In and Out on a Slow Train from Guangzhou

6/2

I checked out of the hostel today, while Yves moved into a dorm room once again.  We went to lunch at Coyote again (I know it seems ridiculous that I had nachos there three times in just over a week, but who knows when I'll get decent nachos again?) where they remembered my order with all my pain in the ass specifications (no olives, no jalapenos, salsa, sour cream and guacamoles on the side).  I helped Yves with his English C.V. and a cover letter for a job he wanted to apply to in Hong Kong (and it was great- he'd better get that job) and he bought me lunch.  We were both tired since our schedules were so off we'd accidentally stayed up until 5 a.m., watching Saving Private Ryan and drinking large Tsingtaos that morning.  We had a couple of Sol beers and then hugged, wished each other the best and headed our separate ways.

Leaving Hong Kong was sad, but it really was time for me to leave, you know how sometimes you just know?

I don't want to talk about the process of getting to Guangzhou because it was longer and more expensive than it should've been due to my stupidity and exhaustion.  On the other hand, once again, the visa guy had a hard time ascertaining my identity because my picture looks so different from me, so that made me happy.  Finding somewhere to stay was also very difficult and time consuming, so I just screwed around online for a while before crashing.

6/3

Today was a bit frustrating.  I checked out of my hotel, hoping to leave on the 6:11 train for Shanghai but a) one leaving at that time wasn't there and b) the trains for the day were full anyway, so I bought a ticket (the only one available was in a seat, not a bed) for the next day for 12:08 to Shanghai.

I tried to find one of the two hostels in my downloaded guide books Yves had given me for China and Mongolia.  Neither one seems to exist anymore and after about three hours of looking I ended up with another hotel in an area very close to the last one for the exact same price. 

In between, and for the rest of the day, I walked around a leather area with a market for leather goods, and an area for wholesale leather in large fabric roles.  Even the air smelled of leather.  I had a very good lunch of cabbage and slightly spicy beef knuckles (I think- beef attached to the bone in chunks) in sauce on a bed of rice in a mini cast iron pot inside a bamboo basket (about $1.50).  I rested at the hotel for a while before going out to get dinner, a large bowl of at least ten dumplings that were disappointing, for just under $1.  I bought a Pearl River beer, which was okay, a SIM card for my phone and a dragonfruit for tomorrow's breakfast.

6/4

Did you know they have oleanders in China?  I'm on the train to Shanghai and currently passing through trees reminiscent of Dr. Suess' Truffula trees from The Lorax, tall trunks without leaves until reaching a big ball of shrubbery right at the top, though sadly, they're not neon in real life.  China's rural interior is all this medium-dark green contrasted with dark red-orange dirt that's mirrored by the buildings built from bricks of the same earth.  The train has passed through a valley, by green mountains, rock formations, both in vertical red softly sculpted towers and gray groupings, lakes and of course, rice paddies, both flat and in tiers.

However, at this moment, I'm about 6.5 hours into this approximately 18 hour long train ride and regretting this decision and wishing I'd taken a bus instead.  Sleeping on a train, even in a seat, didn't seem like such a terrible idea, after all, I'd done it in Japan and it had been okay.  But, I'd forgotten to ask for a window seat and now I have an aisle seat.  And I hadn't counted on all the seats facing each other in groups of four, meaning that none of them could recline at all.  Nor had I realized that there would be no arm rests, only squat toilets, many people standing in the crowded train, a total acceptance of spitting on the floor, and smoking in an area on the end of each car.  I'd also been told that an attendant came through about every hour to collect trash and no one has so far at any point.  Lastly, from my reading online, I'd been led to believe that hot food was fairly readily available (as it was on the train in Thailand) and so far only one type of meal has been on offer and it looked bland and gross.  In short, I'm not thrilled.  It's also really loud.

That all said, everyone has been quite nice to me.  People do stare a lot, but it's just in a curious sort of way as there really aren't many foreigners around here, and none of it feels rude or lecherous.  I'm desperately hoping the couple across from me gets off a.s.a.p. so I can sit over there as I know the guy next to me is going to Shanghai and I don't know how I'll sleep otherwise.  One girl, Hualien, and her friend talked to me for quite a while.  Her English was quite good, though her accent was very strong.  She was very impressed when I told her of my plans and traveling.  Her friend had me try this candy that looked like a long, thin round stick of baloney.  It was actually dry candy/ appetite suppressant cut into slices about the thickness of Necco wafers that tasted kind of like Sweet Tarts, which are okay, but I'm not hugely fond of.  They liked looking at my passport and some photos I had from home and her friend gave me her cell phone charmed once I complimented her on it, which was very sweet.  Tellingly, perhaps, Hualien reacted strongly when I said that I'd visited Japan and asked if I was scared there.  I said no, that I'd really liked it, which surprised her greatly.  She told me she'd heard the Japanese were very cruel.  I mention all this because I think it was interesting to hear what she said about them, given past Sino-Japanese relations.

