The end of China, told from the middle

China

Never have I been to a country with so many of its own people being such tourists. Chinese tourists do not just terrorize foreign populations but also their own. Lijiang is a shining example of this. The old town is a lot like Pingyao, apart from you can tell it is all faked, and new. It has a Disneyland feel to it, and every single building is a shop, a hotel, or a restaurant. God knows where anybody lives. We were there in December, and it was a bit cold, yet the streets were still busy with Chinese people with very expensive cameras snapping anything and everything.

 

That being said, the town is still really nice to walk around and take it all in. It may be fake old, but its still pretty. The cobbled streets wind around traditional buildings and small bridges arch over slow-running canals lined with willow trees. There are lots of impressive mountainscapes in the background as well, all adding to the effect.We tried some insects cooked on a skewer, which was...interesting. They didn't taste of much but they were crunchy and I wasn't a fan of getting wings/legs stuck inbetween my teeth.

The Tiger Leaping Gorge was next on the agenda, the highest valley in the world (maybe? I lose track. Everything seems to be the worlds something or other). We got a bus out to a dead end town and stayed the night in a hostel run by Tibetans. That's where it all went a bit Pete Tong. 

Alex was ill with food poisoning, so we agreed to wait a day to see if he would be better the next day. That was for the best as we realised we didn't have much money and the dead-end town only had ATMs which wouldn't take our cards. Ant and I had to take a 2 hour bus ride to Shangri-La just for a cash machine. The town has been renamed Shangri-La after James Hilton's "lost horizon" novel, another attempt to attract those Chinese tourists. It was a fun side trip though, and Shangri La looked nice (but not worth more than a fleeting visit). We got cash, had some yak meat noodles and got out of there. 

The next day Alex still wasn't better, and we had our first real argument as a group. 98 days in, so close to the 100 without a real dispute. Oh well. We were running out of time in China to do all the stuff we wanted to and the Tiger Leaping Gorge is a strenuous climb. Alex wanted us to wait another day, we argued that even if he felt better he would be feeling too weak etc to be up for it anyway, so we went without him. 

Turns out Alex wasn't well enough to do it the next day. I still felt guilty though. But...there must be a God, playing some sort of sick joke on me. Half way up the gorge there is a guest house where you spend the night. I spent that night throwing up and was completely drained with a fever the next day. That climb down was one of the hardest things I have ever done. When we got to the bottom I got into a bed with 6 layers of clothes, a hat, and gloves on and was still shivering uncontrollably. There is some justice in the world hey.

The first day up the gorge was spectacular though. What a great place to go visit, the views are astounding and the guest house (half way house) has the best views out of a bedroom I have ever seen and it was dirt cheap. 

We celebrated the 100 days of travelling apart, which is a shame. Ant was more interested in seeing the cities so headed to Macau and Hong Kong early whilst Alex and I wanted to see a bit more countryside. I can't really speak for Ant, so this is what me and Alex did...

We headed to Dali, which is a really cool town, although there are lots of weird ex-pats there and bars with weird atmospheres. This american guy who called himself "whisper" and dressed like a fool was one particular guy I was keen to avoid, despite him being hard to get rid of. This stop was only because of the bus schedules, so we didn't do any activities here, but I could have stayed a few days easily.

Guilin was a great place. I liked it there a lot. There we visited some rice terraces, which were nice but could have been missed out to be honest. I think we went at the wrong time of the year so they didn't look too impressive. If we had more time there were some good walks to do around the area with guest houses to stay in but we only had the one day.

The real highlight, which made fewer days in Hong Kong worth while was Yangshuo. The town itself is awesome, but mainly because of the scenary in the background. There are weird limestone peaks which I have no idea how they were formed but they look awesome.

We hired bikes and cycled around the river. Some of the best views I have ever seen, I loved that day. You are cycling down a dirt path, with impressive mountains all around you, a meandering river, and great villages. The only down side to the day was that Alex got a flat tire half way so he was really struggling to get back. We had to walk quite a bit back and cut the route short. Every cloud though...the short cut involved going over the river on a bamboo raft with our bikes. I even got to test out the underwater mode on my camera. 

