Driving in China

The other day the fellow driving us to school in Gaoyou stated, "I think it is much harder to drive in China (then Canada, I presume) because there are many rules."

I choked on the mint I had been sucking as I attempted to hold back a somewhat loud laugh at this ludicrous statement. Since I am sure that Charles (the english name he had taken for my benefit) had never actually visited Canada, or any other Western country I am not sure what knowledge he was basing this statement on. He probably had acquired his impressions about western driving habits from various Jackie Chan movies and other

"Maybe We Need to Leave Earlier"

Not being a huge horticulturalist myself, I have found the tendency of our hosts to make sure we see every garden in Jiangsu province a bit repetitive but to be fair they really are often quite beautiful. The lotus flowers, buildings with boat shaped roofs layered in clay tiles, winding paths and the bridges over water ways can seem never ending but it is obvious that much effort has been expended in the development of these areas.

Our host in Gaoyou, a city which is some distance to the north of the Yangtze, had arranged a visit to the nearby city of Yangzhou so that we could spend time at Slender West Lake, another scenic garden area. In typical non commital fashion he asked me what time I would like to leave in the morning. Being a great fan of the leisurely wake up routine I tried for 9:30 am, mentally thinking that this was going to be early for me but I was willing to make sacrifices. He countered with saying, "Maybe we need to leave earlier" - translation, "We are leaving earlier."
"Shall we leave at 8 am?" he enquired as if I had a choice. I agreed but apparently this time was just to lure me in because a short while later I was informed that maybe 8 was too late and we should leave at 7 am. I was starting to think that this whole adventure was going to begin at a time which

"Import Intelligence Training Class"

The Kindergarten school in Dantu where our classes were held.

There were always, and still are, many places that I want to visit. I am now spending my second summer in Jiangsu Province mainly because I was a bit lazy this year and joining the group of teachers contracted to provide cultural exchange experiences with Chinese english teachers was a bit of an effortless way to travel. Although we are provided a stipend, accommodation, food and sightseeing, technically we are not working. Since I need to plan lessons, wake up every morning and go to school it does in fact feel like I am working!
The visiting teachers come from Canada, Australia and the US and are contracted by the province's education bureau to exchange cultural information, methodology, and provide the teachers of english with the opportunity to practice their conversational skills. English is taught in most schools here from grade 3 on but mainly through the use of tapes and writing excercises. Many of the teachers have had very little contact with foriegners and therefore not much opportunity to speak English. In many of the cities and towns outside of Shanghai and Beijing the presence of foriegners is a novelty and we will often have children and teenagers practicing their skills by saying, "Hello! Where are you from?"

Since I am spending four weeks in total, two in Dantu and two in the city of Gayou, with these teachers decided to share a summary of the experience that was sent to me by one of the participants in my first placement. Front, as he called himself, could sum up the two weeks with a little more flair than me and besides, he makes me sound so good that I'm not sure he was actually writing about me! (and before you ask, no I didn't bribe him)

Happy training, Harvest gaining

高桥中学 谭华峰
Two weeks' Import Intelligence Training Class for Middle School English Teachers has passed. I felt very happy about the training and gained a lot from it .
Our teacher, Terry, comes from Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. She is a very kind and learned lady. During the training, she tried her best to help us learn about as much she did in her work in Canada as she could. She is not only our teacher, but our friend as well .
In her classes, Terry told us many things about Canada, including symbolic things, family life, food, fun and games, celebrations about holidays, education, language learning and so on. These made me more familiar with the life that Canadians are having .
In her classes, Terry taught us many strategies of teaching as well as class activities in learning the English language. She participated in our activities, listened to our ideas and thoughts, advised us on how to organize teaching and learning activities in efficient ways, discussed with us the differences in life, education, culture and so on between China and western countries, asked all of us to have a good preparation of a symbolic things in China and presented to the whole class orally.
In her classes,Terry encouraged all of us to open our mouths speaking English as often and bravely as possible.She hoped that we all the trained teachers would express what we thought actively instead of being afraid of making mistakes in pronunciation or grammar. She said that language is just a tool for people to communicate with each other. We don't need to focus on the words, the syntax or the grammar too much, but the topic itself we are talking about. Terry is a good example for me to follow because of her encouraging words, smile and acceptance to her students. Never saying no to a student is really a nice teaching way.

