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Published: February 19th 2012
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27-01-2012 til 03-02-2012
Finally today the rain has subsided and I've found energy to type about our last destination in China. 3 weeks ago now I suppose but hey.
We slowly awoke to the scenery of misshapen limestone peaks between flat open lush green grounds (paddies and fields) shooting past in the train. I knew we were close! Upon arrival we spotted a group of 4 backpackers which had been sat in Shanghai station. Wandering round the corner down the side of the road towards our hostel I jokingly said they'd probably follow us to the same place.
Upon arrival in the Wada hostel we were surprised to see Bettina whom we had met and drank with in Beijing. Her job hadn't started yet so she had a week off to herself to spend in the now drizzly Guilin. Luckily enough she was just ready to do the return trip so she didn't have to endure the days of wetness and clouds. We met Dan here which, with his unmistakeable Sideshow Bob head of hair, we had also seen pottering around the Sunlitun hostel in Beijing. Knackered as per usual from the travelling (even though you sleep it's still not REAL sleep) we wanted to just chill out. Our 6 night stay came as a surprise to the lady at the main desk... we want to take it easssy! Aparantly what we hadn't realised was that Yangshou was where it was at and not Guilin which was pretty much the same old city plonked between the odd peaks.
We made quick friends with Dan and spent some time playing drinking games, playing the Wii (also with Jack an english bloke thats been travelling for some time but was suffering with a brutal cold) and daring each other to eat the weird and wonderful snacks that Chinese love to consume. A chicken leg and black egg of some sort had made it into the rounds of the game over the days we spent in Wada but I don't think either ever got eaten. In Guilin we visited the Seven Stars Park which had beautiful views over the whole... valley kind of thing. It was fun walking around this park because Dan made use of his amazing social skills as we made friends with a couple of families kids, exchanged gifts of food and bangles and got showered in bubbles. The park was pretty yet more equipped to be an attraction park than an area of astounding natural beauty unrept by man.
One of our nights playing games resulted in meeting up with the 4 irish we had seen getting off the train. Bonds are made when byjio is drunk, laughs are swapped and streaks are performed. The streaking was done by none other than our travelling pal (at the moment in Vietnam) Vincent. Much to the night watchmans (Joshu) enjoyment (absolutely laughing his arse off, as were we) Vinny and us received little gifts that came thereafter, including little bottles of byjio and snacks to drink with it. Joshu was a great guy, who although we couldn't really truely communicate with each other, still greeted us daily with the same happy mood. One night whilst cracking out the guitar and strumming a couple of songs we received the courtesy of listening to Joshu playing a typical one stringed Chinese instrument (forgotten the name!) which was also made by himself.
During our stay we decided to visit the famed Yangshou considering every other person who left the hostel seemed to be headed that way. A two hour bus ride later we were wandering round the streets in awe of the impressive peaks and town. To be honest it was more touristy than Guilin but it was therewith much cosier. Feeling a bit stupid that we'd booked so many nights in Guilin we decided to trade one for a night in Yangshou. Dan and Dunc managed to bargain down a lady to take us down the river on a bamboo raft with a mixture of aloofness and jokes (she would write down a price, Dan would draw a house). Take a look at the pics of this and you'll understand why this 1 hour trip was worth the while.
The streets were full of handcrafts and people also busy making these. A mixture of weavers, stone cutters, jewellery makers and artists were hacking and sewing (drawing, clay modelling etc etc.) away filling the air with activity. Dan had had to leave due to problems acquiring a visa for Vietnam and a stomach bug so me and Dunc were left to go it alone again. Yangshou boasted a large amount of restaurants catering the Western needs and when looking for a decent dinner we stumbled accross an Indian restaurant which we couldn't tear ourselves away from. It was strange feeling the crave for a good curry since we almost didn't want to see one again upon leaving India, but we've come to notice we really do LOVE a good one! The owner of the restaurant was married to the cook who was from Darjeeling, being the only ones in the restaurant we were free to chat away and ask her about her experiences of India and the like. The food was AMAZING so when we bumped into Vinny and Laura (who coincidentally had also booked a room in the hostel next door to ours) walking away with satisfied FULL bellies, we pointed them in the right direction.
In the evening we looked for a place to have a couple of beers and ended up in a little place which was occupied by a Ukranian barmaid and a couple of German blokes who were on holidays from their intern job in Shanghai at a packaging company. After the standard establishment of who we are, where we come from yada yada yada... we got into the swapping of games. From that night I think I now know about 4 more dice games than originally and our mission to spread the game of dobbelen from Holland around the world continues!
When we returned to Guilin after our little break in Yangshou the one main thing that had to be accomplished was getting our tickets to Hanoi. The weather in Yangshou had been kind to us and we had a great day zooming around on bikes past paddies and mountains and through little villages for 4 hours. Maps seem to be hopeless for us as we seem to never manage to get where we want to go however much we think we are going in the right direction. So the cycle tour along the river had turned into a cycle tour around villages and into the middle of a orange tree field where we decided to turn back. In Guilin the weather was abysmal and so we amused ourselves with the Wii and Mario for hours.
Our trip to Hanoi required us to travel to Nanning first which is the capital of the province where Guilin and Yangshou are located. The train that we ended up on for 6 hours had the least space imaginable for two people to sit accross from each other. For this to be possible each person had to sit with legs almost interlocked with the person accross from them. Along with that the chairs weren't even wide enough to accomodate the Chinese... squeeeeezzzzeee! After farting around for 4 hours in Nanning (we had to wait for the night train to Hanoi) we finally were on our way to Vietnam with a free upgrade from hard sleeper to soft sleeper, yey! (Still no working sockets though... sigh!).
Becca xx
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