Ana_Last Days in China

Shanghai
Day 1 Nov.13
We left my sister’s place on a Monday right before her afternoon class. We did pretty good no tears., just looked at each other with sadness. Tim was surprise we did so good. We kept saying as we hugged each other goodbye we’ll see each other soon I guess for comfort. Although January seem far away then. On the road again Tim and I…the story of our lives this past year. We only had a short bus ride to Shanghai , our next destination. But the time we got there I was really missing my sister. We took a cab to our hostel right near the “BUND” which is a popular area right in the middle of town. Cab rid a bit expensive - 50 Yuan which is about $6 US. We’re use to paying about $2 US max for cab around China.

Our hostel was pretty nice it had a ship theme throughout . Our bunks where that of a cabin of a cruise ship. We put our packs down and headed to the bund for a walk. Perfect time since it was sunset and all the building along the bund where lit. Really amazing skyline. Neon lights everywhere. Definitely a big and modern city Chinese style. The vendors where driving me nuts as usual, this time they were more in your face than other times. Couldn’t handle it. I was getting annoyed. For dinner we couldn’t resist the golden arches temptation. Inexpensive Chinese food didn’t sound good the next cheapest option was fast food of course. As we walked along the busy streets holly cow I saw more motorcycles than cars. On a traffic light they staggered really tight right next to each other and when the green light comes up man they’re so fast. They look like bees going for the honey. Yeap, like any other big city in China it’s crazy and crowded.
When back to the hotel and had beer in the lobby for only $1US. You can beat that price.

Called my sister that night before going to bed. We were both pretty sad. I wanted to take the bus back to her town. =(


Day 2 Nov. 14
Had trouble sleeping. One of the guys staying in our room snored pretty bad most of the night. He was sleeping next to Tim, lucky him. He said he took his sheets off at point so he could stop and find a better position. It didn’t help. First thing we did that morning was switch rooms.

We walked around town. No big deal. Wasn’t digging Shanghai at all, it’s just another big city. Didn’t care for the people they seemed a bit cold and dry. And the annoying touts didn’t help my perception. Walked and walked and walked. Stopped a small local restaurant off the main streets. Managed to communicate with my basic three words in Chinese. They understood for one. The food was so so. We had Kung Pao Chicken with soggy rice. We had Starbuck’s for dessert. It was better than lunch for sure. We walked and walked some more. Nothing special. At night we went to the Bund again to walk around some more. Had another awful meal. This time it was really bad. We ate at one of the restaurant along the Bund. The picture looked promising. The chicken we ordered sucked it looked nothing like the picture. It was all skin and bones and it tasted very rubbery. I was upset. Two bad meals in a day. We went back to our hostel and drank some beers. Tim and I got pretty buzz. We ended up seating on the hall near our room to drink beer and snack on peanuts. It was a lot of fun. Tim said we were drinking to survive Shanghai we both didn’t care for the city. At least we had fun together. I kept laughing at Tim’s jokes all night.


Day 3 Nov. 15
Our last full day in Shanghai! Went looking for a movie place that our German friend, Tom, recommended to buy cheap movies. It took us a while but we got there and of course it was close for business. They did send us to another location. Lucky us we hitch a ride with a nice American lady that had a driver and everything. She too wanted to buy some movies. We finally got there and we went crazy grabby movies. We ended up with about 100 movies, from chick flicks to cartoons.

Right after Tim wanted to take the Maglev train to the Shanghai airport just for fun. Our friend Tom had to recommended to do this even if we didn’t have to go the airport. I was hesitant since it sounded so lame to take a train to the airport just because. But I’m so glad I did it. It was super fast ride. We did 30 KM in 8 minutes and the highest speed being 431KM. Things were going by so fast I had that funny feeling in my stomach. Then the fun part was we pass another train going on the opposite direction and it sounded like an explosion. My heart was beating so fast. I guess I’m becoming an adrenaline junkie. I’m glad I did it. Tim was right it was worth the trip. We got to the airport had a snack and came back to the city. Cool way to end our day. Had more beers that night.


Day 4 Nov.16
Had Mc Donald’s for breakfast. At least I knew what it was going to taste like. Left around 11:30ish to the train station. We had a 27 hour train ride to the city of Guilin in the south. Tim was really on it with the Chinese ways. While we waited in the lobby area we had the luck to sit across a Chinese dude that was just scratching his balls with his hands inside his pants. SO DISGUSTING! Then Tim caught another dude few sits down the scratching dude that was starring at my boobs. Tim looked at him so he can look at way but instead he smiled back. Tim was about to kill someone. He kept saying that he didn’t know if he can last another two weeks in China. I told him we could leave early if we wanted to. Of course on the train we got the cart where people kept starring at us the entire time. I was getting annoyed too. Even in our compartment the family underneath us kept starring too. I thought they were cute but Tim didn’t think so. It was a family of a grandpa, grandma, two daughters and a grandkid. The grandma kept looking at me the whole time throughout the ride. When I would take a nap and my blanket would slide I’ll feel somebody fixing the blanket and it was the grandma. I thought it was really cute of her. Tim was trying to rest and ignore all the annoying people on the train in the room next to ours I saw a man watching porn on his cell phone. I starred at him and he turned it off then I spotted another man trying to take a photo of me with his phone. They kept starring me funny. We went to the dining cart to get away from the stares. Not a chance. We got starred at too. It’s so annoying because they don’t look away when you look at them the either kept starring with a dumb look on their face or they laugh. I tried looking at them with a funny face to see if the would look away, that didn’t work either. I just had to ignore them as much as possible for my own sanity.


