We were woken early by our first thunderstorm of the trip this morning and the heavy rain made us nervous to be spending the day out on the road. Out by 8h30 and nothing was open in the village so we skipped breakfast and flagged down the first mini-bus heading in the direction of Sanjiang. He dropped us on a main street in this awful town and with a vague hand gesture pointed us towards the bus station. We walked around for 20minutes – no bus station ! The few shopkeepers we polled could not understand what we were asking so V drew a bus and found the name of our destination in the LP – the ladies at a cell phone shop understood and pointed us in the right direction.

Shortly after arriving at the bus station Raffaele and Simonetta walked into the dingy terminal – good to have some travel companions again. Turns out that Simonetta teaches Nutrition in Florence and Raffaele is a Physics Professor in Bologna – a truly fascinating and entertaining couple. I could not resist getting Raffaele to tell me all about what he is working on. I did a lot of head nodding but it sounds amazing. OLED screens that are dirt cheap, super thin and flexible but his passion is material modeling. I guess that is coming up with new materials for electronics and other applications using complicated maths.

The road conditions were the worst we have seen yet. The bus bumped and ground its way along a large river and through mountain passes for a hour or so before we were ushered off the bus. The road ahead was impassable so we needed to walk 500m on muddy paths and across a rickety bridge to a bus waiting on the other side. Our new bus and driver had even less respect for Newton’s laws. A buttock tightening ride led us up, over and down treacherous mountain passes finally grinding to a halt at Zhaoxing terminal (an arb spot on the ‘main’ and only road through the village). We were happy to be once again in control of our direction and speed ! On the way we had seen new tunnels and massive bridges under construction – the rivers of concrete flowing as fast as water once again.

Zhaoxing is a bit of a dive. Not very charming and in a state of flux between new concrete, rebuilt drum towers (from the 80’s) and traditional cloth production. We watched a performance (singing and dancing) at the drum tower next to our hotel that had been prepared for a bunch of bussed-in domestic tourists. We were chased away by their guide who was asking for £5 to watch it – a bit cheeky in a public area we thought. We took a slow stroll around the village and up to the school/viewpoint.

The villagers seem to be almost completely involved in the production of dyed cloth. They extract a solution from plants which turns deep indigo after it oxidizes. Fabric is then dyed, dried and pounded with a mallet until it is shiny (ends up looking a bit like silk but not quite). No matter where you are in the village you can hear mallets endlessly drumming cloth on top of stone tablets – there has got to be an easier way. The ladies dresses are all pleated in a similar way. The fabric is carefully folded in ~10mm pleats, bound to a board and hammered. It’s a noisy place and not much escapes the dye – the hands of most are stained and even the dogs have the odd patch.

With not much else to do we had an early drink and a terrible dinner at one of the only restaurants offering WiFi before heading to our hotel. The included fan was not working so I repaired it with a piece of string and a bit of force but at least the beds were comfortable – the softest we have had in weeks. We’ll definitely be leaving in the morning – if only we can find out when the buses leave, and we won’t be alone, the Italians will be with us for at least another day.

[Pictures: V’s brilliant pictograms, One of Zhaoxing’s rebuilt drum towers, The view of the village from the school]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi

[UPDATE: Added some photos in the ‘Longji Terraces to…’ section]

The first night in ages that I have slept without my ear plugs – this place is very peaceful – the beer didn’t hurt either. We got a late start and strolled around the collection of tiny villages in the area for a really relaxed morning. I managed to get a hair cut in a shack on the side of the road but turned down the straight razor (phew). It’s sad to see that many of the old wooden buildings are being replaced with concrete monsters (even if they are clad in wood) but I guess that is progress. Luca mentioned that the Chinese don’t understand the difference between ‘restoring and rebuilding’ and this is obvious almost everywhere.

