Yesterday was fantastic.
We couldn't top it so I've tried to get caught up on our photos so you can see how beautiful the area is. The Yulong River is the highpoint of China for me.
Saturday 31 October 2009
Yulong Calm
Friday 30 October 2009
Last Days in China
Hi everyone,
I'm sitting in yet another hotel lobby, this time in Yangshuo in Guangxi Province.
You know the place (if you are from the UK) - its the area in the HSBC advert where the fisherman uses Cormorants to catch fish in the river and the background is a stunning maze of limestone peaks.
This has always been my top destination in China so I was excited to arrive in Guilin after another overnight train - from Shenzhen on the Chinese mainland side of the border with Hong Kong. We didn't expect to be in Guilin for long before taking the boat down the river to Yanshuo, but it had a lot of charm about it.
For a start, as busy as it was, things have been (on average) getting smaller and quieter and more sedate as we head further South. It was lovely to be able to spend a few days around the lakes and rivers of the city as well as arrange a tour to the Dragon's Backbone rice terraces a few hours North of the city. We're getting a bit tired of organised tours in China - the herding and the noise. If I were to visit the terraces again (which were pretty nice) then I'd try to do it independently and stay the night in the villages to avoid the "rush hour". Of course we also booked the boat down the Li River from CITS and actually, once we were onboard, it was alright. To be honest you could have floated down the river tied to a fairground with lunatics whipping you with bamboo and you'd still be happily distracted by the amazing scenery. Suffice to say I ran through memory cards like someone with DTs in their trigger finger. I was sure you couldn't take a bad
photos of the rocky karsts decorating the meandering river on both sides but on reviewing mine later on I found this is not the case.
The boat (or fleet of boats) finished its tour in our present location - Yangshuo. It is so easy to be in this town as a tourist. Plenty of good food and easy to access scenery and a buzzy sort of place. I'd love to see what it was like 10 years ago - probably a bit more laid back - many of the Chinese tourists here seem to be into very loud music and partying. I fear that in 10 more years this place will no longer exist but will turn into Blackpool (visitors from years ago may say this has already happened).
But it is easy. So on day 6 we are still here. A few days of cycling around the Yulong River and a Bamboo raft ride down the river from Dragon Bridge were just brilliant and peaceful - you really felt like you had got away from everything. We also went to see a show "Impression on Sanjie Liu" by Olympics ceremony director Zhang Yimou - it was fantastic - hundreds of people, amazing lights, and the karsts lit up in the background - the whole performance was on water.
Anyway, some more difficult decisions today about where to get lunch so I shall leave you now. Tomorrow we begin our journey to Hanoi and our last month in Vietnam...
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Monday 26 October 2009
China photos coming...
Its been tricky getting enough time at a computer and we are on our last week in China. But, in an attempt to catch up here are the first photos from our first stop in Beijing.
Monday 19 October 2009
Time is flying
Hello everyone,
Thought we should catch up while it is easy in Hong Kong (not as restrictive as Mainland China - I still don't get this split). Unfortunately, no way to post any China photos yet.
We finished up in Beijing by having a wicked afternoon at the Summer Palace with some friends we met at the Great Wall who made us a lovely picnic. The sunset over the lakes was a real "moment" - you can really understand where the inspiration for certain styles of Chinese painting comes from. The bridges and the lines of Willows were stunning.
Unfortunately, we had to leave Beijing so after a day of drifting around the Hutongs - the narrow streets (we were staying in one) and buying postcards, we reluctantly got on the sleeper train to Xi'an, home of the Terracotta Army.
The train was a lot more modern than the majority of those we'd travelled on so far. Unfortunately, our language skills were not up to much and we failed to entertain our co-traveller such that she was in bed 20 mins later.
We woke up to Xi'an and MAnchester weather (which lasted 2 days). The hostel was gorgeous if grubby but we instantly missed how easy everything (apart from food) was in Beijing. We walked the city walls in the drizzle and it was actually pretty romantic (for a change). The city appears to be mostly about shopping so we looked forward to our Terracotta Army tour the following day. Unfortunately, the tour also seemed to be more about shopping than culture. The soldiers were pretty impressive but the 2 hours we got was not worth the additional 4 1/2 we spent on the tour.