Macau was okay, I didn't really like it that much. I don't gamble so I guess that doesn't help seeing as it gets more revenue than Vegas nowadays. It seemed like a city that was a bit run down but then had billions pumped into it to make these fancy casinos. However, the opulence of a few buildings does not hide the crap around it. We weren't there for long though so maybe I am being unfair and there was more to see.

Hong Kong is a great city. Its easy to see why so many people want to live there. We met up with Ant again but he was couchsurfing to save money so we didn't see him too much. He got on really well with his couch surfer and he was having a great time. We found a good hostel in a great location and not too expensive so it was all good. 

We saw a large Buddha (another) and went up Peak Hill on the tram to have a great view over the city. I had been trying to get a couch surfing place for me and Alex and one person who responded wanted to meet up although we couldn't stay at hers. Alex wasn't feeling up for it so I went alone and had a good time. We got some beers from 7-11 and sat by the harbour with an amazing view of the city at night then walked around Mong Kok night market. I may actually like couch surfing, its a good way to meet people who know the city inside out.

We met up with Ant again on the plane, it felt like a reunion.

We all loved China, it is an awesome place. Its very different to India so its hard to say which is better. Every place in India felt unique whilst Chinas big cities all felt a bit the same, as they are so developed. So maybe India wins, just. But then the countryside in China is amazing. I would like to go back and do a lot of hikes etc (geek, right?) Its a real shame we had to miss out Shanghai as well. The food is amazing (the street noodles are great and so cheap) and the people are really friendly. It can be frustrating when the language barrier hits you in the face. Being stood looking at someone with no idea how to communicate what you want, and seeing them wanting to know, but unable to ask. Its funny though at the same time I guess.

110 days down...bring on Thailand.

There's More to China....

Pingyao
From Beijing we travelled to Pingyao, which is an old walled town, supposedly one of the finest examples of a traditional Chinese town. It is impressive, and a lot of fun just to walk around soaking it all in. There were lots of tour buggies as a lot of Chinese tourists come here but I guess we were a bit out of season as it was fairly quiet. There is lots of things to visit around Pingyao such as the underground castle but we didn't get around to doing any of it. It was a bit expensive anyway. We spent our days wandering around the town (not even bothering to pay to go up on the city walls) watching (and sometimes laughing) at the locals going about their day. There were lots of old Chinese men in flat caps playing Chinese chess or Mahjong Tiles. The hostel was impressive, being a 500 year old building with courtyards and big rooms (and a great pool table). The dorms were in the eaves of the building and were very 'atmospheric'.

The thing I enjoyed most about Pingyao was buying a new laptop. I was getting jealous of Ant and Alex being able to watch films on theirs so I splashed out. No easy task in China when the staff don't speak English. Firstly they did not accept cards so 1 lad in the shop took me on his motorbike to an ATM. Then I had to take it back to get them to try and install Windows in English (again, hard to explain). It was solved by sitting infront of a PC on a free translation website speaking through that. I waited whilst they put English on it and sat for an hour on this free translation website with about 5 staff sat around speaking to me. It was pretty funny, especially as the free translation does not translate very well. I asked if 1 of them wanted to visit England and he 'yearns for it with his heart'...apparently.

Xian

The Teracotta Army...the eighth wonder of the world. I was left feeling a bit let down. I don't know what I expected, to.  be blown away I guess, but I wasn't. When you consider the history behind it, with each warrior being different, and how old they are, etc etc, then it is impressive. I think it would be better if you could walk closer to them (which I guess isn't possible) rather than just see them from above in their pits. It was still worth going to see, but has not left the impression that the Great Wall left on me. We met an English guy, a Dutch guy, and an English girl who we went there with, and we have been travelling with the 2 guys for a while now.

We went to the Imax to see Tin-Tin at an empty cinema. The Dutch guy, Kev also had found a snooker hall so I went and played snooker with him. The best thing about that was the electronic scoreboard with a remote so you just press the colour ball you potted and it adds up your score. Great!
Alex and I went cycling around the city walls. That was a lot of fun to do, even though it was knackering because of the rubbish bikes you get given and the bumpy ground.

