Blogs from China, Asia - page 2271

Ni hao! After thoroughly enjoying ourselves in Hong Kong, we were perhaps a little apprehensive about moving on into China. It is, after all, a totally different country (NOT), and rumoured to be one of the most challenging places to backpack around due the fact that no one speaks any English. What is said about the border crossing is 100% accurate. Getting through customs from HK is easy-peasy (Chinesey?) but once on the other side the English signs stop and the pointing, grunting and smiling politely begins. Weird huh? Almost as weird as the fact that you have to go through a border crossing...surely its like going to Scotland? Thankfully the bloke who sold us our tickets to Yangshou wrote information on them in Manderin. All we had to do was show our tickets to someone ... read more

Hi, Mama and Papa Naxi guest house is probably the best guest house in the world. This is not an exagaration, I have stayed in quite a few in my life. Several people that I have met during my travelling in China recommended me about this guest house. Normally, when there is one common opinion, it is normally true. Everyone was telling me about the family atmosphere and that Mama treats you like a real Polish mother, you should eat and a lot, until you explode. I have imagained Mama Naxi as a big and fat woman at her sixties, wearing the traditional Naxi clothes. To my surprise, she appeared as a thin lady with a short-cut hair, wearing regular clothes. She is the dominant figure in the couple and very energetic. Papa stays in the ... read more

SOUTH AFRICA 3 ----------- austraila 2 Love it, love it. Let me see, Shanghai. 14 million people, big buildings and wide streets. It has it all, but to be honest it did not live up to its hype in my opinion. It still has a long way to go for it to be up there with New York, London, Milan, HK and the rest of them. It certainly is a fascinating combination of old and new with brand spanking new BMW's taking over dilapidated bicycles on the city streets. One of the coolest things is that at most bus stops they have TV's built into the timetable area where they usually are showing sport. I liked that. We stayed in the Captain Hostel, once again the LP map was off and we wondered around in utter ... read more

Between dancing with lady boys and a run in with the Red Guards, I’d say Scott had the full China experience. There’s nothing quite like being accosted whether it be out of fear or love. We found the lady boys at a Thai restaurant called Banana Leaf. I had the day off, Scott had returned from Beijing and having finished our 90-minute oil massages, Scott and I walked over to the flagship branch of this growing chain. It being Women’s Day, the place was packed. We faced a 20-minute wait for a table, but five minutes into it, I saw the manager, one of my occasional students. He ushered us to a better location where we watched the nightly entertainment, ten young men and women dancing and singing into wooden spoon microphones. A lot of ... read more