GUANGXI: PROLOGUE

As I am now on the eve of my journey to Guangxi, I'm filled with mixed feelings. Chief among these is the anticipatory anxiety I tend to feel on the approach of any long journey. This normally passes when I do begin the trip: it also brings to mind a fundamental change in my thinking. I have almost forgotten life in a small village where I rarely went further than a few hundred miles away and the longest journey I made in most months was with Sarah to go shopping. I feel I want to share the story of this, as it's been so long in the planning. I've spent weeks on it, preparing the itinerary, obtaining the train tickets, booking the hotels and hostels, buying things I need like cases and equipment, almost as if it were an expedition. I feel as if I have never known a life not filled with long train journeys, flights, meeting strangers, talking with people whose language I do not know.

I'm reminded of the great adventure novels of the 19^th Century, forerunners of today's fantasy writing, like Rider Haggard's “King Solomon's Mines” and “She” , and Conan Doyle's “The Lost World”. I remember reading them as a boy, and there is a pattern to the way the story unfolds. (The reader may also find parallels in the writings of Edgar Rice Burroughs.) Typically, they begin with the revelation of an obscure and incredible manuscript obtained in mysterious circumstances, to a rich individual or group of individuals. (Haggard himself was already rich when he wrote King Solomon's Mines) . Contained in this manuscript is the story of a wildly remote and fabulous place filled with imagination-defying wonders, which compel the protagonist(s) to attempt a perilous voyage there, often in search of a distant ancestor or to prove a theory. All of these stories are deeply atmospheric, highly dramatic and masterpieces of story-telling which justify their place in literature.

I can't pretend to reach such dizzying heights of story-telling, but I would like to try to present this experience as an adventure of sorts. My manuscript, of course, is no inscription on a piece of ancient cuneiform, or parchment written in Aramaic, Greek or black-letter Latin, being nothing more mysterious than my Lonely Planet travel guide. The place I'm hoping to reach is Guangxi, a seemingly vast area of mountains, valleys and rivers in South China. I've never travelled such a distance by myself in a foreign land. (2110 km or 1311.093 miles) 

At the time of writing, I've successfully obtained my return ticket from Guilin to Beijing. This has been very difficult; as I did it online this time, and actually visited the travel website to book it fifteen minutes before it was released. Here's what happened:

Online booking services in China (in English) announce the availability of tickets at 5pm (1700hrs) 11^th Jan. (Remember that we can't get them sooner than 30 days before travelling at present.)

At 4.45pm on Jan 11^th: (16.45) I go online.

At PRECISELY 5PM (1700hr) I refresh the page.

Instantly the page changes to SOLD OUT!

In confusion I call Phantom, Abby, Iris, Seven and Adrian, looking for an explanation and a decision to make. There is only one option not booked online. The Chinese are helpful but unsure what to do; Phantom, Iris and Seven suggest it's better to go to the railway station as they are more up to date and Chinese websites are not too brilliant!

Adrian reckons the Chinese options are open before foreign ones. I can only get a 2^nd class option on the fast train: Adrian's advice: Book it NOW!

So I go with his suggestion. The transaction is simple and successful, and I'm glad to have got it completed, but again am baffled by the seeming complexities of obtaining train tickets in China.

The next day I ask two of my students to help me collect the tickets from the station, which we manage successfully, and I take them to lunch as it is my custom to do in gratitude and as a mark of Chinese culture.

Today has been a day of cleaning, and final preparations. All necessary research seems to have been completed.

Tonight there is a quiz night at the pub, I guess I'll go and try to relax. Also I'll treat myself to a pizza, and if I don't eat it all I can take it on the train for lunch!