Advertisement
Tibet - China - Chengdu, Xian, Zhengzhou, Beijing, Shanghai, Guilin, Yangshuo - Vietnam - Hanoi, Halong Bay - Laos - Viantianne, Vang Viang - Vietnam - Vinh, Hoi An Well to say we have been busy would be a HUGE understatement, it's been about 5 weeks since my last update and in that time we have travelled the entire width of China and Tibet and ventured into Laos and Vietnam, twice!
OK, so for the rest of our tour in Tibet, we ended up hooking up with a few others and enjoying a few good nights out in Lhasa and the odd game of Chess when there was no power. We dropped by some random Tibetan couple's house on the way and I got to try 'chang' which is homemade Tibetan 'beer' although it tastes more like cider but pretty good all the same! We ate a lot of yak (hairy cows) in burgers and steaks and even the odd bit of cheese. We saw some absolutely stunning scenery with bright blue lakes surrounded by snow capped peaks, it was pretty breathtaking at some points. I managed to persuade a Tibetan boy to sell me his hat which was cool although it is just a cowboy hat to anyone else! By the time we got to Lhasa, I was very temple'd and Buddha'd out! We had seen so
Party Bus Crew, Lhasa, Tibet
The last night of our tour across Tibet and the "Party Bus" crew's last mashup together!many and although its always impressive, it became very repetitive but the Potala palace still impressed me with its huge contents of ornate objects although obviously the DL (shhhh, you can't mention the Dala* La@a's name!!) doesn't reside there. So all in all good times were had and we met some really cool people.
As soon as the tour had finished, Jade and I were straight on the new railway to Chengdu, it was a massive 46hr journey but as the train was farely new, the time didnt actually drag that much. So we arrived in Chengdu and booked our onward ticket for that night to Xi'an, leaving us only 10hrs to see Chengdu! We visited the Panda Sanctaury which was awesome!! Panda's are so cool! Most of them just chilled out and ate and slept but were so funny to watch the way they just lazed about all over each other. We spent a couple of hours 'westernising' in Maccy D's and Starbucks while watching the chaotic streets of the city centre.
Xi'an was much the same as Chengdu, in that we arrived, booked our tickets for the same night and had the day to spend in
Pandas, Chengdu, China
Pandas! The coolest, laziest animals ever! Xi'an. We spent all day at the Terracotta Warriors which was farely impressive but not as spectacular as I had expected due to a huge amount of it not been excavated yet!
Our train arrived in Zhengzhou at 3am so we had to try and sleep in the bus station while we waited for our onward bus to leave for the Shaolin temple at 7.30 which was pretty difficult given that the Chinese don't know how to talk, they just shout. We spent a day and night in Dengfeng, the nearest town to the Shaolin Temple. We stayed in a Kung Fu School with approx 6000 students and I got to learn Kung Fu from a Shaolin Monk in the afternoon, atop a mountain overlooking the Shaolin area. IT WAS AWESOME!!!!! I even got to mess around with a bo staff which was cool! Had a great time doing that but the end of it I was shattered and had stretched muscles beyond belief, I got close to doing the splits!!! We visited the Shaolin temple in the evening for some snaps and had some great street food afterwards, although we had no idea what we were eating!
We got back to Zhengahou in the early morning to try and book an onward ticket to Beijing but as it was the start of a weeks holiday, we couldnt get on a train for at least 3 days! Luckily a local Chinese girl started chatting to me while I was waiting for Jade, who was having a hard time trying to get some tickets sorted, and she more than helped us by booking us some bus tickets instead and even buying us ice creams and cold drinks as we waited. THEN she took us for lunch, put us on our bus, got us seats together, sain goodbye and THEN came back again with a bag of food and drinks for the journey!!!! Jade and I were gobsmacked at the generosity and how how nice she was. She didnt want anything in return and refused to take our money!
Beijing was awesome!! We stayed in a really nice hostel and met loads of cool people, got absolutely smashed a few times for VERY cheap - pint costs Y2 - 13p! Spent tons of money on shopping, got a suit tailored, a chinese style silk jacket tailored and tons of
Teracotta Warriors, Xi'an, China
The main hall of the army of teracotta warriors, no 2 are the same (apparently! - I wasn't going to find out!) clothes which was awesome as I was getting unbelievably sick of wearing the same crappy travelling stuff all the time! We did all the tourist stuff - forbidden city, beihai park and the Great Wall - which was awesome!
