Gillian Cawsey: Room 2504

The past couple of days of our trip have demonstrated the mishaps and adventures that accompany travelling in a foreign country.  When things don’t always go as planned, however, it often tends to create the most unforgettable memories and make for the best stories.

We arrived in Guangzhou from Hong Kong on Friday, May 4, 2012 after a two hour scenic train ride. We coasted through the city, the country, and even went through a violent thunder and lightning storm briefly. When we finally arrived at our accommodation for the next nine days, we were partnered up, given our room key and sent off on our way. Khazar and I were to room in a building besides the building where the majority of our group was staying.

As the building manager guided us to room 2504 on the 25^th floor, Khaz and I were excited to see our awaiting room. I couldn’t help but notice the building manager struggling with the large steel cage door that protected another large wooden door to our room. Once inside, Khaz and I foolishly jumped for joy as the room was fairly large and came with a washing machine, kitchen, and full size couch. However, once the building manager left us to unpack our things, we started to notice that the room was not quite as it seemed. It was a bit dirtier than expected and it also came with some quiet roommates, cockroaches. But, we are in China to experience, learn and have fun outside of our hotel room, not inside.

After struggling for a bit to lock our giant steel caged door, we stomped loudly down the dark hallway towards the elevator as the lights were sound activated. We made sure to be extra loud as the shadowy, empty hallways made us a bit nervous. The series of events in the elevator ride down gave us a weird feeling, but also made us laugh.

First, even though we pressed the number one button to go down, the elevator door simply closed and then re-opened back on our floor. Then, a woman entered the elevator with her beautiful Husky dog. I thought it was odd to have such a large, winter animal living in such small apartment and hot, humid city. Others soon joined us in the elevator including a girl on a bicycle with a baby sitting in a basket at the front, a man with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth, and finally, a delivery man with an empty steel trolley. As the delivery man entered the elevator, the steel trolley made a loud bang and scared the Husky. The Husky made a yelping noise and his owner had to calm him down. Instead of stroking the dog’s head, however, as most people do when petting animals, his owner patted his head in a fast up and down motion. I finally caught Khazar’s eye after observing all of the events and it was clear she had been noticing the same things. We couldn’t help but laugh.

 After a delicious dinner at the one of the nearby restaurants and exploring the sights and shops , we headed back to room 2504 on the 25^th floor. We struggled for a good 20 minutes to unlock the steel cage door before finally going to get help from the building manager. That night we both felt a bit uneasy and scared of our accommodation, but figured we were just being silly. In the morning, however, we discovered that we were not the only ones with these feelings and our fellow group mates had similar stories to share. Needless to say, we changed accommodations the next day. I am currently lying on a freshly made bed in our new hotel room. It has just occurred to me that Khaz and I forgot some mangos and bananas in the fridge of our old Guangzhou accommodation. I’m sure our ex-roommates won’t mind.