I've had quite the last 24 hours! To begin, I was stranded yesterday after my train arrived in Longyan. Since foreigners cannot access the free WiFi at the new train station I knew I had to make it to a McDonald's. This is all because I forgot to book the Tulou hostel ahead of time but I figured I'd be ok. But I didn't know how to get there.
Well I took a bus to the city center and the holiest of all McDonald's was right across the street! I ordered myself a Filet-O-Fish meal and had the WiFi for dessert. That's when I realized the hostel I wanted to stay in was full and that I was in the black hole of Hostel World. They didn't have anything for Longyan. So I looked up budget hotels and found one near the train station.
After walking by a crate of crying puppies destined for the dinner table (the first time I've seen this yet though) I managed to get to Landscape Hotel. Apparently 12 years is old for a hotel but this place was still great! The best part is that the assistant manager, Miss Zhou, went above and beyond to help me plan my day trip to the Hakka Tulou outside of the city. She and her friend also invited me to have dinner with them and go shopping. They spoke limited but pretty good English and dinner was awesome! They even sneakily played the bill on me too!
On a side note, this was also the first time I rode a mo-ped. It was also the first time we got into a small accident! Nothing major though! We had been crossing the road and this other woman on her bike didn't slow down as she assumed we would move. Basically we fell over and the bike lost some plastic. It was pretty fun and adds to my China Experience! No helmets of course.
Miss Zhou also took me to the bus station the next morning to go to the Tulou, which are amazing! I didn't get to see the big one as I only had 1 hour to catch the bus back to Longyan and then my train to Fuzhou. But basically the Tulou are how I would design a student residence... Or you know, a communal defensible village all in one. I hope these buildings a never forgotten, its a masterpiece!
Now that I am in Fuzhou I am in another hotel again. Basically I left the train, realized my phone was not in my pocket and ran back up the stairs to look. They didn't have it so I quickly blamed this nice (but annoying) guy who was practicing his English with me. I thought maybe he took it when I was getting my backpack. So I walked out the train station looking for him but he was gone. Then I asked the police officers for help and tried to explain.
I was lucky that one of them knew a little tiny bit of English. Anyways, one of the officers had my phone from the train! He must have picked it up as soon as I left. I was so lucky! Without my phone I would not have any way of finding a hostel.
So basically there was another photo-op with the police and they took me to their station nearby so I could use their wifi. No McDonalds required. They were all so kind! When they found out I was Canadian they started talking about Norman Bates... I don't know what about him... Anyways I'm in a Super 8 next to the train station because hostel world has yet again let me down in Fuzhuo. There is a lack of hostels according to Bing.
Oh well! Its nice to have my own room and huge bed!
