Happy New YEar

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Hey

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Sorry this is late havn't had internet access for a few days.........

I hope that you all have a fantastic year ahead with lots of good health and prosperity.

Well I think my last blog was from Vietnam so here is a quick update on what I have been up to..........

We crossed over into China about 1 week ago, was an ok border crossing the Chinese immigration man must have studied every page in my passport but it was all good din't have to pay any bribes this time! Once we crossed we were searching a) for a bank and b) a bus to take us to the nearest town so that we could catch a train to Nanning. Now this was an interesting experience.....took us about an hour to get to the bank and then we had to wait another hour or so at the train station. Got so many stares anyone would have thought that we were aliens (but we sort of expected it as we were about the only foriegn people around...and I don't think they stare at you rudely its more curiousity). Anway we were thanking our lucky stars that we had met a couple in Vietnam who had just come from China, they were sweet and gave us a Mandarin Phrase book and about 5 dollaars worth of RMB. Have no idea what we would have done without these as no one spoke any english.

So we spent Christmas in Nanning which was a bit odd, had dumplings and noodles for our christmas dinner 😊 There was a sort of Christmas feel as everywhere had christmas trees up and decorations and all the shops were playing awful christmas tunes!

Nanning is probably typical of many Chinese cities, it is modernising at a super fast rate and literally there are new shopping malls springing up everywhere. The Chinese love to shop and are uber modern. There were lots of familiar shops around, and all the fast food joints. It is difficult though trying to get by without any knowledge of Mandarin especially as all signs are in chinese script. However we managed fine with lots of gesturing and the odd phrases from our book.

We stayed in a nice hotel so overall the experience was good. May have been a better bet to stay in Vietnam Hanoi as there seemed to be more happening but it all worked out ok in the end.

Next and final stop was Hong Kong, the journey from Nanning to HK was interesting and we actually had a decent comfy bus for a change! The roads were amazingly smooth and every city we passed had that feeling that it is being quickly modernised.

We were in HK for New YEars which was really good...its a cool city really vibrant and a paradise if you love to shop (I am exhausted from shopping!!) I couldn't believe that the shops were open after the countdown into the new year. They had a Winter Fest on throughout the christmas period which was lovely really magical looking, lots of lights and sparkles! Saw some cool fireworks over the harbour, however they chose to do this at 8pm, I not quite sure why but they were very good. THe skyline is pretty impressive and the light show at night is good to see.

We also went up Victoria peak which gave a good view of the city and we got to see the sunset over the port which was nice.

Ok i better go......I am home very soon so I will make sure that I catch up with you all......

Really looking forward to seeing everyone but i can't believe that my trip is over without sounding too cheesy .......It really has been an amazing experience one I will never forget 😊

Lots of love xxxxxxxxx

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