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Traveler loses Lonely Planet, stranded at Salvador's

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3602Salvador's Coffee House#http://www.gokunming.com/en/listings/item/sal_1/salvadors_coffee_house# in Kunming has captivated the interest of Chinese netizens and is making the rounds on popular Chinese micro-blogging services.

"I, like, got here in the first place by showing my copy of Lonely Planet to a cab driver," Ron Moic, 19, told GoKunming yesterday. "Then I went to the bathroom and somebody, like, swiped the book off the table. I don't remember what hotel I'm staying in and my passport and everything are back there. I miss Thailand."

Moic has been traveling since August of last year, after deferring admission at community college in his home state of Minnesota, his stated goal being to "broaden my horizons." He arrived in Kunming on Monday on a bus from northern Laos. He was drawn to extend his travels to China because he was interested in learning feng shui and rebalancing his qi.

But things went horribly wrong for Moic on his first day here, when he lost his Lonely Planet guidebook. Without his passport he has been unable to check into a different hotel and can't recall the name or general location of his original hotel.

"It's a hostel," said Moic. "I thought it was called The Bump or The Lump, but those names don't ring any bells with any of the Chinese people I've talked to. I tried asking some of those foreign guys by the outside bar for help, but they weren't very friendly. Douchebags."

Fortunately for Moic, the Salvador's staff has allowed him to sleep in a small second-floor area used for storage of cleaning supplies while he waits for a replacement passport from the US Consulate in Chengdu, capital of neighboring Sichuan province. Meanwhile he is hanging out at the cafe and discovering traditional Yunnan delicacies such as barbecue goat cheese sandwiches.

A waitress at the cafe who gave her name as Wu Ming offered her own assessment of Moic's predicament: "Foreigners are sometimes very strange," she said. "And this one is beginning to get very smelly."

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Comments

I was sure that this is an April 1st joke until I read that the guy is American :D

You hear about things like this in Kunming all the time. Some poor laowai lost and all alone, stranded in a land that hasn't yet discovered the grace and beauty of the English language as spoken in its proper form best demonstrated by Americans from California.

When will the Chinese government get off their rear ends and change visa standards so that until China converts to English and the Imperial measures systems no American is allowed entry with passing at least the 新汉语水平考试 level 1???

This is so sad. I hope someone helps this poor fellow out soon. Or at least, for the sake of Salvador's fine staff, gives him a place to take a shower...

[UNF]

Nice, I didn't realize today's date. You had me going for a minute.

[UNF]

Not as good as google's yearly April Fool's day shenanigans, but pretty good non the less

[UNF]

did you have to say he's American? can we stop bringing shame to our people?

[UNF]

www.sadtrombone.com

[UNF]

"douchebags" gave it away...

This guy looks like Dan. Did Wu Ming say if he smelt like the Brooklyn brewery?

It's not me, Chingis. Wu Ming said he smelled like body odor and was cursing about fapiaos.

He's welcome to sleep on my sofa then. I've always wanted a protégé.

Dang Dan - you just made it to the top listings on google news (news.google.com) for China...now you're in BIG trouble.

[UNF]

We've all been there Ron. Don't feel bad.

[UNF]

Americans are not ALL this bad... just most of us.

[UNF]

Is the hostel he forgot about possibly the Hump Hostel in Kunming? That's a quite famous one and it is indeed one of the first few listed in Lonely Planet China for Kunming lodging. very possible he went there on the first day?

[UNF]

Jenny, that's it! But I'm afraid I wont be to get there because I don't know a thing about the Chinese alphabet, so I don't have anything to show the taxi driver. I heard a Salvador's customer speaking Chinese and I tried to ask him to write "The Hump" for me in Chinese, but it turned out he was actually speaking French.

But it's ok, I'm really enjoying myself at Salvador's despite the worsening odor situation. Did you know that in addition to traditional Yunan barbecue goat cheese sandwiches, the Yunan people also make traditional noodle dishes, such as one called arrabbiata?

[UNF]

I guess you can call up the Hump and ask them to talk to the driver or send on your stuff.
www.thehumphostel.com/ym1/ye1.html
Tel/Fax :0086-871-3640359
Add:Jinmabiji Square,Jinbi RD,Kunming,Yunnan,China
E-mail: the_hump_kunming@yahoo.com
MSN : thehumphostel@hotmail.com

Jenny you are very helpful, but you do know this was an April Fools Day (愚人节) joke, right?

This post made my evening.
But I've gotta know...is Jenny part of the team, or for real?
:P

Pardon me for my scepticism, but isn't this just a publicity stunt for probably the only Bar in Kunming that does not need free advertising? And another thing, why are North American-accented losers exclusively stereotyped as being from the US? Surely there must be more annoying Canadians in out there than just Mike myers & that guy who plays keyboards on the Letterman Show!

Damn! I just saw my posting & realised I left 1 superfluous word (in) in the last sentence. I guess this must mean I come from a nation that produces dumber international travellers than from both the USA and Canada.

[UNF]

Actually this is the best that can happen to you as this is the time real travel starts, an experience everyone should make to understand hunger, freedom, begging etc

This message was sponsored by the Leage-against-April-Fools-Day

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