Mandarin for experts

Unlike Hong Kong, people in mainland china does not understand english that well. That is why it is fortunate that I now am an mandarin expert. But what Mainland China lacks in the knowledge of english, the make up in awesome transportation. The main way to get around Sanya was with a motorbike-cab.

David - or should I say Edward Cullen - and Alina going home.

After a night exploring the city's nightlife, it was time for us to go back home to our fantastic hostel - Thorn Bird. For various reasons, our group split up during the night, and when David, Annika and I realized that deli pierre was long gone with the only piece of paper that had the name of the hostel written down in chinese, it was time for my mandarin knowledge to kick in.

The conversation started off really good, with me being polite and saying:
- Ni hao, wo jiao Gabi. Xie Xie! ( Hi, my name is Gabi, thank you).
All the motocab-riders got really excited, and started to ask me where I wanted to go. My obvious answer to that question was of course:
- Máng bù máng? (Are you busy?)
More and more cab drivers started to gather around me, I was like Sanya´s main attraction. Never had they heard someone speak mandarin so perfectly! So to further explain where I wanted to go, I said.
- Ni hao ma? Chen laoshi. (How are you? Teacher Chen = the name of my teacher)
The crowd (now around 20 people) went wild! This was for many, the best moment of their life. But for some unknown, strange reason, they could not understand where we wanted to go. So I decided to draw a picture on my hand so that I could furhter explain (and entertain) these lovely cab drivers.



Oddly enough, the chinese guys did not appreciate my abstract art, but as everybody can see, I tried to paint a bridge (we went over a bridge on the way there), a bird and a tower (hostel Thorn Bird). Now you might ask why I painted a tower, but it all makes perfect sense. In swedish, the word thorn is very similiar to the word for tower (torn).

When I realized that this did not work, I repeated "Mang bu mang" and "Ni hao! Wo jiao Gabi" several times and then tried to explain that we wanted to go McDonalds, which was quite close to our hostel. So therefore you can see, in the left corner of my hand, a cheeseburger and a open mouth, eager to eat the cheeseburger.

Still, no one could understand where we wanted to go, but as always, Annika saved the night by showing them this picture on her camera:

So in conclusion, it was a safe night.