Singapore, Hong Kong, and China

---

---

After leaving Delhi on Singapore airways overnight. I landed in Singapore in the morning, and immediately was reminded of the country's orderly and cleanliness. Singapore airport has to be rated as one of the best in the world, for ease of use and prettyness among other things. Since I was there last in 2002, they have expanded it to 3 terminals and all the new parts are in the same style as before with loads of water features and amazing architechture.

From the airport I got the MRT into the central area to go and find my hostel. Of course compared to India, Singapore is at the opposite end of the scale, everyone looked affluent and well off, all the infrastructure not only worked but looked pristene and new. The MRT is abit like the new bit of the Jubilee line in London, where the platform has glass alongside the edge of the platform and when the train arrives it lines up its doors with the platform doors so no silly soul can manage to fall on the tracks by accident.

Once at my stop I made my way out of the station and immediately was confronted by 3 perfect queues of people on the street all waiting for buses. The queues were more orderly than anything I've ever seen in England, and they were just free form. This continual contrast with Delhi the day before was a little overwhelming. I walked on past the queues and after a few problems with the directions I'd written down from the Internet, found my Hostel, Dragon Inn.

After sorting myself out I had a look around the central area of the city. The other change from Northern India was the Humidity. On my last day in Delhi the temperature was about 44 degrees C as they were having a heatwave, but there was no hint of humidity in the air. Once in the shade the heat was easily managable, it was just out in the blistering sun it was quickly unbarable. Where as in Singapore the temperature was about 29, but the humidity was really high, so although it didnt feel hot, my clothes were constantly sticking to me. Thankfully Singapore is rife with air-conditioned shopping malls so you spend the day going from cold and dry to warmer and wet all the time. After Singapore, Hong Kong changed things even more as when I arrived there it was only about 21 but still really humid, which created a very bizzare feeling, it was a little cold for shorts, but my skin still felt like it was always wet. I must admit I've never been somewhere cold and Humid, but Hong Kong was like that when I got there.

I was in Singapore for 3 days and didnt really do too much, one day I went to Sentosa Island which is a kind of resort island built on a set of old World War 2 forts. One of them has been turned into a museam about Singapore during WW2. It also had a really nice set of beaches and things like a butterfly centre, an IMAX, etc. On another day I took a walk down to the river and Chinatown, and took an over priced and short river cruise. Seeing the main CBD area, the merlion, which is a symbol of Singapore at the mouth of the river. I also got a glimpse of the Singapore Eye, which is very similar to the London Eye except it's bigger, because its newer and so claims the biggest in the world.

One evening I went out for a beer and some noodles with a Japanese guy from the hostel. It was amazing being in Singapore where beer was sold everywhere from corner shops to cafes to resteraunts, after 2 months in India, where half the places that do sell beer do so illegally and secretly. Also unlike everything else in the country the noodle bar / food court type places sold good food for just a few dollars. Anyway we went out to the place and I managed to use the chopsticks without any hassle, and even got a tip on how to eat meat off the bone with chopsticks, you can use your hands. In Singapore it still felt like there was a certain level of table manners thats required when eating out with chopsticks, but since being in China, I've seen people happily spit the bone out into the table or floor in resteraunts. I think the only rule with chopstick eating, is dont stick the chopsticks in the bowl of noodles always rest them on the edge, but apart from that anything goes at the dinner table.

After 3 days in Singapore, I was ready to move on, its not that theres anything wrong with the country, I quite like it. Its just that its expensive and I think it would be a good place to live, but to visit theres not too much to do unless you can splash the dollars around, which I couldnt.

So on the thursday morning I got on my next flight, Singapore to Hong Kong. Both countries have a lot in common, being ex-british colonies, City States, being majority Chinese too, but in other ways they are worlds apart. Singapore is definatly the santitised version, and Hong Kong the crowded, dirtier, seedier version. The flight was less than four hours and as a result I didnt even have time for watching all of American Gangster which was one of 500 films offered on demand on the plane. It would've been ok except, the film was continually paused for announcements and the like. I dont care about turbulance, seatbelts etc, I'm watching a film!

So I landed in HK late arvo, went through Immigration and customs and then went looking for the airport express train that would take me to Kowloon. At Immigration I was surprised to find out UK citizens are allowed 180 days in Hong Kong, for tourist purposes. I really wonder who would honestly stay on a 6 month holiday in HK, I dont think its big enough for that, but I suppose a lot of people like the 6 months as it means they can stay there indefinately and just have to leave the country twice a year.

Once at the airport express I had to get some currency out from an ATM to buy tickets. Except I didnt know how much HK dollars were worth, and this being the 3rd currency this week I was a little confused as to what anything should cost. I got out 100 dollars and then discovered the train cost 60, plus then a metro fare after that. Everything really did seem expensive. Little did I know HK dollars are worth very little and are about 15 to the pound, so in hindsight it wasnt too bad. I got on the train and then had to use two Metro lines to arrive at Tsim Sha Tsui at the southern tip of the Kowloon peninsular. The metro was very modern and quite like the Singapore system, except it was infinately more crowded. By the time I faught my way out of the final tube stop, with my bag I was feeling a little harrased. I picked one of about 20 exits and walked up onto Nathan Road, the main street.

The street was packed with people and traffic and surrounded by high rises on all sides. I managed to identify Mirador Mansions (where my hostel was located) and pushed through the throngs of touts offering me suits, accomadation, food and other much dodgier stuff. This place reminded me of a modern India, little did I know this part of Kowloon is notorious as a particularly rough area, and the rest of Hong Kong really isnt as dodgy. Once In Mirador Mansions I queued at the lift for an age with about 8 other people, only to find once the lift arrived it could only fit 5 in it, otherwise the alarm would go off and the lift would decide it wasnt going anywhere.