I have some bad news that's pretty irrelevant to you at the moment.  China has blocked Facebook and my blog because they think I'm a dangerous threat- how cool is that?  Okay, maybe they've just blocked Facebook in general, and maybe they've just blocked all blogs that are .blogspot.com.  If you're wondering what a blocked webpage looks like, it's just the page you get when it says "Firefox can't connect to Facebook" or "Not Lost, Just Late is not responding."

It sucks, and what's really weird is that my gmail and google are still working.  Apparently, about 10% of websites are blocked in China, including Wikipedia.  What this means, of course, is that I can't update this or respond to people on FB so everyone probably thinks I hate them.  I promise I don't, unless you're someone I really do hate, in which case, I do hate you.

So I kind of have a plan: Travel to Shanghai and spend a few days there, then take the train to Beijing.  From there, immediately catch the Trans-Siberian to Ulaanbatuur and travel around Mongolia for about a week (which is the one country where being American actually helps regarding visas as we don't need one and most other nationalities do), then return to Beijing and go on a package tour.

I've never really done a package tour, though I've done several cruises which I enjoyed very much, and in general, the idea doesn't appeal to me.  However, backpacking in China has so far been much more difficult than in any other country and is a totally different experience (especially compared to SE Asia).  Part of this is due to the language, but it's so much more than that.  China is heavily touristed, but mostly by the Chinese.  Thus, there's no backpacker network or beaten pack in that way and it's very difficult to find accommodation or other people to talk to/ travelers.

6/5

I wrote all that last night and since then the scenery changed a bit.  The dirt changed to a dusty pink, and the greenery is a bit lighter now.  The train took way longer than I'd expected and I ended up spending a total of 23 hours and fifteen minutes on the train to Shanghai which I was really, really not happy about.  Fortunately, my hostel (after an overpriced cab ride there) was much nicer than I'd expected and I even made it out to buy a pair of jeans that fit!  I've been walking around for the past several months with what appears to be a fairly massive erection, simply because my pants have fit so poorly, so I'm quite happy to appear female once again.

Tired Laura Hates Everything And Everyone

5/17- 5/19

Some people work and manage brilliantly without sleep.  I am not one of those people.  I turned into a crazy, judgmental, mean, bipolar, angry, emotional bitch.  It's really bad.  Those crazy people you see on reality t.v. that snap because they're sleep deprived and stressed have nothing on me.  Physically it feels the way I feel when I'm drunk- exhausted, but usually when I'm drunk, I'm quite happy, though a bit annoying and repetitive.  Usually when I'm drunk, I'm quite happy, though I can be a bit repetitive and annoying. 

Suffice to say, it's absolutely horrible, and for this reason, I will do almost anything (sleep in odd places, skip out on doing something really amazing, decide something isn't really that important when it is) to make sure I get enough sleep.  If I'm just a little sleep deprived, I'm still normally okay, but if I get less than about six hours, the craziness sets in.

You can imagine then, that after a 1:25 a.m. flight from Taipei to Manila, followed by a 5:40 a.m. flight to Hong Kong, I was not a pleasant person to be around.  I remained as silent as possible to avoid screaming at an innocent person for walking wrong, for example, and wasn't even especially cheered up by the man at Immigration asking me my name to confirm I was the same person as the girl in my passport since he said my face had gotten much thinner.  (Side note- my passport photo is horrendous and somehow managed to make me look much fatter and uglier than I was even at the time, when I was much heavier.  I don't know why it's so bad because even though I'm not particularly photogenic, most official photos I have are okay (licenses).  I blame it on the fact that the photo was switched to digital and somehow added weird shadows and redness, creating chins and rosacea that were never there.)

Whatever.  I found an ATM, thrilled that I could finally take money out on my schedule since BoA (the worst bank ever) partners with China Construction Bank so they don't charge a fee.  I bought a Coke Zero, found the right bus to take me to a hostel area, was told to go to another bus (same number, just across the road, I still don't know why) and finally got on the right one.  On the bus, I kept falling asleep but I wasn't too worried about missing my stop since it was about 45 minutes away.

I'd looked on Wikitravel's Hong Kong guide well ahead of time so I wouldn't have any hostel issues and it had suggested walking along Nathan Road, between Mong Kok and Tsim Sha Tsui (TST) and not booking ahead because there was always room and there were just tons of hostels in this area.  So I got off at Mong Kok and started walking South on Nathan Road, towards TST.  The area seemed about right for hostels; run down, near a large market, central, but oddly, I didn't see any backpackers or hostels.  I do need to mention here that it's entirely possible that there were several hostels I passed with signs only in Chinese, but I sure as hell didn't see any.  So I kept walking.  And walking.  And cursing Wikitravel.  And walking.

About 2.5 km later, not having seen any hostels (though later, walking along this same road, I saw one, and only one, I'd missed), I was ready to scream, give up and sleep on a park bench like a homeless person.  2.5 km isn't that far (about 1.5 miles) but it feels like it when you're carrying a backpack that's falling apart and made of crap materials so it feels MUCH heavier than it actually is.  It also feels farther than it is when you're exhausted and pissy and homicidal.

