Finally in Yangshuo

I’m bizack! Let me tell you, my 28 hour train ride (really 30 and a half hours because it was late) wasn’t as bad as i thought it would be…but it was really interesting.

i think i mentioned this, but everyone in china takes the train. just rows and rows and rows of people. but i am finally getting the hang of the chinese way…which is to cut the line and push through, lol. so luckily i didn’t have to wade my way through–i cut right to the front with my big ole backpack and kept it movin.

the first 13 or so hours were fine–primarily because it was a night train so i got settled into my hard sleeper and went to sleep. the next day was okay…that night i met a group of chinese teachers. it’s funny, only one spoke english well and apparently they saw me somewhere around xi’an and had been dying to ask me questions, LOL. so i sat and talked with them for about an hour–everything from my hair to the educational system in the US.

the train reminds me a lot of the movie titanic. the way i figured it, there are about four “classes”–first class is the soft sleeper…older europeans, all the folks with money and class who don’t want to fly. the beds are softer (from what i hear) the carpet in their cabin isn’t soiled and the doors to their sleeper actually shut. the hard sleeper is sort of a mix b/n first and second class. there are no doors to the cabins–there are no doors and more beds to a “room.”

then the rowdies are in the hard and soft sleepers. that’s where all the spitters are and all the folks walking around half naked b/c the AC doesn’t work in their cabin. (in the hard sleeper, i can count on one hand the times i heard someone spit)

so anyway, i stayed in guilin for the night and wandered around for the day. i went to one of the famous parks there…it was absolutely beautiful! much better than beijing or xi’an. and then this afternoon i finally made my way to yangshau.

i love this place already. its at the base of a mountain and has nothing but restaurants, bars and various “outdoor” activities during the day. as soon as i got here, i met some folks, and they invited me out for the night.

which is where i’m at now…lol. the bar/restaurant that i’m at has free internet, so i figured i’d take some time to catch up. the keyboard is a bit janky though,and is really getting on my nerves, lol.

i’ll write more tomorrow!