Adventures in Guangzhou!

In Tunxi we bought our bus tickets back to Hangzhou and went in search of food. There were a few places right outside of the main entrance to the station, but they looked to be even below my less-than-stringent sanitary restrictions. We wandered around until we found ourselves in a back alley and then shocked a local hole in the wall restaurant by sitting down for a meal. Maybe it was because I was hungry, but their fried noodles and soup broth were some of the best I've had in a while. Yum!

Finally on the bus back to Hangzhou, I reflected a bit about the weekend and the amazing group of people I was with. It is always a pleasure to spend time with such an incredibly talented and ambitious group of people--something that is not easy to find. After leaving Wesleyan, there have been only a handful of times where I've looked around and thought, "Wow, this group of people can change the world," but that is definitely how I felt over the weekend. Listening to peoples plans and aspirations made me want to up the ante and redefine my ambitions. That is, there's no reason I can't be one of those people making a difference. I'm not entirely sure how that will manifest itself quite yet, but I'm excited to find out.

We made our way back to the Hangzhou airport and were forced to eat KFC for dinner. Sadly, it was the most affordable option and we were all on a budget. I guess it could have been worse. Anyhow, the flight itself was uneventful except for the fact that once again I managed to have my patience tested upon landing in Guangzhou. As usual, everyone bolted out of their seats and tried to grab their things from the overhead compartment as if it were a race. At this point I was exhausted from about ten hours of total travel and I was ready to be home.

One guy, in particular, forced his way from one of the last rows and started to push by everybody. I was blocking the way with my backpack (and body) and he started to shove right by. I didn't see him coming so he almost knocked me over, at which point I shouted at him (in Chinese), "Where do you think you're going?" He said something about having stuff up front which sounded ridiculous so I just ignored him. He kept pushing by so finally I let him go and bellowed out a few swears in English. Not my best moment, but I just really wasn't in the mood. As I've said before, we all have our good days and our bad days in China. He just caught me at the end of a long one.

If anyone wants to check out some pics from the trip, either click on the link to my flickr site over on the right or click here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/awolfe03/sets/72157600068196823/