Day 28 - Hours and hours, on a bus, halfway across Guizhou!

Today was another day of waking by alarm, to get an early start for the day of travelling! From Zhaoxing we headed for Liping - the main problem with the beginning of the journey was the fact that there were too many buses leaving Zhaoxing for Liping. The drivers get paid for the passengers they pick up, so what ensued was 5 buses racing each other to the next stop. Our bus squealed to a stop for passengers, in the hope of starting again quickly, but was passed by another bus zooming by. This would have been comical had we not been on the bus! Luckily the trip to Liping was over in a couple of hours, just in time to board to next bus - a 7 hour bus ride to Kaili, where we planned to stay the night. The 7 hour trip grew longer as the bus broke down and we were slowed by the many landslides. The fact that the 'new' roads are already falling apart did not make for happier travelling! On the bright side, the scenery is absolutely out of this world - the roads climb up huge mountains and traverse great gorges, all the while following a pristine river. A great part of the journey is being able to look back on the miles of road you have travelled and look to the road ahead. If you're a petrol-head (Martin) you would love to cruise the roads and we're sure the car would be better than the bus - though we're not so sure non-Chinese could survive the traffic rules that are (or perhaps aren't) utilised here!

On arrival in Kaili we soon realised there was not much to see or do, and thought after a 12 hour day on buses already, why not do another 2 and a half hours and get it all over and done with! After a quick dinner, where Liv impressed herself by ordering a feast for $3 completely in Chinese, we boarded the bus to Guiyang - the capital of Guizhou province.

Unfortunately we arrived at night, in a very unfamiliar place, with the reputation of one of the most dangerous cities in China - this put us on edge when trying to find accommodation. Our first port of call for a bed was full, but a local saw us confused and lost and directed us to a close by hotel and got us a 30% discount, which made the hotel cheaper than our second option: a youth hostel across town. This is not a usual place for tourists so things are more expensive than we've been used to. Unfortunately we were untrusting of the situation (it's so hard to know who's being genuinely and selflessly helpful) and did a good job of looking like stupid (and probably ungrateful) tourists.

Anyway, the hotel was great, and after the youth hostels we've been staying in the 2-star rating was a nice change - we had our own bathroom and a lift, which is lucky as we're on the 17th floor! It also allowed Liv to transform from the 'traveller' in typical dirty travelling clothes to a clean Liv with brushed hair Adam is used to! Adam didn't really change - while he was clean, he remained in his dirty travelling clothes! We decided to stay for 2 nights so we could spend all day tomorrow exploring Guiyang. From our huge windows we have quite a view - the modern train station across from us and the busy streets below are contrasted with the rundown old houses, some of which have been torn down to make room for more sky-scrapers.

Adlibing it all the way to Guiyang, and making the bus trip alive.