Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Like where's Wally but without the stripey scarf
Hellooee,
So we are leaving Shanghai today and setting off for Hangzhou, which is a lakeside town about 1 and a half hours by train. We jump on the Metro to get the 9am Train from Shanghai Station, as we understand........however not to be we have gone to the wrong station so off we set back across town to the other station....grrrrr.
We queue up at the ticket office and for the tickets. Once at the window, the conversation goes a bit like his,
Me "DO YOU SPEAK ENGLISH" I speak very loudly and slowly into the speaker
Ticket lady "where do you want to go", I don't hear this. though so I look at Sally and raise my eyes as if to say this is going to be complicated,
Me again "E N G L I S H", I'm now speaking at her even louder and slower
Train Lady "YES, WHERE DO YOU WANT TO GO", she says this loudly at me too.
So we get out tickets and head to the train. Again the trains are great and we speed a long. Once we get off at the other end we get a taxi which at first appears to be going fine but then he cant find the hostel and he is stopping just about everybody asking them, he is running all over the place to ask people. A Policeman eventually jumps in the car to direct him. One there the taxi driver is in shear relief (some of you may have seen the video).
We check in and once again the hostel is freezing. We get made a cup of tea by the guy staying inn our dorm. he speaks so English but smiles a lot. We head out to book overnight train tickets for Guilin. ....... we were yet to realise how hard this was going to be.
We go to he ticket office and ask for the train we have a bit of flex on days we can go, but No. We cannot get a train until 25 Jan, well this is no good for us as will not even be in China then. We try all sorts of different routes stopping at other places to see if that route is empty. We toy with not getting a sleeper and just getting a chair but it is a 28 hour journey and we think better of it. So flying it is then.........Something else I hate and only do if I have to ( I have come to realise I have a long hate list actually - my friend Keith used to tease me about this but I now actually agree with him hahaha).
It is the Chinese holiday time so transport is a nightmare, but as usual my strong procrastination skills have come back and bit me.
Anyway we head back to book flights, this is also a stress as it takes you to the payment page but the internet if so slow it just kicks you out. 2 and half hours we are trying this for and are now getting close to tears with frustration. We eventually book a flight from Shanghai to Guilin the following day.
I then receive a call from the airline to say they need a photocopy of my passport and both sides of my credit card. I'm out in the stick where the hell am I going ti get a photocopier or a fax. So I tell them they cant have that/ They call me back and agree I can just bring teh documentation to teh airport when I collect the tickets. So it was fine but another hour of stress we could do without.
We then head out for a look around the lake us really pretty but its so strange the left side of the path is just thick mist but the right side is clear as anything ( I have a good photo were you can see this). It is a really pretty area and appears to be a very rich area. I think it might be where
Shanghai - ers go to retire.
We come across some cats about 6 maybe. Now I like cats but I'm not a fan of a lot of them in one place, it freaks me out a bit (I'm the same with birds), Six is too many for me but it gets worse, next thing there is about 20 of them. They are wild - UURRGGHH I just move past fast and I'm a bit freaked out by this, also the dark is just starting to settle.
We go and grab dinner in a place that speaks no English but we manage to point at a picture on the menu and hope for the best. Once again we overdose on Chinese tea.
We head back to the hostel via a bakery to get a Portuguese tart, which was nearly as good as what I get in Garcia's in Portobello. We are in bed for just after 10pm.
The next day we get up early. Our flight is not until 8pm so we have until about 2pm before we need to head back to Guilin. We wander to the botanic gardens and around the other side of the lake again all very pretty. There is lotus and a mandarin garden. I get a bit excited as I see a sign for a rock garden. I LOVE rock gardens (or rockerys as I call them). It isn't a rock garden as I know though, more huge stones.
We spot at one of the food Sellers this thing on a stick that smells like mulled wine or cinnamon. We assume it is a waffle or cinnamon coated bread. So I ask for one and sally spots this sauce, it goes a bit like this,
Sally "Jen do you want some of this on it"
Me :what is it"
sally "I think it's treacle"
Me "oh, yeah it is, Yes treacle, yes put loads on for me, treacle mmm"
So off I got with this thing as I think Cinnamon bread with treacle......oh how wrong was I!
At first i just spit it out and squeal that it is some kind of flesh. It's making me sick thinking what the hell is that as it tastes like no meat I have ever tasted. Once I calm down and inspect further I realise it id tofu and the sauce we thought was treacle is actually Ho'sin sauce. I eat Tofu and hosin sauce normally but as I was expecting sweet and it was a million miles away from that I cant eat it. Can you guess where it ends up next.............. Yep the bin!
I feel queasy for hours after we look around further and it is pretty. We head back to the hostel, have some lunch and make our way back to Shanghai and the across town for the airport. A Chinese guy starts chatting to me and as I think its asking me to get off the train with him, so I'm very firm saying "no, I cant go home with you as I have a flight to catch", he is pulling at my arm and picking my bag up. I'm now getting a bit arsey with him. Thinking cheeky get how easy does he think I am. Anyway I have the wrong end of the stick. He is trying to tell us the train has changed destinations and we need to get off and get on the one behind. Sally is still teasing me as apparently I told him that if I wasn't getting a flight I would have gone home with him (I was being polite hahha). I bet that guy cant wait to get to England now, he must think you chat for 5 mins on the tube and then go home with a guy!
the airport was no hassle. I even stocked up on Kiel's lip balm!
The flight was bloody awful. A really small plane with terrible turbulence the entire journey. so very glad to get off alive.
we grabbed a can to our hostel and checked in. It was close to midnight by now, so sleep! xxx
- comments