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Published: August 22nd 2008
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So, finally I get round to writing my first blog entry for China. My flight out of here leaves in four days, but obviously I've been busy getting that changed to a more suitable/sensible date.
By now I have my sights set on staying here for a while to do some teaching, but my first taste of China wasn't that positive. I had read in my guide book that the chinese border police occasionally confiscated China lonely planets, so I heeded their advice and put a different cover on the book. I even checked with the Sapa post office to see how long it would take to arrive in Kunming if I were to post it, but the answer was one month. One month for a journey I was going to complete in less than 24 hours... I obviously decided against that, and just hid my lonely planet in the bottom of my bag with a new cover around it and hoped for the best.
Well, as soon as I crossed into China, my bag was x-rayed and I was instructed to take all the books out for inspection. My lonely planet with a different cover was quickly discovered, and after taking a quick look at the map, the border maggot told me he was going to take it off me. The reason he gave me was simple: bad politics. He was referring to the map in the front which didn't show Taiwan as being a part of China. After unsuccessfully trying to convince him to give me my book back, I mumbled something about "welcome to China" and decided to just leave it at that and walk into the country. I thought I was prepared for having it taken off me, but being the eternal optimist I thought sacrificing my map of Koh Phi Phi to act as a new cover and my smile would get it through. The thought of trying to bribe the despicable officials did cross my mind, but at the end of the day I didn't even know how to propose such a thing and the possible negative consequences of such an act are certainly a lot worse than not having a guide book.
Had I been able to get a Vietnamese visa on arrival I might just as easily have turned around right there and then and taken my money right back into Vietnam, purely out of principle. Fortunately this wasn't an option for I would have missed out on China, but at the time I did not care. I was furious at the injustice of having the book I carried around with me for three and a half months to be taken away over something so petty and ridiculous. I couldn't even care less whether or not Taiwan is a part of China, but whatever the situation, it certainly isn't going to be any more a part of China by taking my only means of navigating this alien country away from me.
Walking around the border town of Hekou absolutely fuming, I realised I needed to get myself a beer. A big beer. I walked into a small local restaurant and ordered a beer with hand signals and a "sheer sheer" for thank you. I was met by only friendliness and my initial hatred of everything China stood/stands for began to subside. Luckily the oafs at the border weren't clever enough to spot my other guide book with their big shot x-ray machine, which handily also included the first province I went to - Yunnan.
After relaxing a bit after getting a beer down me, I made my way to the bus station via a massive detour and got on the hellish sleeper to Kunming. The train line had been closed down but unfortunately nobody thought to build a smooth road as an alternative, so my night was spent being smashed around against the metal guard rails of my "bed". Once I arrived in Kunming I made my way to Cloudland youth hostel, which would turn out to be my home for the next 11 days.
I hadn't eaten for around 24 hours when I arrived at Cloudland, so I decided to walk into Kunming to try and get some food. I was pretty hungry, but hunger subsides if you leave it long enough and I felt okay to walk around a little in search of some food. As it turns out, my first meal in China was from Wall-Mart haha. I thought this would be a safe bet for some standard, cheap food and bought myself a loaf of stale bread, some cheese and a packet of sliced ham. I made my way to the green lake park in Kunming and finally ate my deliciously stale and satisfyingly bland sandwich. The park was really chilled out, and I even spotted some classic chinglish T-shirts on the way back to the hostel. I was beginning to like China more already.
I met an American guy called David on my first evening at the hostel, and we hung out pretty much every day after that. He was in Kunming sorting out his working visa for his second stint of teaching English in the PRC. Speaking to him about teaching got me interested again in doing some teaching like I had originally planned. Also, it seemed like almost everyone I met in Kunming had been teaching English somewhere in China, and I began to become confident that I could do a better job than some of these guys. The argument that finally convinced me that teaching here was something I really wanted to do was that native English speakers willing to teach are actually badly needed in China. I wouldn't just be using teaching to fund my stay, but I would actually be helping people.
The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to do it, and I was unexpectedly really enjoying learning a few words of Mandarin too. I had always enjoyed languages in the past, but I hadn't really done anything with that knowledge since graduating from university. Learning something as radically different from anything else I've come into contact with is quite exciting and it's refreshing to be able to use my brain for something other than the generally mind numbing office environment.
Apart from enthusiastically learning some new words every day and starting to order beer and simple street food by myself, I spent most of my time in Kunming playing table tennis, eating delicious food, tirelessly photographing funny chinglish, seeing some of the local sights and generally just chilling out with my new friends.
I've just managed to upload my photos from Kunming too, so here they are:
Kunming
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Paul
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Hey Mark, love your comments on the English language mistakes you see over there! Quite some good oppotunities to teach, I would say. Who's the hot chick coming towards you in photo 18???