China is a fascinating place. I absolutely loved my 32hrs there. Such a short time but an incredible place that has left a lasting impression upon me which will not fade for a long time. The Slow Boat to China As I mentioned in my last email I was going to take the slow boat to China. Well I did, but it was not very slow. Being a hydrofoil boat we cruised at a very fast speed to reach my destination within two hours. I was very excited to leave the boat and step onto Chinese soil. I was here. Well, at least I thought I was. A taxi driver standing at the customs exit asked if I wanted a taxi. "No" I said, "I'm taking a bus", and walked over to the large line-up of buses. The only thing I recognised on them was numbers. 6, 23, 15, 9. What did they mean, and where did these buses go? I could not even work out how much they cost. If I caught the wrong bus I could end up back in Hong Kong. Just then a motorcycle rider approached me. I had seen lots of these motorcycles around and wondered what they were at first but this had been answered for me when I saw a family of three climb aboard one bike and the rider take off out the gate. They were some sort of taxi. Probably cheaper. It sounded like fun. I asked the rider to take me to my destination, the Garden Hotel. He smiled and shrugged his shoulders. No idea. Taxi Touring In a Foreign Land A taxi drove over and I repeated my question to him, hoping he could explain my destination to the rider. Another negative response, but he asked to see my piece of paper which I showed to him. Suddenly there appeared to be recognition. He nodded vigorously and smiled broadly. Bingo! I thought. Got it. I looked to the motorcycle rider who was by now backing away and he just shook his head and pointed in the direction of the taxi. It looked like I would have to take a taxi after all. I climbed in and we headed off into a land of culture shock. All around me was every form of transport imaginable. Tricycles, bicycles, motorbikes, cars, buses, trucks, and pedestrians. All vying for their section of road. The first thing I discovered about traffic here was that road rules were not rules but merely guidelines, as were the lane markers. As my taxi driver deftly negotiated his way through the traffic, performing moves I only thought possible with motorcycles, I became impressed that amidst so much confusion there appeared to be no accidents anywhere. We had been driving like this for only 10mins when suddenly my cab pulled into a large and impressive looking hotel. "Great" I thought, "we are here," and started to climb out. My driver shouted something in Chinese and from his rapid hand gestures I figured it meant stay in the car. He reached in and took the piece of paper I had kept clutched in my hand, my only piece of security in this foreign land. He could speak no English. I could speak no Chinese. The language barrier for us was an iron wall. This paper was my only hope. Now it was gone. As I watched, my driver, with paper in hand ran to the nearest hotel bellboy and thrust this paper into his face, speaking rapid Chinese. No luck. The bellboy grabbed the paper and turned to the next bellboy, thrusting it into his face. Failure again. There were four of these bellboys outside and all four could make no sense of my calligraphic handwriting. One of them got a brainwave and reached for the piece of paper. He rushed into the hotel lobby with the taxi driver following close behind. Finally, after what seemed a considerable time, the two emerged with another person who turned to me and with a heavy Chinese accent asked me, "Garden Hotel?". Now I understood. My crafty cunning taxi driver had absolutely no idea where the Garden Hotel was when I asked him. Instead he just nodded and pretended so I would ride with him, proceeding then to somewhere that he may be able to find out where I wanted to go. I was bemused at his cleverness. And now he had just found out. The hero of the day explained to my taxi driver where the Garden Hotel was. I should have known when my driver's eyes grew wide and he let out a gasped exclamation in Chinese that perhaps my destination was not as close as I had first suspected. But then why should I think that. I had just caught the boat to Guangzhou and for all I knew we should be pretty close to the city centre. I was about to find out how wrong I was. As we drove and wove and squeezed through all of the traffic around us, I set a price in my mind that would be what I would expect to pay to get to my destination. 40 Chinese Yuans (CNY) seemed a good price. After all, this was twice what it cost me to get to my destination in Hong Kong. At 60CNY I redefined my amount to 80, thinking that I could even go to 100 at a push, but it just kept climbing higher and higher. The drive was so long that I thought I had left Guangzhou and entered a completely different province. It was about half of the distance to Hong Kong, or so it seemed. We drove for almost an hour moving from one highway to another. Everytime I saw a built up area that looked like a city I thought we were almost there, but as it faded into the distance behind me I felt more lost than ever before. Finally, almost unexpectedly, we arrived at my destination. 140CNY later, at twice the cost of my boat ride, I had arrived at the Garden Hotel. A strong feeling of relief flooded over me on realising that I had finally made it. Connecting with Andrea A quick mobile call to Andrea (Andy) and I was set. She would come out on the bus to pick me up shortly. I could settle back into the familiar surroundings of Starbucks Coffee house and wait. It was wonderful to hear people finally speak English again... and I had only been in China for two hours. Andy arrives and helps me navigate the busy streets of Guangzhou to the bus stop. Point of note here is that traffic in China drives on the right side of the road. As a pedestrian I have been conditioned to look right first and then left. When I did this in China I stepped right up to the side of a rushing 4wd. My nose almost scraped his side windows. I repeated this almost fatal mistake more than once, determining each time that I would learn my lesson this time. It takes some time to recondition ingrained behaviours. We arrive at Andy's place and I am introduced to her flatmate, Ruth. I dump my gear and we head up to the rooftop to view the local neighbourhood before heading off to Andy's work place. On the way we stop for a late lunch at one of the restaurants. A full meal for both of us cost only $5 Australian. A Surprise Outing At Andy's work I meet the amazingly hospitable Mr Wong who immediately sits us down to find out about my stay here. The next thing I know, through broken translations, we are heading out to an old shopping district with one of Andy's Chinese co-workers. This is a popular mall, for tourists and shoppers as well as pickpockets and thiefs. We all cling tightly to our bags and check our pockets constantly as we wander through the streets. As we wander, armoured guards brandishing sawn-off shotguns swarm around a heavy tin full of money. They