I found a little park, that was actually part of a huge park, and sat down.  Part of me wanted to go to sleep but part of me thought that was a terrible idea.  It was around 11 a.m. and my flight had arrived at around 7:45.  Hoping, without any expectations of success, I got out my computer and tried getting Wifi.  Amazingly, it came through with a strong, unsecured (meaning open), free, government signal!  This actually did help my mood a bit and I felt a little better.  Online, I found the name of a specific hostel that Google Maps told me was nearby and headed off.  Within a few blocks, several hostel began to pop up obviously and the area became much more expensive and commercial.  I passed the Tsim Sha Tsui subway station and it was true that in this area, there were tons of available hostels.  I'd only had to walk over 3 km to get there because Wikitravel blows.

The hostel I'd found online was located inside Chungking mansion, which is actually more like a prison.  I'd describe it in detail, but I'm doing my best to forget it.  I spent the rest of that day and the next two sleeping, walking/wandering around for long periods (seeing a convertible completely covered in crystals on a pedestal in a mall at one point), watching t.v. or movies on my laptop, writing and trying different kinds of ice cream (Dryer's Toasted Almond, which was delicious, and Haagan Daaz Orange Chocolate, which was deeply disappointing).

P.S. This is my last entry without pictures!  Thank god, even I was boring myself.

Angkor What?: Went There, Did That, But Didn't Get the T-shirt

4/3

Last night after my massage, I went out looking for something to eat and somehow the restaurant that looked the most appealing to me was called Fiesta! and yes, it was "Mexican" food. I put Mexican in quotes because in most of the world you can't really get anything truly resembling Mexican food at all.  It was about what I expected, though I have to add that it wasn't any worse than "Mexican" food I had in London or Paris. 

Across the street was a bar called Angkor What? that had a kind of clean-dirty theme; fairly dark with dark yellow walls covered in graffiti by customers, ranging from names to countries to insults to declarations of love, and naturally, profanities.  It was cool though, and they were playing surprisingly good music, including a lot of punk, which I always forget that I really do like, so I grabbed a beer and started doodling on a wall in between a heart with S + M written inside and scrawlings about a trip by some Aussies.  After writing several bits of nonsense, I noticed how cool the bar shirts were and considered buying one until I saw the sign that said that you got one free if you bought two jugs (which are pails of mixed alcoholic drinks, like rum and coke, with about 4-5 servings in them).  I briefly considered this but I didn't want to get drunk, and I couldn't morally buy a shirt when I could get it for free if I bought alcohol- that just goes against everything I believe in, in life.  So I left, shirtless save for my plain v-neck shirt, a bit disappointed I hadn't gone out there previously to get the shirt.  Oh well.

The next morning, at 7 a.m. I caught a van which took me to a bus, which took me to another bus and, after several stops and five bumpy hours, I was in Phnom Penh.  I found a guesthouse with WiFi, checked in and chilled out there for the rest of the day.

Culinary Disappointments

3/15/2010

Street Food in Penang

I left KL today to travel to Penang, an island off the coast of Malaysia that's famous for their street food.  I got a bus from KL from the main bus station, just around the corner from my crap hostel.  RM36 for a five hour bus ride.  The bus looked like any other bus from the outside but the inside was bizarre.  Instead of the narrow blue and gray seats we'd normally find were what could best be described as rows of lazy boy recliners.  Two together on the right side of the bus, and one on the left.  They were wonderfully comfortable, as long as you didn't look at them because the awful green-blue '70s style pattern would make your eyes bleed, and that would be painful.

Five hours on the bus, nothing of note except the gas station we stopped it.  It is worthy of note because of how wildly normal it was.  Some of the brands were different, and the bathroom was Islamic squat style, and the cashier wore a hijab, but otherwise it was exactly the same as any gas station you'd find in the U.S.  Florescent lights, food to clog your arteries just from looking at it prepackaged in oversized individual servings, a sterile store with a disgusting bathroom, ever present Coca-Cola- it was all so strangely normal that it was bizarre. 

The bus went over a long bridge that connected the island to the mainland, and we were there, well, almost.  After a short cab ride, during which time the driver told me several times which bus I had to take to get the the beach (101), I was in Georgetown.  Found a hostel and went out to try some of the culinary delights.

Apom Manis

My tour book and all the Malaysians I've met agree that it's the gourmet capital of Malaysia, but I was not impressed.  There was no teriyaki bacon for one thing, but it was also nearly all stuff I'd seen before in KL, and none of it really tasted much better here.  I tried some random things I hadn't tried before, including jellyfish, which I hadn't realized what it was until I'd finished eating it and someone told me so.  It wasn't particularly good- it tasted pretty much the way it looks: squishy.  The one thing I had that was pretty incredible was coconut Apom Mani- mini pancakes with coconut inside them, though oddly, the coconut looked like the wooden hairs on the outside of coconuts but tasted normal and wonderful.