Terry is hard-working. Before class starts, she got everything ready for it. In class, she put all her effort into the contents she taught us, and she even sang or danced if necessary. After the training day ended, she was the last one to leave, putting everything where they were and made some teaching materials for the next day's work.
Terry is high-quality in personality. She is sincere. She does everything honestly and equally. She doesn't cheat in doing anything. She behaves quite well both in class and out of class. She is grateful. Every day, I drove her to the Conference Center for lunch,"Thank you" could always be heard when getting into and out of my car. What a lady with a grateful heart! She always shows us the "positive energy". She believes everyone and everything around us is nice and good. She is my model. On the last day of our training, before she left our classroom for the last time, she put all the waste and rubbish together and threw them into the waste basket. "I won't leave anything messy or useless in the classroom, or others will have to spend much time tidying and cleaning them" she said. I was greatly shocked about her behaviour and words! This is my dear teacher, Terry! This is what I hope to be, a teacher not only teaching the students how to get knowledge, but also educating my students how to be a person full of stong responsibility!
Thank you,Terry! It is you who stimulate my mind of being a responsible teacher! It is you who make me know that how important it is for a teacher to guide his students pass "positive energy" to others and the society ! It is the Import Intelligence Training Class that brings me more than I can get only about knowledge!

I'm sure that some of you who know me are laughing hysterically at some of the comments, especially when it comes to singing and dancing! Not exactly my fortay but I did give it a go!

My class in Dantu.

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The Ghost Town of Dantu

My first placement this summer was in a small district, Dantu, which means red bandit. I was told that Dantu was one of the infamous Ghost Cities of China; being of an age that had watched numerous old western movies I had visions of broken down shacks and tumbleweeds but in the case of China, the term is a label which, in the West, has become synonomous with at best, poor planning, and at worst, grand scale corruption. Ghost Cities are a phenomenon of the Chinese revitalization scheme which began in the late '70s whereby entire cities, with complete infrastructures were erected but never populated. According to Western media, this was a huge metropolitan experiment, with a pricetag of roughly $500 billlion US, which failed on a grand scale and is an indication that perhaps the current leap forward was doomed to failure. "The ghost city of Dantu has been mostly empty for over a decade,"Business Insider reported in 2010. "In most neighborhoods of Dantu, there are no cars, no signs of life," reported the Daily Mail. (http://www.vagabondjourney.com/china-ghost-city-dantu/)

On the streets of Dantu

A fellow teacher with China Connections had also told us that Dantu was a deserted area with absolutely no people and if we wanted to have any social interaction or shopping we would need to travel to nearby Zhenjiang, the larger metropolitan area located next the the Yangstze. She had been assigned to this district in 2011. I was looking forward to actually having first hand experience with a city such as Dantu, and envisoned myself walking through deserted buildings and streets with my camera ready to record the tangible effects of this social experiment!

Alas, it would seem that either western media reports, often relying on satellite imagery, are highly exaggerated or three years has made all the difference. As we entered Dantu, our guide, Millie, informed us that Dantu was indeed a new District but it was obvious that it was far from "deserted" and not exactly what I would consider a Ghost Town!

Our little store that we go to daily.

Many buildings are still being erected with scaffolding and builders in plain view. Although it is true that the conjestion and traffic of cities such as Shanghai and Beijing is non existent there are people, cars, shops, and businesses thriving in Dantu. There are shops, rent a bike stands, a mall and a very large square in front of the Dantu convention centre in which we stayed. Families gather in the square nightly where stalls and games are set up for children; groups of line dancers are scattered throughout the park as well as some mainly older individuals making slow moving gestures which is the hallmark of Tai Chi. Where-ever I have travelled in China, each evening, someone brings out a boom box and starts playing music and a flash mob of line dancers seem to miraculously appear. This can occur in a park, a mall or just on the side walk. You can't go for a stroll in Dantu in the evening without tripping over a line dancer.
I can't help but wondering if my visit to this reportedly oldest example of a ghost town in China is indicative of the others. I guess the only wasy to truly discover the truth is to visit!

Clearly inhabited buildings in Dantu

Stores and shops in Dantu

Outside the mall in Dantu.

Relaxing in the Dantu Square

Not many ghosts here!