stand menacingly at the truck, waving their weapons around while it is loaded. There are many street vendors also as well as the myriad of shops which line the paved mall. Andy's workmate, Queenie, takes us to her old home where she grew up. This is a traditional Chinese home above the shops on the streets and is a multi-floored structure. The steps leading up to each floor are only wide enough for one person to climb and each step shows the wear of many years of constant use. Although it is still small by western standards, there is a surprising amount of room to live in this place where only the bedrooms are restricted in size. Queenie's grandmother, auntie and uncle still live here and graciously provided us with a lovely cup of Chinese tea. A Night to Remember On returning to Andy's work I discover that the wonderful Mr Wong has already arranged a night out for me to remember. Although he does not come, one of his staff accompanies me for the night and pays for everything. It is a humbling experience. Although Ben can speak very little English, we can still communicate quite well. Over the night I learn some important Chinese phrases of which I can now only remember the most imporant one, "lan loi" which means, "pretty girl". This caused considerable blushes from the restaurant staff when Ben showed me how it was used. First in line was a meal at one of the more popular restaurants. This included Duck, Chicken, Green weed soup and Chicken's feet. All of it, even the chewy Chicken's feet was very nice. By the end of the meal I felt completely filled to the brim. It was a huge feast. After this we took a taxi to the town centre and boarded a boat for a lovely river cruise. We travelled up and down the river past many incredibly lit buildings. Many of the highrises had laser lights scanning the horizon through the smog. Once our cruise was completed, so was our outing, and I gladly climbed into bed for a sound sleep that night. Yum Cha I rose early so Andy and I could to go breakfast with Mr Wong and his wife. They picked us up in their car for another hectic Chinese drive to the Yum Cha restaurant. Not satisfied with the standard section of the restuarant, we head into the more expensive private section. Here I experience more Chinese delights, including tender Chicken's feet, veal, stomach lining, egg tarts, and puff meat. All of it was very edible and most of it was extremely tasty. The Sights of Guangzhou While Mr Wong went to work, Mrs Wong dropped us off at the Guangzhou temple. Here we explored the wares and craftmanship for over an hour before declaring we had seen enough. The workmanship in this place was amazing and very intricate. A very impressive sight indeed. We return to Andy's work where I bid my farewells to all that I had met during my brief stay and then catch a bus up to White Cloud Mountain. This is a large hill right next to the city that provides commanding views of the smog that shrouds the city every day. Our view was no different with the smog so strong that we could hardly make out the buildings of the city from the top. Climbing the mountain is a slow process involving many many steps all the way up. By the time we reached the top the rest area looked very welcoming, and seemed to be the most popular area at the top. Having made the climb up, both Andy and I decided that we had conquered the mountain and did not need to prove it again by walking all the way back down, so we took the cable car. This was a very pleasant journey of rest. At the bottom again, Andy realised that she did not know which bus to catch to take us home. She had only asked how to get here. We decided to catch the same bus we came out on, arguing that since we caught it at the depot, it will have to return to the depot again at some point. It did. Time To Go Back at Andy's place, I packed quickly and we headed off to the camera shop to print some photos for Mr Wong and Queenie. I then tried to flag down a motorcycle taxi. There is some law in China about it being illegal for these taxis to take foreigners but I thought I would try anyway. Every single one of them either looked away or shook their head to indicate no. Disappointed I farewelled Andy and took a cab to my bus for Hong Kong. The Bus to Hong Kong The bus to Hong Kong was a luxurious coach. Interestingly it was right-hand drive which was the opposite of all Chinese vehicles. The drive was going well until we got caught in a huge traffic jam that had us stopping and starting for over an hour. Other than this and my full bladder it was quite uneventful. While we were driving I was pondering on when we would get to the border crossing. As I was, the bus pulled into a parking lot with toilets and what seemed to be shops everywhere. I could not see any petrol bowsers anywhere so I assumed it was just a rest stop. I ran off to the toilets to find great relief. When I reappeared I noticed my bus driver waving madly at me. Everyone else was gone from the bus. As I rounded the front of the bus I noticed that all of their luggage had gone too. Confused, I grabbed my bag and looked questioningly at the driver. Through broken English he said to me, "I meet you on other side." "Other side?!" I asked, not knowing what he meant. Finally, after much hand waving and broken English, I worked out that we were already at the border crossing. This was the Chinese border. I had to follow my fellow passengers through the departure processes of Chinese customs. This was what I had previously thought were shops. Once I worked this out everything was fine. I was last on the bus of course, but we were once again on our way. At the Hong Kong border, a short distance down the road, I was aware of the processes and everything went smoothly once again. I had now left China, my trip was over. Reflections Although only 32hrs, China left a lasting impression upon me. It is a place full of contrasts. The people, once introduced, are very kind and generous to you, something that Andy tells me lasts about two weeks. Once you are part of the local scene this fades away, although they continue to remain friendly and caring. Of all the places I have travelled so far, and this only includes Singapore and Hong Kong, I would most prefer to return to China. The language barrier is the biggest obstacle, but as I found out, not insurmountable. My summary of these three countries would be something like this: Singapore is the most liveable country for a westerner. English is the native language and it is a most amicable country full of wonderful people. Hong Kong is a place of high pace which, from what I saw, is only relevant as a business location. It would also be a great place for a short term stay if you like the excitment of cities. Most people speak enough English to be able to get around ok. China is a land of fascination. Hardly anyone speaks English. It is a place that is highly livable as long as you do not compare it to western standards. You will either love it or hate it, but either way you will know quickly. I love it. China. What a place. Next stop is Hong Kong for a night.