Eventually I got a lift and got out on the 3rd floor, yeah I know I should've walked, but I didnt know it was gonna be so much hassle and after the first load of waiting having invested so much time in waiting for the lift, I felt I shouldnt give up the task. On the third floor I walked through several smelly, dirty corridors, past small clothing factories and little flats, and finally found a sign saying, "Garden Hostel". I walked into the reception and asked the lady if they had a bed, only to find out no they hadnt. She told me there were lots of nice hostels on the 13th floor and some on the floors in between. So I picked my bag up to go have a look, but before I went, she said if I had any trouble I was welcome to sleep on the reception floor for only 40 dollars a night, a 3rd off the normal price.

I went up and asked a few places this time taking the stairs rather than the lift, but then it dawned on me. Garden was on the 3rd floor, thus I didnt need to ever use the terrible lifts where as if I stayed on the 13th floor then I was stuck using the lift all the time. After realising that and finding a couple of hotels charged 300 dollars a night and more I went back down and asked about the floor. It really wasnt as bad as it sounded the reception included a big Kung-Fu Gym, and had loads of floor space, plus they put a matress and bedding down for me, at about 10:30. In fact later on when I was forced to move into a room, I decided the floor was better as there was so much more space. The only disadvantage to the floor was no early nights, but I rarely went to bed before 3 whilst I was in Hong Kong, due to a combination of still being on Indian time (2.5 hours behind) and staying up late drinking with the other travellers.

Once my bag was dumped and I'd bought some dinner from a little noodle bar a few streets away, I went and had a chat with the various people staying at the place. And, HK hostels do seem to have a bizzare mix of people, from English teachers there long term, to travelers on a stop over on the way home, to people with Chinese visa problems, even to one american guy who is getting a survival knife made in factories in China, and stops in Hong Kong as a base before going into China to see how things are going.

In fact as my time went on there, I met more and more people with visa issues in China. Lots of English teachers it seems arent getting their visas re-issued and so are having to come to HK to get a tourist visa each month, rather than the usual work visa. I even heard stories of teachers from certain nations being told they can only get visas in their country of origin, and people giving up their long term jobs in Shanghai for 6 months to go and live cheaply in SE Asia until it all blows over and they are allowed back. From the HK side you do get the opinion that the place is a kind of safe haven where people wait to be allowed back into their giant neighbour, most nations it seems can enter HK without any issue you see.

On the next morning I woke up at midday to find I was the only person left on the floor (there were about 5 of us when I went to bed), and that the reception was buzzing with people, checking out and the like. My first most important mission for that day was to get my passport with someone to get my Chinese visa. I originally decided that I would get my visa in HK as in the early part of this year it was a lot cheaper in HK, plus if I got it in England, you have to enter within 3 months so I would've had to get it in the last two weeks before I left. Now of course things had changed, 3 months was no longer possible as a tourist, although since being in China I've discovered that the PSB in several parts of Yunnan province will extend your 1 month visa by 30 days for a small charge. Anyway whilst in India I'd decided to spend only a month in China to give myself time in SE Asia, so 30 days wasnt a problem. The new problem was the price, and the fact that from late April the chinese government were asking for proof of a flight out of China booked and accomadation booked for every night you propose to stay in China. This of course meant that a host of travel agents would fake that info for you, for an extra fee.

I had a shop around and the prices for the visa including the extra documents appeared to be between 900 and 1500 HK dollars. I went for the cheapest and most conveneient, at a travel agent on the ground floor of my hostels building, and left my passport with them. Because of the weekend, that meant that I wouldnt get my passport back until the following thursday afternoon, so I had a while in Hong Kong.

After chatting to a few other people at the hostel it also seemed as if the easiest and quickest way to get my Vietnamese visa was in Hong Kong too, so it looked like I was gonna be in HK until at least the following saturday. This meant I had plenty of time to relax and do very little as theres not so much sightseeing to do in Hong Kong. The main things being, the Peak Tram, the giant Buddha on Lantau Island, and some museams. The museams could be easily looked at on free museam day. Every wednesday about 14 museams around Hong Kong are free all day, so it seemed that was the best time to go and have a look at them.

As I had so much time in Hong Kong I spent a lot of my time just hanging round the hostel, chatting to people. A few of us went out a couple of times, once we even made it out to Wan Chai on the Island, but always had to limit our drinking because beer in the bars and clubs was so expensive, especially compared to the cheap offers on beer at the 7-Eleven downstairs. There were so many 7-Elevens in Kowloon that even when we finished one shops entire stock of cheap beer it was only a couple of minutes to the next one, and we could start finishing up their stock too. The other problem with Hong Kong being expensive was that for some reason Macdonalds was the cheapest way to eat, a meal with drink was 24 dollars where as you had to search hard to find a noodle bar that would do a bowl of noodles for that little, and that wouldnt include a drink.

Also whilst I was at the hostel on sundays they had a big group of phillipinos come all afternoon to do Karaoke with the Karaoke machine that was on the outside terrace. The machine was stocked full of old songs both English and phillipino, with terrible videos that had no link to the song whatsoever. The phillipinos seemed to turn up about 1 O'clock and then spent the next 9 hours singing continously. A couple of the hostel guests joined in late on, but only for a song or too, and thankfully the machine started to play up before I got anywhere near it.

