Trains, Cabs, and a baby on a motorcycle...

Hello all,

I made the trek from Honk Kong to Shenzen, and Dongguan, China yesterday. Due to my last travel experience, I elected to try the train instead. If not a little pricier, ($25 USD), this was a much more enjoyable trip. Not as crowded, chance to read and see the sites. The downside is the train station was no where near my hotel. Not knowing this in advance, I simply thought "how big can Donggaun be, and jumped on the train.

Upon exiting the train station, I showed a cab driver the card with my hotel's address as usual. I should have known something was up, when he didn't recognize address. Finally, one of his buddies helped him with a vivid description in Chinese of just how many mountains and oceans we would have to pass in order to get to this hotel.

It was over 50 KM, or about an hour and 10 minutes to the hotel. Lots of sites along the way including a motorcycle with a man carrying a baby in his lap. The baby could not have been more than 6 months. -The fare for the cab ride was 97 RMB-or about $12.00.

For those of you kind enough to donate me DVD's in advance of the trip, I found that none of them worked over here. While I do have a DVD player in this hotel room, the reader shows them as "wrong format". However, I did find a local store selling DVD's last night, and picked up 5 in English (or so I hope) for 33 RMB, or about .80cents each, and I'm sure I overpaid-but I am starved again for English dialogue. Titles are current in selection, and I found everything from Superman to Star Wars Trilogy, while selection is much more limited in English section.

I immediately notice the difference in and around Dongguan in comparison to Hong Kong. While everyone is trying to sell you everything in Hong Kong, I am back to having the kids stare at me, while some run up and say "Halllooo"-then when I smile, or say hello back, they giggle, and run back to their parents. Street vendors really haven't tried to sell me anything here. Probably because very few speak any English, but also because they have seen few westerners and haven't correlated their presence yet with spending money. This area has so much potential. The minimum wage in the province is RMB 780 per month, or about $98 a month. For that, they are working tremendous hours, and incredibly driven to succeed and do better for their family.

The car I was riding in is pictured above. (Quite roomy...)

Enough for now-hope you all are doing extremely well.