Hong Kong and So Long

The next morning we departed at 8, driving to Guilin train station, and getting another bullet train to the border with Hong Kong. Hong Kong is of course part of China, but it is a special administrative region, due to former British rule. Basically, they didn't want to give up the liberties they enjoyed over the rest of China, and so it was negotiated that China won't mess with them for 50 years after Hong Kong was handed back in 1997 (so until 2047).

The border crossing went smoothly, and then we had to take the subway to our hotel, arriving at about 5pm. A few of the group seemed to get fed up of the travelling, but I didn't think it was that bad. I did nap on the train though!

After refreshing ourselves, we went out for some dim sum for tea, and then took a walk to Victoria Harbour to see a light show which happens every night at 8. Since we arrived a bit early, we went down to see the Avenue of Stars, which has statues of a lot of famous actors, but it was closed for renovations! The light show was even worse: we hung around for 40 minutes, and the climax of the 'show' was 6 lasers firing in sync for around 10 seconds. There was basically no show, and nobody knows what happened: Del has been before and said it was a lot better back then.

A panorama of the harbour. Hong Kong has more skyscrapers than any other city in the world!

The bell tower and Hong Kong exhibition centre. 2 of Hong Kong's top 10 attractions. The exhibition centre is the white wall, and it's basically a lot of that

The moon was bright, but couldn't outshine all the neon signs!

After that disappointment, Del and I went to Temple Street night market, on the hunt for last minute souvenirs. Unfortunately, it was *very* touristy, with almost no nice wood or metalwork, and an abundance of plastic waving cats and fidget spinners. To compound the day of travel and misfortune, the bed was the hardest I've ever slept on. I still have a crick in my neck whilst writing, 2 days later!

The next day was the departure day for most of the group. Mike and Pat had left early, so we said goodbye last night, Del was leaving at 2 for a 7 o clock flight, and Alfredo, Tina, and Julia had to change hotels as they were staying an extra day. I had an 11pm flight, luckily around the same time as Simon and Christine, so we could share a taxi.

Minus Mike and Pat we all went out for a mixed dumpling breakfast, which was really nice, and said goodbye to William, and also Del who has been to Hong Kong before and so wasn't joining us for the morning.

Alfredo had planned out a few sights to see, and the rest of us decided to tag along. Unfortunately his timings were a bit off. The flower market was nice, but got into full swing around 10am, and we arrived at 9. Similar story with the bird market, and though the birds were nice and well cared for (as they were pets and not for eating) the cages often seemed too small, so it was a bit sad.

After that we went through a couple of parks: Danger Flag hill was up a daunting amount of steps, and turned out to be less of a park and more of a small exercise area, and King's Park didn't seem to have any park either, confusingly. We stopped at a new and secret Harry Potter cafe too (secret as it was just in a high rise with no signs), but that didn't open until 2:30 (and it turned out it was fully booked up until mid October, as Alfredo found out going back later), but at least we got to spend some time together on our last day.

Venus fly trapdoors

Plus plenty of other exotic flowers

This was partway up Danger Flag Hill, and you still can't see the top!

But don't worry, the slope had a registration at least

After we got back to the hotel it was time to say goodbye to Alfredo, Julia, and Tina. Both are visiting the UK in the next couple of years though, so hopefully we'll meet again soon! Simon and Christine went off bag shopping, and I was checking out stuff to do in Hong Kong with my 3 odd free hours.

Unfortunately I was thwarted. Of the 'Top Ten' things to see and do there were:

Victoria Peak - a 30 minute walk, then a boat, tram, and cable car ride away. Too complicated

Tian Tan Giant Buddha - 27 miles away (though accessible by tram but still), and only built around the turn of the century, so not exactly enticing after all the ancient giant buddhas I saw

The Bell Tower - I already saw it, and it shouldn't really be in the top ten of anything

Hong Kong Exhibition Centre - see Bell Tower

Hong Kong Disneyland - also about 27 miles away, and no

Temple Street Night Market - see Bell Tower, plus it was day time

Ladies Market - I had lost confidence in the markets after temple street, plus I think it is mainly clothes of which I want none

Jade Street - too expensive

Avenue of Stars - closed

Victoria Harbour - it was nice, but I saw it already!

Out of other options, I decided to check out Kowloon Park, which was quite nearby the hotel, and grab some lunch. Simon spotted me as I was walking along, so I joined them for a beer and since I was there, lunch, which was curry and very nice. Afterwards I looked round the park, which was quite nice, but not so big, and didn't have so much nature: it was mainly paved walkways etc.