So after a few days of doing nothing I started making trips over to the Island to go up victoria peak on the tram, and see the views. Hong Kong is certainly an impressive city from an aesthtic viewpoint. The mountains and skyscrapers make for great scenary. For the shere amount of skyscrapers I think Hong Kong is the closest city I've ever seen to New York, and the light show that they do every evening at 8 o'clock was impressive too. Although the music they put to it, was a little unwisely chosen. It was very soft folky music, when it looked like dramatic music would've suited the lights better.

Also whilst in Hong Kong I met quite a few westerners who are taking advantage of Chinas new economy, and are buying cheap chinese goods, and exporting them to the west to sell for a profit. From the various stories I've heard, it sounds like a very profitable business.

Finally on the thursday I got my passport back complete with Chinese Visa, and then the next day went to the Vietnamese consulate to get my Vietnamese visa. This time, they did a same day service for 500 dollars, which wasnt too bad. Once I had that back on friday I could book a bus to Guangzhou for saturday.

On saturday morning I packed my stuff and headed off to catch the bus. The bus was easy enough, except at the border, where I wasnt quite ready for everything we were going to do. First we parked up at Hong Kong Immigration to exit the country, this time we all got off the bus walked through the border control building and then got back on the bus. Next we drove further to the Chinese side. Here as I got off a chinese woman on the bus told me a set of numbers and letters for the bus. I wasnt sure why, and I couldnt quite remember them all. This time we took our luggage with us. I went through Chinese immigration and customs and out the otherside, only to find, I couldnt see the bus anywhere. I walked up and down the rows of buses but couldnt spot it. Then suddenly I saw the chinese woman waving at me. I walked up to her and looked at the bus. It wasnt my bus, but she was certain, and pointed at the number plate, it was indeed the numbers she'd told me. Then it dawned on me, we were changing bus and driver. Of course it makes sense so the driver doesnt have to cross the border 5 times a day we have two drivers, and because of China and Hong Kong driving on different sides of the road, changing the bus makes perfect sense too.

After we crossed the border at Shenzhen and I was on the correct bus we drove through the huge Pearl River Delta area. The region is Chinas manufacturing powerhouse and has loads of cities of over a million people and taking into account HK, Shenzhen and Guangzhou, has 3 cities of nearly 10 million people within a two hour drive of each other.

After another hour and a half we arrived at a stop in Guangzhou. The city was huge and seemed to have endless high rise buildings going off into the distance. I got off at the first stop because I'd spyed a metro station and I knew the hostel I'd been recommended was near a metro station. Once I got off I realised I had one major planning problem, no chinese money, just a few HK dollars, I needed to find an ATM. I walked into the metro station and found one, but it was out of order, so then I tried to ask a guy in a shop but he had no idea what I was saying, even including extensive miming.

I think my miming skills werent as up to scratch then as they are now after spending a month in China and using miming for everything except toilet. I didnt fancy miming going to the toilet, anytime I needed it so I learnt the word for that quite quickly.

Eventually I found a woman that understood some basic English and directed me back to the street to find an ATM. I went back and found it then went back to the metro, to find I needed change as the ticket machines wouldnt take 100 Yuan notes. So I had to change some money at the shop with the guy I'd tried to mime at before, he looked slightly bewildered by my return, but was ok once he under stood I wanted to buy something and that didnt involve miming at all.

So finally I got on the train and headed for my hostel. The metro is a very modern one much like the one in Hong Kong, but covered with signs explaining the specific rules for metro riding. And they really do need to be specific, I dont know if they think the local populace will try to do anything they can so must be told exactly what they cant do. This combined with interesting use of the english translations caused me much entertainment on my journey. Rules included:

No Hullabaloo allowed
No inflating Baloons
No Spitting around or Pissing
No lying on seats
No chasing people up and down the trains
No hanging from the hand railings

And continued like this.

Once I checked in to the hostel, I went out for a look around the city. I went over to Shamian Dao which is an old colonial island in the main river. The island is full of old buildings and a definate alternative to the modern Highrise mayhem that the rest of the city presents. Whilst on the island I was having some food outside a cafe, when I was suddenly beseiged by a group of Kids, saying, "Hello!" They were all about 8 years old and it seems they wanted to practice english. The first kid asked me my name, where I was from, etc, and then asked if he could have a picture taken with me. At this point a teacher appeared, it appears she was taking them round the island because a lot of tourists were there, so they could practice speaking english to real english speakers. After the photograph the first kid gave me a lolly, and then off they all went.

Later on I went back to the hostel and got chatting to some people who'd been there for ages. This led on to an evening out in the city that went on to quite late. We went to a few bars and it seemed there were loads of westerners at all the bars and nightclubs. One bar in particular had a really bizzare toilet. I went into it and walked up to the urinal, only to realise that it appears I could see the corridor outside through the urinal wall. It was really weird as there were people walking past as I was going to the loo.

We got back in the early mornin and I went straight to bed, as I was only allowed to stay in the dorm til 12 officially, because I was checking out, although I did manage to get the chinese girl on the desk to allow me a couple more hours grace before check out.

Later that day feeling more tired than hangover I went out in the afternoon to have a look at a temple with a tall pagoda, and then in the evening caught my sleeper bus to Yangshou. And the sleeper bus was amazing, compared to what I expected. They provided me with a pillow and duvet and no one was allowed to wear shoes past the first step into the bus. After getting on, using my phrasebook I managed to find out the time I was to arrive in Yangshou. So I set my alarm for half 6 (half an hour before) and went to sleep.