We crossed a few more ‘wind and rain’ styled bridges and passed old drum towers without bumping into any tourists. The local community also appears to be very small and are all involved in either building houses or farming rice. Another favorite past time is to solicit donations for ‘maintainance’ on the bridges. For a small fee you can have your name carved onto wood or stone plaques at the old bridges – the trend has spread like bora to most of the bridges in the area. V did a quick estimate – it seems from the lists of donations that they should have plenty of funds for restoration. Possibly the labour costs here are higher than in Norway – you never know.

We spent the hotter part of the day relaxing on our balcony enjoying the peace. V is ploughing through her book on Mao (and finding it hard going at times due to the shocking nature of the story) and I have been typing posts (as you can tell). Just relaxing… and thinking… We are both having such a wonderful time.

To stress the point. This is a great little spot. They have put in enough to satisfy western travellers and without a chair lift and neon lights on the bridge the domestic tourists stay away. It’s full of charm (although the concrete is encroching) without the pushy hawkers – the villagers just go about their lives barely affected by the few tourists.

When it cools down we’ll take a walk up to a view point and later I’ll upload posts on the WiFi connection at Yangs Guesthouse. Tomorrow we are moving again – 5 hours by bus to another small village.

[Pictures: Me and my drum, View of Ma’an village in Chenyang]

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As expected we woke to pain – Shoulders, legs, backs – guess what doesn’t kill you… After a ‘Chinesey’ and expensive (£5.30) breakfast at a hotel a few doors down we started the task of bussing it to Sanjiang. We are out in ‘rural’ China now so it’s local busses without aircon (and possibly steering and/or brakes) but it’s good to be away from the insane crowds of the big cities and popular spots. The bus left relatively empty from Dazhai and we started chatting to Raffaele and Simonetta, a much older and very sweet Italian couple that first travelled in China 25 years ago and are now back for more rough backpacking. The changes they have seen sound incredible and it must have been quite an adventure – China had opened to tourism only 2 years prior to their first trip. The bus fillled quickly as we stopped to pick up anyone willing to wave at us including a guy with his ‘lunch box’ consisting of a couple live chickens. Our conversation with the Italians was brought to an abrupt halt when some ladies in the front of the bus started a heated argument with a man in the back of the bus. Possibly 5 people shouting at the top of their voices constantly for an hour with our seats in the cross-fire. I would love to have understood what they were on about and it was an impressive display – they seem to be able to shout without stopping for air !

In Longshen all four of us transferred to another similar bus for the longer journey to Chenyang – longer, but quieter, I dozed. With the Italians going to same direction as us we were happy to just follow their lead. The options that greeted us at Sanjiang where a 1km walk and a 40p bus ride, a 20p tak-tak and a 40p bus ride or a £1 taxi to our final destination. Our meager attempts to renegociate the price where rebuffed and we agreed to the taxi. As it turned out the taxi was a tak-tak ! The 25km bone-jarring and insanely loud ride in a tin can attached to a converted motorbike (maybe 125cc) took around an hour. The only plus being that because he could not go fast I was sure we could escape with minor injuries in the event of a collision. My hands were shaking for an hour after from the vibrations transferred while holding packs on the back of the ‘vehicle’.

Another entrance fee (£6) to get into the preserved villages area and we were at the Ma’an/Chengyang bridge – an impressive piece of architecture and engineering. Our hostel (which lacks aircon, wifi and resturant) has a perfect location overlooking the river and bridge – we decided immediately to spend two nights.

The Ma’an village was devoid of tourists and is tiny – took us 30 minutes to stroll around it. This is a wonderful place to just chill out and catch up (that included washing some very smelly clothes and my backpack ! which all honed from the hike to Dazhai). We spent the evening in one of possibly three resturants in the village and chatted away to another Italian guy (Luca) that we had met in Dazhai and probably the only Italian who loves the food in China. Luca, who has travelled extensively in SE Asia was telling us about his recent trip trough Myanmar – sounded interesting but very difficult and surprisingly safe – maybe another time – we are too chicken for that.

