Man Man Zou

After being in China for 24 hours, I can already say that:

a) I used a washroom with knee-high walls and no doors
b) I saw a dog carcass be chopped up and prepared for dinner
c) I showered using only a bucket

I wasn’t bothered by any of the above, but they were all things that I
was thinking about before arriving. I’m surprised that they all
happened so soon into my trip.

The bathroom was at a rest stop on my way to Yangshuo, from Shenzhen.
It was the middle of the night, so I guess being half-asleep helped to
ease me into the situation. I thought I had entered the guy’s
washroom, but after seeing a couple other ‘users’, I knew I was in the
right place. No problem, I just headed to the back of the room and
did my business. Other users went right near the entrance, obviously
not bothered at all by this since it’s an everyday thing for them.
While the complete lack of privacy didn’t freak me out, I couldn’t
help but wonder why? Why have walls that go up to your knees,
when you could just build them a bit higher? And how difficult is it
to slap on a door?

As for the dog, we rode our bikes to a small village, Fuli. We parked
our bikes and walked around a bit and came across a nice old guy
choppin’ away at the hairless dog. Even though I’m a vegetarian for
animal rights reasons, I think it’s fine that dogs are eaten in some
parts of Asia. It’s no worse than eating a cow, chicken, fish, etc…
In fact, in some ways it’s better, since these dogs live a free life
on the streets until they’re caught and slaughtered. Much better than
the terrible conditions that chickens are raised in. And don’t get me
started on the environmental effects of fishing!

And the place we’re staying at in Yangshuo has very weak water (and
barely any electricity), so we fill up buckets to use for the shower.
I suppose we could have found a better place to stay, but this place
is fun because the hostel owners can’t speak English and we’re a
novelty to them. Using buckets is difficult, but luckily I chopped
off my hair to a clown’s length before I left Taiwan, so showering is
easy.

And now, as I’m typing this, it’s our third night in China. We flew
to Hong Kong and took a ferry directly from the airport to Shenzhen
without even having to go through customs. They used a bus to
transport us to the ferry terminal, and they sealed the doors with a
sticker to make sure no one escaped while being transported. Once we
got to the Shenzhen ferry terminal, we tried to buy our China Visas,
but they only accepted Hong Kong cash, which we had none of. It was
quite a problem, and in the end it was resolved by me being escorted
into China, to a place that accepted credit cards, where they gave me
cash. I had to go into a customs office and through security with my
nice escort helping me. It wasn’t a huge deal, but something that
I’ll definitely remember.

We took a real sleeper bus to Yangshuo. It actually had beds! It was very comfortable, but very cramped- my shoulders were too wide for the aisle.

Yangshuo has possibly the most western tourists in all of China. Based on all the languages I hear, it feels like more of an international destination than Kaoh San Road, Bangkok. Backpackers are all drawn by the beautiful scenery around here, and the laid-back life. It’s a nice way to ease into traveling, as we’ve been eating western food everyday (a treat, after living in Taiwan), and many of the locals speak English.

Even though there are tons of tourists here, it is quite easy to get
away from it all- not that I mind tourists, after all, I am one as
well. We went on a bike ride today and found ourselves in villages
where people still came out to wave and say hello, and where kids
followed us on our their bikes. There were farmers with their water
buffalo, everywhere. So many great photo opportunities, but
unfortunately I haven’t felt much up to it, due to an epic headache
that I’ve had since I arrived in China.

We managed to remember to pack absolutely everything this time (we are
even prepared for the winter), except for headache pills. We have all
other medications that exist, except the only thing that I really need
right now. I bought some from the store, but it doesn’t work as well.
It was also temporarily cured by a great massage, but came back again
today.

Other than that, things are going well. My website is blocked in
China, making posting difficult, but luckily my computer-savvy
brother-in-law, Dale, is helping me post. Thanks Dale!