When I woke up I was immediately mesmerised by the stunning scenary that surrounded us. Yangshou and the nearby big city, Guilin is famous for its karst peaks. Basicly loads of small hills which are shaped like tall domes. I've never seen any scenary like it before, and it covers a huge area across large parts of two provinces.

Once the bus arrived at the bus station I was besiged by some people offering me a place to stay. I was still in India mode so I figured everyone does this so one of these places are bound to be good. But of course in China if a hostel is sending people to the bus station to get business that means its dodgy and pretty crap. After a couple of people approached me I agreed to go with one guy to his hostel, as the dorm was cheap. Of course that was mainly a mistake as once at the hostel, he claimed that the dorms were full (I found out later they werent) and I could have a room for cheap, but of course double the dorm rate. I told him I was having the dorm or I was off, and he changed his tune, telling me that two people were leaving within the hour. I said that was fine cos I wanted some breakfast anyway.

Of course whilst I ate he then tried to sell me a boat trip despite my insistance that I wasnt making any descisions at 7.30 in the morning. But, eventually he kept dropping the price and adding things to the deal, that I took it. For 100 Yuan I got a days bike hire and river cruise on another day. In hindsight both things were good, but still pushy salesmen do my nut in.

Once in the dorm I went to sleep for a few hours. Then when I woke up I found that an ozzie girl that I'd met in Hong kong was not only at that hostel but in the same dorm. We chatted breifly, but she was off out to do a million and one things. She was definately one of those people that fill up their days travelling with full blown itinerys, where as I cant be bothered with this busy way of travelling. Travelling is about relaxing, taking it easy and seeing what you can fit in between the relaxing and taking it easy. Well kind of anyway. I still did a fair few things whilst in Yangshou, but about 1 or maybe 2 a day, not 4 or 5 activities a day.

I spent about 4 days in Yangshou in the day time I went walking round the town, and it is tourist central unfortunately, although it is very nice still. They've even anglicised the street names, for example in my guidebook the main street was called, Xie Lu, but now its called West Street. Also I went on this river trip, which was really nice although in Chinese. Spent a day biking round the near countryside through paddy fields and the like. And one evening I went and saw cormarant fishing, where the birds catch fish for a fisherman who stops them swallowing their fish by a string round their throat. Then when they have a few he catchs the bird with a pole, pulls it aboad his boat and makes them spit the fish out.

In the evenings I discovered a bar which had 7 Yuan beer, and after having one beer by myself there the first night. I ran into a few people and took them all there, so it quickly became our local. It was owned by a young chinese girl who spoke really good english, and seemed to know all her customers well. After my one beer there on my way back to the hostel I ran into a scottish guy that I'd met in Hong Kong, and who'd also been in Guangzhou at the same hostel. He was with 3 chinese lads who were practicing English, so we all dropped by my hostel where I grabbed this american lad that looked like he liked his beer, and we all went back to the bar. The American guy was planning to stay in Yangshou for 3 weeks, and I think after that first night he was hooked on that bar. For all I know he could still be there now.

Everyone was really friendly there, and one night we seemed to surround ourselves with chinese people wanting to practice english. This led to one of the guys inviting me to go to their English school the next night and take part in an English corner. This is where foreigners turn up at an english school and just talk to a group of students. I thought it seemed like something different, so I agreed to go.

On the night I just turned up and talked English to about 6 people all sat around a table, whilst they continually topped my glass up with beer that the school paid for. It seems the teachers think that beer is a good idea at these things to get conversation flowing easier. We talked for about 3 hours and a couple of times they even turned the subject to politics and the problems in Tibet. Which was interesting as having been in Macloed Ganj just less than a month before, where the opinion is that Tibet is an occupied country. Where as speaking to chinese people their opinion is the opposite, and that the Tibetans are causing trouble for no reason.

Also whilst I was in Yangshou the earthquake in Northern Sichwen happened. I knew nothing about it for a day until one morning I ran into the scottish guy in the street, and he told me he'd tried to book a train to Chengdu, and they told him best not to go as there'd been a huge earthquake near there.

After 4 days I got a sleeper train from Guilin all the way south east to Kunming in Yunnan province. The train was a reverlation compared to Indian sleeper trains. I got the cheapest sleeper ticket possible, hard sleeper. But, it was more like luxary sleeper, there were 6 beds in each compartment, and pillows and bedding were provided. Once on the train, I got talking to a chinese guy who could remember a little English from years before, although it was limited. When I had a more complex question, I used my phrasebook, but the minute he saw the phrasebook he wanted to look at it. He then proceeded to read the book from cover to cover and every now and then ask me a question in English. Sometimes they seemed completely irrelevant, such as, "Are you Hungrey?"

After he read the book, he then helped me with my chinese numbers. Since I'd got to China I'd been trying to learn a little chinese just to help me with simple transactions. So numbers seemed particularly important so I can find out prices. Some people had learnt finger counting instead, but it seemed some of the signals for numbers changed in different areas, so knowing the actual words was more useful. Many of the numbers are very easy to say for english speakers, such as 8 which is ba, like the sound sheep make, but 4 and 10 are very similar sounding so I have real trouble with them. 4 is a short sharp szz sound, whilst 10 is a longer shzzgg sound. I later found out in Yunnan province the difference is easier as they make the h in 10 the main difference.

After 20 hours I arrived in kunming around midday, the first thing that amazed me was not one tout near the station. As we arrived I prepared myself for the usual hassle of loads of touts trying to get my business, but there wasnt a single one. Then I realised I kinda neaded at least one for a taxi to my hostel. After a short walk around the station forecourt trying to work out where the taxis were, I managed to wave one down and off we went.