An easy day of travel and a great evening. Excellent.

[Pictures: The ‘Wind and Rain Bridge’ at Ma’an village in Chengyang]

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We had every intention of being up at 5 and hiking by 6 to escape the heat but the entire village was shrouded in cloud so we took it easy and got a decent breakfast in us before slowly climbing our way out of Ping’an to the start of the ‘contoured path’ to Dazhai. The walk on top was pleasant – it was early with few tourists and we were not harrassed by the Long Hair Ladies in their traditional costumes. Shortly after passing over the ridge we came across a large lake/dam and the first fork in the road. In our defense both paths looked equally well used, there was no indication and all the maps we had seen were equally shocking. We went right – that turned out to be VERY wrong !

For an hour and a half we followed the path randomly chosing directions at forks through thick forest, past long since abandoned rice terraces and buildings and over rickety log bridges until we were well and trully concerned. The largest living thing we had seen since the Ping’an valley was an unidentified black snake – no locals or tourists, nothing ! Faced with retracing our steps and spending another night in Ping’an we pushed on again. Fortunately we came across a lone farmer on the trail and managed to discern that 1, We were a VERY long way from Dazhai and 2, at the next fork in the trail we should turn left. It was good advice that eventually led us to a tiny village (albeit with at least one satellite dish) and the hope of being on the correct trail.

The village was almost entirely deserted but an old woman in traditional get-up sensed our presence. Asking directions we could not decipher her replies but it was obvious we should follow her – to her house as it turned out! She wanted us to eat – we were only interested in directions – I would have emptied my wallet for directions – she just wanted to sell us food. We declined as enthusiastically as possible before continuing up and out of the village (possibly she was just being hospitable – it’s so difficult to tell). Shortly after leaving the village I was considering SMSing Dad with our location and requesting the position of Dazhai but we spotted a large village possibly 5km across a massive valley – that must be it – and we started following the trails that loosely followed the contours now doubling back towards Ping’an. The trail dissapeared on an exhausting climb up to the top of a pass. Reaching the top we plonked ourselves down in the middle of a well worn trail. Within 10 minutes two French girls ambled by and confirmed our error – we had added a 3 hour loop to our hike and the town we had seen across the valley was not our destination but the half-way mark ! (seems we are getting very good at wandering AND getting lost).

From this point we crossed paths with a lot of hikers (all Western) and the walk was rewarding. Although our packs were feeling very heavy and our legs tired, the cloudy conditions granted some respite. We passed through the halfway point village quickly grabbing some snacks and trying to get away from the villagers heckling us with food, accomodation and trinkets. The last section of the walk was incredible (even when completely spent). We walked through endless picturesque rice terraces that extended from the valley floors to the upper edge of the Dragons Backbone range – in our opinion, this part is more impressive than Ping’an.

Arriving in Dazhai on jelly legs we caved at the first tout that came our way and within 10 minutes I was in a shower (with a gas heater that looked like it would explode at any second – so we turned the supply off at the bottle when we were done). The hostel/hotel had the architectural aesthetics and structural design of a tree house that I would build – but we really didn’t care. We successfully turned a max 4 hour hike on contoured paths into a 7 hour slog up and down mountains – an impressive days work 🙂 Tomorrow is going to hurt. PS. V is just plain amazing.

[Pictures: Some of the Terraces (once we had actually found the trail). The view of Dazhai from our ‘treehouse’ – the terraces extend to the top of the hills]

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We had a wonderful time in Yangshuo and it was great to relax and recharge (almost too good – we didn’t want to leave). The travel today (5 hrs of busses) was easy as we are on well known tourist routes so were instantly ushered to the correct busses. We got a bus to Guilin and then waited a couple hours for another bus to Ping’an and the ‘Dragons Backbone Rice Terraces’. Both busses were good but V had to delve into her stash of motion sickness pills for the first time. Guilin was boring and we just ended up killing time on the streets. The bus ride out to Ping’an was full of western tourists but again way too many Dutch people, KLM must have a special to China at the moment, and at least 80% female (we have noticed this trend all over China) – don’t know where all the boys are but they are missing out 😉

As we started climbing in altitude the rain clouds rolled in. The roads up to Ping’an are a work of art and wind their way up kilometers of vertical cliffs. It was something to see and obviously dangerous as ‘even’ the driver was taking extra care. As we neared the top of the climb I made the mistake of looking down as we passed a number of washed out gullies below the road – you have to wonder how long before that road slides the 900m to the valley floor ?!

