Where in the world is Jackie Chan

You want massage? Yangshuo

magic_johnson — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 23:42:00 GMT

Yangshuo, a backpackers heaven, even in low season.

We arrived in yangshuo expecting great things, and to be honnest, we found em. Amazing karst formations kinda engulf the area along the Li river and taking a bamboo raft down it is one of the highlights.

The water/mud cave is pritty good fun although you shouldnt pay the full price for it. The mud is more like quicksand which makes things pritty interesting. when i went there wasnt many people there just a few spannish guys. so its best to go in the season.

We headed out one nght to sample the chinnese night life, which is just a little bit surreal the strangest dancing ive ever seen. Me james decided we needed to show them how it was done, and we did. All though to be fair the spannish were in making light work of things one of them came in with his own guitar, which at the time was just hillarious.

We heading to vietnam this week in search of some thing a little more 'raw'.

Fairly short and uninteresting one this time i know, but places to go people to see...

Guangzhous and The Five Goats

magic_johnson — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 17:08:00 GMT

Arrivivng in Guangzhous (pop 3.2million) it quickly became clear that perhaps we weren't going to like this place. The smog combined with the haze of hummidty makes this place seem very clostrophobic, suphocating in fact. The people of Guangzhous are the best part, as with all of china, they are very friendly and hummerous. Our first experience of them was getting of the bus. A middle aged lady, a tout, shouting 'Hello GentleManny'. The chinnese use of the english language is fairly limited at the moment (like my use of chinnese) but still provides some interesting conversations. Needless to say the lady wasnt selling hotel rooms... The day after we arrived we visted the 'famous' park in Guangzhous, which is home to the 'legendary' statue of the five goats. Something that apparently attracts thousands of vistors every year, although I was never quite able to understand the significance of the statue. However the lady selling Magnum ice creams was much appreciated. The best part about the park was being able to look straight onto a football ground where two teams were batling it out in the hummidty. Football in china is quite popular, and i hope to go to match on the way back to take in the brilliant atmosphere. We tried for two consecutive days to get away from Guangzhous but failed misereably, mainly due to our innability to understand the timetables and Guanghzous is still in the Canton region meaning they mostly speak cantonesse. Anyway on the third attempt we made it, relieved, onto the 'sleeper' train. Although we would begin to slightly regret the choice of 'sleeper' over 'express'...

Hong Kong

magic_johnson — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 16:42:00 GMT

Cold?... I cant remember who said it now, but a few people were worried that we weren't packing enough winter clothing. Upon arriving in Hong Kong, and ever since, we found it to be very hummid the heat was particularly obvious when we carried our 20kg rucksacks the 3miles to our hostel. Hong Kong is a bit like a big English/American city, its home to over 200 Mcdonalds'and the streets just seem to be constantly filled with thousands of people. The street signs are the same as they are in England, on account of formerly being ruled by Britain until the 90's. The roads are kinda laid out like they are in new york, I witness a few taxi drivers dirve into corners at like 40mph whilst going through a series of red lights. Cantonese food is pritty special, particualrly the barbecued pork, and the way they cook rice out here gives it the edge over the way we usually cook it back home. The day after we arrived we decided to head for the Bus station, which was straight forward enough. Then buy a ticket to Guangzhous, less straight forward. Especailly when you consider all the language we had learned was Mandarin as oppose to cantonesse (the predominant language in Hong Kong), we managed. As we crossed the chinnese border we went through Shenzen, which is just massive, skyscrappers everywhere. I actually cant explain the sense of scale you get from bombing it down the main highway through the city, of 10 million, its like some sort of futuristic meca. I dont suppose the chinnese call it the 'Shenzen special economic zone' for no reason.

Clothes- check, other stuff-check

magic_johnson — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 18:03:00 GMT

What? Anti Malarials in the jungle? Nah should be fine.

Insurance? Probably.