Kunming was quite a nice city, it seemed to remind me a little of a chinese Birmingham. Its centre was a similar size, really big but still walkable. There was little of actual tourist interest in the city, but lots of shops and pubs. Plus it was covered by a massive easy to use bus service which was one price any journey. Only in Kunming the price is 1 Yuan so only a 22nd of the price of Birminghams buses.

On my first day in Kunming I went and walked around the city. I particularly liked the Green Lake Park, which was my first glimpse of a chinese park. There was very little grassland and lots of older people there, doing various activities including, dancing, playing instruments, and playing games. I spent a good half hour at one point watching some people play Mah Jong, which was cool except I dont know the rules.

On my second day in Kunming I went tea shopping with a Swedish guy and Israeli girl. The sweddish guy had found an area of the city that was known as the tea district. We spent most of the day wandering into tea shops, attempting to communicate with the shopkeepers and trying a huge variety of tea. The sweddish guy ended up buying about 4 types of tea, some very expensive and some quite cheap.

After a couple of days in kunming I got a morning bus west to Dali, and once again the trip was amazing compared to what I'd been used to in India. The chinese have built a huge modern motorway between Kunming and Dali, and that wasnt an easy job as they had to knock through possibly around 20 tunnels through mountains and hills on the way.

When I arrived in Dali it was pouring rain, and the bus dropped me off in the new city, about 30 KMs from the old town were I needed to be. I had a flyer for a hostel telling me which bus will take me there, but it appeared to be wrong as the bus number I wanted wasnt at the stop. Eventually I got on one bus and attempted to ask the driver through pointing at the flyer, he told me to get on and dropped me off at the correct stop for the other bus. I got on the correct bus and then it took me to the old town, only it drpped me off miles from the hostel, so I had to walk back through the pouring rain to find the place, and finally outside the hostel when I was soaking wet an umbrella saleswoman appeared and insisted on getting in my way trying to sell me an umbrella. I tried to explain it was too late and I didnt need it now but she still followed me down the street to my hostel.

Dali was a really pretty old chinese town although filled with tacky tourist shops. It also seems a bit of a smokers town as I was continually offered weed including by little old chinese women shouting, "You Want Ganja?" in English. I was only there a couple of days as the misserable weather was putting me off. One day I took a walk to the 3 Pagodas, Dalis most famous landmark, but I only walked around the outside and up the hill as to go in cost 120 Yuan, which seems pretty steep to see 3 Pagodas close up.

Also whilst there I met two young English lads at the hostel who'd got to China by the overland route through Russia and Mongolia. I've now met a few people who've done this and it does sound good. They seemed to have a few adventures during their trip including a trip to a Russian police cell for a few hours. They also have used this couch surfing website a lot and through it met loads of interesting locals. For those of you that dont know, couch surfing is a website where you offer your sofa as a place to stay when you're at home but whilst travelling you can meet other couch surfers and stay at their houses. It seems like a cool way of meeting real locals in many of these far off places.

After two days I got a minibus north to Lijiang with an Israeli girl and French lad. They were especially useful to know as both knew chinese to a point. The girl had studied Chinese in Israel, and the french lad lived in Wuhan and was studying Computers there for a year.

When we arrived in Lijiang we got a taxi to our Guesthouse called Mama's Naxi Guesthouse. The place was in the old town though, so the taxi had to drop us off at the edge as the streets are too narrow for cars. Then we walked into the old town and quickly realised it was too confusing to find the place. We started asking around, and found two chinese girls who were also tourists and spoke little english. They took our card off us and dragged us round the streets asking in shops where the guesthouse was. Finally as we were getting near an older woman who knew the place showed all of us the way. When we arrived the two girls left us with huge smiles, obviously pleased that they'd found the guesthouse for us. Once inside we were immediately told to sit down and had green tea foisted upon us. Then eventually checked in.

The guesthouse was really nice and is quite well known in these parts, many people had recommended it to me. It tries to be a little homely, they can organise loads of stuff for you and for 10 Yuan each night have a big family style dinner for all the guests. Its ran by a lady calling herself Mama and her husband, as well as an army of chinese girls. Well not really an army maybe 5. Mama herself speaks in broken English including classic phrases such as, "You Pay mama sleeping" meaning pay for your bed. The place is also filled with loads of dogs and cats including a young puppy that continually picks fights with the bigger dogs and the cats, although its definately a little apprehensive of the cats when they hiss at it.

That evening we went out for a walk and promptly got lost. Lijiang old town is quite large and is a warren of narrow streets canels and such. After finding ourselves again we went to the Irish pub round the corner from the guesthouse called, Stone The Crows. The pub has a little outside with a good view across the rooftops of the old city, and inside was ran by an irishman who was so laid back he often forgot to ask for money when people bought drinks, and one time gave me a cheap Mojito because there was an out of date sign in the hostel saying 15 Yuan Mojitos before 8. I asked him if that was right, and his reply was it can be if you want. Most evenings I stayed in Lijiang I went to the bar, even a couple of times by myself as it seemed to attract a few locals who spoke english and it felt like a proper local pub, a kind of chinese O'neils in Moseley.

After one night in Lijiang I decided to go on a two day trip to Tiger Leaping Gorge. Really I wanted to stay in Lijiang for longer, but what with the constant threat of rain apart from the next day, and the huge number of people going. I thought it would be best to go then.

