Police Story

Still struggling with the Mandarin language (I'm getting few words right I guess 'cuz people understood me when I asked for a phone card...) It's such a hard language because of the different tones... Anyway, I made a single-serving friend yesterday: A cop! He first accosted me to help me with directions, then he wanted to speak French (he's currently learning it). So we hung out when his shift was over. He helped me get a train ticket to Guilin, a phone card (yes, I'm a little obsessed with those...) and bought me a drink. I taught him a little bit of French, he taught me a little bit of Mandarin (the sounds are crazy!) Then he had to go back to work; he left me his 3 phone numbers...

Other than that, it's just pure hallucination to walk down the streets of Guangzhou. There are street vendors everywhere on sidewalks selling Allah knows what, and yes they do spit everywhere... You'd think they are used to seeing Westerners by now (especially in Guangzhou with its annual international business fair - which was happening when I got there), but I can tell you: everybody's staring at me! It's weird.

So I'm off to Guilin tonight. I'll be travelling in the "Sleeper," the night train. Like I said, it's the Golden Week (Mayday Holiday) so everyone's travelling... It's gonna be jam-packed and all I could get was a"hard seat..." Prepare to embrace Pain.