Trip To South China Part 2

6:39 5-1-10

Sleep was a hap hazardous affair, even with ear plugs the constant cranking of the wheels, and the squeal of the breaks are a hard thing to ignore, especially for a man that grew up in a cave.  Along with that there was a bright light coming from the doorway leading to the other car, and the bed is little more than a big board with a thin cushion thrown on top.

That being said I still only woke up once at 3 am and again by Clement around 6:30.  We should arrive in Guangzhou around 8:30, about 3 ½ hours late, something important to note when traveling around China.

Now that the sun has come up the scenery is shown to be decrepitly beautiful.  Small mountains rise up all around us, ringed by rice fields.  Trees are in every direction only hidden by the light fog that covers them like a thin wedding veil.  The buildings though make a mockery of Nature, rising up as small decaying statues that mar the landscape.  Industry is everywhere from massive power lines, huge smoke stacks that look like nuclear plants, as well as large slabs of stone cut from the earth.

I'm reminded of my travels as child from Dallas to Florida by train.  While some of the scenery is beautiful the backside of society can be quite disgusting.  Even still at least it looks different then what I've grown up with. 7:02

11:00

Correction our train didn't arrive until 9:30, 4 hours late.  Luckily we were able to pass the time playing card, Clement won a game but Charlie and I still trumped!

Getting off the train we were now in "real" China.  There were people everywhere!  Not really going anywhere just chillin, waiting for trains to come.  It should be noted that we're traveling during a Chinese holiday and Guangzhou is one of the richest providence because of the massive amounts of factories in the area.  These factories provide jobs for much of the rural population.  I see this city much like I think of Detroit.

Now we're traveling first class on one of the fastest trains in China! 12:00

(from here things got pretty busy so I didn't finish writing about the day till 8:40 5-2-10)

Well our intrepid adventures have now made it to Shenzhen, and even were able to transverse the metropolis's underground train beasts by pacifying their mighty gate keepers with the purchase of small green tokens.  It wasn't long and we soon found our accommodations and base of operations, MyLittleHut Hostel conveniently located within the heart of Shenzhen.  But beware all was not what it seems.

Upon entering, the inviting atmosphere was soon soured for we were soon set upon by the all mighty "Reservations Can Not Be Found!" Charlie, our fearless guide, leapt to the group's defense.  But what's this? NO!!  O ye gods of mortal despair, three damsels have inadvertently stumbled into the same vicious trap.  Now poor Charlie has six naïve travelers to defend!!!

So while that was happening I took some time to get to know these international princesses. :)

Audre – hailing from the distant lands of Lithuania, educated within the famous walls of England, and combined with her sweet as well as sophisticated personality made her an instant pleasure to be with.

Agnes – Polish by birth yet Chicago raised, you got the feeling she way soon take over the world yet her laughing eyes and her force of will would make you accept it quite willingly.

Kiane – the mystery in the group.  Her adorable personality and disarming Australian smile reminded me of a adorable puppy.  But her slight aura of sadness and our future talks would lead me to find out that this girl has been through the circles of hell yet instead of being broken and down trodden she was left with a thirst for happiness and an understanding of the darker side of humanity.

(Author's note: this may be a bit dramatic, obviously I only knew these girls for a short while but these were just my initial impressions, and it's my blog I can do what I want… in fact why am I even justifying this)

They were all fascinating.

As Charlie was busy doing battle with the front desk, our groups shared our plans for our stay within Shenzhen.  Low and behold both groups wished to travel to the distant beaches of the far East.  The waters long hailed to be infested with vicious sea monsters, historically some of the most prosperous trading vessels in the world have cut through their waters, and noted for their beauty; they would soon be lapping at our feet.

40min later and we were packed in like unlucky sardines on a four wheeled can hurtling through traffic and slamming to heroic stops at. every. single. stop.  I enjoyed getting to know people but being smashed against them (despite my forthright personality) is not the way I wish to acquaint myself with people.  Never the less and hour and half later the white sands of China were ours!!!  As well as 5,000 other people's.

