Somewhere in China
We are now at a train station in the middle of somewhere in China waiting for a 7pm sleeper train to Guilin in the south. We have had some...um...intersting times. Def an experience!
Beijing was great because it was clean(er) and people spoke a tad of English. We took a 18 hour trian to Changsha. It was supposed to be 15hrs, but whatever! We arrived in the crowded Beijing station and were overwhelmed. And then we got on the train...love the 3 layer high bunk sleepers! We lucked out and got the bottom sleepers. But it was hilarious. WE got comfy and it was no prob. People looked at us as we ate our cheese and crackers...they were probably saying "where are your instant noodles?" which is what everyone had there.
We then headed to the town where Mao Zedong lived. It was a whole in the ground - smelly and poluted, BUT a small Chinese town. The bus there was crap. We were cramped into a winstar size thing, AND we hit a dog. I was mortified. They just yelled something out the window, stopped the van for a minute and then kept going. I was not impressed. So the bus ride was an experience and so was the village. It was tiny. Last night we had a slightly bigger than single bed with a room with no heat and no hot water. I was freezing, and we know its cold when Christian is cold too! But thats life down here, people don't have hot water at home or heating. We just went to a noodle restaurant and in the back the workers were washing themselves because at home they have no hot water. I realize the luxuries we have at home.
But we are heading to the south and we can't wait to relax and have some warmer weather. We are happy and enjoying having each others company. It's been wonderful doing this together, even if its only been a week and some. We can't wait for the next couple of months!
I hope you are all well. Thank you for your well wishes. We love hearing from you! We miss you all. We'll be in touch soon! Love from China.
posted by Karina & Christian at 2:55 a.m.
2 Comments:
HI Guys, I hope you're not too distressed by the rough and tough life of chinese peasants. It can be a bit overwhelming sometimes but at least you have each other to lean on. I love the pics. It's looks like you guys are having alot of fun and enjoying your trip. It's strangely warm in Ottawa, for this time of year. It's supposed to go up to eight degrees celsius on Saturday and it's the middle of December. Tell those chinese to chill out with the coal burning and I'll do the same here. ha ha... anyways, it might be a green christmas. That'll be a first... The snow has pretty much all melted with the rain today and it's only supposed to rain more for the rest of the week... so that's all for the weather woes. I hope you guys are getting into warmer tempatures. Thailand should be exciting... My job is going well; I don't do too much and I will likely get permanent status come March. Unfortunately, they have to post my job since it is for a permanent position, but I think they are pretty much tailoring the application to guarantee that I get in. I hope that's the case. It's good money and it allows to use my energies towards my creative pursuits. Apart from that, life goes on... I hope you guys are having a really good time. I'm sure things are a little harder in the poorer areas, but the people are generally very nice, when they're not expecting money from you... I know it sorta got to me in Brazil but you are two big, healthy and smiley types who I'm sure will only bring sunshine wherever you go. So enjoy the trip and talk soon. Cool pics!
9:02 p.m.
The message above was from me, Gab! Ciao!
9:03 p.m.
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