China part 2

Hey!

Update time again! I'm having a lovely relaxing day so it's quite nice to collect my thoughts of the last 10 days or so.

Firstly I've met some interesting people so far. This evening an Irish guy checked into the dorm, and we got chatting for a couple of minutes and after him hearing my Scottish accent he said he did the West Highland Way earlier in the summer. I asked him if he went into the National Park centre in Balmaha (where I worked this summer), he shouted "No way, I remember you,.. you phoned up the Rowardennan Youth Hostel for me!" and yeh absolutely wild - I'm in Lijiang, a town in North West Yunnan Province and Im chatting to this Irish guy I’ve just met about his WHW trip and how he got on in Rowardennan!!

I’ve met loads of cool travelers so far, and it’s been a great way to discover different places, finding out what’s worth doing or skipping. In Yangshuo we climbed the TV tower hill by a ridiculously obscure path you could never hope to find. This morning I caught a sunrise at Black Dragon Pool - after someone telling me it’s the best way to see the site and also you get free entry as the ticket office doesn’t open till 7AM!

Met some great Chinese people. In Yangshuo we went for a days cycling adventure, it rained heavily all day but we set off anyway. Ended up getting totally lost and couldn’t find anywhere to get some food. A Chinese guy - I’ve forgotten his name - invites us in and cooks all 4 of us a big rice dish. It was delicious, and when we finished we took out our wallets and he said “No No!” - he wouldn’t let us pay for the food!
Another great adventure was the 19 hour train ride from Guilin to Kunming on a hard seat! The guy I was sitting next to was so friendly, he spoke little English but we used my Mandarin phrasebook to communicate, and chatted for almost the whole journey. He told me I was the first westerner he had ever spoken to (he was my age!). Anyway on the train he told me, that being the only white person I would be a target for opportunist thieves! The train was like a mile long and there was one policeman walking between the carriages,. He spoke to the policeman and asked if he’d watch after me. The policeman ended up sitting right next to us, I felt so safe and looked after!

My experience so far in China has been enhanced so much by the many great people I’ve met so far. On several occasions people have asked if I need directions or anything.

My favourite place so far has been Yangshuo, great people and great scenery. The highlight for me was trekking along the Li River, didn’t even see one tourist the whole time on our 6 hour hike. We crossed the river in a bamboo boat with what looked like a 2 stroke engine, they could barely make it back up stream! We veered off from the river and trekked through some hills, going through local villages and picking tangerines off the trees along the way!

There’s been low points aswell, After arriving in Kunming, it took me over an hour to find the Vietnam consulate with my huge heavy backpack. The lonely planet map was totally wrong, when I eventually got there the guy was locking up for lunch, a 2 hour lunch break! So I decided to try and find the hostel.. and yeh the directions were hopeless. Long story short I didn’t find the place till after 4!

Tomorrow I’m setting off for a 3 day trek along tiger leaping gorge with Trevor (the Irish guy), so I’m really looking forward to it. I wasn’t gonna do it but the weather in Lijiang has been so great that it’s the perfect time to just go for it!

Anyway I’ll try and get some more photos up asap.

Cheers!


Andy

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