from the previous day were in fact, evil mozzie bites. They had developed into the most disgusting state I have, or anyone else for that matter, has ever seen (and I have been to Africa)! One guy just walked right up to me on the street and took a photo! It was so painful that I decided I couldn’t walk anywhere all day. I had them all around the rim of my shoes and my skin felt so tight and burnt so much that I just sat on our porch-bench all day researching accommodation for the Philippines trip after I had a brief goodbye with Dan.

The day after, we had planned to meet El’s friends again for a trip up but they cancelled due to illness. I was relieved as my legs were hurting far too much again for any mountain climbing. Duncan and El took me to a back-alley restaurant they had visited the day I went sight-seeing. It was amazingly cheap - the cheapest food I had seen so far on my trip. I hypothesised that for a back-alley restaurant to stay in business so far from the busy pedestrian areas, they would have to be very good, or very cheap. This place was both. Muslim owned (man those guys know how to cook), we ordered 25 dumplings for 5 RMB, hand-pulled noodles (which was a delight to watch) for 7 RMB and a plate of chicken and rice.

After eating our fill, we headed to the train station to book our tickets for Hong Kong. I nearly had heart failure when I discovered how much the 2 hour train would cost - 167 RMB (that is for a 2 train ride, when the previous short train I have taken was 26 RMB)! We then strolled onto the Market that El’s friends had told us about. You can buy literally anything there. Monkeys in cages (heartbreaking) stood out above anything else. We walked back to the hostel and decided to go on the ferry cruise down the Pearl River at 8pm, which left from right outside the hostel.

The cruise was better than I imagined - we were offered free bread rolls, a bottle of water and some kind of sweet bready snack thing which we all took as the price was right. The city was very nice at night. I decided that this is the only other city apart from Hangzhou I could see myself living in. The Chinese use of neon is very over the top, it almost looks good.

After the ferry returned us, we went back to the Muslim cheap place for dinner, which totally 38 RMB for 6 dishes!! We had been complaining about the lack of street food but after out meal it appeared that all the little street shops had placed little patio tables and chairs over all the pavements and even spilling out into the road! It appears that these places sell TVs by day, and frequent as bistros by night! After a little walk we were back on our benches again and booked our respective hostels for tomorrow. Again I was shocked by the prices involved. It’s a shame I will have to stay there 4 whole nights before my flight out on the 22nd as it is going to blow all the money I have saved here the last few days!

Our last day in Guangzhou was equally as relaxing and lazy and I was very grateful I took it upon myself to explore the city earlier in the week with Dan and Yaniv. We all woke up late, went back to the cheap Muslim place again (you can’t say I’m not being adventurous - I’m in China for god’s sake!) and then found a nice patch of grass in the sun at the rivers’ edge. Curiously, the city government has provided gym equipment all across the banks. I great idea as it is always filled with young and old alike exercising in the sun!

The only movement that took place for us all day was when Duncan headed out to find ice lollies. It must have been at least 30 degrees - It was also the first day with a lack of clouds and humidity and I paid for my enjoyment by getting horrendously burnt. Typical. Again.

As the evening drew in, I sadly said goodbye to Duncan for possibly the last time and before I knew it, it was time to leave. El and I, bags in hand, slouched off towards the train station. As we headed up the escalator towards the departure lounge I was suddenly overwhelmed with the thought of leaving China behind me. I knew I would be coming back of course, but I had completely disregarded the facts of immigration, passport and visa checks, duty free and various scans etc. I was abruptly gripped with excitement as I handed over my visa/passport, was told I could re-enter China any time before June, and entered onto the train. I wondered how similar Hong Kong was to the China I have known and loved. Would you be able to smoke everywhere? Is English as widespread as my research has told me? Am I going to have to pay £5 for a bottle of water? What would the weather and pollution be like? I am very intrigued to find out and I will update everyone as soon as I do!

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Photos

The pedal boat
This is th typical chinese pose whenever they're having their photos taking - it's not because we thing it looks cool - it's because they do!

Keep of the grass??
I have 101 examples of great Chinglish now but this one takes the biscuit so far.

The mexican meal
Me, Ducan and El

gross gross gross gross pain pain pain!!
sneaky bastards!