Early 6 o’clock wake up once again. I had no choice as I had to board the 5pm overnight train from Nanning to Guangzhou. I was out the door before the usual time the free breakfast was to be served, but the hotel was generous enough to offer me granola cereal with a banana on the side! The morning was dark and blue; it wasn’t until 10 that the sun finally rose over the dense fog, which gave the land warmth and a sense of depth. I took in a bit of the country side, and just sat back and continued working on my blog. On our way to the border, we made a short visit to a rest stop which consisted of a souvenir shop, a money exchange and a small patio restaurant. I exchanged the rest of my dong into Chinese yen and headed straight to the restaurant for my last enjoyable Vietnamese meal. Delicious, nothing better than warm pho to heat the body and mind!
The border crossing wasn’t too difficult; they all gave us tags so it was a smooth and easy transition from the Vietnam bus to the China bus. Crossing borders was by foot, nothing much to say except China’s checkpoint was a lot nicer than Vietnam’s. Sorry no pictures, I wasn’t in the mood to pull out my camera in front of six Chinese officials inside their checkpoint. In no time at all, I was on the new bus heading towards Nanning where I would try to board an overnight train to Guangzhou, transfer to Shenzhen by local train and walk through a border crossing into Hong Kong. The scenery was amazing, mountain haystacks dispersed across a landscape densely populated with trees. The weather also changed from a sunny morning to a misty overcast afternoon. The ride was comfortable and relaxing; I plugged in the iPod and continued writing from where I left off on the last bus.
The mainland was especially difficult for a foreigner like me to get around. Not a single person spoke English, and the couple of Mandarin words I did know (hello, good bye, thank you) weren’t enough to get me by. I wouldn’t use the word ‘disrespectful’ when I speak about mainlanders, but a little bit ‘unrefined’. They spat anywhere they felt like it, made loud annoying clearing noises of the throat, budged, shoved, and gave awkward looks to foreigners. The evening was about to hit and I really wanted to get out of there. When I reached the train terminal, I noticed how crammed and busy it was. Lines to each booth were 20-30 minute wait to say the least, and not only that, but people figured budging in front of the foreigner was acceptable. To add to the problem, people stood so damn close to each other. Give me some damn room, I’ve got a camera bag on my back, I’m carrying a tripod and pulling a suite case with a laptop bag strapped on top. I gave everyone a mean look, hoping that I’d scare them into thinking twice about robbing me. I couldn’t wait to get out of there!
This image shows what happens when windows crashes at the train terminal. Good old windows!
I finally got to the booth, politely said hello, and asked for a Guangzhou train ticket. I got the look I was dreading, the look of confusion. I repeated the name of the station again, “Guangzhou,” and raised one finger in the air symbolizing one ticket. Mandarin words were spoken to me this time, which didn’t help me out. Another girl came by to help, but I got the same silent look. I looked above me, and everything on the panel display was written in Chinese letters, which didn’t help either. I decided to whip out my notebook and start drawing. I draw a train, below that I write Nanning and an arrow pointing to Guangzhou. On the side I add a plus sign and draw a bed and somehow illustrate it looking soft, as I read on the Internet you can purchase a sitting car or a sleeper car. As I showed them what I drew, they had a problem deciphering my English characters. I was in real trouble now, it was getting dark and I wasn’t looking to get a hotel here! They called over a 3rd person, who didn’t speak English, but slightly understood the characters.
He finally spoke out to them in Mandarin, they all shook their heads and laughter was spread around. Cheers, I was relived; I smiled and joined in the giggles. Now I only hope they understood I was looking for a soft bed, I don’t want to sleep in a chair for 12 hours!
