Being this was my 1st travel experience I don't know how any other journey could be better. Everything I could have hoped for happened and then some. The reason for a week of in October is because the National Hoilday. It is like our 4th of July. So the whole country celebrates the People's Republic of China. The week long holiday is filled with fun celebrations and great sales. Of course people take vacations and a big hot spot is Guilin/Yangshou, in Guangxi Provience.
My group left Sunday night and the bus station was packed. I traveled with Wesley (Chinese English Teacher) Helena (Chinese English Teacher) and Meg friend of Helena (who is from Seatle). Our bus left Shenzhen at 8pm and we arrived in Luizhou the next day at 8 am. The bus was crowded, cold and very old. I had a hard time sleeping and I think I can say of all the busses I have taken, this bus was my worst journey. Every 3 hours the bus stopped and I could not sleep.
Luizhou was a nice city. Population about 900,000 and very clean. We headed to a village about 50minutes away to meet Wesley's family. We arrived a little late for the Wedding celebration but before entering the house we set off fireworks ( A Chinese tradation) Our fireworks were very loud and long lasting this symbolizes the importance of the guests. Being we were foreigners and came to this wedding it was a big deal. We were treated very nicely. We were given tons of drink and food and we ate in a private room. During the meal, the bride and groom came in and we toasted with them, they were both very happy we came. It was quite an honor to be treated so nice at a small wedding in the rural country side of Luizhou.
After the festivities, the bride and groom left on a "honeymoon" to the city nearby where they spent the evening together.We headed back to Wesley's home to rest because we were very tired! In evening, we walked around the town and enjoyed the people. The rural people are very different from Shenzhen people. It was interesting because they were so interested and curious about us foreigners and why we came to the city. It was fun trying to speak with them but their Mandarin (Standard Dialect of Chinese) was too difficult to understand. Nonetheless, it was a great 1st day in China.The next week's journey will be great.
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