I think about 14 of us went from the guesthouse up to the gorge. The first day involved about 5 hours of walking including one part called the 28 bends which went steeply up the mountainside. However if you felt you couldnt make it up the hill, there were plenty of guides with mules ready to take you up for a small fee. A couple of our group took this option, as the uphill was made worse due to the altitude, and hence shortness of breath.

Eventually about mid afternoon we arrived at our overnight stop. A small guesthouse called the Tea-Horse with amazing views over the gorge and huge mountains opposite. Most of us stayed in the cheapest dorm beds at the place, but there were 3 american girls who were with us who continually tried to get the best room possible. After first being told only the cheap dorms were available they finally managed to get a cancellation in a posh room, and moved into a private room with en-suite bathroom, cable TV, and electric blankets. This pattern continued when we were all back in Lijiang, and they managed to get the best room at Mama Naxi's, which sounded more like a 2 bed flat than a room in a guesthouse.

The next day we set off early, arriving at the next guesthouse before 9. We stopped there breifly, mainly to have a look at the famous toilet there with the best view in the world. One of our group had remembered from Michael Palin's Himalaya program, that he'd stayed at that guesthouse and showed everyone its famous toilet. The cubicules are normal asian style squat toilets, but most of the back wall is missing and hence, whilst on the loo you can look out across the gorge at the immense mountian range.

After everyone went to the loo and took photos of it, we moved on to re-join the main road lower down the hillside. Once back on the road, and having had a mid morning meal a group of us decided to make the trek down to the river to see the rock where the legendary tiger leapt over the gorge. The trek down was extreme, as one lad pointed out, it was one of the few downhill paths that made everyone look absolutely knackered after going down it. At one point the path even split into two, where a sign in English said, "This way safe path, this way dangerous ladder." And in chinese it said, "please only use safe path" as one of our group translated for us.

Eventually at the bottom we walked across onto the rock. The scene was amazing, the river gushed all around it and looked particularly ferocious. Also the rock led to one question, if the Tiger leapt from the rock, where the hell did he land? As the opposite side of the river was a shere cliff face going up quite a way. One Irish guy suggested that he didnt land, he just dived into the river, but I dont think thats what the legend says. After looking at the rock back we went up the hellishly steep path to the road some 350 metres above us.

After that we got buses back to Lijiang, were I spent a few more days looking round the town, and going up to various sights, seeing the entrance fee of 80 Yuan and deciding it wasnt worth that and then moving onto another 80 Yuan sight, and doing the same again.

After a couple more days in Lijiang, I got the bus north to Zhongdian, now renamed Shangri-La, for tourist purposes. Shangri-la is at the start of the Tibetan world although not officially in the Tibet Autonomous region. The town is about 80% Tibetan, and has a very different feel to the lower towns in the area. It was set in an amazing scenary, on a flat plain punctuated by snow covered mountains, and grass covered hills. Also at 3200 Metres above sea level the climate is really strange. It feels extremely cold, but the sun is very powerful. One day I managed to burn my face despite the fact that I was so cold I had my hoody on with the hood up.

The first night I met a french girl who couldnt stop singing the praises of a guesthouse at Deqin that she worked at. It seemed so far she had spent most of her time in China, working at a guesthouse in the middle of nowhere. I was going in that direction so took down the details of the place so I could find it once I headed up there.

On my first night I went and watched the traditional Tibetan dancing that happens in the old town square every evening. IT was a picture as old women in traditional dress danced around with chinese and foreign tourists all dancing and photographing everything.

The next day I went for a walk around the hills that surrounded town, and as mentioned above managed to burn myself even though I felt cold. So on my return to town realised I needed a trip to the supermarket to get sun cream, and as I'd ran out the day before, shower gel too.

Once in the chemist section, I was immediately found by two chinese girls that worked there who wanted to help me find what I was looking for. This led to an amuzing 15 minutes of miming and misunderstanding. First I showed them my burnt face, so they could understand sun cream. That seemed straight forward except for the fact that they kept showing me factor 50 whitening cream, I tried to explain I needed something lower, but they didnt understand. In the end I found factor 25 whitening cream. It seems in China the only product with sun protection in it is whitening cream, as all the fashionable chinese fight against getting any sort of colour in their skin.

After I'd found the sun cream then I mimed shower, although they seemed to see this as hair washing and proceeded to bombard me with shampoos and hair spray. At this point they seemed to be more of a hindrence than a help so I tried to rid myself of them and look by myself but each of them continually popped brandishing a new product that I didnt need. Finally I managed a long drawn out mime of getting into a shower and showering, and suddenly they understood. Although they didnt seem to understand that I would want male shower gel, not female shower gel. But, having shown me where the female was, I could find the male next to it. They were so convinced of the female though they even had me smell it, and then the male as if to prove that I should buy the female one as it smelt better.

After the 2 nights in Shangri-La, I got a bus north to Deqin. And I have to say the 7 hour bus ride was one of the most impressive I've ever been on. First it goes up into the hills, then over a pass and down into a dry yellow valley with the Yangtzee at the bottom. There we stoped for lunch, then the bus goes up the opposite side of the valley and across a high snow covered pass at about 4000 metres, and down into a green valley which is part of the Mekong river, although the Mekong was so far down in the valley I could never see it. Then round the corner and Deqin appears. In Deqin I stayed at a small mountain lodge a little out of town ran by two irish guys. From there you could see across the huge Mekong valley to a massive range of snow covered mountains including the highest peak in Yunnan, which is about 6300 Metres, and several huge glaciers. It seems those peaks are where the border with the Tibet Autonomous region lies.