Butcher/Produce shop in Dantu

Family eating outside their shop in Dantu

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Imodium is a My New Best Friend

My lack of postings is an indication of the challenging time I have had in the last two weeks. My stay in Dantu was enlightening to say the least. I usually brag about my stamina and my ability to face all adversity with humour but lets just say I am very glad to have moved on!

I have always been very lucky in regards to health issues when travelling and I guess I just came to expect that I had super powers which helped me to avoid the very common intestinal complaints suffered by many who venture to foriegn lands. Alas, Dantu proved to be my Kryptonite.
It all started with a very nasty blister which developed after wearing a new pair of shoes and partaking in an evening of unabandoned dancing at the clubs of 1912. The first day in Dantu, I begin limping and noticed that the blister had broken open and the surrounding area had become an ominous and worrisome red. I soldiered on, but couldn't help but wonder if I was allowing all sorts of foriegn microbes to enter my bloodstream through the open sore. When standing started to become painful I hobbled off to try to find some sort of pharmacy in the hopes of obtaining a tube of Polysporin. I found a shop with a cross and all sorts of medicinal like products and asked the girl, with my Google translator, for an antibiotic cream but she didn't seem to grasp my meaning until I lifted my foot up and showed her my ankle which was now oozing some nasty looking green pus. She grimaced a bit and started a long explanation in Chinese (didn't help me much) and walked to a cabinet. She lifted out a red bottle with a little set of tweezers attached. This didn't look like any antibiotic cream I knew of but she pointed at my foot and at the bottle so, being in quite a bit of pain, I decided it was better then nothing and she was wearing a white smocky thing so she did look quite medical!

Our dining area.

When I returned to my hotel room, I opened the bottle which contained a bunch of little cotton balls soaked in some type of orange liquid. I used the handy tweezers to extract one and dabbed it all around my ankle. I seem to recall that when I was a very clutzy child and had scrapes or cuts that a similar looking product was also put on my many contusions so I felt confident I wasn't putting a substance on my skin that was going to cause my foot to eventually need amputation or anything. Sure enough after three days of having an orange ankle the wound started to clear up and I am happy to say I now just have a small scar! Unfortunately, this is when my stomach started to revolt.

Tried to survive with Rice Porridge

The food at our accommodation was a little worrisome right from the start. The hotel did have one hall of very nice, clean rooms which were used for people visiting the hotel just to eat, but on our first day we were escorted past these rooms and down a hall with garbage strewn around, past the kitchen, which definitely looked like it wouldn't pass any health or cleanliness inspections to a room which seemed to be the staff's lounge when we weren't eating. We were then served a variety of foods which the chef seemed to think Western foriegners would appreciate...a form of poutine which consisted of french fries covered in sweet and sour sauce and raw onions amongst other things. A series of bland and greasy dishes were set before us. We tried to be polite and nibble a bit but by the third day we were starving so we left the table and went to a nearby shop for a container of pot noodles and beer. Our lack of appetite must have been worrisome because at our next meal, our helper person, Millie, showed up and there was a very long discussion, in front of us, with the Chef and kitchen staff. We tried to tell them that we liked the Chinese food and lots of vegetables. At the next few meals the dishes were served and the Chef would stand behind us smoking a cigarette and flicking ashes onto the floor, while we ate, watching intently to see if we were aptly appreciating the delicacies he put before us. A little unnerving to say the least. Unfortunately the food was greasy, cold and often unidentifiable. Since we wanted to be polite, we gave it a valiant effort.

Chinese Poutine!

Kitchen where our food was prepared

Typical breakfast

By the third day my stomach began making some very odd noises after each meal and I was experiencing ominous cramps which would be so severe that I would need to hold on to the nearest piece of furniture for support until it passed. By the fifth day I was chewing imodium like candy and spending much of my spare time on the toilet. I decided that it was best to just try to eat rice and went out to buy a bunch of bananas to avoid scurvy but despite my best efforts my gastrointestinal nightmare continued for my entire two weeks in Dantu. Ah, the joys of visiting foriegn countries!

Thank goodness for pot noodles!

Food preparation on the streets of Dantu.

