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Published: August 11th 2006
Bangkok - Macau - (Zhu Hai) - Guangzhou - Yangshuo - Guangzhou Ni Hao - as a quick into I should point out that this was written a few weeks ago (around 23rd July). It's taken until now to find a place to add a few photos. Hence it predates the previous entry that I posted a few days ago. Ni Hao from Yangshuo.
We are stuck in Yangshuo, which is a good place to be stuck.
It may be the 'very hot & very wet' season, but it's also the Chinese summer holidays. Hence there are literally millions of Chinese on the move - meaning that busses, trains & planes are all full. We were trying to buy a train ticket out of here for almost a week with no success.
As former travel advisers we've picked up some great new tips too:
We asked at travel place with a sign outside that says "train tickets" if they sell train tickets:
Response "no"
We found a place that was keen to sell us a train ticket. However when asked if seats are available:
Response "maybe"
We asked 'can you
East vs West
Macanese Pharmacy check?'
Answer "maybe"
We found a place that seemed to have a ticket available & asked when it will arrive?' (we needed to be somewhere by a certain time or not at all)
Response "I don't know, maybe Monday or Tuesday"
Did I tell you it was the hot & wet season in China? Well it turns out it's either phenomenally hot & humid (high 30's centigrade & around 95% humidity) or it's raining. When it rains it's cooler, but when it rains it really rains. For days. In fact it wasn't until we saw the news after we had arrived in Yangshuo following an eleven hour bus trip that we discovered much of that part of the country was flooded with roads & railways falling apart, following the passing of Tropical Storm Bilis.
As we boarded our bus in Guangzhou we marveled at how luxurious it was - it even had seatbelts (we're not sure if this is a good or bad sign, depends which way you look at it). However no amount of free water, biscuits, blankets or karaoke can hide that fact that you are driving through a tropical storm on roads
Free Strollers
Guangzhou - adoption capital of China that are so potholed that you think the bus will fall apart. Add to that mudslides, floods, people being sick (very loudly) & the fact that the driver still wants to get there as fast as possible (read as: spends most of the journey on the wrong side of the road) and you have all the ingredients for a delightful eleven hours. Turns out the railway from Guangzhou was closed as were many of the roads. How we made it out I've no idea.
But I digress. This episode should really begin in Macau. Sometimes it just seems too easy. Obviously you need a bit of cash to travel, & ideally a bit of time off work, but once those are sorted it's just too easy to turn up in a random place somewhere half way across the world. Last Friday for a very few amount of dollars indeed, Air Asia picked us up in Bangkok & dropped us off in Macau.
For those who don't know, Macau was until recently part of Portugal. (in a very vaguely similar way to how Hong Kong was part of the UK). Macau is a nice place, although there's not a
lot going on there. It's a sometimes surreal mix of grand colonial Portugeuse buildings fronting typical Asian backstreets. Rather than Temples there's Churches - although the most famous ones all seem to be ruins. There's very few tourists there - probably because there's really not much to do. The main 'sight' is the town 'square' which consists of some beautiful colonial buildings. Sadly they are all inhabited by the likes of McDonalds, Starbucks, Levi's, Body Shop etc. Most people who go seem to be Chinese from across the border who come to gamble at the many casinos. As I said, nice place just not a lot to do.
After a night in Macau we walked into China. Thousands of Macanese & Chinese were crossing the border along with a handful of Westerners. We were pulled aside & asked to complete a 'health declaration' It's good to know that they are keen to check our bowel
movements & the state of our throats - however if they are checking for 'deadly SARS virus' or 'deadly-hype bird flu' then they probably should take the time to check locals rather than tourists, as they are the ones who have generally been getting
Tea
Anyone for a cuppa? sick with these diseases.
Walking into China was hot. I've said a number of times the past few weeks that I think I'm the hottest & sweatiest I've ever been. But the first half hour or so in China was extreme. We already had a bus ticket (to Guangzhou) & were told it was a short walk to the bus.
However each person we asked pointed us in the exact opposite direction. After thirty minutes with our ever growing backpacks & the increasing chance that we would miss the bus anyway we were soaked through with sweat dripping from every single pore.
It turned out that the bus was down an escalator in an air conditioned terminal just seconds from where we crossed the border. We spent the next two hours (which seemed to consist entirely of us on bridges that were at least 4km long) on the freezing bus slowly drying out & enjoying the scenery (& karaoke).
We had no idea what to expect from Guangzhou, our first stop in China - we were only going there because it was on the way to wherever was going to be next. Guangzhou is a typical mid
size Asian city (3+ million people), and there's really not a lot to do there either. In fact it's main redeeming feature was the bizarre sight of numerous middle aged American couples with Chinese babies. Yes - this is where you come to adopt a baby. At first it just looks a bit odd, but the more you think about it, the more surreal it becomes. Not only are these 'parents' going through the numerous emotions of having a new child, they also have
to live in a rather uninspriring Chinese city for a period of time too.
We did find a few interesting Temples in Guangzhou, as well as a few very helpful locals who guided us when we were thoroughly lost. The city is supposed to be known for it's food - but we struggled to find any. Macau was full of noodle places, every alley or street corner
had one. But here there was nothing.
The concept of 'vegetarian' is not really widely recognised in many places here. Meat was so scarce in years gone by (& still is for millions of peasants) that many can't understand why you wouldn't eat it if you could.
However China was making 'fake meat' years before Linda McCartney, and Tofu/Bean curd is readily available everywhere so you would expect it to be moderately easy to get veggie food. However despite my selection of phrases to explain that I am not into my meat I've had a few interesting meaty encounters. Perhaps most memorable was a particularly expensive restaurant where I had allegedly vegetarian eggplant caked with some kind of pork mince.
