It has been a while, so we thought it's time for an update.
We arrived in Hong Kong on 8th August and spent 5 nights
there as we sorted out visas for China. After the peace and tranquility of
spending a week at lake Constance in Austria the heat, humidity, pace and sheer
number of people in HK was quite a shock and it took me a couple of days to
adjust and get my Asia legs. It also clearly had an impact on Veronika as she
managed to fall out of the bus on the way to the Chinese embassy. Thankfully,
she escaped any real injury apart from a little embarrassment! While waiting
for the visas we did all the HK sights, ate lots of noodles and generally
settled into the traveling way of life again.
Beijing was our first stop in China. Not surprisingly a huge city to get to
grips with. The big highlight of the stay in Beijing was walking on the Great
Wall. Thanks to a good tip we got a good private guide which meant we didn't
have to go with a huge group and could go really early in the morning to a much
quieter and beautiful section of the wall. Had to get a cable car up to the
wall which, needless to say, I was not looking forward to. Having survived the
cable car though, I was feeling brave enough to go for a wee walk along
it....or at least be coaxed along a bit by Veronika! Just as we got there the
sun broke through the clouds and it was amazing...really beautiful. Veronika
was clearly moved by the whole experience (as anyone who sees our China photos
will confirm)....I was relieved to have survived the latest "let's go up
something really high" experience. Also in Beijing we visited the
Forbidden City, numerous temples, took a rickshaw ride through the narrow
alleyways and ate some snake amongst other things.
From Beijing we took a 12 hr overnight train ride to the ancient walled town of
Pingyao. Fancy modern bullet train this was certainly not! There's about 1.4
billion people in China and at conservative guess about half of them were on
our train. We crammed ourselves into our carriage and sat there unable to move
for the 12 hours. Just as I was about to nod off for 5 mins respite, sure
enough, a fellow passenger would start up some Peking opera (think strangled
cat) and any thought of sleep was out the window. Toilet anyone? Eh....no
thanks. Anyway, we made it and the town was worth it. Very charming, narrow
streets you could stroll around for hours just chilling out. Also walked the
city walls and saw the old way of life that still very much exists here.
Xi'an was our next stop.....by plane! Here we came to see the famous Terracotta
Warriors. Certainly a pretty amazing discovery but I think we both came to the
conclusion that with a bit more of an interest in archaeology it would have
been even better. The town itself was ok, but nothing too special. The Muslim
quarter with all the markets and food stalls were a highlight and fun to visit.
Still reading? From Xi'an we then went to Shanghai. If NYC is not America then
Shanghai is not China. Shanghai is all glitz, huge skyscrapers, trendy bars and
clubs. We also found it quite easy to navigate on foot (at least the obvious
touristy bits) which was great. Shanghai is however much pricier than elsewhere
in China and the backpacker budget took a bit of a hit here....but to see the
look on Veronika's face when she finally got a decent glass of red wine was
worth it! Having previously mentioned Veronika falling out of a bus I think
it's only fair I mention what can only really be described as my "fried dumpling"
incident. After having safely negotiated the smaller steamed dumplings with
chopsticks we moved on to the much larger fried dumplings. I was just unable to
pick a single one up with the chopsticks as hard as I tried....and the more I
tried the worse it got as I could then see the smirking faces of all the locals
sitting around us.The next few minutes, as Veronika sat there laughing as hard
as I have ever seen her laugh, basically resembled what could only be described
as a scene from Mr Bean does Shanghai. After chasing it round the table for a
while I gave up and even when I used a spoon it rolled off into the bowl of
soup creating a healthy splash..... and when I finally managed to take a small
bite the juice inside sprayed all over my face. Not my smoothest hour.
The Giant Pandas were our next port of call and for that we headed to the city
of Chengdu. On the face of it a rather bleak city but
there is a huge breeding base for the pandas an hour outside the city. We spent
great day at the base where we got to observe the pandas up close and personal
and away from the crowds. We were told to go early as that is when they are at
their most "active". Well, if that is them at their most active....I
would hate to see them relaxing. Lovable creatures though and thoroughly worth
the visit.
We then flew to the amazingly picturesque town of Lijiang in the south west of
the country. All the cobbled narrow streets here are picture postcard material
and there is a very laid back atmosphere. Arriving here was very different from
where we had been been this far as here we are surrounded by mountains and the
scenery was lovely. We spent a couple of days there relaxing and soaking in the
atmosphere of the small town.
Dali city, an old backpacker haunt of years gone by, was next on the agenda.
Arriving in Dali city by bus is a good example of how tricky it can be to
travel in China if you speak not even one of the hundreds of different
variations of the Chinese language. There are 2 Dali Cities as it turns out and
the bus was going to both of course. Thankfully we followed our instincts and
guessed correctly. Situated between Erhai Hu Lake and Cang Shan mountain Dali
has a great location and there is lots to see and do around the town. (the
other Dali is also very nearby).
Even though we had spent three fabulous weeks discovering China up to this
point our final week in China was spent in the southern province of Guangxi and
was probably our favourite. As the books say, Guangxi offers endless rewards
for those with an outdoorsy temperament. Well, that's me covered...but what
about Veronika. First, we headed to Yangshuo, or rather a few miles outside of
Yangshuo to a fairly remote village. From this base we were able to cycle along
side the beautiful Yulong River as we went by rice paddies, fish farms, water
buffalo and through tiny rural villages all while being surrounded by the quite
spectacular karst scenery. After a couple of hours of cycling you could then
put your bike on a bamboo raft, sit back and relax as you drifted along the
river. More outdoorsy stuff was to follow as we moved onto the tiny village of
Dazhai. The big highlight of Dazhai are the Dragon's Backbone Rice Terraces
which rise up to 1000m high and through which we (being with Veronika) just had
to hike through. One thing we quickly discovered is that the more active you
are the less tourists you'll be with so the long hike we did one day between
villages up through the rice terraces and over the mountains was truly
spectacular.
Before I go and sign off from China....quick word about the food. Food
obviously plays a big part in the culture here and it varies greatly from place
to place (not that surprising when you consider how huge the country is).
Veronika makes sure we always sample all the local specialities which means you
need to be open to anything. They generally do not speak any english here in
the local restaurants we like to go to, therefore you do see some great dishes
on the rare english menus that you do get to look at. A couple of favourites so
far include "Clear cooks the bulls penis" and "Urinating beef
balls". Now who wouldn't want that ???
Anyway...better go.....happy hour calls and then on to Vietnam
