Rich & San's Long March... Yunan, Guangxi, Hunan, Shaanxi

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We both agreed (a rare thing I know) that to travel in China is a mission, one with chances of significant higher success if there is either a) the ability of speaking some of the language or b) paying for an interpreter. San chose the former whereas Rich chose the latter (gratuitously!)....Both of us had short scourges before into China, Rich in Shanghai for a few days with John and Siti a few years back and San with her Mum in Beijing 2000 but these short trips were like smelling the cork without tasting the wine. Four weeks of self-arranged travel, what luxury!

As an aside, for the uninitiated, or for those who's knees do not bend beyond 120 degrees, China can be split into two camps.... comfortable sit-as-long-as-you-like-with-a-book toilets and squat holes in the ground. China, through its isolation, has largely failed to adopt the 'throne' like the rest of the world. In many places, they have even failed to adopt a squat toilet, adamently sticking to holes in the ground that display previous deposits from numerous other toilet goers. Even for hardened San this, was sometimes hard to bear. For Rich, the idea of squatting in public was enough to forget the need to go. Poor him, this sqautting business is a messy, uncomfortableand painful subject.....

Today China really is everything that people say about it.... a nation racing at full speed to make up for lost time but with no rush to install sit down toilets! Those 10% year on year GDP growth rates are apparent everywhere. The vibrancy with which people live life is both admirable and a little scary. If this century is going to be the Chinese century then the world needs to brace itself. Despite the environmental challenges to the planet that China and its development poses we are pleased to see that the centrally planned system does seem to be displaying environmental responsibility and maturity well in advance of its developing nation status. Recycling is taken more seriously here than many of the developed nations and policies to care for the environment (环保) are continually being improved and updated. That's not to say that development here does not take its toll - take the 3 gorges for an example. Having visited both India and China, it seems like its the smarter investors who are choosing China over India are spot on. Other than the huge populations they have to tackle and the rich cultural and historical background, the two places are so starkly different in everyway. The irony is that India with its ultimately democratic system is developing totally unhomogenous and selfishly leaving the majority behind the wave of change with little to show for it. China on the other hand with its centrally planned yet totally opaque and unaccountable system displays a far more integrated development with a fair degree of responsibility for all, it seems.

The first week in China was a bit more frantic than we would have liked, with us moving on every few days and covering big distances by bus and train, but this is inevitable to be able to see a reasonable cross section of the country and its sights.

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Yunan and Guangxi

We crossed the border at HeKou by foot and from one mammoth immigration building to the other, the chaos at the Vietnamese side (where you should get your passport stamped is unclear and we went through 3 windows before finding the right one) gave way to more disciplined order on the Chinese Side. The immigration officer even opened up a new line for us once he saw us being rudely cut up by the vietnamese hoard. A definite pleasant surprise! But just as quickly we were reminded about the party line as San was asked to produce a book that was picked up by the X-ray machine - the China Lonely Planet. Intially he wanted to cofiscate the whole 3 inches of it for the fact that Taiwan was not shown as part of China. With some pleading, we managed to appease him by riping out the overview map and throwing it into the bin.

It's official, for the last 4 years, the train has not operated from Hekou to Kunming and unlikely to do so anytime soon. Although not decribed anywhere in the LP, the bus station is only about a 10 minute stroll from the immigration point. (Just take a left as you exit and then the first right. Walk down another 100m or so and its on the left.) Buses for Kunming leave every hour and takes about 10 hours (e.g. times are 0845, 1050, 1230 and 1300). We had some spare time so we listened to our stomach grumbles and easily appeased it with some ZhaJiang Mien (spicey minced meat noodles) in a nearby stall at a hotel lobby run by a Sichuanese guy. We didn't know at the time when we bought the tickets but taking the small buses is faster than the big ones due to the really bad stretch of road for about the first 4 hours of the journey. And why? You may ask... even if you don't we will tell you anyway... China seems to have utilised every usable square meter of land for agriculture or industry. In this steep sided mountainous region of southern Yunnan, the catastrophic defrorestation to yield additional crop area resulted in the numerous landslides we witnessed along the road - about one every few hundred meters for miles and miles. There was hardly a tree on the hills we passed and one wonders whether this shortsightedness is a sign of desperation combined with the government not focusing efforts on the agriculture sector in its bid to showcase the most fantastic Olympics the world has ever seen. Maybe even a throw back to the times when Mao was terrorising his own people to produce more each year to fuel his obsession of world domination in the 50's and 60's. This and the bus break down added 2 hours to our 10 hour bus ride and we arrived in Kunming at a lovely 1am. A journey not to be repeated again!

