Baohan Hotel Guangzhou

i knew it would happen, but only four days in and sarah has chinitis, all the smells, tastes and intruguing aspects of CHina have resulted in symptoms including vomiting in front of a chinese family in Qingping markets. we walked through a really really fascinating marketplace full of kittens, puppies, tortoitses, so many fish, salamanders, chip munks, every manner of claw, dried lizards, mushrooms, fungi and bunny ...

... ride to guilin today, the tourist mecca of zhong guo, thats china for all you non-chinga people. simon got his hair cut by the barber at our hostel, its looks great, he is a true asian now. they were pasting black stuff on the guy to my right and i asked for it too, so i now have black hair. simon has had lots of chances to practise his mandarin which has been exciting. yesterday we went for lunch at ...

Enjoyed our meetings and colleagues. Went to dinner at a typical Guangdong/Canton restaurant. Menu was very creative. Plenty of exotics - baby pigeon, sting ray, fish guts, beetles, snakes, chicken feet. Was a bit naseous, but likely because of jet lag.

... doesn't speak English nor does the lead of the sim-card mafia, but he jumps in the front seat after I negotiate 200 yuan for the ride into the city using the hotel's chinese character address. Guess he just made commission on me. 30 minutes to GZ city center

... As you can imagine I nearly had heart failure worrying! I had visions of him being turned back from China (this might have been a blessing in disguise!) and just when I thought he was gone forever a load of chinese people in white suits from head to toe (think astronaut) appeared from the room he was in......thankfully Ollie appeared a few minutes later looking unharmed but with a white mask clamped to his mouth...hilarious sight!

... aside it was definitely a cool way to two tour a bunch of the city's highlights. After that, we took the train back to Guangzhou. From the subway station, Vivian, He Mu, and I walked back to Vivian's like usual, but instead of turning in, at the He Mu¡¯s request we continued on past it and went to a little boutique that He Mu and Vivian like. I had fun trying on some clothes and bought a few, but the prices weren't that great. I have high hopes ...

... to come home too drunk one night and with the military stamping and chanting and the firecrackers I would probably run around screaming that there is a war on. Kind of like what I did in Japan when I was staying in a hostel not far from an active volcano and I woke up very hung over and the Japanese news came on over ALL the speakers in the town. Hahaha, I thought it was the volcano going off and grabbed all my stuff and began running ...

... been running for a long time. Here is a bit on it: The Star Ferry, one of the must-do's in Hong Kong, has been running for about a century. It is a leisurely 5-minute ride across the Victoria Harbor for just HK$2.20 (~US 30cents). Locals still take it routinely. There's one just about every 5 minutes, operating from early in the morning till a bit after 11 o'clock at night.There are three routes: one between Tsim Sha Tsui and Central, one between Tsim Sha Tsui and Wan Chai, and one ...

Day 39 - Lost in Trans-China Randomness. That could sum up the next two days, but in a few more words... The day started badly as we were supposed to catch the 9am train to Guangzhou to meet Adam's Girlfriend Lulu's, Mum. We left the house at 8am and had all the time in the world, until we realised that HK overland train station is nowhere near the tube station. We got the actual location wrong once more and had to catch the later train. Lulu's Mum has been so amazingly sweet enough to ...

Saturday

Awoke in the morning to a great view of Hong Kong from my bedroom window. Ate an early breakfast then took a local bus to Kowloon Station. Kowloon is the stepping off point for China and you do all the formalities before boarding the train. Lots of people in the crowded train station and took a while to find the immigration and departure areas. Went through passport control, checked my bags in and hung around for the train to leave. Once the train ...