adventures in *

I’ve uploaded the rest of the pictures to http://picasaweb.google.com/alvinychan

Goodbye Hong Kong

Woke up to the sound of pouring rain. Headed to the airport at 8:30a to fly back to the states. Our flight was delayed 40 minutes due to lightning and rain. Once we got off the ground, it only took 10.5 hours to reach San Francisco, we went straight across the Pacific Ocean, rather than going over Alaska. Top speed was 811mph according to my gps.

Praying at temple

Rest day, I had dim sum with my yee-mah (aunt) and yee-jeung (uncle). Afterwards my aunt took me to a temple to bai-sun (pray). There were numerous statues of deities throughout the temple. I was told to light incense sticks and place them in containers in front of the statues. My mom asked my aunt to get my fortune told, I was given a container of wooden sticks called cheem. Each of the sticks has a number written on them and I shook the container until one of them fell out. I took it to the fortune teller to have him explain it.

I was taking a pictures in the temple when a lady yelled at me and said photos aren’t allowed. My aunt apologized and said ‘he’s american and doesn’t know any better’.

I had lunch with Grandfather, Grandmother, and my other aunt and uncle. Came back to the apartment where I watched them play mahjong for a few hours. Then went out for dinner with yee-mah and yee-cheung.

After 14 long hours, we finally arrived in Shenzhen, so I thought. My blackberry went haywire the previous day. It only displayed a white screen so I wasn’t able to see what I was typing or view google maps. I had no idea where I was exactly. I asked if anyone on the bus spoke cantonese, no such luck.

The bus driver directed me up the street, where I asked a couple police officers how to get to Lo Wu bus station. Didn’t seem like they knew either, but one of them pointed me to bus 311. I got on the bus and the lady collecting fare laughed, said something in mandarin and I gathered that I was on the wrong bus. We arrived at a check point and a military police accompanied by a normal police officer boarded and shouted something in mandarin. Half the bus got off then they motioned for me to come with them. Outside, they asked for my passport then I tried to explain that I was trying to get to Lo Wu. They kindly directed me to the shuttle bus that would take me there. I’m not sure how they spotted me on the bus, maybe the big backpack I was carrying.

At Lo Wu, I approached a gentlemen next to the baggage scanning machine and asked him where to take the bus to Hong Kong, he offered to take me to the terminal and said it costs 200$. I pulled out my guidebook and pointed to the section saying it should cost only 50$, he said ok and would take me to a bus stop. Starting to get suspicious, I ducked behind a corner as he led me somewhere. He came back and found me and we continued walking to customs, once there, he asked for $50 for showing me the way. He tried to rook me, I told him I was expecting to get a bus to HK and not be guided to the customs area which was well marked. He said he’d take 15$, I pulled out my wallet and said sorry, nothing for you – what a jerk. Made it through customs and back to HK in about 16 hours of travel time. Went to my Grandfather’s place to have dinner with another uncle and aunt.

Sleeper bus

I was looking at my options for getting back to HK. A flight from Guilin to HK would be 1200rmb, I’d still have to take a 1.5 hr bus ride from Yangshuo to Guilin, then another hour bus to Guilin airport. Flying to Shenzhen then bussing to HK was another option, 500rmb. The hostel worker recommended taking an overnight bus directly from Yangshuo to Shenzhen for only 180rmb. I wouldn’t have to transfer up to Guilin and I could get some sleep as well. I’ve never been on a sleeper bus, I wasn’t even aware they existed. The bus had 3 rows of beds going all the way to the back, no bathroom.

I picked a spot in the back corner and settled in. The little bed compartments seemed like deathtraps. If the bus gets in a collision, I could see people getting their legs pinned in. With the way people drive here, I was worried that I might not make it back to HK. I fell asleep quickly, but every once in awhile, we’d hit a bump or pothole, in my half awake state, I dreamt I was back in Antarctica, crossing the Drake passage. I would bounce out of the bed and felt momentarily weightless as I came back down. In Antarctica, we had 30+ft swells on the way
back to Argentina, the ship was tossed around like a toy and staying planted in the bunks was a challenge.

Around 4am, I was woken by the sound of the engine shutting off, I looked outside and noticed traffic wasn’t moving. After 20 minutes, the driver started up and moved 20 feet before stopping again. This continued for several hours. We passed by a bus on the side of the rode, it looked like it was involved in a sideswipe collision. All the passengers were standing outside in the rain. That didn’t make me feel easy about the ride.

Near Xingping

I had noticed the previous day, locals would order bowls of noodles and top it with various vegetables from a table in the back. Rather than ordering the specialties, which most tourists probably get rooked into because that’s what the waitress shows them on the menu first, I tried out the noodles. It’s a rice noodle, with slices of roasted pork. A stockpot had a broth to pour on top after adding condiments like pickled beans, radish, green onions, peanuts, cilantro. Good stuff, it was only 3 rmb!

After breakfast, I went to the river dock wanting to head north to Xingping. A boat owner spotted me right away and offered to take me there for 200rmb, seemed like a good deal. The first hour was a bit boring, not too many karst mountains, but the I did see the rural china. Locals were washing clothes and vegetables along the river. Cormerants were hanging out on fishermans’ rafts. Oxens were feeding in the grass along the riverbank.

As we got closer to Xingping, the mountains started appearing in the distance. This is what I came to see. The boat operator docked on the opposide side of Xingping, there was a ferry shuttled passengers to the other shore for 1 yuan each. We had noodles for lunch, at the restaurant, I noticed they used coal cores as a heat source for cooking. Come to think of it, I don’t think I saw any propane or natural gas stoves the entire time in Yangshuo or Guilin. The boat guide offered to take me further up the river for another 100 yuan, what the heck, I was already here. 100 yuan is only 12 usd, so a bargain. He pointed out the mountain range featured on the 20 rmb note.