After a night in illegal accommodation (not intended for foreigners) and a day of unglamourous sightseeing in a overcast Kunming we headed with an overnight sleeper train to Guilin in Gangxi province. We were impressed with the organisation and efficiency at which the rail system runs. The 1st class (or as they call it soft) sleeper cabin for this 20 hour journey cost 375 Yuan (50USDpp) and was the best we have experienced to date on our travels - it put India and the British rail system to shame .... well we shan't even bother to comment...... We shared the cabin with two metals industry businessmen, Mr Wang and Mr Xie, and found it interesting chatting to them about life in China - although poor old San was knackered after a few hours by needing to translate for Rich as well as hold her own conversation - great for the improvement of her Mandarin but not for Rich's I'm afraid. This was to be a first of a series of conversations with locals that shed a significantly different viewpoint on the past, present and future.

Unfortunately, we were visiting at the off peak time in the Southern provinces, great for the budget but not the best weather. We encountered overcast skys or rain from Yunan to Hunan yet managed to get plenty of activity days in without getting wet. A day and a half was spent in Guilin City which has all the trappings of modernisation with its ubiquitous shopping malls and fast food centers but it is a nicely sized city with an ultra easy to understand transport system. Backstreet was our home for a few days and easily reached by bus. The hostel is a lot more tired than the pictures suggest and the staff are not as friendly but topping up your water bottle from the dispenser and the internet is free. A good full day was spent inQixing Garden the 1000+ year old park across the river. In the park's small zoo we had the luxury of seeing a REAL panda bear who was awake munching on bamboo as well as several lesser red panda bears. Quite a few minutes was spent laughing at the porcupines who were hissing and bristling their spikes as they fought over their food. We were lucky to just happen to be there during their mealtime (about 5pm). We spent the time in between dining on local Guilin rice noodles and snacking on heavy Xinjiang nut and dried fruit cake (that we bought from a vendor crossing the main bridge to the park).

It is very apparent the government's involvement in key tourist locations where prices are controlled and competition outside the machine is swiftly damped. Nowhere was this more apparent than on the Guilin to Yangshuo scenic river cruise in Guangxi province. Thousands flock here to look at the sprawling limestone karst scenery that is inspiration for so many traditional Chinese landscape paintings. A foreigner boat ticket is 500+ Yuan (70USD), the cheaper options of a Chinese tour group boat or private 4 seater mini-speedboat (which we opted for) topped off at 250 Yuan per head. 'Illegal' fishing boat options are heavily quashed, bring you only part of the way but can be landed for 100-150 per person. We teamed up with a pair of yankie brothers, Ryan and Jared, and took a speedboat the 3 hours south to Yangshuo. The boat weaves its way down river through some amazing limestone karst scenery and past fishermen and people collecting river weed on bamboo rafts to feed their livestock. We did not have too much luck with the weather on this trip and spent half the time dogged by sharp rain drops straight to the eyeballs and the view obscured by cloud most of the time. We arrived a little wet but still merry and took up residence in Morning Breeze Guesthouse which is conveniently situated equi-distant from the old town centre, the boat landing and the bus station. Better set up than 'Backstreet', it even has free bikes for loan. Over the next few days we dined on dumplings, noodles, pizza and beer, took a fantastically scenic 4hr trek back and forth across the river between the villages of Yangdi and XingPing passing remote villages more or less untouched by China's boom and completed the day with a well earned foot massage near the hostel. One of the must sees in Yangshou is the spectacular Liu SanJie Impressions by famed Chinese director Zhang Yimou based on a Guangxi legend. This hour long show set against the backdrop of the karst mountains and waters of the Li river involves 800 performers from the surrounding villages to spin the tale of two lovers. We bought the B1 tickets which is the second cheapest seats (180 yuan including transport - all accommodation in Yangshou will be able to arrange for you) and it was probably the best seats given the amount of space we had to move around and capture the show from various vantage points. The visual spectacle is completely mesmerising and one scene changed dramatically to the next under the moonlit night, with a gentle breeze that cradled the night air. The magic was a little abruptly broken when the show ended with the audience hardly giving any applause, more engrossed at that stage to leave and locate their buses. Why the rush, one has no clue.

