CHINA - Margot Prosch
The bus driver took us back to the town we had come from. There we got onto another bus that took us to a little town, next to the Yellow River (we do not post the actual names of towns we visited in China. Hence forward this town will be called "The little town by the Yellow River").
The idea was to find a way to reach our original destination from this little town without being stopped by the police. The red team was the first team to try and reach the final destination. They did reach the town, but their whereabouts were soon established by the police who escorted them out of the town. The rest of us stayed in "The little town next to the Yellow River" in a super dodgy motel right by the place where the bus dropped us off on Wednesday evening (I can compare it to staying in motel right by a taxi rank). I perfected the art of squatting, doing what I need to do and not breathing all at once. Eastern toilets are one thing, but an eastern toilet that never gets cleaned is a complete different challenge!!!
Besides for having the worst smelling toilets ever, our motel also did not have usable showers. This forced us to experience the local "shower house"...and a wonderful experience it truly was!!! You pay 4 Yuan to have a warm shower. Every second day we would set out down the road to the shower house with toiletries under our arms, obviously drawing a lot of attention to ourselves.
Due to the Tibetan riots and the tight controls of the police, we had to change our original plans. We stayed in "The little town next to the Yellow River" till a new plan of action was reached by our team leader. 4 days were spent exploring, praying ( we had a 24 hour prayer chain going) and obviously eating a lot ( we didn't have a lot to eat on the 2 day train ride and I think subconsciously we were storing up reserves for the chance that we might have to endure a similar situation soon again).
The motel we stayed in gave a very poor first impression of "The little town next to the Yellow River".&
nbsp; Though definitely not my most favorite place in the world, this little town did produce a few memorable moments: jogging next to the Yellow River as the sunset turned the sky into a pale shade of yellow; the whole team worshipping God next to the river as the full moon rose over the mountains; sitting in the late afternoon winter sun having cheese rolls at the cute little bakery next to the river; waking up and finding the mountains all round us covered in snow; playing a soccer match with the local school kids; meeting Jackson and his 
brother Owen; having Jackson take us to the most impressive restaurant in town...drinking the best tea ever and eating the most interesting dishes while being instructed by Jackson and his brother on how the food should be eaten, being waited on by 5 waiters
including the restaurant owner (the restaurant owner even took it upon himself to feed Tjaart when he noticed this poor white boy struggling to bring the food to his mouth with chop sticks!)...the downside was however when the bill came and we realized that this was obviously also the most expensive restaurant in town!!!! (I think our budget was 36 Yuan, but we ended up spending 390 Yuan!!!).
The things of "The little town next to the Yellow River" that I did not find so pleasant was the foul smelling toilet at the motel; the stinky pooh toilet; the toilet; the fact that the police told the internet cafe to refuse any foreigners internet access; and the fact that the police watched our every move and barged into our rooms every now and then to count us. But gratefully we survived the toilet and the police...the worst of which was definitely the toilet!
On Monday, 25 March, we all packed our bags and got ready to leave "The little town next to the
Yellow River" behind. All the teams got maps of The People's Republic of China with instructions of their routes and destinations for the next 3 weeks. The teams left at different times during the day as to confuse the police who where frantically writing down bus registration numbers and making phone calls. The yellow team was the last team to depart. At 2pm our backpacks were loaded onto the roof of the bus. We had a whole farewell committee: Jackson and his brother (they snuck out of school to come greet us and delivery farewell gifts); a Tibetan Buddhist monk who we just met that morning; Brian (who speaks English and who we suspect were placed by the police in the motel to watch us); and obviously our police friends.
Our purpose for being in "The little town next to the Yellow River"? Who knows, but I realized that if it was just to pray and meet Jackson and his brother, Alice and Julia, then that was worth it. God
is so great that he would send a whole team of 24 people all the way from South Africa to a small town in China to meet 4 young people who do not know Him. Jackson, his brother, Alice and Julia did not accept the Lord as their savior while we were there, but we will continue to build relationship and pray for them, trusting that God will reveal Himself to them. Jackson for one is a keen soccer player and promised to come to South Africa for the 2010 Soccer World Cup if at all possible.
We arrived in "The big town" late afternoon, not at all surprise to find one of our police friends from "The little town next to the Yellow River" waiting for us at the bus station. I must admit, we were quite hurt that the police man ignored us flat and pretended that he did not know us when we waved at him. We got a taxi to the train station and got on the train at 8pm (our taxi driver's driving skill shook off the police!!! Yay!!! We love taxi drivers!!!) . Great fun was had on the train by the Yellow Team which produced a number of video clips. After a few hours of crazy acting, we all settled in for a snooze before we reached our destination (Town #1). I assumed my position on the train floor underneath the train seats again...awesome!
Arriving in a strange town where no one speaks a word of English at 01:30am is never ideal. The wind, which spoke of snow somewhere in some mountain, convinced us that sleeping in the park opposite the train station is out of the question. After playing Pictionary with a few hotel receptionists, we found a deal that fit our budget. We had an awesome nights rest. After staying in that dodgy motel in "The little town next to the Yellow River" we were convinced we were staying in a 6 star hotel for only 20Yuan a person. The guys were convinced that we could find a cheaper place however, and set off the next morning in search of other accommodation. They found a hotel that charges 25Yuan for a room (super cheap!!!). It was only in the evening when the hotel turned on its red lights that we realized why the rooms were so cheap...most people do not use the rooms for very long!
The next 2 days the team explored Town #1...while I was sick in bed...aarrgh! It must be the combination of a super smoky train (I have come to really LOVE South Africa's anti-tobacco laws!!!), sleeping on a dirty train floor, looking for a hotel at 01:30am in the morning and eating noodles constantly, that took me out. But every dark cloud has a silver lining...this silver lining being the fact that I could stay in bed and write down the happenings of the last 2 weeks. I'm praying and trusting that I will be healthy tomorrow as we want to go sand boarding and camel ridding in the desert!
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