In my one full day there a group of 5 of us climbed up the mountain behind the lodge, to its 4200 peak, where you could see all the high mountains surrounding. Also whilst there I met a german couple, who had been in the area for 3 weeks trying to walk over the high mountains on the edge of Tibet. First they bought a donkey to carry there stuff, then after a few days found the donkey couldnt manage the high pass, so brought it back. Then tried again without a donkey, after 5 days they had crossed the mountains and were in the next valley. From here they walked up the main road and were having breakfast in a cafe one day when the police walked in, and promptly sent them back out of Tibet. Then once further south in that valley back in Yunnan, they walked back over the mountains, and back to the lodge.

After a couple of nights at the mountain lodge, I decided to head back south as there were no ATMS near Deqin and money was running low. So I then proceeded to take the two buses back to Lijiang on the same day, and in doing so managed to prove once again that the lazy mans option is the best, having got the later bus out of Deqin, but finding that I was on the same bus from Shangri-la to Lijiang, as a couple of guys from the mountain lodge who thought getting up early would get them back to Lijiang quicker!

Back in Lijiang I spent two further days at mama's Naxi Guesthouse, just watching some movies at a cafe and going to the irish pub in the evening. After 2 days I got the sleeper bus to Kunming, which loads of people told me was really dodgy, after I'd bought a ticket, but it didnt prove to be dodgy at all. I woke up at half 5 in Kunming bus station with all my belongings still with me.

I checked into a different hostel called The Hump, rather than the previous one, as lots of people recommended it for its party atmosphere. Well maybe I picked the wrong day, but there were hardly any people there, and said party was 4 of us going for some noddles and having a few beers in the bar until 1. Oh well it was alright really.

After that 1 extra day in Kunming, where I did precisely nothing worth note, I got a bus to a town called Jianshui about 4 hours southeast of Kunming. Now both Jianshui and the following town Yuanyang, were not even mentioned in my lonely planet, I'd just had them recommended by people, and they were about halfway towards the border with Vietnam. So seeing that my 4th to 8th June border crossing window was approaching I thought I should head that way.

The trip to Jianshui proved to me how difficult China really can be to navigate not speaking any chinese apart from hello, thank you, toilet, and how much is that? Firstly the bus to Jianshui, didnt drop me off at the bus station as I hoped and as my notes about finding accomadation demanded. No it dropped me and 4 other people off on a slip road at a motorway junction on the outskirts of town.

Then we walked in, almost immediately I passed a possible bus station so thought I didnt need a taxi and walked onwards to a roundabout. Nope nothing there seemed to match my directions, ok, well theres another roundabout up there I'll try that. After 4 roundabouts on a large out of town road lined with business parks and building sites, I decided I needed a taxi. That wasnt too easy, cos any taxi heading past me was ocuppied with people going from the out of town drop off point to the city centre.

Finally I hailed a cab and got in, then the street I was asking for made no sense to the driver, and he didnt want to move without a clear idea of where he was heading. Eventually in my phrasebook I found the word for city centre, and off he went.

After about 10 minutes we got to a roundabout by an old city gate, and the guy dropped me off. Then I walked up a cobbled street lined with shops looking for a hotel, or anything relating to my directions. In the end I was so tired of walking I found a hotel that was willing to drop its room price to 120 Yuan, a bit above my budget, but under a tenner I kept telling myself. And I had a bed in a really nice room for the night.

So once in Jianshui, I had a look around, the city is an old chinese town and has several old city gates and a confucious temple to look at. I had a look around what I could find that evening and the next morning. But, due to the fact that I couldnt find a map of the city or one single person that spoke English, I had trouble with directions, and only saw the few things I stumbled upon as walking.

The next day I tried to get the guy at the hotel reception to draw me a map of how to get to the bus station. I dont know why but he seemed to insist, no map, and directions were only available in chinese. Eventually another guy drew a map for me, and then phoned an english speaker just so they could tell me, "You get bus number 13 to bus station." He then walked out onto the street with me and flaged down bus 13 so I could get on, telling the driver that he was to make sure I got off at the bus station.

From the bus station I had to get two buses up to Yuanyang in the hills. Yuanyang is famous for its huge rice terraces, and amazing scenary. Once I arrived again I couldnt seem to find the hostel I was looking for even though I appeared to be at the bus station this time. So I spied an internet cafe, and looked up somewhere to stay. It appears the reason I couldnt find the place I was looking for is that it closed some time ago. After that I decided just to look for any cheap hotel.

I had just one full day in Yuanyang before making my bus journey south to the Vietnam border. Whilst having dinner I spied an advert in English about an organisation that helped tourists, and by the looks of it spoke English. After tea I went and found it, and the guy there was really helpful and spoke brilliant english. He gave me a map, and suggested a place to go for my full day.

So the next day I got a minibus over to a small village called Shengcun. When I arrived the village had a full blown market in progress, and for once it seemed like I was seeing real rural China. There were loads of things for sale from food to live animals, to cheap toys and knick-knacks. The one thing that made me laugh the most was the butchers section, loads of dirty wooden tables setup with lots of raw meat sitting on it. The butchers then seemed to cut the chunks up for customers, whilst smoking and dropping ash all over the place.

After a wander round the market I walked the 15kms back to the main town. The walk was really nice and passed hundreds of rice terraces, and small villages. As well as water buffalo, and groups of people walking back from the market. Including one group of 3 old women trying to herd 3 tiny piglets along the track. The piglets kept squealing as the old women hit them with sticks to keep them walking.

