munchies

Isobel and I should probably learn that whenever we intend to travel, things will not go according to plan. Indeed, as Hong Kong was not as planned, neither was Guilin/Yangshuo. Thursday was always going to be a bit of a rush. Izzie had to dash off to the supermarket leaving me to make dinner. Unfortunately, all of the food was locked in her room. An hour passed and I went to see if she had returned yet. I found myself distracted by some P6ers with whom I sat chatting and learning Chinese characters for half an hour. It was shortly before the time we were due to leave that I realized this and ran back to my room and collected my things, just as she appears, just returning. She hadn’t packed yet either. I threw some things into a bag for her and told her to get her backside into gear. For once it wasn’t me making people late! It took almost as long to hail a taxi but we need not have worried about being late to meet Ali who was at a different bus station. We agreed to meet at the train station in Guangzhou. After arriving at an extremely busy station, crammed with people claiming spot to spend the night waiting and long, snaking queues, we were told that there were no trains to Guilin that day and no tickets for the following. Fantastic. We agreed to find somewhere to spend the night and get a bus early in the morning. Our simple plan did not work out. Neither I nor Isobel had our passports and thus were not allowed to stay. Ali, however, booked herself in and we left most of things there and went to get a bite to eat. We took a late taxi home, collected our passports and came back the next morning, by which time we had realized that our original destination was now out of the question. Despite this the weekend was not entirely fruitless. We took the opportunity to look round Guangzhou which we may not have done otherwise with it’s close proximity to Nanhai. We saw Sun Yat Sen’s memorial hall and a garden with his memorial obelisk on top of a hill of all things. Due to the heat/stickiness/humidity, this was more than enough and we retired to Lucy’s, a western café near our hostel. We had intended to stay just for afternoon snacks, which turned into dinner and for the other 2, for beer and pudding also. In the meantime, I headed to the hostel to shower and beautify myself before rejoining them. It was here that we met an American couple. We had become intrigued by the number of western couples with Chinese babies. The couple informed us that around the corner was a hotel where those adopting from overseas must reside for 2 weeks. Even they admitted it was a little odd and they felt like they were buying a child.
Some of the other interns were coming to Guangzhou for a night out. Both Izzie and Ali dislike clubs so I stayed with them at a bar before joining the others later. We didn’t make it to the club in the end but stayed in a different bar. It was a good night if you excuse the dramatic or drunken behaviour of those who had drunk more than their share of the Jack Daniel’s. Upon my return to the hostel, a creepy guy was still playing computer games as he had been when I left earlier. It is not what I would consider a constructive way of spending one’s time travelling.
Zoë joined the 3 of us in the morning. We relaxed in starbucks before braving the humidity to visit a temple. I love the temples. They are what one would expect of China. This particular one also had a rather lovely little art gallery at the back. Slowly but surely we built up the energy to make our way home, where we collapsed in front of Heroes; our latest addiction.
Sunday was completely free to use as I pleased. I had intended to thoroughly clean my room as is my usual Sunday habit but the effort was far too great. I contented myself to sit in the park with a book I barely had chance to read. We attracted a friend in the form of a little Chinese girl named Ivy. Though we couldn’t say much, she played with us, sat with us, jabber away in Chinese and was generally entertained. She made the pair of us crowns out of leaves and gave us her teddy. We mistakenly thought she was just showing it to us until she shoved it into my bag.
I did not sleep well Sunday night. In fact, come Monday morning, I was on the brink of declaring myself on strike until I was given a mattress. Fortunately, my objective was fulfilled before I had chance to raise my point and my new bed was delivered before lunch.
The students are lazy and lethargic this week. I do not blame them and have put it down to the weather as I emphasise! I was most grateful of somewhere comfy to sleep last night though I stayed up late to finish reading Harry Potter 7. I’m just that cool. There maws also a rogue mosquito in my room who must have been hungry as so far, I’ve counted 31 bites, 3 on the sole of my foot. Thankfully, the majority does not itch, but they are not pretty!