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Published: October 9th 2006
Cruising The Yulong River, Yangshuo
Now Is That Duck Mountain I See Before Me? Probably Not... .I last left you in northern Viet Nam where I'd spent a great few weeks relaxing, meeting friends (and saying goodbye to others) whilst taking in the sights. Well I've now made it back into China - I'm currently in Chengdu which is in the south-west, waiting for a train to take me somewhere I've wanted to go for many years now - but more about that later.
Determined to continue the theme of overland travel (so no flights to Oz) I re-traced my steps up to the Friendship Pass in north-east Viet Nam by taking a mini van and then taxi to the border. A lot more building work had taken place since I was last at the Pass and you no longer have to clamber over so much rubble which is a bonus when you're carrying a pack! I entered the gleaming immigration building with the 2 Chinese blokes with whom I'd shared a taxi and placed my passport on the counter along with the 50 or so other ones (mainly Chinese and some Viet Namese) waiting to be stamped out of the country. After a while I became a bit concerned that it seemed to be taking
ages and realised that the people I'd entered with had long gone. I ambled up to the counter to notice that my passport had been put to 1 side, along with a Chinese diplomatic passport. The immigration official noticed me standing there and held up my passport and immigration card. Unfortunately the side of the card had been ripped in the zip on my money belt - although you could read the stamp and all the relevant info, it did look a bit tatty. Anyway, he then waved the card in the air with such disdain it was as though someone had just spat on it. Without looking at me, he flung it on the desk and carried on with his other passports. By this stage, I got chatting to a friendly German couple and arranged to share a taxi with them to Nanning (once I got through the border!). After about 20 minutes or so of achieving his aim of making me sweat he picked up the passport again and started berating me for having the audacity to give him such a tatty looking official document (I'm guessing that's what he said, but it was all in Viet Namese!)
but he looked well annoyed. Anyway, he then flung it on the counter after stamping me out and I went to the next counter - to get the same treatment - only this time the bloke screwed it up, threw it in the bin and waved me away as quickly as he could! Then it was onto the Chinese entry point - for the 2 blokes to doubt that the picture was me in my passport so it was passed amongst their colleagues and I tried to pull any number of facial expressions, trying to copy my passport picture! What a relief it was to finally get through - pretty stressed out but at least I'd got through and out the other side.
It was then time to haggle for a taxi to Nanning with the friendly German couple. It was far easier (although considerably more expensive) to get the taxi there rather than the train from Pingxiang to Nanning, but for convenience factor it won hands down and it meant I didn't have to wait 4 hours for the train. I checked into a hotel in Nanning near the railway station and fought my way through the mass
The Long Haired Women Of LongShen
Not Tonight, Dear, I'm Washing My Hair... of people to buy a ticket to Guilin. This was the start of the National Holiday - a week long holiday marking the creation of the People's Republic of China in 1949, which starts on October 1st and lasts for 7 days, and this year had the autumn lunar festival on October 6th so a double celebration! (It did mean plenty of Moon Cakes and I would have posted a picture of one of those on here if it weren't for the fact that I ate them all before I got around to it). Hence everyone wants to travel to take their holidays. Anyway, I got a ticket for the following day and hit the sack.
I arrived in Guilin after an easy 5 hour train trip and took a bus to Yangshuo, a small town in the middle of beautiful limestone outcrops - a bit similar to the scenery at Halong Bay and elsewhere in northern Viet Nam. I'd heard lots of good things about Yangshuo - what a beautiful place to chill out and a great place to meet other travellers some had said, whilst one person had said to avoid it as it was full of
Local Children
Always Keen To Have Their Pic Taken! neon lights and cafes/bars and not an especially special experience. Well, I have to say, my initial impression was that I agreed with the latter opinion. There's no denying that there are many bars and restaurants - especially around West Street and you could almost imagine that you're somewhere back home. It was also a lot busier than I ever imagined it would be - not the sleepy little place that I'd hoped for. However, it was the holiday season and countless Chinese tourists were on holiday there so maybe it's quieter at other times. That said, it was slap bang in the middle of some of the most beautiful scenery I've seen in China so far and it was so easy to get away from the hustle and bustle of the crowds. On one side the Yulong river winds through the limestone hills, home to the cormorant fishermen that ply the waterways, whilst behind you are more bizarre looking hills - looking like huge termite mounds, they rise as massive pinnacles completely independant of each other, rather than as a range of hills. I spent a thoroughly relaxing week here, exploring some beautful areas and meeting some great people
and I have to say, I'm really glad that I gave it the chance to prove itself.
One day I took a guide from the hostel and the 2 of us headed out on mountainbikes (how good it felt to finally get on a bike again!) and explored the countryside away from the town, travelling along the narrow lanes alongside farmers' fields. Water buffalo wallowed in the shallow ponds, cooling off from the midday heat. Elsewhere, farmers sat in the shade taking a break or inspected their crops of rice, dressed in large conical, bamboo hats to provide some shade. After about an hour of cycling, we stopped at a little jetty to take a bamboo raft downstream. Already completely relaxed after having ridden through idyllic scenery, I now became almost comatose as we hopped aboard and just drifted, pushed by a guy punting us along. We passed the occasional stationary raft which sold drinks and sweets (although they seemed to shout "beer?" at me when I went passed!). My guide, Jade, pointed out the various hills that towered over us - Moon Hill (which has a moon shaped hole through the middle), Mandarin Duck Hill and various other
The Dragon Rice Terraces, LongShen
I Realise I'm Spoiling A Perfectly Beautiful View, But Who'd Have Believed I Was There Otherwise? hills with legends attached to them. I've never been very good at seeing how a hill can look like a duck, but it was nice to understand the legends behind the names. We also chatted about the book "Journey To The West", which describes the monk who travelled west to further his knowledge of Buddhism - as he travelled through this area and past these hills (and is also described in the 1970 Japanese TV series, "Monkey" - anyone my age will remember that on BBC2!). After the bamboo rafting, we visited a local park where grows a large banyan tree, reputed to be over 1400 years old, so it's now good luck to attach a red cloth to it (red being good luck in China) which will bring success in life, work and general longevity. There are hundreds of caves to visit in the area and we visited the Assembled Dragon caves which you can walk around (there are others where you can clamber through too) - again, there were loads of shapes in the stalagmites and stalagtites that everyone else could see apart from me!
