So it begins….

You may pass!

We packed up our belongings and bade farewell to Hong Kong, with the promise of a return one day. Jumping on the MTR we headed for Wo Lu – the border station with China in General and Shenzen in particular.Customs took a while as it was busy but within the hour we had new stamps on our passports and new currency in our wallets. The exchange rate with the Rembini to the Pound is 10:1 so a month of easy math ahead 🙂

With a few hours to kill before our train to Guilin, we went in search of food. This proved extremely difficult but in the end we managed to wrangle something edible.

Due to the recent attacks in China the security at the train station was tight, so it took a while to gain entry to the railway station. Took us a half an hour to find the entrance alone.

While waiting on the train Karen went and got a Chinese SIM card and some drinks while John guarded the bags. With a holiday looming the train station was packed with big families with bigger luggage and huge pots of instant noodles. Everyone picnics on the trains here!

In due course our train arrived. It was an overnight train to Guilin so we booked two bunks in the sleeper carriage.

Our fellow occupants were a Chinese man and a Chinese girl. She had a different outfit for the train which she ran away to change into, while he snored loudly that night. Every cabin has a huge flask for hot water – to cook the instant noodles that they everyone eats. Our stop was the end of the line so we had no fear of missing it unlike India. We went to bed that night on the train knowing that the next morning we would be in real China.