I think the last post before heading around China was the day we were leaving Hong Kong to get the sleeper train to Guilin. That was an experience! Not quite the sleek bullet train that I was hoping for, more of a throwback to the 70s with lots of blue crushed velvet everywhere and a nice hole in the carriage for the squat toilet with the track rushing past below - a girl could have lost a flipflop down there... But it was kind of fun just sitting chatting in our little carriages, drinking beers and getting to know each other better.
We had a bit of a fright at the station beforehand though when we lost Betty, a mature lady in our group. She'd gone to the toilet and got confused about which floor to head back to and got lost. After about 30-40 mins of searching everywhere for her we were really beginning to panic. Eventually some policemen brought her back. I was imagining her being kidnapped by the Chinese mafia or something!
After not a bad night's sleep considering all the jolting and juddering we arrived for breakfast at a hotel in Guilin. Then heading off to the Lui river for a four-hour boat ride we sat with some French ladies who didn't speak much English so we tried to have a conversation half in our language and half in theirs. We passed hundreds of limestone rock formations along the river, similar to those that I saw in Halong Bay, Vietnam, but the setting was stunning enough not to seem like a repeat. It was beautiful, serene, and well worth seeing. Thanks for the tip there Mr Rigg!
We then spent a couple of days in the picturesque small town of Yangshuo, touristy but very pretty and quaint in old Chinese style. We went to a light show in the evening directed by the same guy who did the opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics with the phenomenal backdrop of the limestone, lit up at various points as part of the show. I had a really emotional moment in the middle of it just wondering was I really there, experiencing something so fantastic. Next day we went cycling around the countryside and for a soothingly sedate journey down the river again on a bamboo raft. Not quite the rapids of white water rafting but it was fun going down the weirs and keeping your feet in the air so they didn't get wet at the right moment.
I had an amusing experience on a tuk tuk ride into the countryside to see how the local people were living and farming the land. In the area all the local people wanted money to have their photo taken but we were in a large group and I thought if I took a shot of two old ladies working the land they wouldn't notice me. No sooner had the shutter gone than the lady at the front threw down her tools and sought me out in the crowd to demand her cold, hard cash. I relented as I thought she might never let me go and gave her a couple of yuen (about 20p, what a stingy cow eh) but then her friend set on me but at that point I refused.
Another comedy moment of a very surreal nature was visiting a pearl museum. South China is famous for pearls apparently and we were shown how to tell real from fake and told how they 'grow' by the most enthusiastic Americanesque Chinese lady I've ever met. She would go down a treat at Disney! We then sat through a fashion show of bored-looking ladies in fancy dresses showing off the designs. I couldn't look at Charlotte throughout as I knew she would make me p*ss myself laughing.
It was on to Xi'an next to check out the terracotta warriors and the wild goose pagoda. I was a little disappointed with the warriors it has to be said. Took some great photos of them all lined up and looking so intriguing but the aircraft hangar style building they are housed in spoilt it a little bit for me. If you've seen the ones they have in London you would have experienced a very different warrior too as they are in full technicolour, having been preserved since being unearthed. But in situ they are just grey and terracotta coloured, their colour degrading rapidly after exposure to the elements. I did enjoy going to the factory where they still make them though and we all bought varying sizes of warriors as souvenirs, mine being a little kneeling archer, which was my favourite.
Packing it in we also cycled round the city wall in the blazing heat, went to a dumpling feast (they all tasted the same to me), a traditional Chinese dance and music show a muslim mosque and the local souvenir market during our time in the city.
Another sleeper train, a little more modern than the first, and we were in Beijing for visits to the Forbidden City, Tiannenmen Square and a rickshaw ride round the Hutong area, a well preserved, old part of the city where people still lead a very primitive life. We had lunch cooked for us by a lovely local lady and all 20 of us crammed into her living/bedroom. I ended up sitting on the bed and it was tempting to have a little lay down during such a hectic day! Another surreal experience when Leo the cricket man turned up and showed us all the books and newspapers that he had appeared in, famous for his performing crickets. I thought he was going to launch into his show but he just got out a few crickets and Celia looked on with distaste.
China to be continued as I'd better get myself off to the airport for my flight to Oz. Can't believe I'm already heading off to hang out with the Aussies, after over two months in Asia. I'll miss it and all it's quirks. But more about that tomorrow from down under.
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