For more travel tips on Yangshuo, click here

Yangshuo to Longsheng （龙胜） in the very North of Guangxi required transit via Guilin. It is a grubby town set amongst the hills and our gateway to PingAn and the beautiful Dragon's Backbone rice terraces. Being based there had a couple of advantages which included getting a good rest and tasting the cheap as straw good food in town. Riverside Guesthouse is nothing to shout about but the english teacher that runs it will be a god send to the linguistically challenged and the buses to PingAn stop by there. We headed off on the earlybird bus for the 90min ride to the village of PingAn set high on the hillside where we began a day long trek through the rice terraces to the neighbouring village of Dazhai. At first we saw nothing but morning mist but had fun getting to the viewpoint and waiting for the shifting mists to lift and reveal the views of the rice fields below. Not quite autumnal golden yellow, they were a enjoyable sight all the same. The real beauty however lay away from the crowds of daytrippers on the route to Dazhai after you ignore the pestering from the Dong people relentlessly bugging you to take you home lunch or to show you their long hair. Seems like the women are a lot more persistent then the men. We were also told that to get to DaZhai would be completed with many cut-offs. Kind offers to lead the way are attached with a 30yuan fee. We found the way easily enough actually and glad that we weren't branded 'suckers' for the misinformation. On afterthought, it would had been a nice possibility to stay in the area overnight to pack more in walks and sink right into the beautiful environment.

One of the nice things of staying in Longsheng is that the food in town is both cheap and really yummy. Most restaurants are found on the same road as the bus station. One of the new dishes we tried was Chestnut stewed duck (Lizhi Men Ya). The portions were huge and the Landscape Tofu (SanSui Dofu) went down very well. A bucketload of food and 4 large bottles of beer later, it racked up to 80yuan. Satisfyingly, we rolled out of town first thing in the morning to Sanjiang in order to connect with the train there to HuaiHua in Hunan province to the north of Guangxi. The original plan was to travel to Tong Dao at the south of Hunan province as there are direct bus connections to HuaiHua from there but as chance would have it, the bus to SJ left earlier.

We arrived in Sanjiang rail station at around 10am, with plans to head straight to HH without any stopover. Like 2 big 'duh' chickens, we made the 15km trip to the station only to be greeted by ghost town isolation. The earliest train that went to HH leaves daily at 7.50pm with tickets sold only half an hour before the train got to the station and departed (Train times from SanJiang to HuaiHua are dep.19.45 - arr. 00.20 and dep. 04.54 - arr. 08.25). We trudged to the nearby eateries (second shop down from the station on the left) run by a lovely 'Da Jie' (Big sister) who fed us with good home cooked fodder and kept an eye on our bags whilst we caught a mini van to the junction which leads to the famous ChengYang Wind Rain Bridge 20km outside Sanjiang itself. Opposite the entrance to the bridge are a flight of steps that takes one up the hillside to viewpoint overlooking the bridge and the pretty riverside village. This time of the year, it was green, green with young padi that draped the village like an gleaming bodice around a native woman's neck. The village's most famous sight was built by the villagers themselves and within the village, one is able to stay (backpacker friendly!) and take in the slower farming lifestyle as well as visit an older bridge deeper in. Time passed quickly and before we knew it, we were back on a minivan for the 7Yuan ride to the junction and then another similar ride back to the station (QiChe XiZhan). Da Jie fed us a good dinner and we topped up the day with copious amounts of beer (10 bottles perhaps?! We lost track) all for the grand sum of 31 RMB (4usd equilvalent) at the same coffee shop that we had breakfasted in and jumped on the train for a few hours sleep in a sleeper cabin all to ourselves before arriving just after the witching hour in HuaiHua.

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Hunan

Such an easy town to navigate and from the entrance of the station, we had a perfect vantage point to review the various accomodation options available to us. Rather than pick the options in the book (left of the station), we headed off towards the brightly neon sign that read '6+1', left of the station. We enjoyed a super deluxe room, a rare luxury, for a whopping 160RMB (21USD). We rolled around this luxury with its own little baby water dispenser till about 11am before strolling to the bus station which is about 1km down the road right of the central train station (a missing piece of info in the bible!).

2 hours later and a couple of throwup accidents caused by the lurching drive, we were in FengHuang on a good ol' Friday. Welcome to the quintissential tourist town of China. A mix of rapid development madeto look authentic and packed with flag waving tour guides, extortionate entrance fees and the loud unmistable sock donning chinese tourist, often with a wearth of flowers on their head as they got into the holiday mood of this fairy land with a bad make-up job. Fortunately, it is still easy to lose the crowd in the narrow streets away from the main thoroughfare. The stepping stones across the river, stilted houses bordering it, pagoda and patially restored ancient wall set back from the river are still charming. We made our home in a family guesthouse next to the wall for only 40RMB per night. Hilarious are the tourists who pay 3 yuan to donn a costume to get pictures taken as an Romance of the three Kingdoms army general, the Empress Dowager or a communist party member, complete with pistol and pointy cap! With 2 days of bright blue skies, everything was mega pretty.