Apparently during the holidays the beach is also very popular here and it seemed like half of Shenzhen was surrounding us.  There is also a distinctive difference in swimming suite styles here.  Boys wear rather skin tight short shorts and girls all have on skirts and conservative tops.  Unlike our new female adventures who sported the latest in Western bikini fashion.  Every penis within a 500m radius was fully perked to attention and taking photos, some subtly others not so much.  And it may have just been my imagination but I suddenly felt a immense sense of satisfaction had washed over Charlie as his hard fought battle at the front desk had been rewarded. =P

Long story short, we had a lot of fun at the beach.  These French got to hang back and enjoy the sand.  Audre, Agnes, and Kiane swam in the ocean and I got to be the mule. :) jk I was busy taking pictures of the Chinese enjoying themselves which is what I really enjoy.

O while we were taking pictures together the girls started doing classic "jump shots" and a local newspaper photographer started taking pictures as well!  I now have in my possession a newspaper with our photo in it!!!  Super cool, and something that amuses me to no end.

After our sand and water adventures were done we climbed the local costal rocks where I met another American named James.  A retired businessman who now lives in Shenzhen with his Chinese wife and child, they now run an English school together.  We talked for around 20min and he seemed pretty cool.  Vietnam vet, and long time traveler her quickly won me over and I now have his business card.  Sadly the others were not as impressed, they didn't talk with him very long but apparently he was "too" friendly and gave off a drugged out vibe to them.  Maybe it's just my perspective but I can never pass up a business contact, and frankly I see no downside to keeping in touch.

Getting back to our hostel though was far harder then it ever should have been.  Unlike Shanghai, Shenzhen is still primarily a bus city which means we had to flight through swarms of people to force our selves onto a bus.  The process took almost two hours and we almost lost Agnes in the process.

I was lucky enough though to be crushed next to Kiane and Audre, would join us later.  Our conversation on the way back ran the gamut from differences in cultures, stories of China, and teaching Audre perverse slang.

I think now is a good time to talk a little bit about the girls reasons for being in China.  One way or another they all joined this student organization for international placements and are now work for media in Guangzhou (same city Charlie use to live in and the next city we were visiting).  They've been here for about two months and will probably stay for a full year.

Kaine hails from the suburbs of Sydney, in one of the high immigrant areas.  Before coming to China she worked at a couple of bars as a bartender and has been involved in two robberies (not as the robber, obviously)!! Having gone through her parents separation, I got the feeling her life has not been a rosy one.  As such she has the words Love, Death, Life, and Hate tattooed into her wrist in a unique and mysterious writing style that she created.  A perfect reflection of this angelic faced Aussie.

Once back in our hotel we met up with another Aussie by the name of Stephen, a swell chap, he seemed to have the warm personality with a "good old-boy" swagger yet an air of international sophistication that washed away the usual ignorance that tends to come with that package.

It's now around 8 o'clock at night and we made our way to a local restaurant.  After finding out that they were sold out an about 4 various items on their menu I eventually settled on a traditional pork dish with a thin rice paper on top.  Quite good, but honestly anything at that point would have tasted like sirloin steak, which Agnes and I agreed was one of the things we missed most about the States.

Once back in the hostel, the French retired for the night and the rest of us met up in the Aussies's room for a round of "circle of death," a common Western drinking game where you take a deck of cards and spread them out in… well a circle.  After that you take turns drawing cards, each having their own mini-game associated with it such as thumb-master, waterfall, "Never Have I Ever", etc.  Lots of fun and Audre was kind enough to share with me her Apple Wine.  If only Apple Wine had lasted the whole night cause what was left after that was a venomous drink we called "Snake Juice," a vile liquid that they had bought as a joke which could only be cut by heavily mixing it with Lipton ice tea.

But the night went great and for the first time since I left I felt like I was back in Texas.  They could have just as easily been my friends, meeting after work on a Friday evening, talking and lightly drinking till late into the night.  End of 5-1-10