The Evil Troll Skybridge, Guangzhou, China

The Evil Troll Skybridge of Guangzhou
"in the flesh"

Congratulate me, folks! I'm now a Living Legend in two countries! If you read the posting about our travels in Cambodia, you'd already know Siem Reapers talk about me as "The Stupidest Tourist Ever To Visit Our Land" and now, in Guangzhou, I'm known far-and-wide as "The Western Woman Attacked by Beggars." I hereby take a bow!

Actually, I'm not personally known as such and I heard the story three times from different sources and in different contexts before I recognised it, and then heard it another seven times subsequently, but ... you know ... embarrassed and all ... I never once admitted I was the person in question; in fact, I just opened my eyes with the exact right amount of shock and innocently asked "Did she die?" No one seemed to know what happened to her.

If you read my posting waayyyy back in the March Archives below, you'll know the real story about what happened to me in Guangzhou three months ago ... but the story isn't like that any more. In fact, it has taken on a life of its own. Like BIGTIME! Like, Living Legend status!

However, in the interests of veracity, let me show you where it took place:

The Exact Spot

It started at the back of this scene and traveled all the way to the front.

And I was only this far from the hotel too:

Bai Yun Hotel front door
as seen from
Evil Troll Attack Spot

And here's how far it is from the Starbucks where the waiters who rescued me came from:

The Heroic Starbucks!

And these are the steps they walked me down:

The Lovely Steps of Safety!

And here's where they took me:

The Glorious Land of
Peace and Harmony!

To be honest, I have no idea who the nice young waiters were who rescued me from the Evil Trolls, but one of them could easily be this young man behind the counter!

And I vaguely thought it would be nice to avenge myself by kicking all the beggars I saw up on the skybridge ... but this visit there were only these two ... and they looked so very sweet I gave up the idea instantly.

Not the Evil Troll beggars in question!

And this time, I raced back to the hotel as soon as it got dark ... which was such a shame because under this skybridge, right under this spot, there's a DVD seller who has some amazing DVDs and an absurdly diverse collection of music CDs but he doesn't come out until very, very late, and I wasn't game to drop by.

Look beneath these stairs
around midnight
for the BEST pirates ever!

So, from THE WESTERN WOMAN WHO WAS ATTACKED BY BEGGARS IN GUANGZHOU! you now have seen for yourself where the Evil Trolls Attack.

And, when you hear this story next time you're up in Guangdong, think "Mmmm, I know who that was!" and then open your eyes with the exact right amount of shock and ask innocently "Did she die?" Let me know what becomes of her!

Maybe, in another three months of re-telling, she'd have been killed and hung off the overpass as a warning to other Stupid Western Women not to go out alone at night and/or as symbol in a moral tale told to children not to give money to beggars. Whatever, I want to know!