Blogs from Guangdong, China, Asia - page 138

Day 220, 6th January Xinhui - Kaiping - Enpeng - Yangjiang Awoke at sunrise to a soaking tent due to the early morning mist from the nearby river. Shook out my boots in case any of the snakes had decided to set up home in there, then Stephane and I packed up our tents and set off for breakfast in Xinhui for a nice plate of egg fried rice. We carried on afterwards the 20 miles to join the 325 rout, a fairly busy road with a cycling shoulder which was a bit rough in places. The route took us through Kaipeng and Enpeng, through hilly countryside, and there was a lot of it too. The people here seemed more laid-back than those we’d encountered up north. There were no grotty three-wheeler trucks or tractors belching ... read more

... a very merry Christmas!!! Christmas eve is around the corner, which makes me think about family and friends even more than usual! I hope you're well!!! Wanna wish you a Great Christmas and A Happy New Year! Today, the day before Christmas eve, we've had a huge Christmas show with all kids from the 3 EF schools in Guangzhou. My 9-10 year olds sang Jingle Bells and We wish you a merry christmas. My little ones (3-5 year) were dressed up as angels and Santas singing and moving along with Oh christmas tree... Well, they were supposed to anyways, but so no one started singing, nor moving... So we did it acapella instead. A disaster really, but the kids were happy, so where the parents, and I guess you can't expect miracles with 60 "babys" ... read more

Day 199, 16th December Shuikou - Guidong If yesterday was one of the most idyllic, well, today was one of the most spectacular and toughest. It didn’t rain again today, and it was a good job too as we did a 12 mile climb up a dirt-road though spectacular bamboo forest. We rode up and up, into clouds, and out of them again till we were above them in sunlight. It took ages, hairpin bend after hairpin bend. And then when we thought we were at the top we saw the road winding even higher up the sides of the mountain. The summit was over 5,000feet and we’d climbed 3,000 from the bottom of the valley. The downhill section was on a paved road surface and wasn’t that far - we were on a plateau, and ... read more

After clearing the passport control area between Hong Kong and the mainland (this is one very busy place) I made my way to find an ATM. None to be found. I ran into a friendly bus station attendant who spoke English, and he said that I needed to go to the Bank of China building. Hard be believe, but there was not a single ATM to be had right across from the Hong Kong border crossing. China and I were off to a bad start. Once I reached the building, having passed many offers for a 'massage', I found the bank. I lined up for the ATM, and noticed that lots of people where printing statements from it. When I got upto it, there was not place for the money to come out. Which would make ... read more

From Hong Kong we caught the train to Shenzhen in China for one day. It was for a power shopping (for fakes/copies) and pampering day! What an adventure it was. We got pounced on as soon as we got out of the train terminal by a young guy called 'Dragon Boy' who took us to his little shop. We ended up buying most of our stuff from him........probably should have shopped around a bit first but oh well. These 'markets' are quite amazing. They are all proper shops in a mall. There are police everywhere patrolling to make sure that the shops are not selling fakes of anything. The shop owners have to keep all of this stuff hidden because obviously it's illegal. We also spent a fortune! For good quality fakes you do spend more.........all ... read more