Lessons, like three the hard way / Yangshou, China
"Guilin, Guilin" was the cry as the man in the minibus rolled on by.
I raised my hand and within moments I was stuffed hip to hip with market bound locals and on my way north. On Arrival in Guilin an hour or so later I managed to find my way to the train station several blocks away and administered my usual (nearly useless) attempt at Chinese only be once again yelled at by the furry browed man behind the glass along with the shooing motion I was getting all to familiar with since arriving in Mainland China.
I finally found a girl who spoke a little (very little) English, explained I wanted to go to Kunming, she smiled and sent me upstairs to the waiting room. Great, I thought. There were people in this room and the regular array of unappetizing snacks...I mean really how many times can these people eat instant noodles with indistinguishable pictures on the package? Anyway, to shorten this up, I needed a ticket before actually waiting here so back downstairs to the same girl I had talked to before, she sent me back to the furry browed man behind the glass who was yelling at someone else...which in a strange way I found to be a little comforting, maybe it wasn't just me? I took a breath and did my best impression of "one ticket to Kunming please"...then again with the yelling and shooing!!! By this time my bag was getting heavy, I was wet from walking in the rain and I was fully ready to pull that angry furry browed man through that little talk hole and give him a personal demonstration of my mounting frustration. I got over it and went back to the girl who spoke a little English who this time decided to bestow upon me the fact that the train was not even leaving for two days. Suuuuper. I'd just spent the last an hour bouncing around the station like a soggy ping pong ball only find out that if I didn't figure something else out I would be stuck in this waterlogged city. Needless to say, I figured something else out.
After repeating the process I succeeded in securing a ticker and headed to Nanning on a 6 hour bus trip and booked myself into the finest room $5 could get. It was a virtually characterless Ying Bin Hotel was the cheapest of two choices in the LP, it high ceilings and a view of the square outside. Manky little orange slippers were set for me in the corner, the distinct odor of cigarette smoke hung in the air, however, it had a bed and a shower (or something like it) down the hall and it wasn't an overnight bus so it was good enough for me.
I raised my hand and within moments I was stuffed hip to hip with market bound locals and on my way north. On Arrival in Guilin an hour or so later I managed to find my way to the train station several blocks away and administered my usual (nearly useless) attempt at Chinese only be once again yelled at by the furry browed man behind the glass along with the shooing motion I was getting all to familiar with since arriving in Mainland China.
I finally found a girl who spoke a little (very little) English, explained I wanted to go to Kunming, she smiled and sent me upstairs to the waiting room. Great, I thought. There were people in this room and the regular array of unappetizing snacks...I mean really how many times can these people eat instant noodles with indistinguishable pictures on the package? Anyway, to shorten this up, I needed a ticket before actually waiting here so back downstairs to the same girl I had talked to before, she sent me back to the furry browed man behind the glass who was yelling at someone else...which in a strange way I found to be a little comforting, maybe it wasn't just me? I took a breath and did my best impression of "one ticket to Kunming please"...then again with the yelling and shooing!!! By this time my bag was getting heavy, I was wet from walking in the rain and I was fully ready to pull that angry furry browed man through that little talk hole and give him a personal demonstration of my mounting frustration. I got over it and went back to the girl who spoke a little English who this time decided to bestow upon me the fact that the train was not even leaving for two days. Suuuuper. I'd just spent the last an hour bouncing around the station like a soggy ping pong ball only find out that if I didn't figure something else out I would be stuck in this waterlogged city. Needless to say, I figured something else out.
After repeating the process I succeeded in securing a ticker and headed to Nanning on a 6 hour bus trip and booked myself into the finest room $5 could get. It was a virtually characterless Ying Bin Hotel was the cheapest of two choices in the LP, it high ceilings and a view of the square outside. Manky little orange slippers were set for me in the corner, the distinct odor of cigarette smoke hung in the air, however, it had a bed and a shower (or something like it) down the hall and it wasn't an overnight bus so it was good enough for me.
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