Guangzhou, on my own. Day 1. Discovery Channel led me here.

04/04/2014 - My train leaves at 7:35 a.m. from XiamenBei, too early, shit (no busses from Xiang'an, the first is at 6:00 but it takes an hour and a half...). I thought about booking an hotel near the train station, but as I'm alone it would have been too expensive (150 RMB for a double room). So, I thought about booking an hostel in the city and then take the BRT, less expensive (50 RMB for the hostel + BRT ticket), but the first BRT bus is at 6:00, too late. So, the only choice was the taxi. Il ya un petit problème: no taxis at Xiang'an, at any time. But luckly I have a language partner, and I found out that there is an app (can't remember the name now) in which you insert where you wanna leave and where you want to go, when you want to travel and your phone number. Soon after, a taxi driver calls you back. It's really cool, except for the fact that you have to speak a very good chinese to use it (p.s.: you can also see if there are taxis around, very useful if you live in Xiang'an). So, this morning at 4:30 I woke up, I finished to pack my backpack and I went with my bike to the 中门, the Middle Gate. The taxi driver called me twice, he was just a little bit late, but then he drove at 120 km/h, so I reached the station that it was still closed, as it opens at 6:30. The taxi ride was 107 RMB, and I think that he chose the longest way, so maybe it could be something less. You can't have breakfast in the station because it's too early, and everything opens at 7:00/7:30. Luckly, I brought with me some buiscuits and a bottle of water, so as soon as I got on the train I ate everything. Soon after, I slept for two hours. I really wanted to study, but they gave me the seat next to the window, so I couldn't resit looking out of the window the whole time, especially because there were a lot of tombs and "cemetery". Tomorrow is the 清明节,  the Tomb Sweeping Day, so a lot of families were decorating the tombs (in a very chinese way, with shiny colorful confetti). I arrived at Shenzhen Bei at 10:30, then I had to wait till 1:00 p.m.. So, what should I do? Eating at McDonald's, of course (a McChicken menu is only 27 RMB). The train from Shenzhen Bei to Guangzhou Nan was a REAL fast train: 304 km/h (it was a G train, while the one from Xiamen to Shenzhen is "just" a D train, 200 km/h). The ticket to Shenzhen was 150.5 RMB, and from Shenzhen to Guangzhou 74.5 RMB. I booked an hostel on Hostelworld.com, the name is Dream House Art Hostel, and it was 55 RMB per night for a bed in six-beds dorm. It's really close to Ximenkou metro stop (there is also a kind of small tourist information office near there), but it took me half an hour to find it. My fault, I didn't read the directions on Hostelworld. The girls there are really nice, but they don't know anything about the city (I had to get the map from that tourist office). They are also quite disorganized, and today was something crazy because it was full (I had to make the bed by myself). I'm quite worried about the bathroom because they are only three.

So, I had already downloaded some information form the internet and I had some from my Lonely Planet (I'm sorry to say this, but I don't think that the Lonely Planet is enough for Guangzhou), so I checked on my new map where they were. I decided to go to the Canton Tower, because it was a nice evening. The ticket for the 108th floor (and I think it's enough!) was 150, but I got it for 120 because I'm a student. There is a glass lift, so you can see outside as you go up (quite scaring). The view from the "top" was amazing. Now, I'm here in my dorm with five chinese girls who cannot speak chinese (only cantonese). 太好了.