My boarding time was 6pm, departure time was at 8pm, and I’d arrive in Guangzhou at 7am. So I scored myself the bed, but why was there no door? Great, looked like I’d be sleeping with my camera bag under my wing and the laptop under the pillow. I slid the suitcase under the bed, jumped on my bunk and started eating away at the apple I bought while waiting to board the train. Before hitting the bed, I went to brush my teeth and at that instant my stomach started to react. Nature was calling, but when I went to open the bathroom door, there was a hole in the ground! I’d never used that type of bathroom before, but I had no other option. I couldn’t go to bed with an upset stomach. Not being used to squatting in mid-air doing number two, it’s just as bad as when you do it in the wilderness. I was going to appreciate those warm washlets in Japan after doing this.
Went I came back to my sleeping quarters; I noticed two new neighbors who found their beds for the night. I gave them both a subtle hello nod and jumped onto my bed. As the train started moving and the cabin got quiet, the guy whose bunk was below me decided it should be otherwise. As he was going through his bag, he whipped out his cell phone. The size of it was unreal, the screen must have been at least 4-inches and the thing lit up our quarter as it repeatedly cycled through all the colours of the rainbow. The damn thing gave me an instant seizure; now if only the guy across from us pulled out a compact fog machine we could’ve had ourselves a real disco party. So guess what the guy below me did? The cell started blaring loud Oriental music, the type you hear at the end of a Jackie Chan Hong Kong action movie. The damn thing played as good as a boom box would, clean and accurate treble and base levels without distortion. I just shifted an eyebrow and thought this wasn’t really happening. I knew I should have brought the fog machine; what was I thinking of leaving it at home! Just when I was about to just jump out of my bed and start dancing, the train staff asked him to turn it off. And just like that it was all over; my chances of breaking it down to Oriental music on a Chinese train heading towards Guangzhou had faded away. Darn!
The story of my train trip to Guangzhou doesn’t end here quite yet. Yes, there is more! There is something about sleeping on trains which makes it so relaxing. As I looked out the window, everything in the foreground passed my field of view so swiftly, while the background stood motionless as though it was a painting, and I heard the rhythmic thump as it traveled like a wake across all the carts. With absolute quietness within the cabin, the train put me to sleep. Then, in the middle of the night, my body jumped out of the bed as I hear someone puking. It sounded so clear, as though it came from just beside me; I quickly looked down to see if my baggage was okay. Was it just my imagination? Nothing had happened in or around my area. Moments later, I heard it again! I’d never heard anything so disgusting before. Someone was in the restroom down the hallway clearing their throat in the washroom. The noise echoed within the hall of the cart. As much as it disgusted me, I was happy it wasn’t puke all over my baggage instead!
As everyone was woken by the cabin crew an hour before arrival, we all made our way to getting ready to depart. That morning I felt very well rested. The sleep was one of the best I’d had on the trip so far. I guess my body desired something more than the 6-7 hours I was giving it. The time was 7am, and I now had to find a connecting train to Shenzhen where I could walk across to Hong Kong. To catch the Shenzhen train, you do need to walk out of the station, do a quick u-turn on the left and walk back into the same building just next where you came out. A little confusing at first, but the language barrier was a lot easier than Nanning’s. The rest was just following signs leading to Hong Kong, where you check out of China and check into Hong Kong customs. As I arrived in Hong Kong I quickly found a place to exchange some money, buy an Octopus Card and find my way to the airport first to reunite with my long lost luggage. When I picked up the luggage I soon found out it had flown business class to Tokyo, Singapore, and Hong Kong. I was jealous!
So I was then stuck dragging around two rolling suitcases behind me up and down stairs, in and out of subway cars with the laptop bag strapped to one of them, holding my tripod and carrying the camera backpack to my hotel in Mong Kok. I toughed it out!
The rest of my stay in Hong Kong was going to be a relaxing one. I’d try to visit a couple of key places, but other than that, no rushing anywhere, just sleep in and relax. I found out that a high school friend of mine was also staying in Hong Kong for New Year’s. I ended the night hanging out with him and his friends, stuffing our faces with what Hong Kong is most known for, food!
Sorry for the lack of photos. In some parts of China I didn’t feel conferable taking out the camera.
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