Guilin
Day 5 Nov. 17
Train ride nightmare ended around 4:30pm when we arrived in Guilin. Just walking out the train station I liked this city much better. We took the local bus to our hostel. I saw more greenery and the city had a cozy feel to it, nice walkways near the water. The hostel was nice and cozy too. The rooms had a peculiar smell it reminded me of Panama had that humid wooden smell. Can’t explained but felt safe and comfortable. We put our bags down and walked around the city which wasn’t very big. We dare to try another local place this time we had good luck. We ordered fried noodles with beef and some green beans. It was very tasty. Very satisfied. Walked around the city some more. Nice vibe crowded but not overwhelming. Went to the local market and bought a few gifts. Had fun bargaining.


Friday, Nov. 18
Slept in that morning, felt very relaxed. Tried to go to the local crafts market but couldn’t find it. After two hours of looking we just headed back in town. We tried asking but had no luck finding people that spoke good enough English to understand us. Tim was pissed. I tried to stay calm and figure things out but had no luck. Went back to the hostel for a nap. Felt much better after the nap. We walked around the city some more that night. Bought few more gifts.


Sat. Nov. 19
Did errands in the morning. We finally bought our tickets to Thailand online. Left to Pingan around noon. A nice French guy pointed us to the right bus station. By accident we were going to the touristy more expensive bus station. The bus ride was so beautiful. Finally got away from the city life and headed to the rice terraces. Although the day was shitty and cloudy. We arrived in the small town of Pingan around 5pm. Getting off the bus was a mission. People were getting on the bus and we were getting off the bus with our packs. I had to push people out of the way. It was crazy. The town was set on the mountains along the rice terraces. We didn’t have a place to stay but knew we would find plenty. There was another couple with us also looking. Of course we got bombarded but the cute old ladies to take our packs up the hill on their backs inside a basket. Tim carried his and we got a lady to carry mine. We follow a girl that said she had a hotel near by. The hotel was really nice and cozy it was basically their house with a few guestroom but it had that homey feel and it was super cheap. Tim bargain $2US a night for our own private room. Can’t beat that. The room was decent but had no heater or nothing. Good thing we had our big sleeping bags with us.

We walked around a bit but it was getting dark and it was scary going up the stairs with no light. But I really like this town. It was very different from what I’ve seeing in China, a small village up in the mountains. So you had to wind your way around the village through the many steps.

The rest of the night we just hung out with the other couple until it was time to got bed. We had food at the house/hotel. Very yummy! Had spinach with a side of scrambled eggs with tomatoes and white rice.


Sun. Nov. 20
Rain all night, very hard. Didn’t want to get up. I was nice and warm under my sleeping bag and blankets. It was really cold that morning. My allergies were kicking in. I had a runny nose all night. I slept with a pack of Kleenex under my pillow. I even woke Tim up. He turned the his flashlight on and asked if I was OK. He thought it was a mouse rumbling around.

Wasn’t able to sit shit of the terraces. It was foggy and very misty all day. We did walk to view point number 2 just for the walk it was nice at least to see the different houses along the way with the red bubbly screen lamps, very Chinese. It looked like I was walking through a movie set.

In the afternoon we went to view point 1 and was able to see the rice terraces for like 10 minutes. It was an amazing view down the hills. I mean tons of rice fields carved out of the mountain. It has the ripple affect it vanishes. I was happy at least we got to see something. But it fogged over very quick. Went back to our room and had the same meal for dinner rice with eggs.


Mon. Nov.21
Rained all night again. I felt queezy that morning. I also had a rough night with my stupid runny nose. What else is new. Went for another walk through the sleepy village. Again had no luck to see more of the terraces. Took the 11:00 o clock bus back to Guilin.

The same day we took a bus south to Yangshou. This city is where you can view the rolling hills on the river and you think of this when you think of China. The city is bit touristy of course but worth a visit. The city has and amazing backdrop to these hills. We got there and went straight to hostel recommended in our book. It was down the main strip. Didn’t care for the place but didn’t feel like looking for something else. Rooms were shitty and staff sucked.