Jumped on a very fast and comfy train to Shanghai where we didnt DO a huge amount but enjoyed the sites and highlife of the city. Jade and I got tarted up in our new Chinese outfits for an evening and treated ourselves to a slap up meal at one of the City's most well known restaurants, overlooking the Bund, it was pretty nice food too!!
We legged it down to Guilin, South China after realising we didnt have enough money or time to see Hong Kong (and we pissed around in Beijing so much, we didnt get any visas sorted!) which was rubbish as it was another place I really wanted to see. Guilin was cool though and the river boat ride down the Li River to Yangshuo was even better as it is a stunning area of the country, surrounded by limestone peaks and lush greenery, it also helped that we were blessed with really hot weather
Teracotta Me, Xi'an, China
I bet no-one can spot me in this photo! as it was through most of China. Yangshuo was definately a place I could go back to, there seemed to be a lot available to do there and, like Guilin, it was a beautiful place but sadly we only had enough time (and Chinese Yuan) to go on a mountain bike ride through the countryside which was awesome! Got threatened by some little sh*t of a shopkeeper with a brick after a bit of a cafuffle over some fake Jade but nothing serious!
We ended up having to spen a day in Nanning which is a nothing town in the South of China as it was our nearest place to sort out our Vietnamese visas which also meant we had to stay in China a day longer than our visa allowed! So Chinese being Chinese, we had nervous pants when we did finally cross the border!! Even more so when they did actaully pull us to one side but thankfully it was due to our visas being a group one (because of the official tour rules to get in to Tibet) and they didnt even notice the dates! So there were no problems in the end!
So we
Kung Fu, Dengfeng, China
The crew that accompanied me to my Kung Fu training! arrived in Hanoi, Vietnam after a lengthy bus ride over the border and we instantly appreciated the more laid back atmosphere of the city. We spent a couple of nights enjoying the local brew, Bier Hoi, served on many a street corner from a barrel with locals and travellers alike and also had a quick look at Uncle Ho's (Ho Chi Minh's) dead body in his mausuleam, slightly morbid, I know! We spent 2 days and a night on a boat in Halong Bay, one Vietnams most beautiful areas, amongst the sea (at last, its taken us 2months to find the sea!!!!) and many more limestone peaks jutting out from the water.
We got back to Hanoi and jumped straight onto the most unimaginable bus ride to Viantianne, Laos, ever known! The bus had the last 4 rows of seats removed and replaced with random luggage including a lot of onions! The onions were also filling EVERY seats footwell and some of the aisle too! I ended up creating my own seat out of bags of onions, luggage and broken seats!!! But they still sell enough tickets to fill a normal bus so there ended up being far too
Kung Fu, Dengfeng, China
My Kung Fu training, don't mess with me! many people for the amount of seats and whats worse is that more people got on half way along and they were joined by sacks of rice which filled the rest of the aisle!!!! This journey was also a 24hr one and we were not happy!!!!
Needless to say we arrived in Viantianne absolutely shattered and very grumpy but realising there isnt a huge amount to see or do there, we stayed one night to recover but were straight on a bus the next for Vang Viang, this time it was only 3hrs and minus the veg! Laos is still a relatively untouched country by the tourist hand but Vang Viang is the backpacker haven, we only stayed 2 nights but we had an awesome time spending a whole day foating down the river in tractor tyres, getting absolutely smashed at the makeshift riverside bars on the way and throwing ourselves off rope swings and zip lines!! We ended up being the last ones left on the river (oh yes, hardcore!) and had to be pulled out as it got so dark we couldnt see (a little dangerous, I know!)!
When we finally sobered up, it was back
Kung Fu, Dengfeng, China
I'm deadly with a Bo, I tell ya! to Vinatianne where we got to chill out in one of the nicest houses in Laos, courtesy of one of Jade's old school mates Dad (its amazing who you can look up when you need to!). After a good day of relaxing by the pool, it was back on another bus crossing back into 'Nam and it was WORSE than the previously described bus! So bad that we ended up ditching it and jumping in a taxi to finish the journey off! - Anyone looking for a business venture, start a normal bus service between Laos and Vietnam!
Back in 'Nam, we've arrived in Hoi An after a couple of quick stops in Vinh and Hue. Hoi An seems fantastic, very quaint streets with tons of personality and a no-motor traffic rule, once a week, through the town centre. I'm currently designing my own clothing range for the so-cheap-its-criminal tailors here that will make ANYTHING you ask for, so watch out Armani, Ri Wear is coming!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.098s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 11; qc: 51; dbt: 0.0511s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