I stayed at Lisa's Cafe in Yangshuo which was a good place
to meet other travellers and is right in the thick of things. The staff are also very friendly indeed and the rooms are all clean. However, it being the National Holiday, prices suddenly shot up - my bed almost tripled in price from Yuan30 to Yuan80 (Y15 = GBP1) that week and then I found out that people in my dorm of 4 were all paying different prices, some of them lower then me for the same room! It left a bit of a bitter taste in my mouth as hostels rely on word of mouth in some respects and it felt like I'd been ripped off.
Whilst in Yanhshuo I took a day trip to Longshen which is a place near Ping'An to see the Dragon Rice Terraces - dramatic terraces clinging to the hillsides that appear almost vertical, especially when you walk up alongside them! The drive out there was epic - about 4 hours from Yangshuo in a minivan, with the last part climbing up the hillside on a gravel road with newly fallen rocks and boulders on 1 side and a sheer drop to the water below on the other. Not really for the faint-hearted!
Soft Sleeper Class
Liuzhou To Chengdu, 35 Hours. My Bed Is The Messy One, Lower Left At one point, we met a minivan coming the other way on a narrow, blind bend as we drove around some fallen rocks - we clipped wing mirrors and gradually eased our way around each other. Complete silence in the van!
The views at the top were spectacular - for as far as the eye could see, rice terraces lined the sides of the steep hills. The rice which here is only harvested once a year was starting to turn golden so added yet another shade of greens and golds to the colours that lay before us. Being a tour, we were then entertained by the locals, which in this case was the local tribe of women who only cut their hair once - when they're 18. The rest of the time it's bundled up in a bun-type affair on top of their heads. Having been asked if I wanted to attend the "long hair show" I'd had distinct 2nd thoughts, but after having some food in what turned out to be the display area, I realised I was then in the front row so had little choice. Nonetheless, it was interesting to see their tribal dress, although I
Buddhist Artefacts For Sale, Chendgu
Everything You Could Ask For Is For Sale, Including Fake Money To Burn And Your Very Own Buddhist Shrine did manage to avoid being pulled up to join in the local dance!
After a relaxing week in Yangshuo, I caught the bus to Liuzhou. Nobody in Yangshuo would sell me a train ticket to Chengdu as all journeys would start from Liuzhou so you have to actually get to the starting point to buy the ticket. It meant 2 days in a town where I didn't meet a single person who spoke English which when you're buying a train ticket and ordering food is always good fun! Armed with my phrasebook and a manic grin (you can almost sense the feeling of dread from someone in a ticket desk when I approach), I managed to get things sorted and stayed in yet another hotel near a station where you get the inevitable call at night asking if you require any other "services" (although it's in Chinese it's fairly obvious). Liuzhou also turned out to be the only place on the whole trip where when I'd ask a question using my phrasebook (by pointing at the phrase), the person would kindly reply by writing the answer in Chinese - or by speaking very slowly! Elsewhere, people would either give
A Tense Game Of Mah-jong
I Was Invited To Sit Alongside And Watch This Game, Which Although Good Humoured, Was Tense Nonetheless up or we'd just find someway using sign language to find out the answer - not here though! I'm not for one minute saying that anyone should have spoken English, but it just struck me as strange that here was so different to elsewhere on my trip.
The train to Chengdu was a mammoth 35 hour trip - the only ticket I'd managed to get hold of was in soft sleeper class (effectively 1st class, so I got to sit in the 1st class waiting room complete with a/c and plasma TVs - I fitted right in here!), so it could have been worse! Costing GBP35, it meant I was in a compartment of 4 bunks with a door. I was also next to the restaurant car, although I existed on the usually pot noodles and Dove chocolate bars - as well as Cadbury Eclairs (thanks, Danielle!). Again, I didn't meet any other English speakers (although had fun holding a conversation consisting entirely of 1 word sentences, e.g. "nationality?", "age?", "name?", with a ticket inspector who had a translator program on his PDA) so whipped through a couple of books instead. When I met my first "victim" who was the first person I could speak English to in 4 days, I didn't stop!
As I mentioned earlier, I'm now at a hostel in Chengdu waiting for the train to Lhasa. I really cannot wait, and in a week I'll actually be there. I'll be taking the new train, which is pressurised due to the altitude of the tracks (Lhasa is at about 3700m and at one point it travels on a pass at 5000m). Oxygen is also available on board for those who need it! Don't worry, Mum, I'll be fine!
Anyway, I've written way more than I was expecting to write. Thanks for the feedback on the other blogs, I really do appreciate that - it's great hearing news from home and other travellers' plans, and also what you think of the blogs as they're usually written in a bit of a rush and it's a bit of a download of what I've been up to - so maybe it's rather random at times! Anyway, keep in touch, please. The next update will be after I've returned from Tibet - the plan is to spend about 12 days there and then head to Laos via south-west China. Thanks again and speak again soon.
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Mike
non-member comment
Rice terraces
Love the picture of the rice terraces Andy.....great one.