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Freakin Station Staff N Closed Windows
Entry 30 of 103 | show all | print this entry |
Hey Hey and a Big G'Day to you,
The following entry was taken from an email I sent way back then.
Oh how some things haven't changed here in China!
Bloody train and bus station staff!
Of course it is nothing like it was seven years ago. This country has changed so much, but in the small rural areas things are still pretty much as they were. As for Yangshuo, Yangshuo is a different town now. Some of the old cafés can still be found but now there is only one you can sit to watch movies in. Others offer an upstairs room with couches and a DVD of your choice but it was so much fun choosing where to eat by the movie that was offered.
Other cafes still remail but have moved to 'better' locations. I met Mickey from MC Blues for the first time seven years ago when MC Blues was right about where KFC now resides. I used to eat breakfast with him each morning and update my travel diary.
It's hard to believe that Yangshuo now has a bloody KFC!
Back then it was so different. It was small, sleepy and a great place to relax. Now it's faster, packed and still great place to eat western food. Things change, tourists come and money makes things grow. Don't get me wrong, it is still very beautiful and a heap of fun but if I could choose between visiting as it is now or as it was then, I would rather it have stayed the way it was.
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Hey Hey to you all,
WOW, talk about difficulties getting a bloody train ticket!
Today was spent in Guilin trying my best to purchase a ticket to Kunming.
Noooooooo!
They wouldn't sell me one and continually shut the bloody ticket booth window on me. I even had Kunming written in Chinese and every time I went back in, lined up and walked to the window the lady simply shut the blind on me and wanted nothing to do with selling a ticket to a foreigner.
This was what I had been told about and this is the exact reason I was so worried about travelling this country solo. I was going to go back tomorrow and try again but for around three Aussie bux I can get some guy here in Yangshuo to do it for me.
Anyhow, why waste precious time in Guilin when....tomorrow morning I am off to a little village to teach English. Yes I changed my mind and now three of us are going. We don't get paid but everything is paid for including the accommodation, food and all transport.
I wasn't going to stay and teach but the other day at the village primary school was so special.
It is a Winter Break Camp and from what we have been told we don't go into classrooms but just walk and talk and play games. All entry fees to all the sites we will take the students to are also included. Plus our room will have heating. I can't believe none of the rooms have heating here in Yangshuo. It's so bloody cold. It took me several hours to do my washing the other night as there is also no hot water in most places. If there is then you have to pay huge accommodation prices. My hands kept turning blue and I had to wait until they warmed again before I could continue washing.
I can't wait until tomorrow!
It should be loads of fun and it will be a great experience. It is in a village near the city of Wuzhou. Find Guilin on the map and go left. They pay my fare back here and I shall then go to Kunming, then to Dali etc. Two Australian girls arrived last night, one from Caulfield, her name is Jannette, can't remember the other but she's from upper New South Wales. I've been hanging out with Shannon a lot. As she's been in China a lot longer than me she is giving me heaps of advice and tips.
She said it will be a hard time but worth it.
Luckily it won't be all as hard as yesterday.
Anyhow, Beers N Cheers to you all and I'll write to you when I return.....shane
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The soundtrack to this entry was by the awesome Primal Scream
The album 'Trainspotting'
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| 30. | Freakin Station Staff N Closed Windows - Yangshuo, China Jan 22, 2000 |
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