Guangdu Hotel Guigang

Got my marching orders today. Poor me. I'm being sent to a tropical island in the South China sea called "Hainan". Yesterday was great. Went for a ride with my friends from English corner to a sceneic spot in Yangshuo called "Moon Hill" Basically it's another of the karsts (hills)with a great big hole in it resembling a rising moon. Some of you are probably thinking, sarcastically, "oh wow, a mountain with a hole in it", but it's really quite beautiful. We rode ...

Can't believe it's been almost a week already. Time has flown. Here's the usual schedule each day:- -Classes from 8:30 - 3:30/4 (of course including the Chinese siesta) -Potter around for a couple of hours -Dinner at 5:30/6 -Potter around (prepare classes/study chinese/watch telly) -Go down to West st around 8pm and get on the turps -Grab a traveller or two to drink in my room with my room-mate repeat ...

... the picture was getting really frustrated. We finally broke out laughing and then waved at them. They quickly left! Another time we were walking down the street and a guy was trying to take a picture of me. I caught him before he did it. I pointed my zoom lens back at him and then he chuckled, but as we kept walking we caught him poking his lens around the corner to try and get me again. They ...

9:00 a.m. We are in the dining car for breakfast, after a good night's sleep. We noticed we have just passed Quanzhou, a town we have visited before. Yoong has a bowl of Guilin noodles and I'm waiting for fried rice - not actually on the menu but they are happy to do it. Where else can you eat on a train for less than A$5? Lights went off last night at 10 p.m. and I went up to the middle sleeper, but the guy opposite made his bed then joined his girl in the lower bunk, where ...

... entire city square out front to use! I mean this square is huge. Only the Chinese are this safety conscious! The Nirvana Bar has the most awesome balcony out back. At the moment they have the entire rear of the building. You could play a game of football out there. New Years Night was very warm so we all sat outside in our ...

... another Aussie and headed out for a noodle lunch and a city introduction. Not a very modern city at all so I liked it pretty much straight away. When we got back to Karens we began setting up the BBQ area. No wheelie four burner bbq here mate, put a coupla bricks together, throw in some little sticks and off ya go! Then it was time to introduce the game 'hopscotch' to the Chinese kids and teachers. Over a period of ...

We asked the Hotel receptionist which was the best way to get to Hanoi from Yangshou "By bicycle?" she replied inquisitively. We think she knew something. We asked around and as it was National Holiday (the Chinese get 7 days holiday in October to celebrate the conception of the the Peoples Republic, tickets for the overnight train would be difficult to get. One guy phoned up and there was only one left. So rather than leave Teena on her own while I took the train we ...

... zone. But it's not just us; apparently everyone in China is in the same predicament. The country is in the midst of a renovation and general 'sprucing up' on a scale not seen since the First Emperor of the Qin dynasty looked around himself in 221 B.C and thought to himself: 'What can I do to keep those pesky Mongols out?... I know, I'll build me a wall..." The flurry of activity seems to be entirely due to Beijing hosting the Olympics in 2008. Couple that with ...

... freezing office / place of work to the bloody freezing bus stop where (not surprisingly) you bloody freeze. If you manage to get onto the right bus (see previous tales of woe) it's bloody freezing and from there you head home to your bloody freezing apartment where (not surprisingly) you don't get very warm at all. If you're lucky your apartment is equipped with air conditioners which double as heating units. These puppies would make a room fairly toasty in no time at ...

... middle of nowhere. This has only happened once and because I really didn't have to be in the office for anything particular I just went along for the ride and then got laughed at by the bus driver when I tried to find out what the schedule was. I think he was laughing to cover up the fact that he didn't know either. Who was it that said "Necessity is the mother of invention"? Probably some deeply insightful dead guy trying to navigate the Chinese public transit ...