After shopping in Shanghai and mailing the stuff home I walk to the subway and take it to the airport express shuttle to fly out of Shanghai. Subways are priceless! I bet I've taken over 100 different subways. Easily actually.
The airport shuttle was cool. This thing flew.
My plane is leaving to Guilin really soon. Running late and running around like a wild man. Guilin is known for the Karst mountains. I'm thrilled to get out of the city and into nature.
Two days ago these 2 Dutch girls convinced me to stay in Yangshuo instead of Guilin. It is about an hour away from Guilin. It is where the river cruises happen and where the best mountains are.
I run to the airport to find this. The reason makes no sense. Flight delayed without further notice. No flights are on time in Asia but this is a first.
After an hour they say our flight switched gates. At the new gate I notice a flight on the same airline has been delayed 8 hours in total.
Oh crap... Sitting down I hear these Chinese 20 year olds speaking English right next to me. I start up a convo. They are studying in Manitoba Canada and are flying home for summer break. We commenced to talk about girls and who is hot or not in china to them lol.
All of a sudden on the PA I hear flight cancelled. I stand up quickly to see which flight. Heart racing! The 8 hour delay flight is cancelled officially. Phew. Out of nowhere right in front of where I'm sitting this very old dude starts yelling at the airline workers, and I mean loud! The terminal goes from loud and noisy to dead silent as everyone focuses on this man. Hundreds of people. It's intense! The Chinese boys translate for me, that is one pissed off China man. Rightfully so...
Almost on que the PA says our flight is now boarding. The china man storms off ticked off while we joyfully line up haha. Talk about salt in the wound...
In the air it hits me. You know, I don't know what time the bus stops running out to Yangshuo from Guilin. I cancelled my Guilin hostel and am wondering if this was a smart idea now... In fact I have no idea where Yang-freaking-shuo is. I dont even know what direction from Guilin. Good thing I have the iPhone. It's worked everywhere I have been and I have had to do no pre planning yet. Just land and plug in the address and go.
After a nice 3 hour flight I land and it is about 10:00pm local time. Way later than scheduled. By they way, on the flight I have a nice dinner that they gave us and write a few blog posts. Asia airlines are way oiler than American, they always give you a meal it seems.
I turn my phone on and it says no Internet connection. I think to give it time. I look for the information desk to figure out how to get to the bus station that takes me to Yangshuo. They tell me to take the shuttle to Guilin City and catch the bus.
Still no phone service. Getting really nervous now. I walk outside the airport and see no signs. There are buses everywhere and no one speaks a lick of English. One woman right when I start talking to her, within a second dramatically turns around and walks away. Punk. There is seriously no one to help me. I ask drivers and they she's me away. I ask people walking by and no one can help me. I was told it would be way harder in small towns to get around but wow, no one can help me. With no internet my translator app doesn't work. That makes it so much more difficult! I look at my paperwork and it says the last bus to Yangshuo is 10:30. Oh freak. I gotta go, but know I won't make it! I decide to just pick the bus that has the most people on it and go. and we're off! Seriously... Just like that I decided.
Still no phone service!!!! Blasted freaking Guilin China! I pull my compass out and realize I have no idea what direction the city is from the airport. I just know the shuttle is about 40 minutes. I begin to pray for help cause this could be a long scary night.
No street signs, minute after minute. I hope this is going to Guilin City soooooo bad!
Where is this going...!?!? This is not a good or comfortable position to be in!
After 30 agonizing minutes I see Guilin city signs. Oh the relief i felt! Im sweating because im so stressed and its hotter here. The driver begins to make stop after stop after stop with people getting off. Where do i get off now? It hits me I forgot to grab a map at the airport. Oh my gosh I'm an idiot! Still no service i realize I have become way too dependent on the iPhone. I have no idea where the bus is let alone anything about this city. I may as well be blind.
Still no service and hitting panic mode I start saying Yangshuo!? I Going Yangshuo!
The man a few rows back says to get off right here. I ask where and he points up the road. I've learned this is as much as you will get out of Asians. I ask for more details and get the usual, just pointing up the road.
I get off and see only the Hong Kong hotel. I go in and they do the same point up the road with no English. I begin to walk and 5 minutes into it I realize I didn't ask for a map at the hotel! Wow I'm a fool! Gotta move forward though. After 10 minutes I see nothing but Tuk Tuk and scooter drivers staring me down and begging in Chinese to choose them as my transportation. No English. They are spooky fellas to say the least. I stop and have no idea where to go because the road forks. Praying more now. After walking around for 15-20 minutes trying to read bus stop signs I finally see bus station on a bus stop sign. But I remember there are 2 stations, a north and south and I need the south. The sign doesn't indicate. I continue to walk the Dark dreary streets of Guilin. My bag is getting heavy and it is extremely humid. I reach the point where I am legitimately afraid now. This is a first for the trip. Just straight scared and no idea where to go. Wow I should have prepared better.