Street food in Dantu

A family eating in Dantu

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This is Not the Hilton

Despite becoming culturally immersed in the nightlife of Nanjing until the wee hours, my teaching partner for the next two weeks, and I, were quite proud of our upbeat and chipper attitude as we made our way to our new accommodations the next morning. Actually, we were probably not at our best but we did try to be cheery and engage our host in some witty repertoire about how China compares with Canada but alas, we must have been pretty boring since Millie spent most of the one hour car ride to Dantu quietly snoring in the back seat.
Now, when I am travelling I am not really a Diva about my accommodations and, probably due to my thrifty, some might even say "cheap", attitude, I have stayed in some very unusual and even sketchy places. Most of these I have booked myself and if they turn out to be uninhabitable (large bugs, malodorous aroma, loud and/or ominous noises of unknown origins) then I can simply refuse to stay there and find other digs. I recall booking a room in Myrtle Beach before the days of the internet and TripAdvisor and entering a "3 star" accommodation with cobwebs, live loose electrical wiring, the sound of what was probably an enormous family of rats and very large cockroaches (I might be exaggerating but my memory recalls something in the range of three inches). After taking one step through the door, following as the agent unchained the metal grate over it, I turned around, walked out and headed to the reception to find something in the "5 star" range.

A little DIY wouldn't go amiss!

For our stay in Jiangsu our accommodations are arranged by the hosting district - a district being loosely synonymous with municipality. We are told that we will be staying in a "Chinese" 3 star hotel which means that there will be a bed, an ensuite toilet and shower/bath, and air conditioning. I suppose our new home met these basic requirements and indeed, from the outside and the lobby area, appeared to be quite luxurious by Asian standards but as we alit from the elevator onto the third floor Andrea and I exchanged a look that said, "Uh oh..."

The floor in our dining area.

The smell of urine and stale cigarettes was the first thing to hit us, nay overwhelm us, and we unconsciously took a step back into the elevator rather than forward. The hall ahead was dark and dingy with only two or three flickering working light bulbs, probably to prevent us from seeing the torn wallpaper piteously stuck back up with packing tape or the large stains on the carpeting which may have been caused by someone relieving themselves. We have seen small children squatting, wherever they stand, when nature calls; in fact, clothing for infants and toddlers is designed conveniently split in the appropriate area to facilitate the practice.

Not sure what made this mark on the headboard.

The actual room is large with a small refrigerator, kettle, and two single beds. The beds in China are very firm but these beds are so hard that I did pull the sheet up to see if I was sleeping on a mattress or a four by eight piece of plywood. The carpeting is covered in stains and cigarette burns since it is common practice to drop hot butts, even on carpeting, and grinding them with your feet to put them out. The headboards have large black stains and the wallpaper is torn and taped, but not well enough to hide the mildew growing beneath. The hot water is somewhat sketchy so my morning fun is predicting whether I will have steaming hot water, in which case I will spend a luxurious amount of time lathering and washing my hair, or if the water is tepid at best my ablutions consist of a quick wash of the vital bits! There is air conditioning but even after turning it off, it seems to continue to blast so here I sit, typing this missive while wearing long pants, socks, and a hoody even though it is about 33 Celsius when I step out into the hallway. I have company in my room, in the form of hundreds of little mosquitos but I am trying to get rid of the infestation with this handy little device I have only seen in China which plugs into an outlet and emits some particularly noxious substance rendering the little b#$%#^#s dead and hopefully not causing the human in the room any irreversible unknown health effects!

Andrea trying to keep warm.

I do have a kettle, green tea, and four very nice silk comforters (two are being used to soften the mattress and two to protect me from the cold) so there are some positives. One must look on the bright side of life after all!
I also don't want to give the impression that this is typical of accommodation in China. Both Andrea and I have stayed at very wonderful chain hotels and B and B type places throughout China which have been immaculate and very comfortable. This just doesn't happen to be one of them!

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"Leave no man behind!" or Sampling Nanjing Nightlife at 1912

My fellow teachers and I were meeting our hosts at the Hua Dong Hotel in Nanjing and were to be treated to a day of sightseeing. Our hosts try to make this a very full day for all of us but after visiting the City Wall of Nanjing, climbing the stairs at the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum, eating a large lunch, and then visiting the first museum only to realize we still had another museum, the Confucius Temple district and dinner to look forward to, a group of us decided to try and make an unobtrusive departure from the tour and head back to our hotel. In our defence, it had rained all morning and we were soaked through despite shelling our 15 RMB for some very attractive rain gear....not.

