It’s been a few days now since I left Zhuhai. The last night was the usual leaving party, an event that I never really enjoy, and this time was no exception, ending with me spewing into a sink at 5am, then wandering the streets trying to find some drinkable water.
Eight hours after that I was off on my journey to Guilin. Zhuhai doesn’t have a train station so I spent two hours on a train to Guangzhou and caught the ‘hard sleeper’ from there. It was a lot more pleasant and communal than I expected with rows of beds quite as soft as anything I’ve slept on in China. That’s to say hard by western standards but nothing I’m not used to by now.
I had a good day in Guilin, though an expensive one. It’s one of China’s most famous tourist destinations, and for good reason – Ancient buildings are interspersed with bizarre hills that jutt up from the otherwise flat land. It was a shame that the weather was on the English side, otherwise I’d have been able to get decent pictures. Altogether it was a very attractive place, though very expensive and with too many aggressive salespeople everywhere.
Yesterday morning I woke up at 7.30 to get a boat down the Li river to Yangshuo. I’d been sick over the course of the night and was feeling absolutely wretched as I boarded the ancient minibus that was to take us to the wharf. On the way there I saw an open van with men in camouflage inside who dropped chains of firecrackers out the window as they sped round a roundabout. Cars and motorbikes behind had to swerve to get out of the way of the explosions.
After an inexplicable half-hour stop at a roadside jewelery shop we reached the boat. The scenery of the Li River was stunning, but unfortunately I was too sick to appreciate it. I went onto the deck and took some photos (so I could appreciate them later) and ended up asleep after being unable to eat the lunch I’d paid for. When I got to Yangshuo I headed straight for the hostel,
After a lot of fruit juice and about 20 hours sleep I’m now feeling mostly better.