Day 424: Thursday 27th August - Travelling to Guilin Normally you’re in a rush to get on the way when your day is going to be taken up travelling. After two days in Chengyang though I’m starting to get used to this slow, slow pace of life and just take my time to get ready and enjoy my last few hours in this beautiful village. At 10am, I catch the bus to Sanjiang where I must wait a further hour to catch a bus to Guilin. I feel like an exhibit in the zoo as I walk into Sanjiang’s bus station [View Full Entry]

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Day 420: Sunday 23rd August - Arriving in Longji Rice Terraces In my last post, I had just arrived in the town of Ping’ An 36 hours after commencing my journey from Lijiang. Needless to say on my arrival, I take the first reasonably priced accommodation. I can’t be bothered to look around. Thankfully this gives me my own room to get a good night’s sleep. On closer inspection, naturally after I’ve agreed to take the room, I find the bed is rock hard. It hasn’t got what the average person would describe as a mattress, it only being an inch [View Full Entry]

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Day 414: Tuesday 18th August - A beautiful old Chinese town My overnight bus journey to Lijiang from Kunming started as the low point of my China trip but it ends up turning out for the best. The cheat in Kunming bus station and the bumpy journey in cramped beds were both unpleasant experiences, but had I not taken the night bus I would never have met the four girls from Dorset. In adversity solidarity breeds and as each of us had to endure the horrible man in Kunming bus station trying to cheat us out of money and the worst [View Full Entry]

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Day 422: Tuesday 25th August - It feels like I’ve taken a step back in time to another century Today I swap the fantasy world of the Longji Rice Terraces for a world of yesteryear at Chengyang. I leave Ping’ An on the 9am bus, one last look up the hill at the surreal sight of the beautiful terraces. At Longsheng I part company with Jimmy and Maria who are going on to Guilin. I take a bus to Sanjiang, two hours away. As we approach Sanjiang, driving alongside the river we pass a number of impressive bridges and their refection [View Full Entry]

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Day 412: Sunday 16th August - Intimidated by China I’ve done numerous border crossings on this trip but none have intimidated me as much since the first one in Mexico City’s airport on day one than the one today into China. I don’t know why this is, whether it is irrational or maybe the fear of the unknown. I pack my bags for the trip into China ensuring that my Chinese guidebook is deeply buried in my main rucksack. I’ve read stories that Chinese border guards will confiscate guidebooks as they show Taiwan to be a separate country from China. I [View Full Entry]

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Day 409: Thursday 13th August - Too fatigued to venture far After an hour’s bus journey from Lao Cai I arrive in Sapa at breakfast time. With no map for reference, I haven’t got a clue where the hotel I booked through the travel agency in Hanoi is. Tired after my overnight train journey from Hanoi, neither have I the patience to endure the constant requests for motorbike rides nor to buy something from the hill tribe women as I walk through the streets of Sapa looking for my hotel. I am not best pleased with what greets me at the [View Full Entry]

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Day 406: Monday 10th August - Water puppets and Bia Hoi I check into the only backpackers hostel in Hanoi on my return from Halong Bay. It’s been three long months since I was last shared a dorm room in a hostel - Malaysia, middle of May, three countries ago being the last occasion. Immediately, I am having regrets booking a dorm room. I have nothing against the people I’m sharing my room with, it’s just I’m used to having my own space. In Vietnam having your own room isn’t uneconomic - it would cost me only $4 a night more. [View Full Entry]

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Day 405: Sunday 9th August - Day 1 of Halong Bay Today I’m off for a two day tour to Halong Bay. It seems to top most people’s lists as the must do thing in Vietnam and is also on a shortlist of 28 for the 7 natural wonders of the world. However, after my experience of tours in Vietnam I’m not going to get carried away. Sure enough this, my fifth tour in the country doesn’t get off to the best of starts. It is a three and a half hour drive to Halong Bay from Hanoi and we are [View Full Entry]

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Day 402: Thursday 6th August - Getting a Chinese Visa in Hanoi isn’t straightforward A horde of people meet the train as it pulls into Hanoi. Many of the crowd are motorbike riders looking for business. One latches on to me as I climb off the train. I need a ride so I’m happy to listen to him rather than wave him away. The first stage of discussions is the entirely predictable haggling over a price - he starts stupidly high until he comes down to my price when he sees that I’m not budging. Unfortunately I choose the one guy [View Full Entry]

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Day 399: Monday 3rd August - Back on the Reunification Express: Destination Hue I leave a grey Hoi An at 9:30am after a visit to the post office to post a box of delights home. A further hour and I’m in Danang, and after an hour’s wait in the station, I’m back aboard the Reunification Express. The journey to Hue is only about 100km, but as I failed to point out in my last blog about the Reunification Express - it doesn’t move very fast, due to some steep gradients in the hilly terrain. Whereas the Saigon to Danang leg was [View Full Entry]

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