Best laid plans....
Trip Start
Oct 11, 2007
1
88
218
Trip End
Nov 11, 2009
Where I stayed
Guangzhou, China
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
and it became such a memorable day. left the charge-by-the-hour hotel i stayed at the night before. as early as i could, i was out of there and waiting for a dorm room to open up at riverside hostel. was there for a couple of hours. ate some wonton noodles (5 quai) and had friendly conversations with some guys on the very comfy couches. they both seemed like seasoned travellers so i asked if they knew where to catch the train or bus to hong kong. one of them was actually buying his ticket that day so i decided to tag along.
so ash, the guy, and i went all over guangzhou in search of our tickets. rode the metro all over the place. he was going to hong kong so he wanted to try the superfast train. i was heading to macau and i found out that i could only take the train from kowloon (hong kong) then ferry it over to macau. so i decided to search out the bus station. twice as long but it's supposed to be half the price. but they were on a reduced schedule because of the holiday season. so around 2 p.m., they had already stopped selling tickets in front of one of the hotels. they said that i could get a ticket tomorrow, but i didn't want to risk it. we never did find the other hotel that they also sold tickets. so we checked out the train station closeby. line was unbelieveably long. people were waiting and pushing and shoving in this line that didn't look like it would end. so we decided to go back to the train station that ash got his ticket.
all that searching around cost me 5 quai each way. probably spent 20. but afterward, it was a relief to have that ticket in my hand. at least i now had a plan for tomorrow. so we decided to celebrate by having some beers afterward.
found a papa john's and had real pizza for the first time since i've been here. cost an arm and a leg but it was so worth it. tasted like the stuff we eat at home. it was such a slice of home that it almost brought tears to my eyes.
and of course, hanging out with ash didn't help matters. he's canadian and he made me realize how much canadians are similiar to americans. using the same slang, we discussed the similiarities between our countries. he's travelled mostly through the west coast and mid-west of the states while i've been all over the south and east coast.
regardless, north americans still watch too much tv and run from our warm cars to warm buildings to our warm homes. still i couldn't pass his thick canadian accent (he definitely didn't sound like any americans that i knew. teehee) and the fact that he was the friendly, nice canadians that we all love and admire. so essentially, the same but still different. from alberta. been traveling for the past two years. will probably stay in china for 3-6 mths to teach. 29. very interesting guy.
great thing was that he wasn't the last interesting person i met there. glenn is a 32 year old cop traveling the world. been doing it for five mths. still have another seven months to go. bought a ticket to see the world. 20 stops for 1000 pounds or something. definitely not bad. he has a year before it expires and he's already planned his trips. been all over europe and asia and will stop in south america en route to the states. will be there for two weeks, checking out the west coast and vegas. works in london (westminster) but lives out in the 'burbs.
he was with paula, girl he met at the hostel in beijing. they're going to hong kong together after spending checking out chinese new year in guangzhou. (i guess i should have checked out what chinese new year was going to be like here but that would have meant less time in india. and as of right now, that's still the jewel in my travels. the pentacle of where i want to be. incredible india as it's advertised all over the place.) paula's 26, a cook from liverpool.
natasha, 26. black girl from florida (orlando/kisseemee) but lives in new york (manhattan). teaching english in tianjin. been there for 5 mths. already. lived in japan for 2 years, teaching in various places. tokyo, north and south of toyko. wants to go to india but couldn't persuade her to change her tickets. she's going with the brits to hk on the 8th.
the hostel really was amazing. clean, helpful staff. didn't have a dorm bed available so they went ahead and opened up a whole room for me. i thought i was going to have the whole room to myself but i ended up sharing it with another girl. she probably didn't sleep too much since i was up so early. and came in so late. but it's hard to leave when you're having a good time.
