Friday, June 15, 2007

Day 8 - The Adlibers arrive in China

After not much sleep, partly due to the stress of coming to China and not wanting to miss the plane, partly due to the thunderstorm raging outside, and partly due to the ultra-noisy airconditioner - this is a catch 22: have it on and the noise keeps you awake, off and the heat makes it impossible to sleep!

Anyway, we woke up on time (if we were ever asleep at all) and made it to the airport hassle-free and for the right price - shame we learnt this on the day we left Thailand! The flight went to plan and soon we were in Guangzhou, in Southern China. Despite our flood-induced fears the sun was shining (well, we could vaguely see something that looked like blue sky through the pollution- we think) and China seemed welcoming enough.
We caught the bus into the centre of town, and rethought our plan of catching the train to the hostel when we caught a glimpse of the hectic and bursting full train-station! A cheap taxi-ride got us to our Youth Hostel on Shamian Island, and Liv got to try out her very rough Chinese on the taxi-driver.

We love Shamian Island already - it's China with gorgeous views of the Pearl River coupled with bright Neon lights of the Sky-Scrapers across the river in Guangzhou City. But as traffic is restricted, it is relatively peaceful here, and we can wander around without worrying about getting lost because it's a small island! We had a nice dinner, followed by a romantic stroll along the river-front (we would have more photos but see below...).
We have been having major dramas using the Chinese computers as, inevitably, the computers are all in Chinese. This means we have been unable to figure out how to minimise our photos to download onto the photo website (Dudley we need you here!!). This has not been made easier with the problems we have been having with our camera - it keeps stalling so not many photos have been taken of late! Looks like our next purchase will be a camera.
Missing home a lot, and the creature comforts that come with it!

No comments: