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Hello people,
Today I got up about 1030 and had a shower and went down and had some breakfast and then went on the Internet. Then I realised the time and John had not appeared so I went and woke him up as we had 15 minutes until we had to check out. We then packed up our stuff and went to find some food for John, this done, we then started to find our way to the bus to Yangshuo. On the way John noticed a shop which sold converse (or converse style) shoes but the girl painted any number of literally 100s of designs on the shoes. She was really talented as the ones on display were really good. So we mulled over the various options looking at about 4 or 5 folders full of pictures and i helped spot good ones for John who eventually made his decision. After that we went and caught a bus here. The bus took around 1.5 hours and eventually we arrived and then as we were walking towards the town to find a hostel, we bumped into Jork, one of the German guys we had met on the cruise. Unfortunately he was leaving that day, but we chatted to him for about half an hour or so while he waited to be picked up by his tour company who were late. We were also immediately struck by the number of westerners here, the most we'd seen in a confined space for a very long time. Then we walked down the road and found a hostel and checked in. We then went for a wander around the town and up the road, had a quick look at one of the markets before walking back to the city and having a look around one of the markets which ran across the river front. When the market ended we sat down and took a couple of photos of the river and treated ourselves to a piece of the Belgian milk chocolate we had bought, very nice indeed. We then found a restaurant where we had a beer, the waiter opened it with a chopstick which was rather impressive. We then fancied some good old western food. so we went to find some, there is a lot of restaurants catering to the western food so we didn't have too much trouble finding some. We found somewhere and sat down outside and started chatting to the guy next to us who was an American over on business. After dinner we went up the road and ordered another beer. It wasn't long before one of the guys working there started to talk to us and a short while after he offered to teach us a drinking game. This was the game that we couldn't understand in Guanzhou. It was lots of fun and we played that for a while. We then made our way back to the hostel.
When we woke up, both feeling a little worse for wear we went and found some breakfast. A really nice breakfast with eggs and bacon and lots of fruit. We then wandered up the road and hired a couple of bikes. We set off towards a place known as moon hill. which has a huge round hole through the middle. Very striking indeed. We continued to cycle along the road passing through the most stunning scenery chatting away as we went and saying hello to lots of Chinese people as we had done on Emei Shan. We eventually after 2 hours or so reached a toll gate, we had hoped to find a left turn and return a different way but we couldn't and we were now more than 30km away so we decided to turn back. On the return we decided it was time for lunch so we stopped at a really nice place and had a really nice noodle dish with various different meats and veggys. A lady came and offered us some chopped chilli's, never one to turn those down i dived straight in and this made the dish very spicy, was really good. Once we had finished that we carried on with our return journey. Eventually returning counting the kilometre marker tablets as we went. All in all we must have gone about 65km or so. And my legs now ache. We returned to the hostel and john went and caught the bus to Guilin to collect his shoes. While he was gone I bumped into a couple of guys from England who I got chatting to and after a while I gave up waiting for John and left him a note and went to a bar with the guys. Once in the bar i met two Italian speaking Swiss guys who the English guys had met travelling around. So I ordered some food and had a drink or two. There was also a Chinese girl that the guys had met and invited for a drink. So we all chatted and eventually John found the place and joined us. He showed us all his shoes which I thought were really cool. We then settled our bill and made our way back as we were quite tired.
The next day we got up and went and had some breakfast before deciding what to do for the day, we decided to get some bikes and go to a water cave. So we made our way up the street and again hired so bikes and off we went. We had a leaflet telling us where to go, which was the same direction as the previous day. The water cave was near moon hill which we had passed the day before. As I cycled I could feel that my thighs had not fully recovered from the previous days exertions. However I struggled on and we made it to the moon cave without too much difficulty. We then we a little confused by the different ticket offices who quoted different prices. So we instead decided to to cycle straight to the caves themselves. We initially cycled along with a lady who was trying to sell us a ticket. We passed through a small village before tuning a corner into a more rural area and the road soon turned to a track not long after we reached a sign for the entrance but we went the other way to see if there was another entrance and to shake her off. We cycled for a while down this track which looked over farm land with all the mountains in the background. eventually we decided to turn back and return to the way we were supposed to go. We then were faced with a longer cycle than we had expected but a very nice cycle. we again passed through so lovely landscape through a construction site of a new road or railway and then through a nice farming village. Eventually we cycled up a big hill before a steep drop and then we arrived at the cave entrance. We dismounted and locked our bikes up and then started to haggle for a ticket. Luckily on this occasion John was haggling and he thought that the guys we had met had got the ticket down to 65 yuan where they had actually got 80. I obviously kept my mouth shut and we eventually got it for 70 yuan which we were more than happy with. So