Hello,

I'm in Yangshuo now, so it looks like I've made it here, but it was quite a long journey... I left the Dragon Hostel at 2.30 pm and I didn't arrive at the Guotai Hotel in Yangshuo until after midnight. Phew! I took a taxi from Mong Kok East station in HK to Kowloon station in HK. From Kowloon, I took the Airport Express bus to the Shenzen Immigration port. There, I received more stamps in my passport (yippee!) and on the other end was another bus waiting that took me to Shenzen airport. I had to wait three hours at the airport and there weren't even chairs there, so that wasn't much fun. There were signs indicating the presence of a McDonald's restaurant, but it turned out to be situated in the basement and there was no way I could go there with my heavy suitcase. Sigh! So I just walked around, got stared at, did a little window shopping and stared at the Chinese toilets - holes in the ground, no thank you!

My plane didn't leave at 8.15 pm as I thought yesterday, but at 9.10 pm. I'd mistaken the boarding time for the departure time. I really need to brush up my Chinese!! I had to pay extra for my suitcase, because it was 'overweight'. The lady at the check-in counter looked very stern when she said ' overweight'. So I paid. When I arrived at gate 17, there was a group of Chinese Happy Holiday goers there as well. They were all wearing orange baseball caps and orange bags. I just sat down (finally, a chair!) and read a book. Suddenly, the orange crowd started to move. I had no idea what was going on, but I thought it wise to follow them. Apparently, our flight would leave from gate 29 instead of gate 17... There was no airplane at gate 29, however. Instead, there was a bus that took us to a small plane. When we were all inside, a friendly voice on the intercom told us that our flight was delayed. Great! We had to wait an hour before we left off. By the time I arrived in Guilin, it was already past 11. Luckily, I didn't have to wait very long for my suitcase. When I walked outside (no customs or checking or whatsoever), a driver holding a sign with my name was waiting for me. We drove 120 km/hour on dark roads until we reached Yangshuo after midnight. I cried tears of happiness and relief when I was brought to my room. Space! A big bed! Windows! Needless to tell you that I slept very well! When I woke up this morning - correction: this afternoon - I went straight downstairs and secured the room for another 3 nights - which wasn't easy, haha! I'm so happy with my Point-It booklet. I can see why there's a demand for English teachers here!

I haven't seen much of Yangshuo yet, but it strikes me as a beautiful, touristy town with friendly people (although the restaurant owners seem to be a little pushy...). There are a lot of foreigners here. I hope I'll be able to find the school where I'm supposed to meet Joe (female) at 3 pm today. Yangshuo is a small town, but still new and confusing to me.

Talk to you later!