We passed by some more amazing scenery to a bend in a river. Canopies were set up along the shore with locals sitting around camp fires. Some were cooking up food for visitors, others had computers and printers set up, powered by car batteries. The locals all had Canon or Nikon dslr’s, offering to take photos of visitors in traditional festive outfits next to the river for a few yuan. I had a photo taken of me holding a couple cormorants on a bamboo pole. I ran into a couple that I had first met in Guilin at Reed Flute cave.

Floating down the Li River

I took a raft down the Li river to the next town Fuli. Had beer fish, a local specialty of carp steamed in beer, garlic, ginger, tomatoes and topped with red and green peppers. Yangshuo was full of chinese, german, british tourists. The main pedestrian road, West Street was lined with tons small shops and restaurants.

chinese calligraphy

Another day in Guilin, I walked to Seven Peak Park in the morning, a park dating back to the Sui dynasty. Many of the locals were out practicing tai chi. I hiked up one of the peaks where a lady was practicing chinese calligraphy with a water brush on the ground. Another group of people were singing, I sat down to soak in the amazing scenery of the 7 peaks. I later took a taxi to Reed Flute Cave, a giant cave system about 15 minutes outside of town. All the caverns were colorfully lit and in the main cavern they had fog machines and lasers setup for a cheesy show.

In the afternoon, I took a bus to Yangshuo. As we made the 1.5hr journey, the bus stopped several times to pick up additional passengers. As the seats filled up, the co-driver pulled out plastic foot stools and set them in the aisle for people to sit, the bus was packed like a can of sardines.

Reed Flute Cave

Commuters in Guilin

Today is a travel day. I still haven’t adjusted to the 16 hour time difference, I’m going to bed at 12am after taking some melatonin, then waking up around 3 and laying in bed until 7. I took the train from Hung Hom station to Guangzhou. As we crossed the border from HK the the mainland, the skies grew darker and hazier (is that a word?) Passing by the small towns were giant pits of burning trash.

After arriving at the GZ East train station, the air was thick with diesel exhaust and cigarette smoke. I hailed a taxi to GZ airport. I thought there would be more cantonese spoken here but my cab driver and most of the other people I encountered only use mandarin. I was able to pick up a couple words here and there, the pronunciation of some words are similar. I asked to go to the ‘fai gei cheung’, the driver asked ‘fei ge?’, close enough.

Made it to the airport and sat around for 5 hours for my flight. Going through security screening was easy, didn’t have to take off my belt or shoes. The security personal were much more pleasant to deal with than our DHS TSAs.

The plane was late but there wasn’t any updates about when we would leave. The plane arrived 15 minutes after scheduled boarding. China Southern Airlines is generous with the inflight snack. Even though the flight was just 1 hour, they handed out boxes of tea and a large package of spring onion crackers, sure beats a bag of pretzels.

Landing in Guilin, I somehow missed the sign for baggage claims and walked out of the secure area. Unsure of where it was, I asked a police officer, who didn’t speak cantonese or english, he directed me to some cashiers at a nearby concession stand, with no luck. I spotted a white guy, so odds were high that he’d speak english. He directed me back to the security area where the military police were very hesistant of letting me through. One of them led be back to the baggage claim area and kept a close eye on me until I collected my backpack.

I thought my taxi ride through Guangzhou was hectic but it’s even crazier in Guilin. Buses, taxis, cars, motor bikes, scooters, and bicycles all competed for a piece of the road. Traffic signals and signs were mere suggestions. Going against traffic in the wrong lane, swerving between vehicles, running reds was a common sight. No need to wait for a crosswalk signal, just walk into traffic and vehicles will go around you.

I checked into the hostel then walked around the main street where it was packed with street food vendors and craft stalls.

I had dim sum with Grandfather and Grandmother, then spent the rest of the day walking around Central District. In the evening, I had dinner at my aunt’s again. This time, her dog bit my arm.

view from Leu Muk Shue

My Grandfather came by in the morning to take me to his apartment at Lei Muk Shue estates. It’s a public housing development with at least 8 different buildings, with over 37,000 residents. The development had it’s own bus station terminus, shopping mall, and farmers market. I was expecting a ghetto project but it was very clean and safe. The apartment itself has 3 bedrooms, single bath. I think he said it’s 400m^3 and pays 2000hkd a month. From the 19th floor, I could see the skyscrapers in adjoining city Tseun Wan. Grandfather took me to Yuen Yuen institute, a temple. My Tai-po (Great Grandmother) is laid to rest here.

We picked up some roasted pork, hum bao, and bag of paper money as offerings then went to her site. We set up the offerings on a table in front of her site and prayed. Later we took the paper money to a fire pit to burn.

Grandfather headed home and I walked around for a few hours to see Sam Tung Uk and Chuk Lam Sim monastery.

In the evening I took the subway to Central then trammed up to Victoria Peak to see the HK skyline.

HK skyline from Tsim Sha Tsui

The 14 hour flight wasn’t as bad as I expected. I had enough leg room to stretch out and managed to catch some sleep. The first thing I noticed when I got outside was the humidity. Probably over 80%, I can’t imagine how horrible it must be during the summer when it’s 80F+ and 90% RH. I arrived at the hostel via bus and was shown the room, I’ve heard the accomodation here were a bit small and it wasn’t an exageration. The hostel is located in a residential building, my room was a windowless 12x12ft cell with a 3x8ft bathroom in which the toilet and
shower stall were shared. I gave my aunt a call and she invited me over for dinner. My cousin Banni came by the hostel to take me over to their house. One of their dogs isn’t very friendly to strangers and greeted me
by biting my leg.