Gaungzhou, China - Hanoi, Vietnam

Actually found a nice food place in Guangzhou on our way to the train station, where someone spoke English! Couldn't believe our luck. Got to the train station about an hour before our train left and pushed our way through the typical Chinese crowds who generally bundled us about up and down stairs in a manner that suggested that the death count for people dying in train station's in China probably is somewhere in the hundreds. Its just not a good combination; people who seem incapable of moving in any large group=most populous country in the world. It was worse than leaving camp at the end of Reading. Eventually got to our waiting room only to find it rammed full. Why several hundred Chinese people all thought it necessary to turn up to the station over an hour before their train was due to leave in the middle of a Saturday afternoon remains unknown to me, as does much about this country. We got on our train 45minutes later to find that we had beds at the opposite ends of the carriage so we spent most of the 10journey not being terribly sociable. Luckily it was largely a night train so after a hearty dinner of Chinese pot noodle, they need to get trading standards as the external packaging clearly showed lumps of meat, what was inside can generously be described as goo.

Woke up after a reasonable bit of sleep at around 5 and got off at Nanning pretty much bang on time at 5:45, getting the train to Pingxiang was pretty easy and only cost us RMB30 (£3 - wow this keyboard has a pound sign!) Boarded the train a couple of hours later and ate some Chinese bread which tasted uncooked. The train to Pingxiang took about three and a half hours and when we sat down the Chinese people pointed and laughed at us. Rudest people ever. Later in the journey they took my Vietnam book to look at as I tried to explain what we were doing in their country which they didn't really understand. Not sure if I explained it so badly that they thought we were famous but after my explanation they got out their camera and had photos taken with us while the whole carriage crowded around. I don't know what they thought was going on but it was definately a bit wierd. Also on Chinese trains official train workers sell all kinds of crap; toothbrushes, socks. and these wierd twisty toys for kids. I can't imagine South Eastern Rail taking up the idea. For a communist country China fucking loves selling stuff.

Got off the train at Pingxiang and were acosted with two offers for taxis to the border itself. One for 2RMB the other for 20RMB immediately took the 20 offer as the other guy spoke no English and was pointing at signs. When we did this he started holding up a sign saying "He/She is a crook" the woman offered no help when we questioned her about this and we had no choice but to go with it. Once we started moving in the taxi the fare immediately doubled to 20RMB each. By this point we didn't care as we simply wanted to leave this country.

Through writing on China I have been fairly scathing of the country and the people even more so. I am sure not all of China is like this but I can only write about the things I have actually seen, felt and the circumstances I have found myself in. I am fully aware that if we had been able to get a train ticket to Guilin when we arrived in China we would have had a completely different experience that might have left me feeling a love or even a liking for the country. As it was this didn't happen and from the experiences I had in China the place isn't particularly nice, although I don't feel I have seen very much of this due to an inability to do so. This was largely caused by an inability to communicate with anyone, for which I feel the responsibility is entirely mine, if I go to a country it is my job to try and talk to people in their language no matter how difficult that language is. The second reason why I have found China impossible is the overt rudeness of a large amount of the people in the place, not just to us as outsiders but, it appeared to each other too. I'm sure different cultures have different definitions of rude and polite but I found this aspect of China completely unendearing and has put me off ever wanting to return.

We got through the border to Vietnam without problem and paid the 2RMB tax to leave, though quite what admin this is supposed to cover I am unsure as there appeared to be just a building, not even a customs check which was lucky as I had over three times the amount of Vietnamese Dong you are allowed to bring into the country tax free in my pocket. Got out and there was only one bloke offering us a taxi to Lang Son from where we could get a bus on to Hanoi. Had no real option but to take it and where pretty worried for about twenty minutes when he drove out to the middle of nowhere and stopped outside what looked like a shady businessman's club which had about 20 blokes in, some of whom were pretty big. Eventually two of the said businessmen joined us in our trip to Lang Son and we were back on our way without being even a little bit mugged or beaten up. Lovely. Got into Lang Son but rather than the bus station he dropped us at a friends minibus firm. In the a sleepy border town in the middle of a sunday afternoon with no map or way of communicating with the locals we had no real choice but to pay the extortionate $15 fare each to take us to Hanoi. Had a fairly uncomfortable and frightening first experience of notoriously dangerous Vietnamese roads, with some overtaking on hairpin bends. Eventually we got to Hanoi and were dropped at a friends guest house, not willing to fall for the same trick twice and this time armed with a map we sacked this off early doors and walked to the gorgeous Hanoi Backpackers Hostel...