Hey Hey and a Big G'Day toya,

Here I sit in southern China where the beers are cold and the people are tiny.
So begins the 2010 Summer Beers N Noodles Adventure.

Last Monday (5th July), after finally receiving my last month’s salary and extra bonuses I finally packed the last of my things and joined Aussie Brad for our last day together, sadly though we had both lost several days of our holidays waiting for our salary as the school for some strange reason was waiting for us to walk out the gate before handing it over. In the end I had to actually demand that they give it to us NOW. All normal schools give their foreign teachers their final payments on the last day of teaching (or the following day) to allow them the opportunity to simply get out of town and begin their adventure.

As school was still happening we got a last chance to say goodbye to the English Office Beauties during which Brad and I handed over bags full of DVD’s and other assorted goodies.

I had an extra bag full of stuff that I had been saving for Luo Wei but due to her extra school activities that didn’t allow us to meet I handed over my small and trusty DVD player to the most helpful Sally Brown along with my cooling pad. I had spoken to Luo Wei several nights before and her university had taken away most of her summer holidays from her and as I handed over what was to be her mother’s DVD player etc she was at the Xian train station ready to board a train to Shanghai where she would spend several weeks advertising her University outside of the World Expo.

I then grabbed a cab to the Hanzhong Long Distance Bus Station and four hours later I arrived at Xian’s west Bus Station where I had to haggle hard with a dozen taxi drivers, all whom wanted me to pay 100 Yuan for a simple 20 Yuan journey and finally after booking into my wonderful hotel for the last time I was soon found sharing my last northern travel stories with people from all over the globe at the Xiangzimen Youth Hostel.

On Tuesday (6th July) I headed out into Xian’s vibrant city streets to take my last walks around the ancient northern streets that I have called home for the past two years. I spent most of my time in and around the bustling Muslim Quarter saying goodbye to those that I have come to know and have shared friendly smiles with and at five I met Buckland’s Frank who was happy to take me to the train station. After saying a sad goodbye to Frank I made my way to the Soft Sleeper VIP waiting room where I spent my last hour in Xian chatting to a very hot and sweaty Swedish couple who were on their way to Wuhan City.

I then had to inform them that Wuhan was not only one of China’s five furnace cities but this year was suffering temperatures higher than those that have been recorded in past decades.

I boarded the Xian/Nanning train around seven in the evening and began my journey chatting to a friendly Chinese guy about the differences between life in Australia and life in China. During our chat a young couple from England overheard English being spoken and came out to say hello and soon after that I had swapped beds with a Chinese lady and so began a wonderful friendship. We spent the night swapping life stories over a handful of beers after which we demolished an entire bottle of Baijo (Chinese Rice Wine) and after unsuccessfully trying to bribe several train staff for more beer we finally closed our eyes around two in the morning.

Can’t even bribe the rail staff for beer anymore!
What has happened to China Rail!

I spent most of Wednesday (7th July) sleepily being rocked back and forth and I finally left my bunk and joined English Sophie and Craig (who will be known as Snuffles and Sean the Sheep as of now) for an afternoon of chitchat about this and that during which I quickly came to the conclusion that they were not only two people that I wanted to spend more time with but also wanted to continue to communicate with after we separated.

While chatting about their travel plans and my 2010 Summer Beers N Noodles Adventures we had talked about the Yangshuo and Guilin areas. Several hours prior to arriving in Guilin I suggested that instead of heading to Nanning where there really isn’t that much to see and do, why not depart at Guilin and join me for a few days to a week and as they were less than a third of the way through their three month Chinese Visa this would then allow them to see one of the most beautiful parts of China.

Thankfully they jumped at the chance!
Soon after they were packed ready for a new random adventure!

After a twenty seven hour journey we finally arrived in Guilin and soon after we had paid for several nights in a hotel just up the road from the train station which to me was a pretty freaky hotel when it comes to Chinese hotels as it was round. After an awesome BBQ dinner on a street corner we grabbed more than enough cold beers and headed back upstairs where we spent the entire night talking, listening to music and watching the World Cup. Around six in the morning, just as the sun was rising we climbed out of the hotel windows onto the balcony where I got to watch their faces as the sun brought to life the mysterious limestone peaked landscape that surrounds Guilin city.

It was an awesome time and we were all so happy that we chose to be together for this!

Yesterday morning (Thursday the 9th) after a long night on the amber ale we finally closed our eyes around nine in the morning. Around mid afternoon I joined Snuffles and Sean the Sheep for a delicious lunch of dumplings and duck after which we headed to the nearest park where we spent several hours walking around the beautiful lake area. We then decided to walk along the river to what we named Rice Vegas and then back along the other side to the main train station area.

We finished off the day with a couple more beers and another BBQ dinner.
So begins the 2010 Summer Beers N Noodles Adventure.
 
Beers N Noodles toya…..shane

PS: The young girl and her mother in the photos own the dumpling eatery just up the road from our school where Brad and I ate twice a week. The girls name is Lar Lar and she is the sweetest little thing.
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The soundtrack to this entry was by World Party
The album was the awesome 'BANG’
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