Leaving Beijing was quite an experience; we arrived at the main station with plenty of time but it took quite a while to work out where we were supposed to get the train from, especially as there was not a train in sight. Eventually we discovered that you had to wait in a long queue until the train was ready and they opened the barrier. We found the appropriate queue but as we had reserved beds on the train we decided to go and get some food rather than stand around for ages. After spending the last of our money we returned to the queue and were surprised to see that a different train was now indicated on the sign! As time was getting short we decided to push our way to the front of the queue anyway which was quite a challenge with our heavy bags and rucksacks. At the front was an official who looked at our tickets and decided to shout at us for a while (in Chinese of course) and apparently indicated that we would have to climb over the barrier. This was confirmed (in English) by one of the passengers in the queue for the next train so over we went, again with all our luggage, to cheers from many of the hundreds of people standing in the queues. We looked lost but the official just shouted at us again so we ran in the direction of the platforms. Seeing only one train we headed for that and were relieved to find it was ours; however our carriage was right at the other end and they refused to let us get on any other! So rather exhausted we ran down the platform and were finally allowed on the train.
It was a relief to be aboard although the train was very crowded and basic. There were no compartments, just basic beds stacked 3 high alongside the corridor (which also contained seats) and virtually no room for luggage. They were quite comfortable for sleeping which was good as we had 2 nights on the train but during the day in between it was either a case of lying down or standing in the corridor. At least it was a chance for a rest which was also a good thing as we had no money for food and only had crisps and drinks to live on. The toilets were also Chinese style which took a little getting used to for us as our hotel in Beijing had western style ones we were used to. The bedding was clean though and collected on the morning of arrival although the collection consisted of a woman shouting and banging on the walls at around 5am and demanding them back!
The first thing we noticed getting off the train in Guang Zhou (Canton) at around 6am was the heat. Already by this time it was an extremely humid 24 degrees Celsius and getting warmer all the time. Stepping outside the station we were amazed to see that even so early it was already swarming with people. We were also more of a novelty here and just standing and trying to work out what we were going to do next, we collected a small crowd of people standing around us staring! Although disconcerting at first it soon became apparent that they were friendly and when we smiled they all smiled back, some trying out the little English they new. We were booked into a hotel but we had no map and we only had the name of the hotel written in the Latin alphabet so nobody there new where it was! We also had no Chinese currency left although one of the crowd suggested (in broken English) that some cab drivers may take US dollars in payment. We decided to risk it and jumped into a cab and tried to pronounce the name of the hotel. After a detour via a completely different hotel that the cab driver seemed to "recommend" he did take us to the correct one and we were relieved that he accepted the US dollars. The money he asked for did seem considerably more than approved rate but we just happy to have found our place to stay. During the drive we saw a city of many contrasts; there were many modern looking buildings including hotels, shopping centres and even a McDonalds but also very poor looking areas. An old motorbike drove past with a dead pig strapped onto the back which made it clear that we were not at home!
Checking into the hotel was difficult as they did not seem to understand our paperwork and their level of English was on par with our Chinese. They suggested we return a little later when a manager would be there who spoke better English so we dropped off our luggage and went for a walk. This was interesting and we even found we had a couple of coins which was just enough to buy a fresh bread roll that was being made in a back street. Eventually we managed to check into the hotel and it was entertaining to watch the reception staff copying our names from our passports which took several minutes!
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