We had to walk the last 20mins up to the village and in the rain it was very dramatic. The village is too cool. Nested in, and hugging the valleys it has contoured paths linked by endless stairs all surrounded by the immaculate rice terraces. Plenty of buildings have real character (ie: possible risk of collapse). We dumped our gear at the hotel (what a view we have from out room!) and headed out immedately to catch the views just as the rain was stopping. We took a leisurely hike around the rice paddies and the two well known viewpoints up on the hills around the village in search of good photo ops. Stunning, and even better it was empty !

On our way back to the hostel/hotel we got competely lost in the charming maze of stairs and alleys but did stumble upon an excellent dinner. Good thing we took our headlamps with us, otherwise the last section home would have been a interesting with a whole beer in each of us 🙂

Tomorrow we plan to hike 15km or so to the next village (Dazhai).

[Pictures: 1) The terraces]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi

We have caught up with sorting and tagging the image galleries. In fact the galleries are now more up to date than the posts ! Will sort that out shortly though

[UPDATE: Done – Below]

One annoying thing we found is that our snazzy new camera that can tell you exactly where in the world it is with it’s GPS cannot tell you which way round you are holding it – so we have to rotate any portrait photos – can’t believe they left out such a simple feature ! We will try to keep on top of the galleries from now on (maybe).

Tomorrow we are off moving again to Ping An. Today we did nothing but blogging and housekeeping – it’s been great to be sitting still for a week, but we are both keen to get moving again.

So round 2 on the bikes. Unfortunately it turned out to be a sunny day so we had no excuse – although possibly ‘Too Hot’ would have been acceptable. I cannot begin to explain the pain involved getting back onto a bike seat. Needless to say we pedaled the first few kilometers standing or gingerly resting one cheek on the edge of the saddle.

It seems I have a major problem with sweat that seems to have gotten worse with age. As the temperature rises, my skin loses it’s water-proof properties and anything I drink leaks instantly out through the closest pore – it drives me nuts – maybe i’ve gotten used to the UK temperatures !

We knew the first part of the route but after crossing the river our famous map instantly started playing with us again. After a few hours !! cycling we landed up back at the building where we got the cool drinks yesterday ! I don’t know who was more surprised, us or the shop keeper. We pushed on repeating some of yesterdays route without the errors and then following our map headed a few kilometers down the main road. No sign of the Moon hill. We had to stop and ask directions and were pointed in the direction from where we had just come. Arrgghh. On the way back V spotted the Moon and eventually the entrance to the site. We had ridden right past it yesterday !

It was quite a climb on foot to the viewpoint (the notice board said 1000 steps, I counted 757 steps, but probably 1000 paces) and V really was not interested in doing it after baking on our bikes all day. It was worth the hike up. The views were spectacular and we got the photo we wanted. There are a lot of climbs there but what a nightmare to get to the crag – not my idea of an easy walk-in.

The ride home was supposed to be easy back roads and trails along the river but turned into a narrow concrete road frequented by bikes, trucks and busses making it arduous. Annoyed, hot and thirsty we were relieved to drop the bikes back at the rental shop and head for home for a shower and a nap (yes really). After all that hard work we rewarded ourselves in the best way we know how… KFC for sups – best one we’ve had so far 🙂 and ice cream for dessert.