Climbing the stairs at Sun Yat Temple in my fancy rain gear.

Leaving was not an easy task, as our guide was very stringent about keeping track of everyone and had several helpers along to round up the strays. We told the main guide we were leaving and headed for the gate. We were stopped several times as helpers tried to herd us back on to the bus but we quickly headed down the street. I'm sure we caused our hosts much anxiety as we made our escape, as they are really very concerned that we see all of the "places of interest" and are suitably fed, but we were all quite tired and just wanted to sleep.
Waving a taxi down in Nanjing proved a bit difficult. The taxis have green lights or red lights on the roof but we couldn't actually figure out what the lighting system meant. It didn't seem to matter as every taxi, green or red, rudely ignored our frantically waving hands and refused to stop. We weren't sure if this was because we were such a large group or because we were white....we couldn't change our skin colour but we could make our group smaller. At the next intersection, we split up into two groups and as one unlucky taxi stopped to let his passengers out, Andrea and I quickly jumped in. The driver looked very angry as I showed him my phone with the name of our hotel. I was desperately trying to distract him as my five fellow escapees tried to jam themselves into the back seat. The many people standing on that corner probably now think white foriegners are ridiculous people who don't realize that there is a physical limit as to how many people can fit into the backseat of a Kia. As the smallest member of our group, Haley, tried to prostrate herself across the laps of the other four, the driver realized what was happening and began yelling...didn't need a translator for this...With a total lack of team spirit and abandoning the motto, "Leave no man behind!" Andrea, Honorata, and myself waved through the back window of our taxi to our mates who were left on the sidewalk with one of the helper people convincing them to get back on the bus and resume the tour...still not sure how he tracked us down!

Happily, all of our group did make it back to the hotel and a few hours later, well rested, our little group of six headed off to 1912 to sample a bit of Nanjing nightlife. 1912 is the "happening" spot in Nanjing and is frequented by both expats and trendy, young locals. The area opened in 2004 and took its name from the year Dr. Sun Yat Sen overthrew the Qing Dynasty and established the Republic of China with Nanjing as its capital. 1912 is now located next to the headquarters of the Chinese Nationalist Party. Since we had visited the Memorial for Dr. Sun Yat Sen earlier in the day, it was only fair to check out the nightlife area dedicated to the event!

Tube of beer with snacks for 300RMB

We started out at the Blue Marlin, a chain bar/restaurant, where we shared a very large tube of beer and some complimentary chips and chicken popcorn. We were also given a free shot of tequila by the manager...I assume to lure us inside. The bar has two floors with the obligatory Philippino singers downstairs and a louder group upstairs playing music meant to inspire dancing. The area for dancing actually has a pole...hmm... Drinks are reasonably priced at 35 to 40 yuan. Beer is easy to order but I don't like to be easy and after eyeing up the temtping variety of spirits available behind the bar, decided to order a Canadian Club with ice and water. I did get the CC but the fellow brought it with a tall glass of hot water. The Chinese drink hot water constantly so this would have made sense to the server but I handed the hot water back and said, "Cold water, please."

1912, Nanjing

When he replied, "Evian?" I thought we were all good since this is a brand of water, but he brought a tiny bottle of water and then gave me the bill. He wanted 80 Yuan, 40 for the whiskey and 40 for the water. Being the thrifty person I am, I handed back the water and drank the whiskey neat!
We spent a fantastic evening travelling from bar to bar, sampling drinks, dancing, meeting people and just enjoying the great atmosphere. I would provide more detail and put in a plug for the many other bars we visited that night but unfortunately the effects of the whiskey have left just a foggy memory of an amazing time but few details!

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Li River or "We Go Shopping"

The Li River, China

I've always thought that the journey is often more memorable than the destination and today's adventures support this theory. Being adverse to both organized tours and taxis often means that I must be extremely resourceful about visiting many destinations. Today I wanted to go to a little village called Yangdi and take a bamboo boat ride along the scenic river Li to the village of Xingping.

The easy, touristy way to see the Li River's majestic scenery is to join a tour and be picked up early in the morning at your hotel in Guilin, take a five hour ride crammed onto a noisy, smelly ferry boat, be fed cafeteria style then taken to a specific area to buy local crafts and merchandise, followed by a bus ride to be safely deposited back at your hotel. This seemed rather unappealing to me as it rarely affords a traveller the opportunity to meet local people and to get a feel for the day to day life in any particular location.