We walked around to find a place to eat. Tim was drawn by a sign that said best burritos in China. Of course we ate there. I had a pizza. My pizza was good it didn’t taste Chinese, but Tim’s burrito did. He ate though. He said it was OK!

Stayed up walking around and getting acquainted with the city. We did find a much nicer hostel, made reservation there for the next night. Had to wait until late to call to states. We were trying to book our ticket to Panama. And we finally did. Tim was getting annoyed since we kept missing the time to call because of the time difference. China is 16 hours ahead of the west coast.

Before going to our hostel we had a magnum chocolate bar. This time I had a mint chocolate flavor. It was really good. We’ve been having these ice cream bar as our milk source throughout China. It’s better than nothing. =)


Tues. Nov.22
Moved to our hostel very early in the morning. Much better and still had our own room. Waited for the boat guy to pick us up to take us around the river to view the mountains. It was only a two hour boat ride but very nice. We had this big boat all to ourselves. Our guide spoke good enough English and he was trying to tell the nicknames of certain hills along the way. I didn’t see it at all he would say that is the man sleeping, or that looks like and elephant and so on. The only one that I saw a resemblance was a the one that looks like a big thumb. I just nodded yes to everything he said.

The rest of the day we just walked around like we’ve been doing the past week or so. Nothing special. We did play basketball on a machinne, the one with a hoop and counts your basket with a timer. I was so happy I beat Tim. We usually play who can score the most baskets and for the first time I beat him at it. He wasn’t very happy specially he lost to his wife. Not a good thing. We walked around some more at night and ended up Kelly’s Café for some beer. Between the two of us we had 3 big Tsingao beer (local beer) for only $2US. Right before going to our hostel I drag Tim to a local club where I heard some loud music. I told Tim “we haven’t been to a club in China yet.” It was not very crowded. I nice guy came to greet us and spoke very good English. He was the promoter I think. We were the only foreigners in the bar. We only ordered one beer and hung out. I got the courage to go join two Chinese ladies on the dance floor. Soon enough few other people joined us. At first the looked at me weird but then I smiled at them and kept dancing. One of the girls that joined the group was really sweet and for some reason we had the same rhythm and follow each other with certain step. She was also visiting Yanzhou. Meanwhile Tim was recording me dancing away with the locals. I only dance few songs. I had a lot of fun.


Thurs. Nov.23
Thanksgiving Day Chinese style with noodles and more noodles! We thought we took the express bus back to Guilin, but no we stopped every couple minutes to get more people on, a classic bus ride. We did couple of errands in Guilin before catching our first night bus in China. We were already warned that it would be an interesting experience. It sure was. Tim barely fit in the tiny bunk beds. The aisles were so narrow, I had to go in sideways to get to my bunk. I kept laughing. Tim was soooooooooooooo pissed! He was done with everything. I kept saying we’re leaving in a few days don’t worry. It took actually two hours to get on the road. We kept stopping to load the bus with more boxes. The last stop the buses had be piled up along the aisles. Crazy I tell you. I took a Benadryl so I could knock out and get some sleep.


Shenzhen
Fri. Nov.24
I slept OK on the bus considering the situation. We arrived in Shenzhen about 8:30 in the morning. It was our last city in mainland China before going to Hong Kong. We took the local bus to our hostel it took about half an hour. We then walked in circles trying to find the hostel. Kept asking the locals for help but couldn’t find it. Finally I told Tim to look for it and I would stayed with the packs. My back was killing me at this point. It gets pretty heavy after few minutes of walking with it. Tim founded we had missed it. We got our own room again. I tell you it was the only way to survive our last days in China we had our own space and it was way worth it.

Went shopping to a big commercial area. People from Hong Kong come to shop here is a big 5 story mall with small stores jammed right next to each other. They sell clothes to electronics of course imitation brands. It was funny to see the vendor hiding some of their merchandise when the police would walk around and do the rounds supervising the sales. Just browsing was a nightmare. You get bombarded to buy everything. You couldn’t look in peace. Tim kept saying just ignore them. Sometimes it wasn’t easy. We did find few stuff. I felt in love with the shoes but no luck finding my size. The biggest size was still a bit too small for my big feet.


Hong Kong
Nov. 25 - Nov. 30
Mix feeling about it. We left mainland China but we were still in China. Very big city and by far the crowdest city every. It was like New York on steroids. We’d walk around mid week at night and it was still crowded. It was hard not to feel claustrophobic. We did tons of walking and shopping saw the famous Victoria Peak at night which had a beautiful view of Hong Kong and ate tons of junk food. Time went pretty fast for once.

I was glad to leave China. On our grand finale of the adventure there we had a 8 hour delayed at the airport. Tim wanted shoot himself. But we made it.

I do have to say not sure if I’ll ever go back to China. It was a nice experience but not enough go back to - being there done that type of place.