We decided to move on quickly as the weather was not getting any better. Next stop, Hong Kong...
30 hours of train to Shenzhen and a border crossing later we've seen a lot of the countryside through a train window and things have changed. A lot. Gone are the plantations of crops and the dusty atmosphere and in their place are lush tropical foliage everywhere and humidity - lots of humidity.
Hong Kong is amazing. Within the first day we knew this is somewhere we could live (if you could afford it). We've seen the skyline against the lush peaks and a city that just keeps going and going into the haze, but still allows you to be on a beach in half an hour. We've been up on Victoria Peak, taken the Star and many other ferries, walked Avenue of the Stars, been tempted by "too good to be true" phone offers, eaten great food in Soho and drank beers at Scandi(lously)navian prices. We've hit St Stephen's Beach at Stanley on the South of Hong Kong Island, and are now holidaying it up on Lantau Island. Our first day off tomorrow - no thinking involved!!
We've still got a week or more back on the mainland before heading into Vietnam where we're looking forward to hooking up with the Aussie Crew for a while - woohoo!
Talk later!!
Thought we should catch up while it is easy in Hong Kong (not as restrictive as Mainland China - I still don't get this split). Unfortunately, no way to post any China photos yet.
We finished up in Beijing by having a wicked afternoon at the Summer Palace with some friends we met at the Great Wall who made us a lovely picnic. The sunset over the lakes was a real "moment" - you can really understand where the inspiration for certain styles of Chinese painting comes from. The bridges and the lines of Willows were stunning.
Unfortunately, we had to leave Beijing so after a day of drifting around the Hutongs - the narrow streets (we were staying in one) and buying postcards, we reluctantly got on the sleeper train to Xi'an, home of the Terracotta Army.
The train was a lot more modern than the majority of those we'd travelled on so far. Unfortunately, our language skills were not up to much and we failed to entertain our co-traveller such that she was in bed 20 mins later.
We woke up to Xi'an and MAnchester weather (which lasted 2 days). The hostel was gorgeous if grubby but we instantly missed how easy everything (apart from food) was in Beijing. We walked the city walls in the drizzle and it was actually pretty romantic (for a change). The city appears to be mostly about shopping so we looked forward to our Terracotta Army tour the following day. Unfortunately, the tour also seemed to be more about shopping than culture. The soldiers were pretty impressive but the 2 hours we got was not worth the additional 4 1/2 we spent on the tour.
We decided to move on quickly as the weather was not getting any better. Next stop, Hong Kong...
30 hours of train to Shenzhen and a border crossing later we've seen a lot of the countryside through a train window and things have changed. A lot. Gone are the plantations of crops and the dusty atmosphere and in their place are lush tropical foliage everywhere and humidity - lots of humidity.
Hong Kong is amazing. Within the first day we knew this is somewhere we could live (if you could afford it). We've seen the skyline against the lush peaks and a city that just keeps going and going into the haze, but still allows you to be on a beach in half an hour. We've been up on Victoria Peak, taken the Star and many other ferries, walked Avenue of the Stars, been tempted by "too good to be true" phone offers, eaten great food in Soho and drank beers at Scandi(lously)navian prices. We've hit St Stephen's Beach at Stanley on the South of Hong Kong Island, and are now holidaying it up on Lantau Island. Our first day off tomorrow - no thinking involved!!
We've still got a week or more back on the mainland before heading into Vietnam where we're looking forward to hooking up with the Aussie Crew for a while - woohoo!
Talk later!!
Saturday 10 October 2009
More photos
We are now in China, but thought we should catch up a bit on the photos so this is Finland all the way through Russia and Mongolia.
China will have to wait as we've got a LOT of photos from our week in Beijing including the Forbidden City, The Great Wall and the Summer Palace.
As you can tell, Beijing has a lot to offer and we're slightly sad to be leaving. But lots more to see...