I had conducted a bit of research before coming but there were no clear instructions about how to attempt my journey. I had hoped to go to the bus station and get a local bus to Yangdi where I would secure a bamboo boat ride to Xingping, then take a bus to Yangshou where I would take a bus back to Guilin. An ambitious plan, so armed with a few words of the destinations, written in Chinese by the hostel clerk, and my trusty iPhone off I went with the warning of the clerk, "I think maybe you can't get there." Challenge accepted!

The bus and train station seemed to be one and the same with dozens of buses parked outside the train station. There are big buses, little buses, modern buses, and dilapidated buses. The area is teeming with stalls, vendors and a very large number of women who seem to be making it their life's work to ensure that everyone finds their correct bus. There must be some kind of profit in this endeavour as I'm sure they are not doing it out of the kindness of their hearts. There is no english signage on the buses at all and very few people in the area seem to speak any english. I first went to what seemed to be the ticket purchasing counter, ignoring the many women trying to get my attention. I hopefully, showed the woman at the counter my paper with the word "Yangdi" on it but she rapidly said something and made an abrupt motioning gesture as if to say, "Go away."
Not to be discouraged, I spied a sign saying Tourist Information and thought that this might be a likely place to get some solid information. Unfortunately, by tourist they don't mean clueless foreigners such as myself but rather the many millions of Chinese tourists that visit this region yearly. The gentleman inside started off patiently as I asked him if he spoke English and he indicated a little. Well apparently it was a very little, because although I think I made him understand that I wanted a bus to Yangdi there was no way that I could understand him as he tried to give me directions in some very rapid Chinese. After about five minutes of me trying to understand him, while using the odd Chinese word, he began to get very frustrated and made the 'go away' motion by violently extending one arm with finger pointing, while loudly yelling the only english words I could understand, "I SAY, NO ENGISH!" I made a hasty retreat.

The next booth with the tourist information sign looked more promising as there was a friendly looking young lady who was soon joined by a man with an iphone. I thought they knew what I needed as they indicated I should walk down the street for 500 meters and look for a green bus. I was rather dubious about these instructions as "down the street" just seemed to be stores and restaurants. I had walked a complete circle and was back to where I started. I noticed some small green buses so I approached them and tried to match the Chinese characters of my destination with the signs and show the drivers my paper. Looking helpless and confused will attract the helping ladies quicker than honey attracts flies in a transportation hub. They quickly gathered around waving placards of tours and maps in my face while yelling the names of the local tourist highlights. I kept muttering "Bu shur," and waving my hand in the no gesture. But it was no use, if I was ever going to make it to this Bamboo boat ride I was going to need some real help.

One of the hovering women seemed to have better english and she was thrilled as I began to engage her in conversation. The others drifted away. This entrepreneurial young woman quickly grasped that I wanted to go to Yangdi so she pulled me by the arm to one of the many buses while explaining that I would need to take a bus to Yangshou and get off along the way. She indicated that the cost was 14 RMB and then sat me in the front seat. She introduced me to another woman on the bus travelling with her son to Yangdi, where they lived. This native of the town I wanted to visit, spoke excellent English and I was starting to feel hopeful that this day was going to be successful after all. I was getting ready to pull out a 10 Yuan note to hand to the woman who had assisted me when next thing I knew she was sitting beside me on the bus. As we pulled out, I began to feel somewhat uncomfortable and hoped that I had not inadvertently secured her services as a personal guide for the day. I hoped that she would perhaps get off the bus at some point but this didn't happen. She continued to speak to the driver and money collector as we drove along and I had the distinct impression that they were involved in some type of three way scam and I was the target. The money collector started at the back of the bus collecting and I got my money out to pay. My "helper" indicated that she would make change for me and tried to hand me three 1/2 Yuan notes which have the numeral 5 on them and therefore might be mistaken as a 5 Yuan note. I was aware of this scam and quickly made the woman know that I was not impressed with her. When the money collector reached me I gave him my 20 Yuan note and he gave me change. He and my would be helper seemed to be having a good laugh over the whole event and I hoped that now the woman would get off the bus and go back to the train station to find another victim.

