PART THREE - back to china :)

after getting myself sorted on many levels, it was time to get back to china.

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after only 3 hours sleep, on wednesday morning i caught a train from hong kong to guangzhou (business visa in czech passport a complete success).

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my train didn't leave until the afternoon, so i put my bags into storage and went wandering around the hot little city. there was a nice park and a cool 9 storey pagoda temple, but nothing too amazing.

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as soon as i crossed the border into china, i instituted my 'zero english' policy. using the czech passport helps, as i can claim that i don't know any english at all, and though it's already been really difficult at times (during the last two days of being here), it's those frustrating occasions when i think it's most important for me to keep calm and not try and find someone who speaks english for help. despite everything else, the main reason i'm here is to learn chinese.

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instead of getting a sleeping car ticket (like the handful of other westerners on the train) i got a normal hard-seat for my 14 hour train ride from guangzhou to guilin. when i saw where i had to sit - a rigid seat squashed between two other people in a carriage filled with chinese people screaming, squatting, spitting and wide-eyed with wonder at the white curiosity, i could only think one thought: 'ondrej, you are about to have the single worst experience of your entire life'.

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admittedly, it was uncomfortable, but no-where near as bad as i thought it would be. the chinese word for 'everyone' is 'big family', and i soon came to realise why. as i sat on my seat with the chick opposite me's feet in my lap, my own legs wrapped by the legs of the guy next to her (who was listening to my mp3 player) whilst the guy next to me tried to read my book and the guy on the other side leaned on me in his sleep while i ate the food of the people behind me, i thought: this is the 'real' chinese experience. this is the real deal. people shouting, food sellers blasting through the carriage every minute, everyone sprawled all over each other, everyone so friendly...

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i didn't sleep a wink and for the record: the next time i catch a long distance train, i'm taking a sleeper - i don't care what it costs...

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when i was a child, i saw a documentary on some people who were riding their bikes through china. there was one place they went where there were these limestone cliffs, covered in greenery, that just came jutting straight out of rice paddies at bizarre angles, and it looked like the most amazing place in the world. i mistakenly thought it was in sichuan province, and though i don't have many things that i've 'always wanted to do', since seeing that documentary as a boy, i have dreamed of going to that place - of 'riding a bike through sichuan province'. it's not in sichuan, it's here in guangxi province - around the hip little town of yangshuo where i've set up camp. the cliffs are truly amazing - they're all around us, with the town crammed in between peaks, and they're EXACTLY like i remember them from the documentary! as soon as i saw them from the mini-bus from guilin to yangshuo, i started crying like a little boy - the same little boy who had been awestruck in front of the tv 15 years ago...

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i have to say that achieving your dreams is everything it's cracked up to be. everything. and more.

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the only other place i've 'always' wanted to go is north-eastern siberia, but i'll have to wait a few years for that.

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i haven't taken any photos yet in yangshuo (all of these are from guangzhou), so i'm sorry about that, but i'll upload a heap next time i blog. i'm going to do some chinese classes here, ride my bike through the rice paddies, walk along the legendary li river and just relax.

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life's great :)