Ziniszen

With that wonderful statement scribbled on the toilet wall in my hostel in Chengdu I start my long overdue blog. The reason for that kind of graffiti is that Chengdu is the home of the famous and legendary hot pot. The next morning is pain and no gain for anybody that has tried this delectable dish. Toilet humour aside, what have I been doing since my last update? I decided to hang in Chengdu for a little longer and do a few touristy things after our pointless tea trip. The next day we were up bright and early to check out the Leshan Buddha. The pictures don’t really give you a sense of scale. He is actually 71 metres tall, his ear is bigger than me. We climbed down the cliff face, took a few happy ... read more

So for the younger crew in my subscriber list and all those that want to hear about nights out in China here goes. To start with it whoops anything back home, Townsville’s vomit and piss smelling drinking holes have nothing on China’s futuristic party places. Basically nights out can be divided into two sections. First you go out to a hostel bar where the vibe can either be pumping or mellow. Our crew usually frequents a Belgian Bar run by a Polish Aussie called Bart. Bart is a pretty cool bloke from Melbourne and if you getting yarning enough he will swing you a few free beers. From there we head over to the raving hostel bar. This place is something to behold. You buzz yourself in before walking down a long corridor and down ... read more

Now seeing your all excited because I whacked an exclamation mark onto the end of Mt.Huashan you might want to figure out what it is first, apart from obviously being a mountain. (Go on Wikipedia and a have a look) The long and the short of it is Mt. Hua is one of China’s five sacred Taoist mountains. The mountain has 5 peaks with the tallest having an elevation of 2160m. Just a little bit bigger than mighty Castle Hill back home. The mountain is home to gods, fairies and mythical dragons which I met but more on that later on… Before I climbed I met this awesome chick from America called Ashley. We weren’t besties straight away but a night out to dinner and a few drinks at the bar and we were great mates. ... read more

Look at the computer your reading this on, feel the fan or air con in your room and you probably have the light on don’t you? Guess what all made in China right? Everything we use is made in China and obviously I’m telling you guys nothing new. It used to be Made in China equaled crap but that idea is long gone. I don’t mind buying anything from the East, at home we have a nice T.V, all have laptops and computers and they all work well. I’m happy with the quality I get from my Chinese product in our Western World. Then to further this it always seems to be in the news that China is flying ahead and it is the new place of economic prosperity. Buildings are flying up, cities are ... read more

More on that later though…The flight to China was pretty cruisy, we were only slighted delayed due a typhoon in the South of China. I was actually pretty surprised with the service on my flight with China Eastern Airlines. There were copies of the paper, two rounds of hot towels, plenty of food and a choice of wine all for free! It looked like I might miss my connection to Xian so I grabbed the nearest hostie and told him of my predicament. I was then immediately whisked up to business for the last half hour of the trip. There I enjoyed my massage seat before being let off the plane first and being whisked through customs to the next boarding gate. It didn’t actually matter though because the flight was delayed. Still I was grateful ... read more