Finding my way in China(ese) - Kako se znajti po kitajsko

It has been 4 days since my last  (and only:-) entry, because I had to find the way around the Chinese system, which (surprise, surprise!) also blocks the bloggers. Thanks to my friend Ursa in Slovenia I can continue describing my journey...

So, I was leaving Hong Kong, .....16th May 2012 - After quite an early start I figured that it should be more interesting to cross the border on foot. Even after 1997 (the year it was returned to China) HK maintains independence in many areas, meaning also that one crosses real chinese border only after leaving Hong Kong. So, I took a metro to the last station in the northern part of town and then just followed the crowd which was unbelievable. It looked like all those people had some business in China judging by all sorts of goods they were carrying and the direction they were taking.

The border town is called Shenzhen and I knew I need to take a train to Guangzhou. Really simple. Just follow the crowd. Everybody took the train. And then the real China began. I didn't have any intention to stay in Guangzhou as there is not really much to see. To me, it was just a gateway to Guilin and the gorgeous karst region around Yangshuo where I wanted to spend few days. But on the train station impossible to find if there is a train, I tried bus station where I was so glad that the girl at The Tourist Support Desk spoke English that I have thanked her like 4 times. So bus it is. Only 6 hour something drive meant that I had to take the last one (in order to arrive in the morning, and not in middle of the night) and spend around 10 hours in Guangzhou. I decided to see a bit of town with the help of Lonely Planet. A museum seemed a good idea, but imagine a backpack of 14 kilos on the back, 33 degrees C, 88 % humidity. You can guess I didn't get far :-)) But I passed some enormous buildings and on all of them it was written something like: textile wholecentre trade....Enormous amounts of cheap Chinese clothes, fake bags, accessories and alike....Now I really can say that I know where they come from :-))) The rest of the time I have spend in a park, Starbucks cafe and the bus station.

At 23.30 finally I boarded my bus only to be awaken around 5 and rudely asked where I was going.

-Guilin, I said

-And then? the man continues. I was already alert. What is this? some sort of investigation? Then he said: Yangshuo? Which was true and it turned out we were there, but of course I couldn't know that we will pass it. All sleepy I get off the bus and stand there kind of lost. Transport was offered but I had no clue where I wanted to go. I didn't even find where I was on the map. -Perhaps you want to check our hostel? - I hear behind me. At 5 in the morning that sounded like a great idea and I followed the man. The room was exactly what I needed, just  2 minutes away, the price was fine, he brought me a breakfast and beer(!!!!) and started to sell his excursions packages. Exhausting, but expected!!! After quite a bargaining (the beer tactics didn't help:-))) we agreed on everything I wanted to do in the region and I started with biking right away.....

Štiri dni je minilo od mojega zadnjega (in edinega) zapisa, ampak imam dobro opravičilo, saj sem morala pogruntati, kako naj nadaljujem z objavljanjem zapisov, saj je (kakšno presnečenje!) tudi dostop do spletnih dnevnikov na Kitajskem zablokiran. A zahvaljujoč moji ljubi Urši v Sloveniji lahko nadaljujem s pisanjem (hvala Urša, zlata si).....

Zapuščala sem torej Hong Kong.... 16. maj 2012... Nekako se mi je zdelo, da bo bolj zanimivo prečkati mejo peš kot s kakšnim prevoznim sredstvom, zato sem se zapeljala z metrojem do zadnje postaje na severu mesta. Hong Kong ima namreč tudi po letu 1997 (ko je bil vrnjen Kitajski) precejšnjo neodvisnost na mnogih področjih, tako da se tudi prava kitajska meja prečka šele na njegovem robu. Z metrojske postaje nič lažjega kot slediti množici. VSI so šli v isto smer! Na Kitajsko. Neverjetno kakšne količine blaga se valijo čez to mejo! Kot da ima prav vsakdo nekakšen biznis tam preko :-)

Mesto na meji se imenuje Shenzen, kjer sem vedela, da moram na vlak. Enostavno. Samo slediš množici, kupiš karto in prideš v Guangzhou. In potem se Kitajska res začne.... Nobenega namena nisem imela ostati v mestu, saj menda ni nič posebnega. Morala sem tja samo zato, da ujamem avtobus ali vlak dalje do Guilina, ki naj bi bil moja izhodiščna točka za čudovito kraško pokrajino okoli Yangshua, ki je bil moj cilj za nekaj dni. 
A po prihodu mi na železniški postaji nikakor ni uspelo ugotoviti, ali sploh je vlak do Guilina in kdaj, pa si mislim, poskusimo z avtobusom. Bila sem tako vesela, da je mlada dama na informacijah govorila angleško, da sem se ji menda 4x zahvalila. Samo 6 ur in nekaj dolga vožnja je pomenila, da je bolje, da grem z zadnjim busom, saj tako pridem na cilj v jutranjih, in ne v nočnih urah. Je pa pomenilo tudi, da moram nekako zabiti 10 ur v Guangzhouju.

Guangzhou

Kaj lažjega z Lonely Planetom v roki! Obisk muzeja na primer... Aha, po nekaj korakih, pri 33 stopinjah, 88-odstotni vlagi in 14 kilam na hrbtu mi je bilo jasno, da ne bom prišla daleč. :-)) Ampak sem pa šla mimo nekaj ogromnih stavb in na vsaki je pisalo nekaj v stilu: tekstilni grosistični center.....Gromozanske količine kitajskih oblačil, ponarejenih torbic, modnih dodatkov in podobnega... Zdaj res lahko rečem, da vem natanko, od kod vsa ta roba prihaja k nam:-))) Preostanek časa sem tako preživela v enem parku, v Starbucks cafeju in na postaji.

Ob 23. 30 se torej končno spravim na bus, pa me nekaj pred peto že budijo. Prav grobo me nekdo sprašuje, kam grem.

-Guilin, pravim.

-Pa potem? Možakar ne odneha.
 Jaz pa že pokonci. Kaj je to? Nekakšno izpraševanje?
Pa pravi: Yangshuo?
To je bil res moj namen, pa se je izkazalo, da smo že tam, samo jaz seveda nisem vedela, da se bomo tu ustavili. Tako sem ob 05.00 vsa zaspana in pomečkana zlezla z busa in malo izgubljeno obstala ob robu ceste. Prevoz mi je bil seveda takoj ponujen, a se mi še sanjalo ni, kam hočem. Saj na zemljevidu nisem našla niti, kje sem.  "Ali bi morda hotela pogledati naš hostel?"  slišim za sabo. Ob 05.00 zjutraj se je to seveda zdela imenitna ideja, pa sem sledila tipu. Soba je bila vse, kar sem potrebovala, 2 minuti od postaje, cena ok, tip mi je prinesel celo zajtrk in pivo (!) in seveda začel prodajati svoje izlete. Ker sem itak vedela, kaj hočem in po hudem pregovarjanju (saj pivo ni delovalo:-) sva se zmenila, kako, kdaj in kaj in tako sem čez dve uri že biciklala v nov vroč dan...