I started my next morning with a wonton soup breakfast just next to the hostel and from there walked over to the People’s Park.
Since it was ‘my’ metro station it was only right to go and visit. As it turned out on Saturday there is a marriage market in the park (I am sure my mother would be there too if she still had hope to get me wedded).
First I was not sure what the meaning was behind all this ‘advertising’ (not that I could read them, but with the age and height in numbers written I grasped that this was about people) but then I asked this man and he explained in sign language. It was more than clear then what was going on here. All in all it is an interesting concept that the parents or other sort of handlers are sitting there advertising grown-up people.
He appeared to be one of the important handlers there.
Walking through the park I noticed that it was a fairly large section actually. I remembered seeing something like it on TV, but in real life that’s something else.
Then it was already time to get back to the hostel. A quick photo stop at the Marriot Hotel where inside is the Maserati car dealer. Really Shanghai had a different dimension.
Working my way up on the to-do list in Shanghai, I took the metro to the Maglev train station. This high-speed train brings you to the airport in no time.
With up to 300 km/h (I think advertised were 400 but this I didn’t see. And no, I was not reading on the train, not really) the countryside moved by in a flash.
As you can see the train was almost empty, in my compartment sat one other family. The train is of course super interesting if you are a tourist and have never been before on a high speed train. It was insofar a great experience as I can now say that I tried it and I did not feel any difference. But is very expensive especially since the metro goes to the airport as well.
At the airport there was just the waiting for my flight to be done and browsing the bookstore. Here at Shanghai airport I saw the first English books and magazines. Not even in Beijing I saw any. I also saw some people sleeping in the massage chairs while waiting for their flight and was envious because there was not one chair left for me!
Once in Guilin it was easy to take the shuttle bus, get off at the right station (had to ask only once) and then walk the 10 minutes to the hostel.
The Wada Guilin had really good reviews at hostel world and even provided one wi-fi which had access to Facebook and Google. Amazing really. It didn’t change the fact though that the wi-fi was not strong enough to upload any pictures. Still it was great to have access to FB and Google immediately.
I signed up right away for the rice terraces tour the next day since I only had one full day planned in this city and I was told it was easier to do it from Guilin. And that was it for the day. Yours, Pollybert