I'm not really sure they know what a park is...

It got better though, it was nice to walk around.

I thought I might have to fight the pigeons when I came over here, but we bonded

I thought we'd finished the flower section!

After that I chilled out with Simon and Christine before taking our taxi to the airport. I said goodbye to Simon and Christine there, as they had business class tickets (for not too much more than my economy ones!) so would be going to their special lounge to have fights with lumps of pure gold or whatever it is posh people do (at this point I should probably mention the are from Rochdale, so not actually posh)

There was a super long line to check in, but the operators must've been quick because it didn't take too long. I commemorated my stay in China with some ramen, as in my hub, which I had to take a train to, there weren't any Chinese restaurants. It was really nice though!

It is oriental... that counts right?

Amazingly, I managed to get 7 hours of not horrendous sleep on the flight to Frankfurt, and otherwise watched a couple of movies (The Great Wall, for China, and King Arthur, for England. Both as average as you'd expect, but at least the critics won't have been drooling all over them like the did Logan, which I watched on the way here and was comparable). The plane had been blessedly quiet, but for the final 34 minutes a child took umbrage to reality, and screamed "NOOOOO, NOOOOO" continually for the entire remaining 34 minutes. What a little angel.

At Frankfurt airport everything went smoothly, aside from security where I got pulled out because I hadn't taken my kindle out of my bag. I have been to literally dozens of other airports, and not one has required a kindle to be taken out of the bag, nor were there any signs indicating that ALL electronic equipment had to be removed from bags, plus it was 5am, so I was pretty annoyed and hit the red angry face at the board which asks you how your security experience was.

The flight back to London was short and uneventful. I got my bags and through passport control and customs very quickly, then rammed into the underground like sardines with all the commuters to get to King's Cross. The train was convenient too, and by about midday I was back home, to an enthusiastic greeting from Misty. What a trip!

Misty I missed yooooooou!

Scholarly Pursuits

I actually woke up before my alarm, guess I'm just used to early mornings here! Breakfast was noodles, and then it was time for a day trip to an ancient stone village, tea plantation, and scholar mountain, which has amazing views of karsts. I also realised that this is my last full day in China; tomorrow we are going to Hong Kong, which is part of China of course, but not really treated as such.

Surprisingly only Alfredo, Del, Tina, Julia and I were going on this trip, where everyone had expressed interest before. Simon and Pat have been a bit ill though, and Christine has a bad knee so maybe that's why there were drop outs. It was about a 40 minute drive to the village near the ancient stone village, up some windy roads into the mountains (basically a few karsts stuck together).

The ancient stone village was built around 1400, during the Ming dynasty. The story goes that the 2nd Ming emperor was the grandson of the first emperor, not the son (he was the son of the emperor's favourite son, who dies youngish). This caused dissatisfaction amongst some of his uncles, in particular one from Beijing who marched to Nanjing, the original dynastic capital, and deposed him. The emperor was nowhere to be found though, and there are numerous theories about what happened to him. One of the most convincing though is that he fled here to Yangshuo; the uncle in control of Guilin (the provincial capital) was favourable towards the emperor, the village had walls and watchtowers unlike a typical mountain village, and golf coins from that era were discovered there too!

The village was actually inhabited until 3 years ago, but everyone moved to the foot of the mountain as in the dry season the village has no fresh water and a long trek had to be made down to a river. There are plans to restore the village, but I'm glad I came when it is a ruin; even a faithful restoration would make it nothing more than a reproduction, and knowing the Chinese the limestone bricks used in construction will be replaced with cement because it is cheaper, and leds will probably be involved too...

The remains of the village walls

They might want to restore it, but I think it's nice like this!

David, our guide, likes his filters it seems. The extra person is a random Dutch girl who is also doing the trip

This very large spider was visibly building its web. Very cool. Or terrifying if you are mum

After that we moved on to Scholar Mountain. It is known as Xiangong in Chinese, which means husband, as it supposedly looks like a man in traditional wedding dress from the side. There were more than 400 steps up, and it is a hot day, but how many steps do they think I climbed this holiday?! It was easy enough. The views from the top were stunning, and it had cleared up a lot from the overcast earlier, which was great as we were afraid we wouldn't be able to see much. Also this view is on the 20 yuan note, albeit in reverse (from in the valley looking up). That makes 3 money locations I've seen now!

Not perfectly clear, but the way they disappear into the haze is nice too

I was there too

I get the feeling this isn't the first panorama David has taken

After that it was off to the tea plantation, where we would be having lunch. William told us it was included, but it wasn't, which is a bit annoying. The food was good though, and the restaurant had great views.

