Hanoi to Guilin

The trek from Hanoi to Guilin ties with the trek from Nha Trang to Hanoi for longest travel days during this trip. The day started with less than 5 hours sleep and wandering back to my hotel around 5:00am to find the door locked. A few doorbell rings and goodbyes later, I was showered, packed and waiting for Kelly while she attempted to put her sneakers in her pack (an unsuccessful mission to say the least).

Our taxi was waiting outside the hotel for us but since it was only 6:25, the taxi driver decided that he wouldn't be able to leave yet. We had, after all, arranged our taxi to depart at 6:30. So, after letting us in to the car, he went back in to the hotel, sat down and chatted to the manager until it was "time" to leave. I slept for the entire taxi ride and would have continued if Kelly hadn't poked me several times to wake up.

Checking in with the incompetent China Southern people for our flight to Guilin via Guangzhou took a good 45 minutes. There were 2 people in front of us in line. Customs and Emigration went by in a breeze and then there was Duty Free shopping. While we waited for our flight to board, I fell asleep again on top of my carry-on. Once again, Kelly poked me awake and we boarded. Yet again, I fell asleep for the entire flight only to be poked awake by Kelly (by this time, I was developing a bruise on my upper right arm).

We collected our bags in Guangzhou and began our 9 hour stopover at the airport. While we ate McDonald's for lunch (I know! I haven't eaten an actual McDonald's meal in who knows how long but that was a damn good fillet-o-fish), we debated going into the city but quickly voted against this idea as we had our full packs and knowing China, would probably end up stranded somewhere leading us to miss our flight to Guilin. Instead, we explored the gigantic Guangzhou airport, complete with shopping mall, restaurants, more floors than we could count, and presumably a swimming pool if we had looked hard enough.

After lugging our packs around for awhile, Kelly suggested making an attempt to check our bags and for once, China was on our side. Bags checked we joined the other exhausted Chinese travellers and camped out (I napped) on some benches in the shopping mall. After the Air Con got to be too much, we headed up to see if we could check in for our flight. Score 2 for Sar-Kel, China 0! Bags checked, passengers checked, we found more benches and slept for another 2 hours. (Kelly swears she didn't sleep, but I saw the drool stains on the upholstery.)

The next 5 hours flew by in a breeze of finding our correct gate (we had randomly chosen a gate based on the fact that there was another China Southern flight flying out of there), eating much too expensive Chinese airport food (read: fried lettuce, scrambled eggs and fried tomatoes), and making a concerted attempt to finish off The Satanic Verses.

After such a successful day, my first 'Welcome Back to China' moment occurred moments before boarding the plane to Guilin. I came out of the stall in the toilet and made for the soap dispenser at the sinks. The woman in front of me decided that she had to use the soap at that exact moment and cut me off of both soap and sink. I manoeuvred around her, got soap and moved to the middle sink. As I started washing my hands, I noticed that she could work her motion-sensor sink. I smirked and continued washing. Then before I knew what was happening, she looked at me and started washing her hands with my water in my sink, literally pushing my hands out of the way. Thanks, China.

2 hours later, Kelly and I were in Guilin and setting our alarm clocks to catch the bus to Yangshuo.