China, like the rest of South East Asia as we all know, has plenty of poor but very smart locals trying to rip tourists off. Imagine being in Asia for the first time, not speaking the language, not knowing where you want to go, and on top of it, surrounded by impatient, aggressive and sometimes rude shopkeepers and taxi drivers. Some of them were so overwhelmed, all they did was go to Walmart in China. Haha… I did my best to help whoever I can.
Qingdao was dreadful. The typhoon was in the vicinity, schools were evacuated earlier in the afternoon and it was just raining the entire time we were there. I was so bent on getting out of that city and avoiding the entire coastal area. Since typhoons lose its ‘power’ as it travels through land, I thought it would be wise to pick a city further inland. After recalling the places in China where my mom had been with her auntie friends (haha…), I picked Guilin. And my mission for the day was to buy a ticket there from Qingdao.
We headed for the city centre, and I looked out for big hotels with travel agents in the lobby. After a bit of walking around, I finally found one that issued tickets and I bought the earliest flight to Guilin the next day. Now most of my friends were heading to Beijing for the great wall. I had already been there, and besides, I’d rather spend more time in the serene environment at Guilin rather than the polluted city of Beijing. So that meant I had to go solo. First time in my life! I mean I had taken transportation solo, ran errands solo, but sight-seeing solo..that Ive never done. Everywhere Ive traveled, Ive always had someone to meet and stay with or walk around and exploring with. This was a first.
I was to meet my friend Alexandra at the hostel in Guilin one night after I arrive, to travel with her to Yangshuo. She had gone to Bejing first to see the great wall. So I arrived at Guilin and spent one lonely night in the best room they had in the hostel, which had cost me $24 dollars. Honestly, the rooms didn’t matter….I picked the one with the best toilets. I had my route planned out for the next day, and went to bed. Next morning at breakfast, not wanting to travel alone, I looked around for possible travel partners. Couples..nah. Dodgy ol’ men..nah. Groups of 2 or more guys or girls..nah. Single girl traveling alone. Perfect!
The girl I ended up traveling with, her name is Maureen. Shas an Australian working in England (for the pounds). Works a couple of months, earns pounds, then quit and travel until she runs out of cash. But because she makes pounds (three times the value of sing dollars), her salary can pretty much last her a year or so in poorer nations like South America and South East Asia. Like me, shes not a person who will be able to survive the 9-5 desk-bound job. I cant imagine myself doing that, everyday, never being able to see the light at the end of the tunnel. And she basically showed me that I don’t have to resign myself to that fate. She worked on a contract basis, so that means even though she has to put up with 9-5 for a couple months at a time, she is able to control when her contract ends, and she’s not tied down to a mundane life, makes good money, and can take off seasonally to any part of the world. But there are, of course, downsides. She can do whatever she’s doing only because she’s not close to her family. And also, she doesn’t have a permanent house, only a permanent locker in London where she stores everything to her name while she’s gone. In addition, the weather in London can get the most cheerful person down. And the working hrs are long. But I was thinking, if im not gonna have a life anyway, might as well earn 3 times the money while im at it. And the things she has gained from it, friends from around the world, the knowledge, the personal growth, the increased sensitivity and understanding of other people, their cultures…priceless.
Maureen and I hired a driver for 20Yuan (4 sing dollars!) and spent the rest of the day exploring the Reed flute cave, and Beauty’s peak. Then we took a nice riverboat down the Li River while the sun was setting. It was beautiful…. Like the sacred river in India, the Chinese also do everything in their river. We passed a man shampooing his head in this speedo, several ladies washing raw chicken at the riverbanks, and others washing clothes with river water. So many Chinese people mistook me for a local tour guide because I was translating everything Mandarin to Maureen in English. Hmm…another possible career huh.
When night fell, we ended up at the night market, shopping. There, as we were bargaining with the shop keepers, 2 Chinese university students approached us and asked if we needed help translating. Turns out, they were looking for tourists to practice their English with. They would come to the night market whenever they have free time to look for English speaking tourists to practice. And because I knew both English and Mandarin, I could teach them some words. Their dedication and perseverance for learning - amazing. Need to learn this from them. The day turned out to be unexpectedly enjoyable and I really liked the new friend I met.
By the time we got to the hostel that night, it was almost 12 midnight. And I was anxious to see if Alex had made it there. As I approached the reception desk, the lady told me that my friend had arrived!! She made it! See, whenever we make arrangements like that at port, its like taking a leap of faith. She didn’t have her phone, so from the time we parted to the time we met, anything could have happened to either one of us and plans might change and neither one of us would be able to get hold of each other. So we’d be so excited when we finally meet! So I introduced Maureen to Alex and the next day, 3 of us made our way down to Yangshuo.
Yangshuo is a lesser known town compared to Guilin. But there is a saying in Yangshuo that goes “Guilin might be beautiful, but Yangshuo is more beautiful compared to Guilin.” And it truly was. Imagine a small, friendly town with shops, restaurants, markets, everything you need, set in a backdrop of mountains and padi fields. The fresh air was a nice change from the pollution in Qingdao.
Once we checked into the hotel with the best bathroom, we made our way to the stretch of the Li river with the best view. Apparently, you cant say you’ve been to Yangshuo without visiting there. When it comes to looking at the abstract shapes of nature, the Chinese can be really creative. We passed a hill that looked like an old man and one with an image of a horse carved on it and also took a picture of the view that is currenlty printed on the 20 Yuan note.