He he.
We're about to get the sleeper train over to Xi-an to look for some Terracotta Soldiers and then deeper into the South.
See you there...
Wednesday 7 October 2009
Beijing Birthday Blog
Jo would firstly like to say thankyou for the birthday cards that are sitting on the hotel room table. I know we didn't want to carry stuff with us but I think it was worth smuggling a couple in.
What a way to spend a Birthday morning! We visited the Great Wall at Mutianyu and it surpassed our expectations. We were there early enough to beat the crowds (us up early?) and the scenery was amazing. Apparently the most popular spot at Badaling you cannot see the wall for people at the moment.
In case you hadn't gathered, we're in Beijing during the celebration of the 60th Anniversary of the People's Republic, coinciding with the week long National Day holiday. Our timing is always this good. We've never seen so many people. I think the whole of China is here this week.
We arrived on Sunday after more long border crossings (at least this time they have an excuse as they have to change the train bogeys on the Chinese side by lifting all the carriages up in the air). This completes what is considered the Trans-Mongolian journey and the rest of our travels are more or less unplanned and unbooked.
So far Beijing has been an adventure. The first evening we braved the crowds and walked around the outside of the Forbidden City moat the wrong way and then nipped to Tian'anmen Square to see the floats and the people and feel the excited atmosphere. We also walked along the Night Markets where they sell everything from noodles to Scorpions on a stick.
We hired bikes and did a tour on Monday along some hutongs and lakes around the centre and went up the hill in Jingshan Park for views over the dusty city.
Yesterday we spent the day in the Forbidden City which is humungous. In fact, a lot of the city is on an unbelieveable scale. I don't think the photos will do it justice.
The weather is still stunning although its supposed to change tomorrow. Still no tans though. This may waylay our plans to see the Summer Palace.
Communications are a bit restricted. Access to blogger from China is blocked so thanks to Martino for hooking up this email. We won't be able to see your comments for now but please still say hello. Also, our phone no longer works. We've bought a Chinese sim card but no one seems to be able to get through. We'll keep trying.
At least email works :)
Bye for now.
Thursday 1 October 2009
Mongolian magic
Hello all
Sorry its been a while but we have been busy.
Since Yekaterinburg we have seen the ballet in Novosibirsk, had a Banya (a Russian sauna) in Listvyanka at Lake Baikal, taken a ski lift with views over the lake and snowy mountains beyond, spent 7 hours sitting at the border and we are now in Ulaan Bataar (the Capital of Mongolia) until tomorrow when we head to China.
Whilst in Mongolia, we've been out into the countryside on a 3 day, two night trek with two British girls and our 4x4 driver Jay. We've slept in gers (yurts as some people know them), falling asleep (sporadically) to the sounds of the wild - including camels, dogs and howling wolves. Met lots of travellers and nomadic locals including a Mongolian cowboy who took us horse riding through the vast landscape.
Vegetarian food is great (unlike expectations).
So are the toilets in the wild (not!).
Really looking forward to Beijing - hope we miss the madness of the 60 year celebrations. Will let you know in our next blog.
Nick and Jo
Sorry its been a while but we have been busy.
Since Yekaterinburg we have seen the ballet in Novosibirsk, had a Banya (a Russian sauna) in Listvyanka at Lake Baikal, taken a ski lift with views over the lake and snowy mountains beyond, spent 7 hours sitting at the border and we are now in Ulaan Bataar (the Capital of Mongolia) until tomorrow when we head to China.
Whilst in Mongolia, we've been out into the countryside on a 3 day, two night trek with two British girls and our 4x4 driver Jay. We've slept in gers (yurts as some people know them), falling asleep (sporadically) to the sounds of the wild - including camels, dogs and howling wolves. Met lots of travellers and nomadic locals including a Mongolian cowboy who took us horse riding through the vast landscape.
Vegetarian food is great (unlike expectations).
So are the toilets in the wild (not!).
Really looking forward to Beijing - hope we miss the madness of the 60 year celebrations. Will let you know in our next blog.
Nick and Jo
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