ni hao 21 Feb
Arrived in China yesterday....and yes the adventure begins. Story to tell already. Firstly,
for those that have not recieved my emails from my travels before....I apoligise now, there
usually long, filled with spelling mistakes and have blah blah blah in it. Read them if
like or delete, but definetly reply...i don't want to miss out in whats happening back home.
So our journey began in KL first (Kuala Lumpa). Stayed in chinatown, right on top of the
markets.Kailani happy, lots for her to want. Also lots of cheap good food right at our door.
Had dinner with a couple one night that ended knowing lots of people we knew back
home.....i love those moments. Our room at our hotel was literally a shoebox!.....no window
and very very small, but it was clean people were nice and it did the job, especially for
$20 a night in KL.
OK....CHina.....can't believe we are actually here. Arriving at the airport and coming
through the gates and just seeing what was ahead..........OMG........chinese writing.....
o my godness....its everywhere........oh shit......yep....and then they start talking to
me....!!!!!!!.....blank look on my face.......thinking.....oh shit im in trouble....the only
Chinese i know is 'who flung dung" and " i bung mi neee".....dont think that will get me far.
So i just smile and they just laugh.....so the dancing charade had just begun and lots of
smiling and nodding of the head, bit more like bowing.
I had one man on the bus ask me....'o whewe u fwom"....Australia, i say....."o austwawia..yes
and what do you spweak in austwawia?".....i told him Enlish....."o you spweak ingwich!!....just
like Ingwand.....he was very excited that in Australia we spoke English, i
gathered he realy didnt know much about australia at all. This man then continued to sit
and ponder on how to say somthing in enlish and then after a long while he would turn very
excited to me and then would ask me a question....i would answer him usualy with a nodd and
a yes and he would give me a big cheesy grin and a thumbs up....i gather that was a very good
not so much by my answer but by his happiness that he spoke to me in english. That was the
first in many that have come up to me and practised there enlish..... I best start learning
a few phrases in chinese.
We get of the bus and then catch a cab to the hotel, the one that i have booked and paid for
already. Two nights i have booked and paid for over the internet through airasia......
we wait there in line in amongst 3 men that are at the counter....smoking!!!....agh hello ..
dont you know its no smoking in public places....oh yes i forgot im in your country and you
dont have that rule......kailani was highly disgusted that they were standing there smoking...
and realised that she has grown up not seeing that, smoking in buildings, and realy not seeing
that in any other countries that we have visited. Anyway getting back to the story.
So i handed them my booking paper...which is in English, by my handwriting because somehow
the email was deleted in my inbox before i could print it. Anyway there was no booking for me
in my name for those dates let alone did they have any booking from airasia at all....so
even if i did have a proper print out they didnt have it. So i was there for ages trying to
explain to them that i have already paid for it, and how i have been trying to contact airasia
to resend me the email etc etc....very difficult when i dont speak chinese and they speak only
a smiggen of english. They were letting me use there computers to try and contact airasia, but to
get hold of them for a hotel that they no longer list...since doing my booking...is extremely
difficult. So the outcome was that they were happy for me to stay there, they had plenty of
rooms but i would have to pay again.........i dont think so......there was nothing i could do,
they were not going to give me a room that i had already paid for, unless i pay again....Now
this hotel was way out of the main tourist area, more in the nothing around it.....so i told
them no thanks....going somewhere else...going to the backpackers.....so another taxi ride
into the main town...we step into this old wooden building where the backpacker lodging is....
and immedietly felt this is sooo much better, much more us....more relaxing, comfy and homely
and more welcoming.....and no smoking in there.....and so much cheaper!! also she spoke enlish.
The room is huge, comfy and cute. We so much like it better here than that stark stinky big fancyhotel.....the universe works in amazing ways....the money doesnt matter any more.....feelingcomfortable and surrounded by people and things that make your stay even more comfier is even better. We are now close to shopping, food and sights. So thanks airasia for stuffing up my booking.
Won't be booking hotels with you again.
By the way...we are in Guilin for anyone wondering. The weather is...yes i have been lucky, not ascold as it has been....top of 18 deg....they say in a few days colder and rain.....anyway have
been walking around in short sleeves....yes lots of stares, as they all have these huge puffy coates on
...its not that cold. Im suprised in how well dressed they all are.
...omg...that was this morning i wrote all that.....im freezing my titties off......its been a fine mist
of rain all day and cold. I certainly dont have the right clothes and they are not that cheap to buy here....
i look like ive been dragged out of an op shop bag....especially with these chinese all doodied up around me. Am going to have to invest in and spend some $$ buying a marshmellow jacket....
Tomorrow hopefully it wont be raining as we are intending to float down the river on a bamboo raft to a town called Yangzhou....and where we will stay for a while.
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