adventures in *

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.