Wow, a lot of time has passed since I've been able to get on here due to China's censorship issues. I'm now in Hong Kong, so I can do a quick catch up with my last few weeks before I head back into China and lose the ability to blog again! Can't get pictures on here right now though unfortunately, so just go on google images if you want to see what I'm rambling on about!
So, I must have travelled an awfully long way over the last few weeks - we flew into Shanghai, then got a train to Beijing, then a bus to Xi'an, and from there I said goodbye to Nikki and Kiara and headed south to Guilin (a monster 27-hour train journey - good times!). From Guilin, I travelled by bamboo boat to Yangshuo, and from there a bus to Shenzhen, where you cross the border to HK. Phew!
I think that I may have to just give a few highlights from each place or this would be a terribly long blog entry. So, Shanghai - what a culture shock! People in a rush, no English spoken, 24-hour electricity fuelling all the neon lights on the buildings. Hygiene standards were so different, we were given bowls and plates which were plastic wrapped for heaven's sake! And I had to very quickly master the art of eating with chopsticks. The first meal was a frustrating experience, with so much heavenly food in front of me yet no way of politely getting it into my mouth. I could have cried! Anyway, I loved Shanghai, it has a great atmosphere and the Bund was beautiful, especially during the night when all the buildings were lit up.
Beijing started off badly, with an awful of people very unwilling to help us get to our hostel (3 buses and 2 taxi drivers to be precise). But once we got there, we had a good time. The hostels here are incredible, they look more like hotels and the rooms are kept wonderfully clean (sorry to keep banging on about how clean it all is but it really was a shock to the system!). We did the typical tourist things - Great Wall (it really was great), Tianenman square, the night markets, Forbidden city, etc. Here's a tip for anyone going to Beijing - don't spend half a day looking for the entrance for the Forbidden city. It's called the Palace Musuem. Very annoying and confusing! The night markets were quite interesting, not as unpleasant as I was expecting, but you still could eat an awful lot of strange creatures, including sea snake (I tried that! Tasted like squid), starfish, silkworm, cat, and most disgusting of all, poor scorpions who were attached to the skewer still alive.
Next stop - Xi'an. Another city with a great feel to it. We spent a lovely day cycling around the city wall and enjoying the views, and then the second day we went to the Terracotta Warriors. There are 3 pits there, two of which are pretty dull, but pit 1 is full of the warriors and so suitably impressive. The girls then made their way to Chengdu, and I took the painfully long train down to Guilin.
I had high hopes for Guilin, but to be honest, it was pretty boring! Some attractive views, a nice city centre and some good parks, but nothing to get excited about, so I made a speedy exit to Yangshuo. The bamboo boat down the Li River was fantastic, it was a very misty day which made all the karst peaks look quite mystical. I met a very interesting character on the boat too - a 53 year old buddist hippy, who made good money growing marujiana and evading taxes. He obviously had some interesting tales to tell, which I enjoyed listening to when we went to an amazing vegetarian restaurant in Yangshuo. It was so good to be able to order a meal that I knew wouldn't have any pork hidden in it somewhere!
The following day I had a rather traumatic experience at the farmer's market in Yangshuo. This place was definitely not for vegetarians,or the squeamish. There were all animals you could think of under one roof, in two forms; alive or skinned. I entered to the sounds of chickens and geese being killed, then carried on walking to find skinned dogs hanging up with hooks through their necks. That was pretty bad, but seeing the live dogs in the cages was what really got to me. Seeing the cats and bunnies also didn't help me feel any less queasy. I made a fast retreat from the place, and whilst standing outside trying to compose myself, a mother put her small child down to squat right next to me (all young children in China wear trousers with holes round the bum area so they can go to the toilet wherever they like - very strange). So I turned away from the child, only to find an open doctor's clinic with a bunch of small children hooked up to IV drips! I don't think I've ever comeso close to fainting in my life. Only in China!
Despite the aforementioned unpleasant experience, I actually had a great time in Yangshuo, cycling by the river, taking a cookery course, and meeting some really nice people (including a very charming and well mannered Israeli guy who I spent a couple of days with). I also took a trip from here to the Dragon's backbone rice terraces, which were incredible despite a very moody tour guide who nearly left four of us behind! The views were so good that I stopped looking where I was going at one point, and didn't notice the path was getting smaller... I still have the bruises and grazes from falling down the rice terrace! I didn't intend to get that close to nature!
Well, we're more or less all caught up now. Anyone still reading deserves a medal! I'm currently staying with my lovely cousin Kate and her husband Nick in the Tung Chung area of Hong Kong. It's been so nice to spend time with her (we never saw each other in England stupidly enough!), and just eating home cooked food has been great. I finally got a good jacket potato with beans and cheese! Bliss! We have also done a few of the touristy things, including afternoon tea at the Peninsula hotel (amazing cakes and scones), looking around the bird and flower markets, and enjoying drinks in the upmarket area of HK, which feels just like going out in London. Let's just say that if you want to go somewhere for culture, don't come to HK!
