I've spent three fun and exhausting days in Hong Kong. I've seen Pandas at Ocean Park, been to a lot of markets and gawped at skyscrapers. Time to go as even though there's more to see I can't stand my cast iron mattress and privacy invasion anymore.I get the local train back into Guangzhou then amazingly I'm able to book a night train for that night to Nanning. Left luggage, reading in the park and it's off again.
Even more amazingly as I don't particularly want to stay in Nanning, I get there and am able to book another night train into Hanoi for that night. At the bank again, I have a complete nightmare. I type in 300 Yuan (approx £30) which is enough for a couple of journeys and I get 3000 due to an ATM error. There is no way I will spend £300 in 24 hours. I was exasperated as it turned out the staff knew there was an error with the machine so why did they have it switched on? The only suggestion they come up with is change the money but they don't have the service.
At the fifth bank I went to, a group of women were sitting in the lobby. One said in English, change money? I nodded. She made an elaborate display of pulling a calculator out of her handbag, typing a fugire in, showing me and saying is this ok? The other women by now were looking at us expectantly. I said slowly, you don't actually work here do you? She grinned at me. As I walked off to find a member of staff the whole group erupted into a cackling fit. Ha bloody ha. Those old practical jokes again. A member of staff then tells me why no-one can change my money. It's a Sunday. Argh!
So having been in China for over two weeks I'm happy to get to Vietnam and as much as I loved the whole experience it's time to move on. My journey of two consecutive nights on trains is time without a base or anywhere to shower but it'll be worth it. Vietnam it is.
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