Alas, she did not and after a couple of hours the bus pulled over at the side of the road and the mother and son, along with several others, got off so I followed them. The "helper" lady also followed and I began to feel that ditching her was going to be more difficult than I imagined. I felt like a had a candy wrapper stuck to the sole of my shoe and no matter how hard I shook my foot it will not unstick!

The woman from Yangdi was very helpful and told me that although there were cars offering rides, we would take the bus as the cars charge too much. I really thought the "helper" lady would take the hint if I just blanked her, but no, as I boarded the next little bus there she was right beside me. This bus was jammed with locals who were pretty much on top of one and other. I told the woman I was following that I didn't trust the other lady and could not understand why she would be following me. The helper lady began speaking to my new benefactress and the rapid Chinese conversation made me feel like there was a new conspiracy afoot but perhaps I am too suspicious. As we pulled into the Yangdi station I got off the bus following the woman who spoke english and was once again followed by my stalker. The woman who had let me follow her now seemed to want to get rid of me so I thanked her and headed out purposefully towards the pier.

Now Yangdi is just a small little village whose primary source of income seems to revolve around the transport of tourists down the scenic Li river to XingPing village. In and around the pier area there are a multitude of business minded people (mainly women) who are trying to sell snacks, plastic water guns, umbrellas, flowered wreath hats and other items they might tempt the many Chinese tourists with. Now not too many Westerners opt for this method of seeing the Li unless they are part of a large organized tour group. I decided to do a quick reconnescence of the area to try to figure out the best method of securing transport down the river. As I walked to the pier my stalker remained on my tail and tried to engage me in conversation.

"You want Bamboo boat? I get you bamboo boat."
"No, bu shur," No thanks, I responded politely and tried to walk away. I headed into a small store and bought a never melting lolly, but as I came out there she was.

"You go Xingping, I get good price for boat."
"No." Less polite now.

I hurriedly walked back down to the pier but she kept up the pace and was hot on my heals. I stopped abruptly forcing her to skid to a stop.

"You want Bamboo?" Seriously, I was going to need to be direct. I extracted a one half yuan note from my wallet, pointed at her and said, "You tried to cheat me," while pointing at the note.

"I don't trust you." I strode purposefully away down the pier and I thought I had finally gotten rid of her. But no, she should at least get an A for tenaciousness. She followed me down the pier and tried to convince me that I was confused. She pulled out a one half yuan and began explaining what it is worth.

"I know what it is worth now please leave me alone."
Desperate, she began yelling, "We go shopping. Come on. We go shopping." Really not sure what the point of this was but I was becoming seriously annoyed now as I only wanted to figure out how to get a boat and this woman was getting in my way.

I stopped abruptly, pulled out my iPhone and typed "Please leave me alone and go away!" Even when I am angry I feel the need to be polite in a foreign country!

Finally, with a deflated look she said, "Okay."

My rescuers.

Instantly, the other piranhas on the pier seemed to sense that I was now open game and I was surrounded by a group trying to get my business. Just then a tall young man and his mother approached and asked in very good english if I needed help. Cheng Cheng and his mother more than made up for the stalker. They had already booked a boat and said I could join them. They had paid 130 Yuan but their "lady" wanted to charge me 200. In China, there is one price for Chinese people and another for Westerners. I managed to get her down to 150 after much negotiation. Cheng Cheng told me that she said that the pier people were competing for my business and he aptly commented that they were like tigers and I was the sheep they were hunting.

I joined my new friends for a beautiful afternoon on the Li River. My companions were on vacation from Shanghai. Cheng Cheng had just graduated university and was due to start his first job soon and his mother was a teacher. They translated the guide's descriptions of some of the beautiful scenic spots and when we arrived in Xingping they insisted on buying me lunch. They walked me to the bus station where they safely put me aboard a direct bus back to Guilin.

I have met many wonderful people on this journey but these two were amazing, kind, funny, and generous! Today will be a highlight of my trip because of the wonderful people I have met, the tenacious people I have met, and the stunning landscape.

Since I am not a very poetic writer, I think that only pictures of the Li River will do this part of China justice.

Li River

Bought a snack along the journey from this local woman.

Purchased polished stones from this woman to make necklaces.

Beautiful!

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