After lunch we went off to pick some tea. The number of leaves connected to a shoot determines what sort of tea it will be made into; there aren't different types of tea plant for black, green, oolong, white, etc tea, which blew my mind a little! I decided to pick the shoot plus one leaf, used for black tea, and we slaved away under the hot sun for 30 minutes before being recalled. We got to keep the tea, now I'll just have to YouTube how to process it!

Tea as far as the eye can see!

I felt like I was a natural

There was a selection of insects too. They don't seem to wreck the tea though

If you haven't figured it out yet, whenever I say "spot the cricket", it is almost guaranteed to be dead centre, as I was trying to get a photo of it in the first instance, but it was camouflaged

After that, we had a tea drinking ceremony, where we tried white, green, black, oolong, and flower (osmanthus) teas. Oolong was my favourite, and osmanthus my least favourite, despite their lovely smell. After refreshing at the hotel, we went out and tried the local delicacy: beer fish. It was alright, just seemed like fish though really.

Finally, we went for a walk down West Street at night. Boy is it different! Busy, all lit up, and every shop has music blaring at you to entice you in, a far cry from the sleepy daytime souvenir shops!

There's a few people out and about. Just a few mind!

Tomorrow is my last full day here, and I'll be travelling to Hong Kong, the city with the most skyscrapers in the world!

A Cycle through the Countryside

Today's start was a relaxed 8:30. We took a minibus a short way, and then met Tanya, a funny little woman who was our guide for the day's cycling. They only had girls bikes but the seats were adjustable, which was nice!

Cycling along through the karsts really was lovely. The views were unrelenting, and it was pleasantly flat. The only problem was the heat; it was a good job we started earlyish, otherwise it really would have been too hot!

The first rice I've seen being grown here

After a while we started to cycle along a tributary of the Li river we had seen yesterday. It was really quiet, only the occasional traditional bamboo raft passing by, and the sound of an incredibly furry caterpillar which was the fastest one I've ever seen (it didn't actually make a sound, but it was super fast. So fast that by the time I'd stopped and got my phone out to take a picture it escaped!).

The basket was quite handy to stop my back from sweating! Good old girls bikes

That haunted looking house has a really nice view at least

A nice bit of colour in the foreground. The fastest caterpillar in the east was around here

We cycled until around 11, stopping at a cafe, where those of us who wanted had the chance to climb Moon Mountain, a famous landmark in the area that I'd seen on the internet before getting here. The only problem was over 1,000 steps. Alfredo, Del, Tina, and I took up the challenge.

It doesn't look so far away. If you squint...

If we had been in the sun, I might've died, as it was really beating down on us at this point (Del, with his strong Yang constitution would surely have fallen), but blessedly almost the whole way was through a bamboo forest. There was a lot of questionable signage (signs to the dresser/vanity, which we went to but never found out what it actually was, "no rock climbing, do it at your own risk" - which is it?! and the general poor English), and a few nice views along the way. It was harder than climbing up to the monastery in Emei, but worth it, as the arch was spectacular up close, and the views were glorious!

Only partway up but already the karsts seem to go on forever!

This is through the other side of the arch. It has lots of little stalagmites; I think it is preparing to eat tourists!

Hello from the other siiiiiide! It's still nice over here

Group selfie. Del suffers from not being able to control his face whilst taking a selfie like I do (or he lost his teeth on the way up), and Alfredo copied a man he saw and took his shirt off

I'm sorry everyone, I broke the law

Going down was much easier than going up, and we cycled 5 minutes to a nearby farmhouse/restaurant for lunch, before being delivered back to Yangshuo by minibus. We had come further than I thought as it was a 20 minute drive still!

In the afternoon there was the option of a ride on a bamboo raft, but I've already walked and cycled along the river so I chose to pass, especially since some of the 'bamboo' rafts are made from pvc! We are going on a day trip tomorrow too which is going to be a loooong day, so I'm happy to rest whilst I can!

Speaking of tomorrow, I don't want to try and join today's and tomorrow's posts as I feel it would be monstrously long. The only extras I have to pad this post out are some photos, so enjoy!

The toilet in our last train. At least it didn't smell!

Me striking the bell of welcome at Jade Emperor Palace. I only welcomed the rain :(

The group minus Del walking down towards Western Street in Yangshuo yesterday. Minus Del because he took it

Do yourself a favour and read this through, so much great translation. But beware of the Nobler...

Karst these Dam Trains!