we then got ready and got into our boat. We had to put on a hard hat and john hired some sandals, I had put mine on in the morning so I kept those on. In our boat there was our guide, and 3 other Chinese people. First of all we went through a very low arch into the cave we had to duck and try to wend our way the short distance to the platform where we left our boat and set off on food through the very dimly lit cave. John and I both agreed that the way it was lit was much better than the cave we had been to in Guilin with its bright coloured lights everywhere. We also enjoyed the way the whole set up inside was as it was far more rugged and uneven (probably unsafe too). As we went our guide stopped and pointed his torch at different formations and explained in English and Chinese which was really nice. He would say that they looked like various things some of which we agreed with others not so much but it was great that he new a bit of English. We came upon one stalagmite and he said it looked like a monkeys penis which we found rather amusing. This turned into a bit of a theme and soon he was asking us about the girls in Europe and where to go, he truly was really dirty. However, after a while we reached the mud bath. Out of our group only John and I went in. This was great if not absolutely filthy! But it was an amazing experience and as we had such a great time wallowing and just floating in the mud. There was also a mud slide which was really good. After the mud bath we rinsed ourselves off and continued through the caves eventually reaching some pools where we could swim. Our guide told us to jump in so off the t-shirt came and I jumped straight in. It was so much fun i ran straight back round the pool and did it again. There were a few pools and we went in them all eventually standing under a small water fall which was like a shower but falling from about 20 foot in the air, it did sting slightly but was great. Again it was only John and i who went in and the Chinese just stood watching. On our return journey through the cave we had a brief chat to one of the Chinese girls who wanted to sing some English pop songs, my knowledge of pop music is rather lacking and we needed Simon!! We eventually came back out and had a few photos and then said goodbye to everyone and began the return cycle back to Yangshuo. When we reached the outskirts we were absolutely starving so we grabbed a small lunch before going back to the centre and returning our bikes and going for a shower. We then went for a wander around the town and stopped for a coffee where we bumped into the English guys who joined us for a bit and we arranged to meet them a little later for a few drinks. I then went and got my hair cut its was getting really long (for me) and was really good. John went and had a massage before going for a drink and some dinner before meeting the guys back in the hostel. We had a beer there and met a few other people who joined us for the night, Jerry one of the guys who worked in the hostel and American girl. We had a drink together in the hostel before making our way to a bar called Monkey Jane's which was an open air bar on the roof of a hotel. When we arrived we soon started playing the Chinese drinking game we had learned with the five dice. After a while we met some more people and a guy dressed in a bikini turned up which was rather disturbing. Then a game called Beer Pong was played where there are 5 cups on 2 opposing sides and a ping pong ball has to be thrown in the cup and the looser then drinks the drink. We learned it was an American game and a couple of Americans in the bar came and showed us what to do. I only watched this but was a good laugh. We then returned to the seats and chatted with a few people and then returned to the hostel where we had a final beer before bed around 4am.
The next morning I got woke up or was woken up by the heavy metal music emitting from the next room (the Swiss guys room). I then went next door to the English guys room who were packing up and I went to get some breakfast with them and our new room mate a french girl. John was still fast asleep. After breakfast I said goodbye to the guys and waited for John to appear. When he did get up we went for some more breakfast, we were also joined by the American girl we had met the previous night. She spoke pretty much fluent Chinese and was the first western person I had met that could do so. She was doing a PhD in Wuhan and was on her won until her friends joined her the following day. We wandered around the market for a while and feeling rather tired I went and a little lie down arranging to meet John later on. I dosed for a bit before going for a short wander and then having a short chat with Jerry and watching CCTV 9 the English channel! When I met John he was still with Joey the American and went back to money Jane's to try and catch the sunset. Unfortunatly there was a bit more cloud around and we missed the sunset but we did meet up with the french girl who was in our room and also another french girl who she had met that day. so we sat chatting for a while before going off together and getting some dinner together. We went to a little place which wasn't too expensive and really nice! We spent quite a while in the restaurant and i even had a crepe! which i shared with the french girl fro our room. After a while the other french girl went back to go to bed and the four of us went for a wander and decided to go 'Discobop' - this name we had stolen from one of the dodgy guys in Shanghai who had tried to get us to go there where there were 'lots of pretty girls'. So we went to a place and went in and had a beer, the Chinese got a bit excited when we walked in. After i had finished my drink we went and had a 'dance' the music was really quite bad but it had a fast drum beat and some nice bass (for the stompers - it was actually quite hard, it just needed a bit more melody and less cheesy vocals) however it was fun to bop around being completely stupid!! after a while I decided I needed to get on the stage (hehe) John got the camera ready and I have never hear a cheer quite like that!! was really funny. We then decided to go back to the Monkey Jane's bar and had another drink in there before going and having some much needed sleep.
