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Published: August 14th 2008
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Chinese border in Shenzhen
Passing the border in Shenzhen between China and Hongkong I finally arrived in Guangzhou today! No more english speaking people on
each street corner. Now the trip can finally begin.
As you can see, I switched my blog software cause I had too much trouble with the other one. I also decided to write my reports in english for three reasons: I want to improve my english writing skills, I want those people that do not understand german to be able to read my blog and my new laptop has an US keyboard layout😉
So. I was talking about Guangzhou (GZ). I arrived at noon at GZ East Railway Station. I looked around and found a KFC and ... a Starbucks. That was a great thing because as in nearly every Starbucks, there was an open wifi accesspoint in there. And I needed the chinese address of my hostel because I hadn't wrote it down before. And as I said before, nothing is translated here. I got some coffee 'cause I broke up from HK early in the morning and had got neither coffee nor tea yet. The young chinese I spoke to there (in a funny mixing of english, mandarin or cantonese I think) was friendly and interested in
what I was doing in China, so far away from home. Then he complained about his unability to travel far and visit other countries. As I finished my coffee, he wrote me down the address in chinese caption and explained me how to reach the subway.
As I arrived at the right station, I searched for the street comparing every street name with the signs the guy at Starbucks wrote down. I hadn't much luck thought. So I decided to enter the next shop and try to ask someone for the way. I entered something that seamed to be a teahouse and asked a girl who obviously didn't understand a word of what I was saying. After a while she went away towards the door and gestured I should follow her. We walked down the street, she went in some other shops, waiting for me to follow her every time. At the end I
saw it marked in great golden letters: International Youth Hostel China. I thanked her with an awful sounding "Xie Xie" that she answered with a big smile when she walked away.
I entered the building but wasn't sure if I was right because it looked more
like a 3 stars hotel to me. Maybe that comes from the accommodation I was getting used to the last five days in Hongkong. It really makes a difference to have a shower inside your dorm and having the shower and toilet separated by a wall. Oh and don't forget the lockable doors in the bathroom 😉 I think my bed here is half as big as the whole room in Hongkong to show you the difference...
After taking a shower, I walked around the district that seemed much smaller on the map as it was in real. The short walk as I intended it to be was in fact a 3 hour tour 😉 My first impression of the city was: wow is that green in here! And really: I didn't see as many trees, gardens and parks in Hongkong. The next thing was that nearly everyone in the streets stared at me as I was some extraterrestrial and some younger ones said hello friendly and waived their hands when passing beside me. Strange feeling. As it got dark a bit later, the sky got illuminated by colorful light spots and music began to play on the other river
side. Half an hour later, the empty streets were full of people and big limousine style cars drove by, sibling the opening chic restaurants and bars, that are just down the road. I then decided to go away from this noisy tumult and went in a sidewalk where I stopped in front of a little cantonese restaurant. Two seconds later, a waiter waved me in and let me sit down at a table. I ate a
simple and cheap rice/chicken meal. There were more bones than chicken in it, thought, but thats normal in these regions. I drunk a jindao (not sure about the spelling, I'll check) and left for the hostel where the first passport control and about six policemen awaited me. A guy told me then that it was quite normal and that they did that every couple of days...
By the way, as I published this article, I saw that I only had photos of GZ by night. I'll probably come back at the end of my trip (as I have to return to Hongkong) and I'll make some more by day. Thought, the city looks nicer by night, I think. See by yourself!
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