I woke up. I walked out and got some breakfast, then finished packing, said goodbye to everybody, and left to catch my train. While downtown I exchanged a little more money, ate lunch at a Macanese-Portuguese restaurant, and bought tickets to Guangzhou.

Two interesting events happened at breakfast. First, when I finished eating, the woman said, “Two kuai for the tissues.” Two yuan for tissues felt steep at the time. Considering my dinner was under 20 yuan, yeesh! Another observation was that I was repeatedly approached while walking back to the train station. About ten people called out, in roughly this order: “Hello, hotel! Nice hotel! You want hotel? Massage? Beautiful girl? Other offers followed.” It was relentless.

I arrived at the train station and bought my tickets. The fare to Guangzhou was 70 yuan, expensive for the route but the only available option. I frantically found the gate, went through security and boarded the train.

Unfortunately, the ticket agent did not place our seats together, so I had to rearrange them with other passengers.

The train ride between Shenzhen and Guangzhou is quite interesting, especially considering the fact that it was hard to tell when I actually left Shenzhen and when I actually entered Guangzhou (supposedly a two-hour train ride away). Everything looked the same, tall buildings dotting the horizon the entire way. Back in the United States, almost everything seemed to be labelled “Made in China.” The physical consequence of that production was readily apparent from the train. But I will elaborate more shortly.

I finally reached Guangzhou, intending to stay only a few hours before boarding the next train to Shanghai. I arrived at the station and tried to buy a ticket to Shanghai. Unfortunately, although the train did not leave for five hours, it was already sold out. I debated what to do, and opted for purchasing a ticket the next day and staying in Guangzhou. Somehow, I had remembered to bring the address of the YHA in Guangzhou. I took the subway in that direction.

China is vast, as most people know. Something like what, 1.3 billion people? And where do all those people live? I encountered the intensity at the old Guangzhou Train Station, trying to find the hostel. The street numbering was confusing, and the four police officers I asked were not helpful; several gave me incorrect directions. The number of people was almost unfathomable, and I’ve seen a lot of packed places. I would venture to say that the blocks surrounding the old train station are the most densely packed and chaotic blocks I had ever seen in my life. I was even a little intimidated. After walking around for quite some time, I finally found my hostel. Compared with the cleanliness and charm of the previous place I had stayed, this place was considerably less appealing. I asked if they had any rooms, but alas, they said they only had “nicer” rooms. I went upstairs to the hostel rooms, looked around, and asked a different person. She said that they had some beds left in the hostel section, which I decided to take. The stay cost about $15 in total, which was reasonable. I went up to my room, unpacked a little, then went out to explore Guangzhou. I had a place in mind, so I took the subway there. The place I had in mind was a huge night market. Once on the street, I felt more at home and worried less about the various calamities that might occur. My first purchase was 12 small egg biscuits, which I loved. I continued walking down the street, and ate a little meal at a bright yellow place. The food was fine, and I had a smoothie for dessert.

Before returning, I had one last dessert at a small dessert shop. The server asked, “Do you like sesame?” I said, “Sure.” What I did not realise was that this ordered a dark pudding containing large rice balls filled with peanut butter. It looked remarkable and certainly unusual, and tasted surprisingly good.

Finally, I made my way back to my hostel, took a shower in the rather unpleasant bathroom, and went to bed.