The China Story At Last

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Hi All

So I am aware that it has been ages since I posted my last blog and this has been for a number of reasons including rubbish wi-fi connections, us being so busy and moving so quickly and finaly my laziness!

Anyway I am now in Yangshuo in southern China - A location which has apparently been used in some Star Wars films (Like I care!) and we are due to head off to Vietnam tomorrow so I wanted to post this update before we leave China.

I can't believe we have had nearly a month here and we have had a great time so it has gone so quickly!

Anyway after a flight from Kathmandu to Singapore and then a connecting flight to Beijing we arrived at about half ten in the morining.

After being used to great English being spoken in India and Nepal we quickly discovered that the English in China is of a much lower standard - but certainley better than my non-existant Mandarin and Cantonese!

We found our dorm in Beijing quickly after using the underground system and checked into our dorm room which was ten beds. After a long sleep we quickly met up with some other guys from England who had arrived from Dubai. They wanted to go out so we went out to some bars in Beijing and ended up having a really good time and being very tired the next day.

The Great Wall daytrip was great and we decided to do this ourselves rather than taking one of the expensive tours. It is about 60 miles north of Bejing and we wanted to go to a site less 'touristy' than the option that was available at Badaling. After finding the bus we headed out and arrived a town called Hairou which is in the middle of nowhere and has no one speaking English at all! We got dragged out of the bus early by some touts but ignored them and eventually found a taxi to complete the journey. The great wall is fantastic and goes for as far as the eye can see. It was a steep section that we went to but we managed to climb up and get some great pics.

When we left Beijing we took an eight hour overnight seat on a tran to a place called Qingdao which is on the Yellow Sea coast. It was good there but the weather was foggy so we didn't get to see much.

Leaving Qingdao we took a 20 hour train to Suzhou where we had a look around soe of the traditional Chinese gardens. Suzhou is over 600 miles from Qingdao so when we arrived it was like coming into anothher country! The weahter was so humid and we made it to the hostel after a short taxi ride and were glad to get in the air-con!

Afrter Suzhou we headed for Shanghai which was 45 mins away on the train. Shanghai is a very modern city and Skyscrapers are everywhere. We went to the top of the Shanghai world financial center and the views from both dusk and nigh were stunning. We could see for miles and at our viewing gallery height of 425 meters I honestly felt as though the building was swaying!

Back in the hostel we quickly met some other travellers and went out again to some bars in the night - eventually getting back to the hostel at 5am!

From Shanghai we took another 20 hour train down to Hong Kong with two people called Phil and Louise who we had met in the hostel the night before.

We arrived in Hong Kong at about 1pm the next day and found our room in the infamous Chunking Mansions (You have to do a search for this place on Google!) The crumbling tower block rising out of primary real estate is one of the biggest dumps I have seen but the rooms inside were O.K. Once checked in we headed straight out to Hong Kong harbour and the famous Star Ferry which is the best way accross to Hong Kong island. The journey only takes 7 mins but offers some great views. In the night a went to have a look at the famous Hong Kong skyline from accross the harbour which wwas a great way to finish off the day.

After Hong Kong we took a 55 minute catamaran to Macau which is a former Portuguese colony in the same way Hong Kong was British. Macau is also the only place in the China region where gambiling is legal and so has the world 's biggest Casino called the Venetian Macau. Inside are rivers complete with gondalas so it was well wort us having a look around.

From Macau we booked a two hour bus to Guangzhou which we had to go to so we could then book a bus to Guilin which is near Yangshuo where I am now. Guangzhou is a modern business city and has nothing for travellers so we booked our bus asap which left that night. It was an eight hour journey to Guilin and we arrived at half 5 in the morning in heavy rain. After taking cover for a few houurs in a McDonalds we reached check in time and went to our hostel.

It turned out that Guilin and lots of southern China has been experiencing torrential rain for the last few weeks and the Li River was flooded near our hostel!

Anyway it was good to relax a bit there and here in Yangshuo before we head to Vietnam tomorrow.

I hope to put up another blog again soon!

Jarvis

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