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Gansu and Shaanxi

The landscape changes dramitcally from Hunan to Gansu. The train winds its way along the yellow river valley and through countless tunnels lined all the way by long patchwork fields on the flood plain and high dusty dry terraced hillsides either side, past little villages built from mud resplendent with the colkour of Chillies and Corn drying in the courtyard. With so little humidity, the sky was drawn into a bright blue/

After a night in the Hua Lian Hotel opp the Lanzhou station we arrived at the travel agent we had checked out the night before, only to be told that although Lanzhou was a gateway by train to Tibet we were unable to obtain our Tibetan permits here (every foreigner requires one of these to travel in Tibet although with a Chinky face, it would be nearly a 0%!c(MISSING)hance of being checked). One thing we have realised is that the Mainland Chinese would lie to get the most out of you even under the guise of being helpful. Never take no for an answer and never go without your own investigative work. Through previous investigations, we finlly contacted (Tibetan Connections) based in Xining, Qinghai the next province to the West, that was able to organise our permits remotely and fax them to us. Phewww.... the rest of the day was spent corresponding via email with Lai Har (who was going to join us and form the Virgins to Tibet Trio) in Beijing, scanning visas, wiring money and buying tickets to Lhasa for the 24th September (Yes, we bought our own train tickets... easier than we were told!). Back on track with the plan, we also purchased hard sleeper tickets to Xi'An for that night to backtrack only a mere 600+ km to see the city and the terracotta warriors. The sacrifices we made to get to Lhasa!

So after interesting for a few hours in the biggest, gloomest Cybercafe we had seen, leaving to drink cheap beer (3$ for over 4 litres of it!) and eating local shallow fried snacks sat on some plastic chairs on the pavement watching the passers by watching us play scrabble, we headed to the station around 11pm to get the train to Xi'an. Our first hard sleeper experience was a good one and we arrived relatively fresh at 8.30am and quickly struck a deal with the driver for Han Tang Inn at a good central location inside the walled city near the Drum Tower for 120 RMB per night for a double with bathroom. After a much needed scrub in the shower we headed out into the Muslim Quarter for some great unique food experiences (even for San) - check out the picture story for the Lamb Pao Mo (bread and lamb in a thick spicy sauce) and the tasty Liang Pi (spicey cold noodles with shredded cumcumber.) With full bellies (and believe me they take a bit of filling these days!) we visited the Great Mosque and interesting blend of Chinese and Arabic Muslim architecture in tranquil grounds. We were lucky enough to catch the Dhuhr (Noon) prayer session - a mesmurising experience watching old and young leave then stop still in their tracks (some still inside the Mosque, some half way through the courtyard,) turn West once again and hold their hand upward as the Imam made one last call for prayer. A walk to get our return tickets to Lanzhou and we were ready for a break and 'home'.

The Terracotta Warriors are easily reached by taking the green bus from the Train station car park took us to the site of the Terracotta warriors some 35km outside of town to the East. With so much said about the site, need we say more? Just look at the pictures!

A definite must see is the newly opened museum(May 2007) in the Little Goose Pagoda area. The entrance is 50yuan for both sites and one can easily spend 3 hours there looking at the very well laid out exhibits ranging from ming dynasty ceramics, to a history on seals and a huge wooden model of the old capital of the Middle Kingdom... the place where the chinese civilisation started

Before long, it was time our 22.53 train back to Lanzhou.

So continues the 2+1 Virgins to Tibet adventure to the mysterious Tibet! Roll on the prayer flags and wheels. Tibet here we come!

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Photos

Young Muslim hawker girl
Many of the women here wear the skullcap similar to the men rather than a tudong... the first place I have seen this.

Impressive 1500 year old Stelae in the Qixing Gongyuan (Seven Star Park)
First opened to sightseers by the Sui Dynasty in AD581 it has a bit of a history...

An outdoor spectacle at the Impressions Liu Sanjie
Zhang Yimou, Chinese director, has enlisted 600 locals to perform in this one hour extravaganza ON the Li river...

More of the show...
You can make out the fishermen and their boats silloetted...

View to the Hong Qiao bridge crossing the Tuo
Note the group of floating candels on the right. These were released by young lovers every evening... we just sat and watched... ;0)

Famed covered bridge at ChengYang
It took 12 years to build and is the one that the Dong of this region are the proudest...

Pot noodle on the train....
You can judge how far someone is travelling by the number of pot noodles they are carrying!

Close up of three warriors...
I'm sooooo glad at moments like this that I travel with my 2kg+ 400mm lens!

Chariot rider minus his right arm...
He was found on the left side of the pit! ;0)

The largest of pits - pit 3
The place was as facinating for the freespan roof as it was for the warriors!

Comments

[wei]

why issit 2+1 virgins? who's the 3rd virgin huh?

[wei]

oh chey! i thought wat... it's ur friend Lai Her...