CHINESE WHISPERS, PART 5


By Mark T. Bayod

NIMEN HAO
Just got back to Spain a week ago and I love the weather!  Coming from the intense, bitter cold of Beijing it actually feels warm here (5C).  With the temperatures dropping to -11C overnight and going up to about -2C during the day Beijing really becomes a challenge.  With only my linen trousers to protect me (my jeans seem to have shrunk, or maybe eating out every day of the week has taken its toll) I have been walking everywhere in a desperate attempt to buy Christmas presents.  I hate shopping.  The air is so dry in Beijing that my knuckles actually started to bleed before I decided to embarrass myself by buying Nivea hand cream (very metrosexual!).

HOME SWEET HOME... OR IS IT?
Being back in Europe is taking some getting used to.  The only consolation I have is that my wallet is suffering more than I am.  I tell a lie, Spanish jamón serrano (cured ham) is another serious consolation.  And let's not forget cheese and seeing my family and girlfriend.  Aside from these things I am seriously missing the life in China and have every intention of going back in a year's time.  As so often happens though, good intentions are easily forgotten with time... although with the new anti-smoking policy in Spain I may flee back to smoking China sooner than anticipated!

FROM THE ROMANTICISM OF TRAINS TO THE PRACTICALITY OF FLYING
Flying in China is one of the easiest and most comfortable ways to get around.  The airports are modern constructions in which the normal rules of Chinese life seem to vanish.  Orderly queues can be seen instead of the sudden rush of people that you often get at a bus or train station; people respect the no smoking policy; and amazingly enough, spitting is done into bins instead of onto the floor.  Surprisingly, air travel can be as cheap if not cheaper than a hard sleeper (2nd class sleeper) train ticket; the trick is to plan ahead.  Airlines allocate a certain number of discount tickets (from 10% to 80% off) which sell out very quickly.  The result is that if you book well in advance you can fly for 20% of the list price.  My favourite part of flying, however, is that you can buy your tickets on an English language website and have them delivered to your hotel the same day at no extra cost - how's that for service?!

A ROUGH LANDING
When it came to buying our own plane tickets in Chongqing we were lucky enough to get a 20% discount on a flight leaving the next day.  And so we found ourselves landing in Guilin in central Guangxi province.  Now, it is important to say that everyone I know speaks very highly of the various Chinese airlines and that my case is most certainly an exception.  Nevertheless, my landing was not a good one.  I was half dozing when I suddenly felt the plane slam into the ground - quite a surprise considering that I didn't even know that we were landing.  The plane then proceeded to bounce down the runway in a way reminiscent of a basketball until the pilot eventually managed to keep it down and bring it to a halt.  The whole experience was frightening to say the least and felt like the pilot had simply thought that the ground was 5 metres lower than it actually was.  To be honest, we were never in any real danger and it probably wasn't as bad as I remember it, but a plane is a great amplifier of fear.

RIVER RELAXATION...
The excellent decision to go by plane was accompanied by the even better decision to have a car waiting for us at Guilin airport.  As a result we arrived at our final destination 45 minutes later with none of the usual problems and obstacles that seemed to be characteristic of our journey so far.  Yangshuo is as spectacular as it is tourist ridden.  Surrounded by limestone hills and situated between the Yu Long and Li rivers the scenery is truly beautiful.  On our first day we decided to go for a little cycle by the Yu Long riverside, soon realising that we were too hot and too lazy to get very far.  Fortunately for us, you could just throw your bike onto a two person bamboo raft and float the rest of the way down the river in comfort, that is, if you get past the 20 people trying to sell you postcards, water guns, drinks and souvenirs of all shapes and sizes.  We got past them.  About 1 minute into our trip downstream we were intercepted by an aquatic version of the same.  I would say that they are annoying, that they don't let you relax and enjoy the river and that they are pushy (and they really are), but they sold me beers all the way down the river... what a wonderful bunch of people.

...AND DANGER
The other, slightly less relaxing activity on the faster Li River was a risky version of white water rafting.  Sitting in a two person dinghy and getting thrown down some rapids is one of the most enjoyable things I have ever done.  It is possible that the danger and lack of safety measures made the whole thing more exciting, but personally I enjoyed seeing people falling out of their boats (as I'm sure others enjoyed seeing me fall out).

A WESTERN TOUCH
Although Yangshuo is terribly beautiful (both the town and the countryside) it really is a number one western backpacker destination.  The upshot of this is that it is easy to get by speaking English, the night life is lively and that there are souvenirs galore.  Disappointingly, it also means that you don't really feel like you are in China.  One of the main reasons for this is that the town centre is plagued with western restaurants that serve less than average food at relatively high prices.  To get a real Chinese meal you have to do some serious searching, especially given that the guide books only mention the western restaurants.

BACK ON TRACK
So finally things were going well for us, but we had to move on as my visa was about to expire and I needed to do a quick renewal in Hong Kong.  This was to be the last stop on our trip around China.  Feeling confident, I suggested that we travel by train down to Shenzhen and then hop across the border to Hong Kong (20 minutes away).  The Guilin - Shenzhen trains are like nothing I have come across before.  The hard sleepers were fantastically comfortable, all the doors were electric, the staff were extremely friendly, there were western toilets and above all there was a bar car with cold beers.

ANOTHER WESTERN TOUCH
We arrived in Hong Kong in the morning and it seemed like a great place - a sort of oriental version of London.  However, when we saw our accommodation looked like we thought again.  It really is amazing that there can be such a difference in price between two cities that are within 20 minutes of each other and in the same country (although admittedly Hong Kong is one of the Chinese Special Administrative Regions).  RMB 160 a night bought us a deluxe room at lovely hotel in central Shenzhen, whereas the same amount in Hong Kong only stretched far enough for a shoebox with air-conditioning.

I have been told that it is worth visiting Hong Kong when coming from Europe rather than from China.  I can only hope that this shows the city in a more positive light.  The experience I had was of an expensive, arrogant, stressed out and class driven city.  Still, it does have a good skyline at night (even though during the day it is nothing to write home about) and they do a pretty quick visa... I couldn't have asked for much more.  With my visa in hand and after buying some electronics, we got out of the city as quickly as possible and headed back to Beijing for a well deserved rest.

ALL GOOD THINGS
So that's all from my trip in China.  Back to the real world where I must find some employment and a school to continue studying Chinese (I think I have forgotten everything already!).

Thank you for reading and zaijian!

Any Comments?
You are welcome to contact:
marktaylorbayod@hotmail.com

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