After 10 minutes of sitting and thinking and walking a little I see a policeman and begin saying Yangshuo. He and a local begin talking about something. She is a street vendor. Another guy jumps out of the police van in street clothes and they speak a little English. After these 3 talk for 5 minutes or so the policeman and undercover cop (i think) point to the van to get in. Oh gosh. I really don't know about this. Don't have a great feeling about the policeman and the other dude. I keep hesitating and they point and say lets go. Ok, going for it. My heart rate is jacked up and we drive for about 5 minutes and they drop me off way down the same road the bus dude pointed me to.
Pics of the cop van:
And me thinking the worst (I'm scared for my life at this point. I'm at the mercy of these cops and this city, I have no power):
They drop me in this dark intersection and point and say bus terminal. Oh what relief. There are random spooky looking people everywhere. The bus and train station looks abondoned, see for yourself.
There appears to be gangbangers chilling everywhere staring me down. I'm flying in my walking speed looking down and ahead.
I go to the information desk, no English. I begin saying Yangshuo. She points me in a direction and I start walking. Now people are trying to sell me crap. Do they ever sleep!
And this Yangshuo better be worth all this! I'd love to go to bed right now.
I keep asking people, Yangshuo? Where bus Yangshuo? A bus driver finally walks by and I say Yangshuo. He starts walking and points at me to follow him. All of a sudden I hear what sounds like "Yandsho". He asks the dudes hanging out and they point to get on the bus. The sign is written in Chinese and I can't see Yangshuo written anywhere. I get in with very little certainty. They do say leaving at 12:00 and its 11:50. If the correct bus what remarkable timing. My info said last bus leaves at 10:30pm! Im still unsettled because a lot of these towns and cities sound the same and are spelled almost the exact same.
Dudes hanging out by the bus I just got on.
I can't be sure because it sounds like the dude keeps yelling another name that sounds like Yandsho! I get out for a walk and verification. I see this sign but buses are everywhere around it.
Buses everywhere I decide I gotta go for it. Gosh this sucks. I feel so blind! At the mercy of those around me and we cannot communicate.
Off we go! Praying really hard now.
The driver and money collector are ghetto to say the least. Many scary looking people on this bus. But off we go with no %100 surety of where it's going. At midnight!
It's a long dark road. For 30 minutes I see a sign for one place, Dabuxiang or something like that, but no Yangshuo. I'm really really nervous now. On edge you could say. Only mumford and sons music could keep me a little calm. A lot of times you don't know but it feels ok and you have faith and are optimistic, i don't feel that at all to be honest. So here I am, on a midnight bus in the Countryside of China with no knowledge of its destination. I'm glad my compass says we are going south though since I needed the south station. But who knows?
Finally after 45 minutes I see a Yangshuo sign. Yes!!! What relief I felt!
We finally get to the bus station and I'm so grateful! SO grateful!! It is about 1:15am.
Now the question is where is my hostel. I realize I do not have the address written down anywhere. Because i just booked it online on my phone a few days ago. It is in my email box but no service. Great... I'm a real brainiac as you can see.
Yangshuo is a small town. So it will be even more challenging. I begin walking and people start asking me for rides in scooters. They follow me for a while talking Chinese and I keep saying no. But they keep following and speaking. An important skill in China is the skill of no eye contact and Ignoring from the first contact.
I'm lost. Everything is closed because it is 1:30am. I'm in Yangshuo going on 2am now and have no map and no gps. Gosh I'm tired. I finally find a police officer and no English at all. I somehow convey name of the hostel which is Yangshuo 11 Hostel. He guides me down the main road there. West Street. I can tell this is a huge party scene. Clubs and bars everywhere. The streets are relatively empty which makes it more scary. People stare me down. Drunks are all over and they are loud. These are mostly locals. I have a horrible feeling. I put my head down and walk fast with no looking at anyone. This is probably the most I have been scared this whole night. I don't know how drunk Chinese men operate when they are drunk.
Picture of map at police station
Finally I get passed the clubs and main bars, got invited into all of them.
I cannot find the hostel though. The cops showed me on his map but I can't figure it out now. After another 15-20 minutes I stumble onto the tiny alley way and see my hostel sign. Thank heaven!!
Look how small this alley is.
I arrived at 3:00am I think. After sweating for hours I showered and hit the sack. The private room is really really nice actually. BUT, I can hear everything like its right out the window. I am 3 floors up but the window covers only 2/3 of the opening. The rest is screen.
Good night! This is one of those times I kneel down and pray because I am so grateful and happy I am here and well.
I notice I have a friend as I crawl into bed. What else is in here?
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
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