China

Thinking back on how I've spent New Years Eve in the past, this is certainly up with the best of them. A beach party on the Gold Coast, Australia, or seeing the new year in at a local pub in a remote town called Hugo, which is in the outback of Colorado among the Rocky Mountains. Or how about a street party in Lerwick, Shetland..... This time I'm opting for something different. This year I choose to be legless, lying on my back as the clock strikes midnight. Though it isn't alcohol related... Its because I'm lying on a poxy sleeper bus, staring at the ceiling, travelling through the night as the chimes of 12, midnight just pass me by. No kissing and hugging, no singing Auld Lang Syne and cheering, no letting off party poppers and speaking to people you haven't spoke top for maybes that past 5 year and greeting them with handshakes, just the sound of 30 snoring Chinese locals making there way to Guilin, via Yangshou.

The sleeper bus was made up of three rows, from front to back of bunk beds, one top, one bottom. The beds to avoid however are the top bunks, in the centre isle about halfway down the bus. Reason being, is that you feel ever movement as you're tossed back and forth at every corner. You are also wanting to avoid towards the front too. Basically you're not wanting to see the view the driver does while he bombs about, hand on horn, undertaking on blind corners. It's certainly not for the faint hearted as you're probably best off not knowing what he gets up to, as long as you get to where you're going in one piece. So it wasn't too surprising, once I was forced to take my shoes off, then barked at by the bus assistant in her all in red suit for standing on the road and not the cut up cardboard box that lay at the entrance, that my bed for the night was three from the front, centre isle, top bunk. Great...

There is nothing other than bunks within the bus, so tired or not, for the, entire journey, you are forced to lie there staring at the ceiling. You dare not walk about either incase you get the brunt of the lady in reds growl, as she went about the bus snapping at people. She must of only been about 22, though her attitude was one to be desired. Possibly that time of the month, so I lay their motionless, scared to make eye contact with her incase she came lashing down at me. "Quick, she's heading back, just look the other way. If you ignore her she might go away and pick on someone else."

The bus was scheduled to take 9 hours to get to Yangshou. The thought of arriving in a town, in the middle of China at 3am in the morning never crossed my mind as fun. Rather the opposite though I knew the 3 Australian lasses who were sharing the journey, were getting off there too so I settle slightly, as I continued to stare at the ceiling. After a few local pick ups we were on our way. Every few hours we would pull up for a break which everyone seemed to welcome as the toilet on the bus was not in service. I say welcome, if you were to see the toilets then perhaps not. The bus would pull up into a dusty car park that seemed to be in the middle of nowhere with a few un-occupied buildings scattered about. A line of stalls and tables ran along the pavement selling noodles and fruit. An old brick building which attracted most of those on the bus, I took to be the toilets, so off I went. The shack was a narrow, dirty squabble with a trough down either side running away from the entrance. One side, there was a ledge which elevated you over the trough, the other, the same, though it had four 3ft brick walls to segregate you. These were the cubicles. No doors, just walls so when you, sorry to say, squatted, you wouldn't see those next to you as they do the same, although you would be in full view off everyone else in the restroom. The stench coming from the building was unbearable which made me realise why they opted on having the washing facilities outdoors, as no one would want to stay in that room for any longer as they had too. Saying washing facilities, I mean a large industrial sink with rusty copper pipes running from it that spat out freezing cold water. That's when it dawned on me for the first time that back at home we forget on how fortunate we are and that we certainly wouldn't class being able to wash our hands in warm soapy water in some motorway cafe on the A1 motorway as a luxury...... People of China certainly would.....