The next day I got the bus to Hekou on the Chinese-Vietnamese border. The journey was supposed to be 5 hours but quickly turned into 7 as it was along one of the worst roads I've been on in China. It had rained the night before and at many points the road was a muddy quagmire. This added to the fact that several lorries got stuck in front of us quickly causing huge traffic jams on the tiny road.

After finally reaching Hekou, the bus dropped me off only 2 minutes walk from the border post. I walked in went through immigration to customs. At customs they asked me to open my bags and said they were particularly looking for books. Now I had read on the internet reports that CHinese authorities had seized lonely planets when people entered China, because Taiwan was in a different colour than China, and hence the guides are illegal, but I never thought they would want it on the way out, so hadnt hidden my book. As I pulled my various guidebooks and reading novels out, they immediately seized anything that mentioned China and thumbed through it for maps. Eventually they were satisfied that my China LP was the only illegal book and said they were confiscating it as I should never have had it in China. I pointed out the small print on the back of the book that says that the external boundaries of China have not been authneticated, and thus they were not saying that the boundaries they showed were nesecarily the actual boundries, but they pointed out back, that it didnt say China, it said India, so was no good. In the end I had to leave without my guidebook. It appeared from the way they were looking that they have specific instructions to confiscate guidebooks at this border, they werent interested in my malaria medicine, or anything else. I wonder if you could smuggle drugs through whilst they just removed your guidebook. Opium fine, just no maps of China indicating Taiwan is anything but part of the country.

Once through the Chinese border I walked across a bridge to the Vietnamese building. Here they took ages with my passport but then waved me through customs, despite having an x ray machine and sign asking people to use it. As I approached the doors I suddenly spied a throng of people watching me eagerly, and of course the minute I walked out the doors I was beseiged by millions of Vietnamese touts, shouting, "Hey you want Moto to Sapa?" "Hey I take you train station?" After more than a month without this I was actually glad to see them. It was like meeting some kind of old friend, but one who comes in the form of 20 people trying to rip you off.

I quickly wittled them down to one guy, and said I'd get some food and then we could talk price. I ate at a little cafe that he pointed to, and then discussed his extortionate prices. Eventually after me leaving him twice and him coming back with a new lower price, I agreed a price for a share minibus up to Sapa.

The minibus ride was quite entertaining, firstly they squeezed in so much people and luggage it was amazing. We kept stopping and adding more people as we drove down the road. Even the pretty Vietnamese girl next to me kept laughing at everything that was going on in the bus, even though surely she would be used to it. Then halfway there the driver suddenly stopped on the roadside and shouted out his window at a 10 year old boy, he then jumped out and grabbed a stick. At this point I realised the stick had a live snake attached to it. He gave the boy some money and threw the stick in the back of the bus, scaring the guys who were sat near it. This led the Vietnamese girl to burst into a new round of laughter.

Finally we arrived at the top of the hill at Sapa, and a hotel tout immediately jumped into the bus next to me. Telling me I should come to his hotel, when I eventually got out, I then had another two girls attach themselves to me asking me to go with them to their hotels. I said I'd look at them all after they started dropping the prices to 30000 Dong. It took some time for me to even get them to quote the price in Dong, they were obsessed with US dollars. If they'd have quoted in Yuan, or pounds, or even Ruppees I'd have had a better idea, but the US dollar is a currency I'm not used to and it just confuses things.

So in the end I looked at the guys hotel first and it was nice and the woman there said I could have the room for 55,000 not 30,000, which was actually a good price for a room with en suite etc. So I checked in and I finally could chill out for the evening.

I really enjoyed China, it definately should be more on the tourist map. There are loads of hostels in the main cites and tourist towns, and its easy to navigate despite the langauge barrier. Comparing it to Vietnam, there are less westerners, just walking round Sapa it seems I'm beseiged by them here. It does feel like Ive crossed from one backpacker route to another, as an irish guy said to me in the pub last night, I really have entered the usual Southeast asia backpacker trail, from here on its loads of younger travelers and parties!

When I was in China, I couldnt help compare it to India, as both countries are similar in many ways, and both are supposed to be developing quickly. But China really felt like it was, in the cites and many towns the chinese government have improved infrastructure, and many people you see on the street look reasonably affluent. India still felt like it has a long way to go, with so much poverty everywhere, and an aging infrastructure. In one month in China I didnt have one powercut, in India I had them daily in most towns and small cities. One guy said to me the difference between the two places, is India is billion people doing whatever they like, where as China is a billion people being told what to do. And it really seems from the outside like Chinas version works better.

The big problem in China though is that the government control everything still. I met a chinese guy from Kunming who seemed to go against the trend and said to me, he hated that when he voted he had 3 choices, but they were all members of the communist party and approved at a high level. He was one of the few Chinese I met that questioned their government. Many it seems believe everything they are told and support their government unequivically.

Despite this it does seem like the government is libralising more and more. I think giving people what they've got so far has meant they could never go back as that would go against popular opinion, and be dangerous. Hopefully this will mean eventually abandoning the one party system, but only time will tell on that one. The continuing police state mentality seems like it doesnt really belong with all their other policies, it feels like its a last ditch attempt to say, yes we still are communist, honest.

Before I came to China I heard talk that perhaps China is a dangerous nation as it becomes more powerful, but I think most chinese are happy with their new found wealth, and hence the government having given them this would be stupid to do anything rash. I think Chinas prosperity will mean that it will remain a relativly peaceful country apart from its current issues with its minorities, especially the Tibetan issue.

Hopefully issues like that will resolve themselves as the government libralises more and more, watch this space.

---