Next day, Maureen and I booked ourselves a 9 hr cycling tour of Yangshuo while Alex went Rock climbing. Cycling is the best way to explore the countryside. Picture being on the bike, riding at your own pace, cool wind in your face, all you hear is rustling grass and birds chirping, being surrounded by padi fields and mountains……perfect! From time to time, we’d pass a breathtaking sight and stop to take pictures. As we passed the Pomelo plantation, I asked if we could stop and have some fruit. Our guide stopped and spoke to a farmer and he invited us to their rest area to have pomelo. There we sat with the other farmers, their wives and their grandchildren and just chilled and had a fruit party. I enjoyed just chilling and joking with them.
Im really starting to appreciate how people from such different backgrounds can come together and chill and communicate and have a good time. The connection we have, there and then, is beyond seller or buyer, age, nationality, race, income, status,. We’re just people connecting. 30 mins later, the group breaks and everyone have to resume our roles. Us—tourists and customer, them—farmers, tourguide—service provider. But it doesn’t matter. The moment we had was special and I seek out and treasure those moments.
Just as we were ready to go, Maureen realized that her bike was gone and in its place was a ratty old bike. The farmer immediately recognized whose bike it was, and rode it to its owner to exchange for Maureen’s bike. Minutes later, he returned with Maureen’s bike and all was good. Small town spirit, I like.
Later that day, we arrived at Moon’s Hill, where we made a Level 2/3 hike up the hill. As we were walking up, there were these local old ladies carrying small cooler bags with canned and bottled drinks, selling them. They approached us at the bottom of the hill, but since we still had our waters, we declined and said maybe later. To our surprise, she said “ok later?”, then proceeded to follow us up the hill! And mind you, it was not an easy climb. 10 mins into it, Maureen and I were exhausted and had to take a break. Those ladies, who are probably twice our age, saw other tourists ahead and they just kept going! Amazing! By the time we got to the top, we were B-E-A-T. And I was amazed to see 10 other old ladies at the top of the hill. I asked one of them how many times they climb the hill a day and she said max twice. When I told them I admired their fitness, one more outspoken lady said “You think we like to climb hills? We’re like beggers following tourists around..if we weren’t poor, we wouldn’t do it if we didn’t have to.” And then I see tourists shooing them away, and I felt bad. See, you cant blame these tourists because they are conditioned to say no, and many people from hotels and tourguides probably warned them about these touts and tell them not to buy from them. But you cant blame these touts too because they are poor and they have no choice but to sell things and make money otherwise the other option would be to beg. And the poorer they are, the more aggressive sellers they become, which makes tourists shun them even more and its just a vicious cycle where nobody benefits. So I bought a bottle of water from one of them while the other watched in envy. In contrast, it made her day and she said it was the first sale she made all day. Since it was already 5pm, it’ll probably be the only sale made for the day. So on the way down, I was brainstorming for other items they could sell besides drinks that tourists would want to buy. All the options I came up with, they said they have tried and it had failed. Some problems just have no answers.
moons hill..........
And on the way back, we stopped by the bamboo rafts and took a very peaceful and serene bamboo raft ride down the river leading back to the town. That was probably my most favourite river ride thus far – no noise pollution from the engines of motor boats, no smell of exhaust, just me and my environment, being one.
Following that, we made our way back in time for ice cream before dinner. We took some time and tried out several flavours. As Maureen turned around to get her wallet, she was startled to realize that her bag pocket was open and her wallet was gone! She said, but no one was here and the only people the could have stolen it was the 2 Chinese local men beside her. When I looked up, one guy has one arm holding out a note to the ice cream seller and he didn’t look like he was paying attention to what he was saying at all. He kept looking over at us. I stared at him, trying to make out if he was acting and if he was the thief. And everything was happening so fast that I couldn’t think straight. He turned over and faced us, and asked in mandarin, “what happened? Did you get picked pocketed?” I didn’t bother replying him and I kept staring at his expressions, his eyes, trying to make out if he showed any sign of fear or guilt. And the whole time Maureen kept pointing at his pocket, which was bulging. Sensing that Maureen was accusing him, he patted his pockets several times and looked like he was really innocent and then he said “did someone steal your wallet and go that way?” And in that split second, I believed he was innocent, and I nodded and pointed that direction, and immediately, he and his friend took off! Seconds later, the ice cream woman said she recognized the guy talking to us and he was indeed the thief. And in that second, I felt sooo dumb. We ran over and by then, they were nowhere to be found! Maureen, visibly shaken, was still able to think straight. She said she felt soo stupid but immediately accepted the fact that her wallet was gone and ran through the items in the wallet in her head, and kept saying that she has to go back and call to cancel her card. She only had less than 20 US dollars left in the wallet. The most valuable items were her atm card and her train ticket from Guilin to Shenzhen. So she was lucky she didn’t lose much but it was a hassle trying to get her card cancelled and a new card sent over to her. Its amazing that she had been everywhere around the world alone, (including south Africa) and that was the first time she had been pick pocketed – in China! Needless to say, she wasn’t impressed by the country at all. It only takes one bad experience to spoil the impression of an entire country. I on the other hand, had all my valuables in one wallet. If it had been me, I would have been screwed. There, I learned invaluable lessons at someone else’s expense.. to take care of my belongings better, to split up my money, not to be too trusting..
That night after dinner, Alex and I bid goodbye to Maureen and took a 10 hr bus to Shenzhen and made our way to HK to meet the ship we call our Home! We finally arrived the HK port after a bus and multiple train rides. The first sight of home brought a rush of emotions - happy would be an understatement. We had been through so much and not to mention survived the most disgusting toilets in the world and survived! At that point, the thought of my cabin and my toilet and a clean hot shower would bring tears to my eyes. All that mattered was that we made it back! Adventure would be an understatement. Next stop – Vietnam.
1 comment:
1) ahem , dude we are supposed to go room full of blues. remember to level up before you come back... if not i will know all your secrets easily
2) party up! because i am partying up every single day
3) angmoh sucks!
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