A haphazard chronicle of my inevitable misadventures during a year in Vietnam and points east.

p.s. I'll be pitifully grateful if you send me email during my exile: TravelerKaty@hotmail.com

October 2002 November 2002 December 2002 January 2003 February 2003 March 2003 April 2003 May 2003 June 2003 July 2003 August 2003 September 2003 October 2003 November 2003 February 2006 March 2006 May 2006

 
Yichang, China

My next stop is Zhang Jia Jie, and due to sheer fatigue with dealing with connections, hotels, and other details in Chinese, I decided to book a tour. Plus they used the magic words "English-speaking guide".

I was a bit concerned about the tour company I booked with for this trip. They met me at the bus station all right (after a painful but scenic hour-long trip from the boat in which I only had 3/4 of a seat) and after waiting 20 minutes for other people we went to the tour company offices, on the second floor of a hotel in downtown Yichang.

Our escort spoke no English, nor did any of the others picked up at the bus station with me. We were ushered, along with our bags, down a long hallway lined with offices filled with arguing people and men on cell phones, into a room with very uncomfortable orange couches and a rapidly spreading puddle of (hopefully) water seeping out from under one of them. I was ignored, which annoys me no end. They never know what to do with foreigners -- even sign language would be appreciated, but they like to pretend you aren't there.

Once the seeping puddle reached critical mass (covering 3/4 of that and the adjoining room) we were ushered back out, and apparently told to wait standing in a hallway that smelled very much of Chinese Bathroom. In other words, appalling. I tried to endure, but I was getting hungry, or at least I was hungry to get out of that hallway. Plastic stools were delivered, portending a long wait, which I considered my cue to start becoming a nuisance. In surprisingly short order I had my 200 Yuan refund for the cancelled Lesser Three Gorges tour and was on my way, having spoken to the owner and only person in the building who spoke English. Clearly I need to start being more obnoxious -- it definitely improves one's situation around here.

Copyright 2003 Katy Warren
posted by Katy at 1:56 AM