On the train-Arriving in Guilin

23/02/2005

Once I settled, there were two more girls got in the same compartment. One looked younger than the other, they spoke some English, I thought we were sisters but the older one was from Macau, and the younger was Japanese. They both told me that they were from Hangzhou, it was only later on, the Japanese girl showed me her passport, she is from Japan ;-). So, I asked what was she doing in Hangzhou, she told me that she was learning Chinese. Her name is Yo, very nice girl. I helped them to put their baggages inside the closet on the upper bed, Yo turned to me said "Oh, you are very Sstrong" ;-) LOL

Yo told me she wished her English would have been better, she learnt it but because she was learning Chinese, so she forgot most of it. I told her my English was not that better, and I was glad that they were the first ones who spoke in English to me in Guangzhou ;-)

I didn't buy anything to eat on the train, so I ordered food, which was not so bad, plus Yo and the Macau girl was asking me all the time whether I wanted their boiled chestnut or bananas...In my deep thought, I had been very lucky so far, meeting nice and intersting people, and been able to get my train ticket ;-))

The train stopped several times at nite, probably to charge more petrol and the train control to get some rest...Yo and her Macau friend weren't sleeping, I noticed they were practicing their Chinese with traditional ink, after a while I fell asleep.

24/02/2005

We arrived in Guilin at 7am in the morning, and I said good-bye to Yo and the other girl (I couldn't remember what her name was), and walked out. I was thinking of calling Steven to see if he could book a hotel for me, but I saw a tourism info stand just outside the station, so I went there. This was how I met David Liao, and it turned my journey in Guilin and Yangshou to a complete pleasure. David asked me where I was from, which hotel I would stay...I told him that one of my friends would book the hotel for me, then he asked which nationality my friend was, I said Chinese, then he asked how did I know my friend...At first I thought these were very curious questions, but then I enjoyed talking to him, he proposed a couple of hotels, I made a phone call from David's mobile to Steven, who was still sleeping (oops), and asked if he had already booked the hotel. Steven said he booked it the day before (??), so I decided to pick up one of those average hotel that David showed me, near bus and train station. And also booked tours to Longi rice terrace, the Li River Cruise with him. I was quite amused trying to bargain the hotel price and all with David, when I told him to give me a 20% discount, he used his calculator, then told me "20%, no money", then I said "how about 15%, then", again with his calculator, then he said "15%, also no money". I told him "so you really gave me no discount at all?" ;-) I am terrible, I know, but it's just fun to bargain. And I got my discount, btw, not a lot, but he did give me discount.