That said the next day we found an amazing veggie restaurant with allsorts of 'mock' meat, such as 'prawns'
We also took a look at a few revolutionary sights including a place where Chairman Mao & his comrades studied. We found an interesting mausoleum too - still seems sad that these people have to be dug up a few hundred years after they are buried though.
It also rained non stop in Guangzhou.
This was followed by the aforementioned bus ride here to Yangshuo, where we still are a week later. The rain stayed a few days, but has since passed & we are again constantly soaked with sweat. I'm not complaining - just setting the scene. I'd rather this than record breaking
Hard Sell
Local women near Longji looking for business freezing Wellington or sweltering in London any day!
In stark contrast to the big cities, Yangshuo is a stunning & smaller place. The whole area is surrounded by hundreds of tall thin limestone mountains that rise up everywhere. They are around town & they are throughout the rice fields where the peasants are always working. The town itself is small & although very touristy, still full of traditional old streets & buildings. It's the kind of place you come to for a day but stay a week.
As expected it's changed since I was last here in 1999, although the most dramatic difference is the number of Chinese tourists - being the holidays there are thousands of them. Somehow that adds to the charm though - I'd rather be surrounded by Chinese tourists than Western. It's also full of schoolchildren here on holidays & day trips wanting to practice their English.
The best way to see the area is by bicycle so we hired a guide & set off into the paddy fields. Being lost amongst the lush green of the rice fields & the limestone mountains is just magical. Before long I was invited to try
my hand at being a peasant. This time of year the rice is being harvested so I was out in the field with my scythe cutting back the stalks. It's backbreaking work, but personally I think there's a lot to be said for the simple life. Paul, our guide, is the ultimate modern day Chinese hero. He's a peasant turned entrepreneur. He used to work the fields in the village with his family, but now he has given up peasant status (you have papers which define what you are) & has a share in three restaurants as well as his guiding business. As with other young people we've spoken too he doesn't really care either way about the past & Chairman Mao - he's just looking to the future.
Another famous area near here is the Longji Dragon's Backbone Rice Terraces. These rice terraces are built into the mountain side, rising up to 1100 metres high. Some levels are as small as a metre square - yet each level is painstakingly tended by the locals. Despite their efforts the terrain is so poor that they only yield one crop each year & don't even make enough money for it
to be worthwhile. The same is true of many peasants elsewhere - the work they do with their crops is hardly worth the effort as many will only just make enough to eat let alone sell. Many young people are leaving the countryside & heading for the city & you get the feeling that perhaps it's only a matter of time before there's no one left to tend the crops. Perhaps then the combine harvesters will roll in & take over. (Also saw our first snake up here).
We've also been drinking a lot of tea. Kylie & I seem to have accuired a reputaion for being a bit partial to a cup of decent tea - not your average gumboot/Bell/PG Tips, but something a bit more interesting. It's always amused me that most places I've been in Asia think that being western we must want to drink Nescafe coffee or plain black tea, rather than the exotic brews only found locally. The last week or so we've been enjoying osmanthus tea from Fuli village market & Longji tea from the mountains.
Another find at the Fuji market was a dog being barbecued. I won't post the photo
here as some people may be a little shocked. I won't go into too much detail either other than to say there were a few dogs to choose from & the cooking was being done with a blowtorch of all things..... If you're really interested to learn about the dog then let me know & I'll send you a seperate email!
I've since added the photos - there's two at the very bottom. If you think you'll be a little disgusted (& you may be it's not that nice) then don't scroll right to the bottom, scroll slowly from here. The pictures are just below the shot of some local transport (express bus). You should be able to read all the text without seeing the dog photos... Personally I don't have a problem with people eating dogs any more than I have a problem with people eating cows, rabbits, pigs or fish. Meat is meat, if you're going to eat one animal why not eat them all. It's only because someone domesticated cats & dogs that we think it's wrong to eat them. If we'd domesticated pigs & chickens instead the world would be
a very different place.
We spent much of yesterday on a bamboo raft gently floating down the Yulong River through a valley of limestone pillars. The scene was pure paradise & most of the journey was serenely peaceful. Of course every so often we would pass a few hundred Chinese people all shouting & splashing water at each other as they fell from their rafts, but generally it was a perfect way to end our time in this place.
Our sponsors this time are our new friends at the Green Lotus Cafe in Yangshuo. Hello & THANK YOU to Vicky, Xiao Di, Paul & co for everything. Your hospitaility, advice, help, guidance & food is appreciated! We'll see you again someday.
If you ever find yourself in Yangshuo before to head to the Gree Lotus Cafe. The food here has also been quite divine - endless taste sensations every day.
After a week of trying & failing to buy a ticket out our plans have suddenly changed. Originally we were trying to travel east to Nanjing or Shanghai to meet Kylie's Dad. When we gave up on getting a ticket we talked about heading west to
Express Bus
near Yangshuo Tibet. Then someone had 'maybe' found a ticket to Shanghai for us. Moments before buying that we heard that Kylie's Dad had the same trouble with tickets so was on the move away from where we planned to meet anyway. Hence we are finally on the move, but we are backtracking.
Tonight we are heading back to Guanzhou. How ironic.
except of course we are now in Beijing - today we shared a few moments with a rather pasty looking Chairman Mao. I'll try to get back up to date as soon as I can. Thanks for tuning in XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
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Jon Rowe
non-member comment
Greetings Tim
This is good stuff mate, I'm very envious, definitely beats sitting in an office here in Sheffield. Cycling through the paddy fields and the mountains sounds wonderful. Glad you're not as lazy as I am and are therefore able to write loads and post some good pics. If you get a chance could you email me some of the TW lots email addresses, I've lost them..... :-( Reading this and spotting a comment from Lozza reminded me how long it's been since I've been in touch!