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Published: October 13th 2008
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Day 41 (cont.) - We left our hostel in Shanghai at about 3.30pm. The cab driver who took us to the station was ridiculous. He'd just use his horn constantly, half the time there would be nobody in the way. I think it's just a hobby for them out here, it doesn't really seem to serve any purpose. Still, he got us to the station in one piece (just about). We had a bit of a wait for the train so after buying some supplies (blueberry flavour and cucumber flavour crisps!!!!) we sat and waited. People just turned round and stared at us. I guess this is what it feels like to be famous, but without the money or women. It makes you feel like you have to perform, i just wished i could juggle or something. We were soon on our way though and our train was probably the most modern one we've been on yet. The cabins however had 6 beds in them. Myself and Paul were in a cabin together and got the two top bunks. There is very little head room up there! It can be quite claustrophobic. As soon as we set off myself, Nance and
Paul went to the lounge cart to get some space. Adelle somehow slept through the whole journey! Once there we noticed some hats resting on the side, so were taking turns putting them on and getting photos when nobody was looking, only to realise a few minutes later that these hats belonged to a couple of policemen, who also had guns! So we stopped doing that. Trying to eat on the train was tricky, as you'd have Chinese people staring at you whilst you tried to work out how to hold a chopstick.
Day 42 - Sunday 12th October - We reached Guangzhou at around 10am. But i was awoken at 7am when the cabin light automatically came on just a couple of feet from my face. I got up and smashed my head. Still, it gave me time to get up and look out at the scenery for a couple of hours.
One really annoying thing about the Chinese (although they are generally really nice people) is that they always seem to be spitting. On the train, every few minutes you'd here in the distance somebody else bringing up phlegm. We also met a chinese guy called
Nancy in a stolen policeman's hat
This hat belonged to a man with a gun!!! Kevin Chin. I only spoke to him for a few minutes but thought i'd mention him as i loved his name!! He gave me his business card so next time i'm in Shanghai i have somewhere to stay.
Our hostel in Guangzhou is right alongside the Pearl river. It's so smoggy here that you can barely see the buildings on the opposite side. Fortunately, our room is air conditioned as its 30 degrees during the day, and only drops to about 24 degrees at night. I spent most of the day relaxing in the lounge and chatting to Diego... the least sounding German guy i've ever met. He gave me a few tips for things to do in Guangzhou but i don't think there is much. In return i gave him all my knowledge of Shanghai (i just said it was smoggy). By evening we went out and found a little shop selling large bottles of beer for 30p. So we sat outside drinking and playing cards and being stared at. At one point Adelle was asked to have her photo taken with some Chinese people. From tomorrow we are thinking of charging 10p a stare. Later on we
went next door and ordered about 8 different dishes that in total came to less than 5 quid each. One of these included pigeon which was surprisingly tasty, until Nance noticed the pigeon's head on the plate. Before going to bed i went for a wander down the street. Our road seems to be a mini strip with plenty of bars along it so we might try those out in the next few nights although they look expensive. There was also plenty of cockroaches scuttling about aswell.
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Looks great. P.S - I think they are coconuts rather than melons, you're going to see a whole lot more of them.