The next day we packed up our stuff and went for breakfast with Joey and all her friends, about 4 of them, who had just arrived. We then said our goodbyes and did a few chores before getting on the bus to Guilin. We chatted to an American on the bus and then went and found a bus to Nanning, which about 4 hours from the Vietnamese border. We were really lucky and didn't have to wait long. The Journey took around 4 hours, when we arived were right on the outskirts so we bought a map and caught the bus to the station. The bus took about 45 minutes or so when we arrived we went and found a hotel and left our bags before going to the railway station to find a train to Hanoi. Unfortunatly the only train was that day and there wasn't another one the following day. This left us with about 1 hour, so we rushed back to the hotel for a much needed shower, grabbed some supplies and went caught the train. The waiting room was the nicest we'd seen with arm chairs and magazines to flick (in Chinese of course). We then got on the 2 carriage train and went and had a spot of dinner, the noodles we'd eaten all around china on the trains! We then looked at the lonely planet guide, it was so nice not to have to search for one after 2 or 3 weeks without one since we split from the girls. We then went and had some sleep before being woke around 01.30 by the Chinese customs officials who took our passports and then returned them about shot while later. The train then moved a short distance and about 3am we alighted onto Vietnam soil for the first time where we went through customs, which was the strangest customs I'd ever been through with just different desks to go to and a form to fill in. We also had to pay 2 yuan for a 'health check' which consisted of some kind of electronic device taking a reading from the inside of your ear. We were highly dubious as to the hygiene involved. After all this we boarded another train were we had some new room mates, some American guys, so we chatted to them before falling asleep.
I was woken up by a train official who asked us to fill in a form, I then kept myself awake so I could enjoy the view into Hanoi. When the train eventually arrived in Hanoi we got off and were met by a barrage of people trying to get us to go to their hotel. We then tried to shake them off and just went for a wander, it was still quite early and the main thing on our mind was breakfast. We eventually lost most of the people and had to agree to take business cards to get rid of some. We even met more on our walk one of whom decided to take us to his hotel, which just so happened to be down the road where we were headed anyway. We were impressed by his English though. much better than we had seen in China. We eventually arrived after walking past the main lake in the old quarter of the city where he told us about the myth of the tortoise and the sword, which was in the lonely planet. We then went and had a look at the room and went for a short wander to scope out the competition however it did seem rather cheap at US$4 for the room and eventually we settled on that and went and showered before deciding where to go and eat. We went to a small place not to far from the hotel which had football on. So we ate and watched football before then going off to find a bookshop as John needed a book. On the way to a bookshop we somehow managed to pick up a woman who then tagged along with us for the day. She seemed very odd and said she was from Saigon and was here to get a visa for England and was exactly the same age as us. it all seemed a bit odd and this put us both on high alert for the day which was a shame as we couldn't relax. As it turned out nothing bad happened, John got his book and we then went to the Temple of Literature the tag along lady led us there and I kept an eye on the map to ensure we went the right was. the temple itself was really nice, it had a nice garden and even though no longer an active temple still lovely. We then went to a garden across the way which was full of banzai trees and a lake with a small island. After that we went and had some lunch in a small restaurant place, the food was lovely and we were also witness to something rather unsavoury as someone in the restaurant was assaulted as we sat there. neither john or I saw it but still not nice. After the excitement of that we paid, having to supplement the tag along slightly much to our displeasure and still not managing to shake her off we made our way to a Catholic Cathedral. The Cathedral looked rather run down on the outside and was missing some of the statues but on the inside it was rather different and looked a lot nicer. We then sat on the steps for a while before saying were going to use the Internet and have a nap. At this point we said goodbye to the girl and half expecting her to ask us for money she just left and off she went. We made our way back to the hotel and after an hour or so went and found a cafe which offered tours to Halong Bay, our next destination. We looked through the various options and then we went to try and see the water puppets. unfortunately we had a three hour wait so we bought our ticket and went in search of some food. We managed to find some nice noodles and had a wander through a night market. We then stopped off for a drink before the show began. The show itself was fantastic, the theatre looked down on a very Chinese style model building and a band and singers at the side. they told various stories, which we couldn't understand but still some of what we saw was really funny and they told the story of the tortoise and the lake and there was lots of different parts some of which were almost punch and Judy - he's behind you. highly enjoyable! After that absolutely shattered we went and slept.
This morning we had a nice lie in before going and having a cup of coffee and a few french pastries for breakfast. very nice and not too expensive. We then made our way over to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum complex. We knew that the mausoleum was closed for maintenance but there was plenty to do in the locality. When we arrived we sat down and took a few photos and enjoyed the relative quiet away from the incessant beeping of horns on the road. We then went and saw the presidential palace (from the outside) and Ho Chi Minh's old cars and stilt house which was really nice. We then went on a long wander around the city, walking past a statue of Lenin and a military complex where photos were banned. All the time John was hoping for some major rain but all we got was a light shower. We saw quite a lot of the local area and a small park with a big fountain and a random statue. We then worked out where we were and made our way back to the centre and went to another travel agent recommended by the lonely planet to discover it was over twice the price! we then made our way back to the other one and bought our ticket which leaves tomorrow morning for Halong Bay. The Area is supposed to have a similar kind of scenery to the Guilin/Yangshuo area but instead of land surrounding the mountains sea does, so we're looking forward to that.
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