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a travel story (part II)

guangzhou.

i've spent the day speaking (or trying to speak) chinese with carol and ann, wonderful folk from our guangzhou office, who have been more than helpful in my little adventure. we've had quite a trip so far, and i won't be on my way to vietnam until tomorrow night.

i woke up pretty early this morning because i do that when things aren't completely regular. i went for a little stroll in the sunshine and bought some street food (ah, yes. wonderful wonderful street food). i missed my daily dose of tang yuan, but figured i can suffer for a day given the circumstances. i had just the right amount of time to kill such that i couldn't go anywhere, i didn't want to stray too far from the hotel, and i wasn't hungry. and i had about 42 minutes before i had to leave to wait for my ride. 42 minutes = buffy. it was nice.

i went downstairs to the lobby, saw the pimp from the night before, and waited patiently for a little while. carol and ann showed up in a cab (that's what we chicagoans call a taxi, for you non-native english speakers who learn the word taxi instead). right off the bat, it was chinese. chinese this, chinese that. it was a lot of fun. and i had more than enough energy to do it.

we made it to the vietnamese embassy and i started filling out a form that was only in chinese and vietnamese. most of the fields i could identify -- name, birthday, phone number, nationality -- but some required some clever translating. i had to get passport photos, so we went down a floor and then up a floor and over somewhere else and i got my photo taken. 8 photos for 35RMB.

i had to say goodbye to my passport, which is always a difficult thing in an unfamiliar city. we went to buy plane tickets downstairs (this was like a wonderland... perfect for my situation. visas, bank, passport photos, plane tickets). to leave tonight would be roughly US$650. woah! tomorrow would nearly cut my trip in half. i called my boss (and woke him up... oops) and he told me to go for the earlier flight.

we went out for lunch, which was amazing. we had some weird nut dish that i've never seen in china, and it was delicious.

in the cab to the hotel, the driver was asking me random english phrases: "you pay the toll." "this road is very fast!" "airport?" (because apparently all tourists just fly their hands and make a whooosh sound when they say airport). it was funny.

went to the hotel, and now i'm in the office, notifying everyone that i'm okay and things worked out well. soon, ann will get my visa and meet me and carol for dinner.

what a blast! is it strange that i randomly burst into laughter because this adventure, though kinda horrible, is so much fun? i love it. i've been communicating in a different language, i'm pretty confident, the weather's great, and i'm in china. the only thing i'm afraid of is that my boss(es) will be upset..

February 20, 2008 @ 12:20am . 76 views . 2 comments