Being that Shenzhen was just on the otherside of the border, I assumed that it would be pretty much similar to Hong Kong and a good place to start, giving me a taste of China before hitting it big time. Boy was I wrong; talk about throwing me in at the deep end. I stood their, froozen like a rabbit caught in headlights looking on at the chaos and commosion around me. The noise was deafening while people scuried about within the cold, dirty concourse. Wooden karts lined the walls serving hot food 'n' drinks within the hollow building that was open at one end. Wind whistled past and out the holes of the old tiled roof which was in desprate need of restoring. Esculators lead off to the left, one up, one down and a large cigarette booth to my right. Who were all these people? Where had they been and where were they going? They certainly didn't cross the border with me, nor were they entering Hong Kong; they were just there, buzzing about in their raggy clothes, spitting on the cigarette-butt littered floor. It was as if they were placed there, like on the Trueman show, perhaps to prove a point to those visiting that they are not Hong Kong. Not a single sign, menu or advertising board was in English, as they had been only 200 metres south which made my directions off the internet pricless. No wonder Lou was laughing at me and at that point, I wished he had never found my visa. Still in shock, I pleaded my legs to work, though I was routed to the spot. All I had to do was cross the concourse and up the esculator, taking a swift right across the bridge, then down the stairs to my left, but my legs just wouldn't move. I pulled my hat down over my ears; part to try and disguise my western apperance which I was nervous about being in such an enviorment for the first time and part to help shut out the noise as you do when watching the scary parts of horrors movies. A look up to the heavans, a few deep breaths and I was on the move. It was like treading water as my feet barely touched the ground, taking me across the concourse in the sea of people to the other side. Brushing myself down I took the esculator which lead skywards. Again, the calm before the storm as I stood, slowly approaching the top, then spat out back into the crowd which then carried me across the bridge and to the top of the stairs. Before I knew it, I was at the entrance of the bus station. Like the concoure, it was dated, dirty and full of people giving off a lot of noise. I was the only westerner as I looked about for a clue on where I was. People looked on as I wondered back and forth in search of some assistance. I confirmed in sign language with the gateman that I was in the right place and took a seat in the corner, hiding beneath my hat and behind my book as I waiting the 2 hours for my bus to Yangshou.

As time went by I started to feel a bit more at ease. At one point I even took my hat off for a few seconds while I scratched my head. I sat opposite a flight of stairs that led up to a room above the bus station which I decided to check out now that I had taken in my surroundings. I hoped it was a waiting room with maybes some food that I could try and off I went. I could see Sleeper Bus posters and "Enjoy Cola" signs, although in Chinese, as I climbed the stairs, laughing at myself, thinking how I was going to write up on my blog how I had sat in the cold for the past 90 minutes when I could of been warm and comfortable sipping on a hot drink. As I entered the room I could instantly feel the warmth hit me as my cheeks glowed, then out of the blue, before even getting time to treasure this warming moment, "Laowai’, laowai’, laowai’"screeched out from a local women as she stood up just infront of me, pointing. My hat, pulled back down over my ears and the laughter now stopped as I looked for a way out of the situation I was in. Two more women approached me, this time touts, although I had no idea what they were saying to me though they were pointing at a business card with a bus on it. Those looking on, again, all being Chinese sat and stared. I pulled out my ticket, indicating that I wasn't interested and that I didn't require an additional ticket. I turned to one of the booths for a bit of breathing space with the sound of laowai still bellowing out behind me. The younger lady of the two with the business cards screams "Four, Four" and smiles. I look up, where I stood at booth number six and realised she was indicating to the foreigner booth, number four, so I side shuffled, bag still on my back along the two windows and waited. I handed over my ticket, which was then torn slightly, stampt and passed back with the lady telling me I'd be leaving from bay 6. I hurried back out the waiting room and down the stairs, thankful that I hadn't found the waiting room earlier and to my awaiting bus where I was to be spending the next nine hours and setting away from Schenzhen forever.

Please Note

Laowai is the Chinese word for foreigner and is often called out, especially by the older generation when they see a foreigner. It is mainly to warn others that a non-chinese is among them and also out of curiosity. No harm is ment by it although they do come across a bit in your face, but hey, thats the Chinese for you.

Well I'm back again and this time I'm off to China. Almost a year on since my USA trip and still I'm yet to finish my blog, Coast to Coast in 16 days, although I have good intentions to complete it one day so stay tuned......

For those who don't know me, my name is John and I'm from Newcastle Upon Tyne, England. I caught the travel bug a few year back when I backpacked around Australia, covering over 20,000 mile.

Since returning back in 2000 I've became a father so was unable to continue on with my plans of travelling the world.... Or so I thought. What I discovered last year was that I didn't need to be away from home for long periods of time if I wanted to see the world and also that I wasn't restricted to the run of the mill 2 week holidays in a Spanish resort with the lads. Last Christmas Eve I set out to go coast to coast in the USA, where I spent 16 days visiting the likes of New York, Washington, Denver, Las Vegas, L.A and Santa Monica and I loved it. I stayed in hostels along the way, fitting in with the travelling community once again. Though I must admit, I did envy some of them who were travelling and were doing so for a few more month along with a few more countries.

A year on, I've decided to set out on another 16 day backpacking experdition. This time China.