Ah announcer lady, I won't miss you waking me up! I was glad on this occasion for the first of 2 breakfast announcements, as the instructions last night were not particularly clear on the times. I ate cereal tearfully as I doubt I will see it again until I get home, and a donut with nuts on recommended by Simon (aka the Beijing Barger), which turned out to be really nice.

We didn't have much time after breakfast before disembarking for our Three Gorges Dam trip, carrying all our luggage with us as would would not be returning to goddess number 2. The bus ride was only short, and a local guide gave us some facts about the dam as we went. 

Construction began in 1991, and was completed in 2008. It holds back the biggest reservoir in the world, as it has altered the height of the Yangtze for more than 600 kilometres, allowing more easy navigation for cargo ships up to Chongqing. It is the largest hydroelectric generator in the world, accounting for more than 5% of China's power each year. 

It was also not a great tour. You can't get anywhere near the dam really, because if it were to be destroyed even Shanghai would be flooded, and the viewpoints are not in great places. The dam itself is long and not too tall, so it isn't particularly photogenic either, and once the introduction was done there wasn't really much else to do. It probably wasn't as bad Jade Emperor Palace, but only because it wasn't torrential rain. There really wasn't anything to do but look at a fairly unimpressive bit of concrete for over an hour.

It appears to be holding back the water so... yay?

The other thing to see was this plaque. Naked men wrestling in a whirlpool... great...

I stalked this bird for about 5 minutes too to kill some time

The second viewpoint. It is pretty long, I'll give them that

After that we had an hour's bus drive to Yichuan train station, during which we saw the third of the three gorges, and I had probably the best nap I can recall having ever! Another hour was spent eating lunch and purchasing supplies for our final sleeper train (I had 3 steamed buns), and then we boarded, this time all in the soft sleeper carriages, with a door, and lots of headroom!

Really it is quite a bit nicer than where I slept on our other trains, even though this train is older than the others. To pass the time I read, and also read some of my blog out to my roommates (Christine requested the incident that made Simon a legend: the origin story of the Beijing Barger. The post is actually called Summer of Heaven). Since we would be getting off around 5am, an aggressively early bedtime of 8pm was enacted.

We in fact didn't get off the train until nearer 6, at which point we had a 4 hour bus ride to look forward to. It wasn't so bad though, even with 8 and a half hours sleep I still had plenty of napping in me!

When I awoke it was getting karsty out

Yangshuo is by far the smallest settlement we've visited: even Emei is bigger now thanks to a huge recent development (though we stayed a little out of that there). It is filled with westerners though! Waaay more than anywhere else we've been, to the point when people almost don't stare. Almost...

We had a Chinese lunch, then I undertook some final souvenir shopping, where I made a woman sulk as she acceded to my price as I was leaving the shop. I think my bargaining is getting better! After that I lazed around for some of the afternoon, before Del and I went to climb a nearby karst in a park that we had been told had steps up to a pagoda. We had waited until the day cooled, as it is hot here. I even suffered my first sunburn of the holiday, as it was cloudy when we originally left the hotel. Only on my neck though luckily, and not bad.

The cormorant on the left is clearly more into photography

The Li river (another name for this part of the Yangtze I believe). It's not bad looking

Ready to climb, if we make it through that murder cave!

We got out

The pagoda was quite scenic

Yangshuo has a nice backdrop

This is another fairly short post, so I will regale you with some tales from the trip that I forgot at the time:

In Xi'an, just before we cycled around the city wall, we were waiting for William to buy the tickets. Nearby there was a swat van, which is different to ours, somewhat more like a tank. A swat team guy got out of it to have what appeared to be his breakfast. Out of a carrier bag came a bread thing, a drinking yoghurt, and... a handgun?! Yes, that seems like the perfect place to keep your gun, in with the yoghurt...

Fast forward to Chengdu, and the People's Park when we were having lunch. I'd just received my steamed buns in a bamboo pot thing (see below). How nicely arranged, but I felt they might need some soy sauce, and there was some on the table so why not go for it? I poured some on, but the bun didn't really soak it up, so I poured a bit more. Then I noticed that there was a bit of soy sauce peeking out of the bottom of the bamboo thing. I lifted it, to discover that it had holes on the bottom, and the soy sauce had been contained by the bottom edge, until I released it. I put the bamboo thing back down to control the situation as best I could, and called for the cloth of shame to wipe it up.

Shortly before the sauce was released

Finally, here's some guest photos:

Alfredo went much more all in on the Li river photography that me. Plus those instagram filters

He also likes to sneak into people's rooms and photograph them while they sleep. Or those could be his roommates from the sleeper train. Who knows

Only missing the unicycle...