Chengdu
At Chengdu there was the 3 of us and Kev and Tom (Dutch and English guy). Chengdu is famous for its Pandas.  We spent a lot of time in Chengdu drunk or hungover. One day consisted of getting a KFC bucket and watching Full Metal Jacket. Some days just drifted by watching Sopranos on my laptop. I didn't even go to see the Pandas (although Ant and Alex did) because I had seen them in Beijing and apparently its very similar.

The reason we were going out so much is because of CC club. Westerners get free entry and free whisky all night. We asked how much the whisky was...85pounds per bottle. Madness! The club was great. Every now and then a group of Chinese girls or guys get up on stage and mime and dance to Lady Gaga or Justin Bieber. Pretty funny.

We did walk around the town a lot, go out for food etc. However, we did so little that the staff at the hostel took a picture of us all on our laptops (adding speech bubbles like 'internet cafe????') and printed it out as a leaving present. It is stuck in my journal alongside my polaroid picture of the day.

I wanted to go climb Mt Emei Shan, a 3 day hike, but Alex and Ant didn't. Luckily Tom and Kev did so I left Ant and Alex at the hostel and went off. Firstly we stopped off at Leshan to see the Giant Buddha. He is the largest stone Buddha in the world and mighty impressive. We didn't have much time to catch our bus so it was a bit of a whirlwind visit. The town looked like a dive anyway.

Mt Emei Shan
I loved Mt Emei Shan, it might be my favourite thing I have done whilst travelling yet.

We left our big bags at the hostel in the village of Baoguo and set off with our day packs, ambitiously aiming to complete it in 2 days rather than 3. That was out of the window pretty early on. We got lost and ended up back at the base but at a different place. I didn't mind though because it ended up taking us through this awesome valley. The path wound around lakes and streams with clear blue waters, over rope-bridges and between temples tucked into the mountainsides. I Loved it. There were various stone carvings as well, from times the Emperors had visited. Add the fact that we dallyed about taking photos as well as getting lost, there was no way we were going to be able to do this in 2 days.

You get to a certain point walking through a valley over wooden bridges and walkways (feeling a lot like Robin Hood hah) when you get to the monkey section. There are loads of monkeys here, which can be a bit aggressive. There are staff with slingshots incase the monkeys get out of hand. We had our bamboo walking sticks the hostel had lent us so we just banged our sticks to get through. They weren't really bad to be honest, and its always fun to see monkeys so close up.

The next bit was a bit hellish. There were endless steps, forever winding up the mountainside. You would turn 1 corner to see steps as far as the eye could see dissapearing into the mist. That was demoralising. The views were ace though. Eventually, out of the mist appeared the monastery where we were spending the night. It was certainly an impressive setting - a Chinese style monastery set infront of misty mountains. It felt very surreal. Saying that, the rooms were awful. The whole place was very quiet and felt a bit like a horror film. The rooms were shitty and it was so so cold that high up that I piled about 5 blankets on me.

The next day was more climbing steps still. The scenery began to change, and I spent the 1st of December surrounded by snow covered forests with no-one else around for miles it seemed (apart from Kev and Tom). The monasteries we passed looked even more impressive covered in snow, and I think I took more photos than the rest of China put together. The monastery we stayed in that night was less basic than the first, and the beds had electric blankets which were a welcome addition.

The last day was an easy climb, resulting in the most impressive summit I have been to yet. Everywhere you look there is something to see. In front of you in the distance are snow-capped mountain ranges. To your left the other peak of the mountain with a temple perched perilously on the top. Below it the cliffs vanished into the blanket of clouds. Then you look behind you, at 'the golden summit' which has a huge golden statue of Buddha and a golden temple. I think I had a grin on my face the entire time I was up there.

Okay so its a lot of steps, whereas some people like to be on more of a trail. And the peak is busy as it can be reached by a bus then a cable car. But it's awesome to climb, the views are amazing and you still get that sense of acheievement. Its over twice as high as Snowdon.

When we got back to Chengdu we had another night out at CC (so much for the 3 day detox) and then moved on. Next stop...Liajiang in Yunnan.


Again...Phew. Hope you all enjoyed it. I cannot upload any photos as the internet is a bag of s**t here. I hope everything is good (and christmassy) at home.