Monday we left Shanghai on a train to Guangzhou (aka Canton). This time we enjoyed the twenty-four hour ride in our own room by buying the tickets for all four beds. This wasn’t as excessive as it sounds—our luggage took up a whole bed anyway.
Having arrived in Guangzhou I left Maeli and Jenny at a Starbucks while I scouted for the bus station that would get us to Zhuhai. Turns out that bus station is almost a mile away. Since Jenny wasn’t too keen on discovering the joys of bus travel anyway, we found someone to drive us for 400 RMB. I’ve never seen a nicer Holiday Inn than the one where staying in now, but then thirty hours of traveling can make a Chinese Motel 6 look like the Hilton. Having survived one of those few question marks on our itinerary (just how do we get from Guangzhou to Zhuhai?) I figured it was downhill from here. Almost.
Getting what you want in China is not always easy, even when you do speak the language. Two (of many) recent examples: Despite listing ‘On-site Guest Self-Laundry Facilities (washer/dryer)’ on the Holiday Inn website, this hotel does not have self-serve washers and dryers. Asking for such at the desk got us two directions to the hotel laundry service room and one very odd expression. I could almost read her mind, “You’re a foreigner, staying at this hotel, and you want to do your own laundry?”
Asking for a newspaper only got me bad directions. First to the fifth floor business center which has plenty of newspapers to read while you sit and wait for your fax but none to buy. The second set of directions at least got me in the vicinity. The store they suggested didn’t have newspapers but the convenience store another block away did.
As is often the case when language and cultural barriers loom, your search results in something quite close to what you intended but not quite an exact match either. This sort of fuzzy living that one goes through factors into culture shock and can lead to frustration if patience isn’t applied. Luckily Jenny and I have each other to balance out emotional irregularities so when paper towels are more like tissue paper and the toilet is really a squatter we have a sympathetic ear nearby.
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