Mad Guides and Chinamen_world

Mad Guides and Chinamen

Location: Home > world > Mad Guides and Chinamen

Early in the morning at eight-thirty, my friend Selina and I set off for a long twelve-hour train ride from Shanghai to Tunxi, China. Fifteen minutes towards the end of the journey, a man came over to our table and sat opposite us. He introduced himself as a tour guide. "Want a tour to the Yellow Mountains?" he asked. "No, thanks." We planned to explore the area on our own. Joining a guided tour would spoil the fun. He did not leave, but continued talking to us. "By the way, where are both of you staying tonight?" He took out a brochure from his shirt pocket and put it on the table. It showed a picture of a hotel room in warm yellow light. "My tour group will be staying in this hotel tonight. Want to join us? The room costs only 90 RMB per night. Very good bargain." "Wait a minute ..." We looked at our maps. "No." The hotel was too far away from the train or bus station. "Don\'t worry, it\'s not that far. You can join us. We have arranged a coach specially for the tour group." This irritating guy. Why can\'t he just leave us alone? I wondered. "We\'re looking for a place near the train station." Selina explained. "No problem, I can recommend you a hotel nearby. But this one will be a bit more expensive." "Actually we are looking for a cheaper place, like a guesthouse." He frowned, then said, "I can arrange for that too." What now? Follow his tour group? He looks cunning. There are plenty of hotels around the train station. And we might even get a cheaper room on our own! But it is getting dark & cold. Is it wise to look for a room at night? Especially when we are not familiar with the area? "It is unwise for two girls to move around at this late hour," Mr Cunning said, as if he read our thoughts. The train slowed to a stop at Huangshan station, Tunxi. At last Mr Cunning rose to leave. "You discuss among yourselves. If you decide to join us, we are gathering at platform No. 8." Well, in the end we took the easy way out - platform No. 8. Outside the train station, the locals were busy promoting their wares, competing for the attention of the passengers that had arrived. "Trishaw rides!" "Cheap rooms!" "Good food!" A coach was parked in front of a row of shops. Mr Cunning stood near the door, waiting for his tourists to board the vehicle. We queued and waited for our turn. "Rooms for 50 RMB only! Come and take a look!" A lady shouted to the crowd. Why not? I and Selina looked at each other and smiled. Curious, we left the queue and followed her, together with a few other people, through a small lane to a guesthouse. Another lady led the group of us up several flights of stairs to the rooms. Our room was on the third floor, near the staircase. There was a TV in our room. What a wonderful surprise! And the beds and neatly-folded blankets looked so comfortable. We happily dumped our haversacks on the floor. "Is there hot water for the shower?" "Yes! You can even see how hot it is," the lady said, as she turned on the hot water tap to prove her point. Steam began to cloud the mirror in the bathroom, and quickly turning the place into a sauna room. Good! We have found a room for the night. "How much is it?" "What did my colleague tell you?" Something was fishy here. Were we supposed to bargain? "50 RMB?" Inexperienced and unfamiliar with the local culture, we did not ask for a lower price. "Yeah, that\'s right," she said, somewhat relieved by our answer. We paid for two nights\' stay. How stupid of us. The lady flipped through the pages of our passports, then said "Actually the local authorities do not allow us to take in foreign guests. But since both of you are Chinese, you can pass off as local tourists from another province. We\'ll prepare a document to show the inspectors - if they come here during their random checks at night, which they sometimes do - that you are locals who have forgotten to bring your identity cards with you." She continued, "That will be another 2 RMB per person for the administrative fees. And I need a local address for the document." Selina recalled a relative\'s address in a place named Swatow and created a similar one. Soon after the lady left our room, a visitor appeared at the door. "Do you want any guided tours?" He was from a travel agency next to the guesthouse. We sat on one bed while he sat on the other bed and started his sales talk. He was a weird guy who kept staring at us, and looking at our cameras plus other stuff that we had begun to unpack from our bags. We stared back at Mr Weirdo. "Can we take a look at your itinerary for Shexian?" Selina asked. (Shexian is a neighbouring town.) Mr Weirdo did not have any, and left to draw up one. Much later, someone from the guesthouse passed us a handwritten itinerary from Mr Weirdo. A few places of interest were briefly mentioned on the A4 sized paper. The various admission fees, transport fees and service charges added up to more than 300 RMB per person. (We did not join his tour. The next day we found that the public bus ride cost only 4 RMB per person.) The cold water tap in the shower was loose. After turning it many times in both directions but no water came out, I finally realized it was OUT OF ORDER. The air was turning chilly. The room heater went on strike. We searched in vain for the heater controls. As there was no phone in the room, I went downstairs to look for help. An elderly lady was watching TV in her room. "The room heater controls are with the boss," she said. "We will turn on the heater for a fee of 20 RMB per night." WHAT!!! "Oh, forget it!" We stepped out of the guesthouse to look for dinner. Before hitting the main road, we unexpectedly bumped into Mr Weirdo having tea with his friends at a small eatery. "How do you find the itinerary?" he asked. "Well we\'re still looking at it." We quickly walked away before he could ask further. We discussed during dinner. Our major concern was safety. The room door could not be locked, and neither of us had brought along a door wedge. So at any time anyone could easily drop by our room, uninvited. I was also upset about the boiling shower and heater surcharge. "Let\'s look for another hotel." Selina said. Ten o\'clock at night, a second round of hotel-hunting. Wherever we went, we were harassed by people trying to sell their hotel rooms. It was all very irritating. We finally chose a nearby hotel, and returned to the guesthouse to pick up our bags. What a night.

E2-20050437 - 中文版[Provided By Google] -