Tomorrow I'm going to take the ferry to Macau, and then the following day it's back to China, ready for another loooooooong train journey over to Kunming in the Yunnan province. I'm looking forward to getting back to the cheaper prices of China, although it's been great to be able to actually ask for directions in English and receive more than a shake of the head!
So, I must have travelled an awfully long way over the last few weeks - we flew into Shanghai, then got a train to Beijing, then a bus to Xi'an, and from there I said goodbye to Nikki and Kiara and headed south to Guilin (a monster 27-hour train journey - good times!). From Guilin, I travelled by bamboo boat to Yangshuo, and from there a bus to Shenzhen, where you cross the border to HK. Phew!
I think that I may have to just give a few highlights from each place or this would be a terribly long blog entry. So, Shanghai - what a culture shock! People in a rush, no English spoken, 24-hour electricity fuelling all the neon lights on the buildings. Hygiene standards were so different, we were given bowls and plates which were plastic wrapped for heaven's sake! And I had to very quickly master the art of eating with chopsticks. The first meal was a frustrating experience, with so much heavenly food in front of me yet no way of politely getting it into my mouth. I could have cried! Anyway, I loved Shanghai, it has a great atmosphere and the Bund was beautiful, especially during the night when all the buildings were lit up.
Beijing started off badly, with an awful of people very unwilling to help us get to our hostel (3 buses and 2 taxi drivers to be precise). But once we got there, we had a good time. The hostels here are incredible, they look more like hotels and the rooms are kept wonderfully clean (sorry to keep banging on about how clean it all is but it really was a shock to the system!). We did the typical tourist things - Great Wall (it really was great), Tianenman square, the night markets, Forbidden city, etc. Here's a tip for anyone going to Beijing - don't spend half a day looking for the entrance for the Forbidden city. It's called the Palace Musuem. Very annoying and confusing! The night markets were quite interesting, not as unpleasant as I was expecting, but you still could eat an awful lot of strange creatures, including sea snake (I tried that! Tasted like squid), starfish, silkworm, cat, and most disgusting of all, poor scorpions who were attached to the skewer still alive.
Next stop - Xi'an. Another city with a great feel to it. We spent a lovely day cycling around the city wall and enjoying the views, and then the second day we went to the Terracotta Warriors. There are 3 pits there, two of which are pretty dull, but pit 1 is full of the warriors and so suitably impressive. The girls then made their way to Chengdu, and I took the painfully long train down to Guilin.
I had high hopes for Guilin, but to be honest, it was pretty boring! Some attractive views, a nice city centre and some good parks, but nothing to get excited about, so I made a speedy exit to Yangshuo. The bamboo boat down the Li River was fantastic, it was a very misty day which made all the karst peaks look quite mystical. I met a very interesting character on the boat too - a 53 year old buddist hippy, who made good money growing marujiana and evading taxes. He obviously had some interesting tales to tell, which I enjoyed listening to when we went to an amazing vegetarian restaurant in Yangshuo. It was so good to be able to order a meal that I knew wouldn't have any pork hidden in it somewhere!
The following day I had a rather traumatic experience at the farmer's market in Yangshuo. This place was definitely not for vegetarians,or the squeamish. There were all animals you could think of under one roof, in two forms; alive or skinned. I entered to the sounds of chickens and geese being killed, then carried on walking to find skinned dogs hanging up with hooks through their necks. That was pretty bad, but seeing the live dogs in the cages was what really got to me. Seeing the cats and bunnies also didn't help me feel any less queasy. I made a fast retreat from the place, and whilst standing outside trying to compose myself, a mother put her small child down to squat right next to me (all young children in China wear trousers with holes round the bum area so they can go to the toilet wherever they like - very strange). So I turned away from the child, only to find an open doctor's clinic with a bunch of small children hooked up to IV drips! I don't think I've ever comeso close to fainting in my life. Only in China!
Despite the aforementioned unpleasant experience, I actually had a great time in Yangshuo, cycling by the river, taking a cookery course, and meeting some really nice people (including a very charming and well mannered Israeli guy who I spent a couple of days with). I also took a trip from here to the Dragon's backbone rice terraces, which were incredible despite a very moody tour guide who nearly left four of us behind! The views were so good that I stopped looking where I was going at one point, and didn't notice the path was getting smaller... I still have the bruises and grazes from falling down the rice terrace! I didn't intend to get that close to nature!
Well, we're more or less all caught up now. Anyone still reading deserves a medal! I'm currently staying with my lovely cousin Kate and her husband Nick in the Tung Chung area of Hong Kong. It's been so nice to spend time with her (we never saw each other in England stupidly enough!), and just eating home cooked food has been great. I finally got a good jacket potato with beans and cheese! Bliss! We have also done a few of the touristy things, including afternoon tea at the Peninsula hotel (amazing cakes and scones), looking around the bird and flower markets, and enjoying drinks in the upmarket area of HK, which feels just like going out in London. Let's just say that if you want to go somewhere for culture, don't come to HK!
Tomorrow I'm going to take the ferry to Macau, and then the following day it's back to China, ready for another loooooooong train journey over to Kunming in the Yunnan province. I'm looking forward to getting back to the cheaper prices of China, although it's been great to be able to actually ask for directions in English and receive more than a shake of the head!