[Pictures: 1) Moon Hill 2) A view from the top]

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So our fingers no longer hurt and we have successfully moved the pain to our bums. A very long day on a mountain bike will do that, but it was worth it.

We decided to rent some decent bikes (probably not necessary but we like nice bikes) from the most well known operator (Bike Asia). They charge £5 per day and you get a good bike, helmet and disc brakes (but no bell) where the others are between £2 and £3 – so not a biggie. They also supply a map that looks great but in retrospect they should be shot for it.

The hostel is very good at arranging free ‘activities’ and we decided to join their excursion out to Dragon Bridge. A 20km round trip that they estimate as 5-6 hrs with time for ‘rest, photo and lunch”. It seemed that the entire hostel was going for the ride which delayed the start but thankfully it stayed overcast. The way girls dress for this type of excursion boggles my mind (and V’s). Some of the group were in delicate white longs. Another was in black with gold pumps, full make-up and fashion sunnies – This for a romp through muddy rice paddies and rivers on a mountain bike !?

Getting out of town was chaos and I’m very happy that we did not rent bikes before. There are no traffic rules here with the biggest problem being the scooters that ride whichever direction they want, whenever they want. Outside town the roads were quieter and we cruised along in awe of the karst moutains all around. Heading ‘off road’ we were desperate to fly through the single track but being in a huge group that gets off to push over a few rocky bits kinda cramps your style. V and I resigned ourselves to plodding along the narrow pathways between scenic rice paddies – it was great (even better – it is pretty flat so easy to cycle).

The main attration of the ride is the ‘Dragon Bridge’. I guess because it is high (even though it doesn’t need to be) compared to all the other bridges. Everyone talks about jumping from the bridge – around 10m to the river, but there were no takers when we arrived. It only takes one to get the ball rolling – and yip – it was me. I could not resist putting all the kids to shame – even with my white undercoat and flab this rusk still has some guts 🙂

We left the group at the bridge, as they were returning to Yangshuo via the main road, we wanted to cycle the opposite river bank and head off to Moon Hill. A chance for a little adventure – boy did we get it !

Our map was beyond useless and in retrospect we must have taken a wrong turn very early on. Eventually we decided that we must be heading the wrong way and sure enough the gps on my phone confirmed it. Now out in the middle of knowhere, baking in the heat and running out of water we were both getting a little nervous. Our only options were to head all the way back or push on. We decided to push on. The road soon became a track and before long we were cycling through farmland and into rural villages. We hit a number of dead ends and spent ages doubling back and cutting across rice paddies and through pomelo orchards with no idea where we were. The few locals dotted around were always friendly but probably thinking ‘stupid tourists’ as they plucked their chickens and watch us pedal past.

The tracks kept leading us geographically futher away from Yangshuo and keeping our bearings surrounded by monstrous karst mountains was a nightmare. Out of water and getting late we were starting to panic a little. Relief came in the form of an isolated building with a fridge and a willing shop assistant. With water replenished and some idea of directions we pushed on into more built up farm areas until finlly we came to what you could call a road. A group of Chinese tourists were riding along and we confirmed the directions back home – only another 10km or so on busy roads !

So after about 40km riding (20km of which was getting lost and found) and not finding Moon Hill, I have never been happier to see a cold shower and a hard bed (BTW. Think I forgot to mention that the beds here are very hard – basically sleeping on a plank). We have the bikes for one more day – oh please let it be pouring with rain tomorrow 🙂

[Pictures: 1,2) Us out on trail before we got worried and lost all interest in photography. 3) Back on track – theme park on the main road – climb for a teddy bear ! PS. Some more pics from the day in the gallery shortly]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi

Raining very lightly today and we have sore muscles and raw hands from climbing so taking some time to make plans and update photos etc.

Trans-Siberian and Mongolia photos tagged and sorted. Only one shared pc here so having to wait to get onto it – hostel is full of Dutch and German kids who all need to check emails. Will keep at it.

[Update: photos until the camera broke on the great wall sorted and tagged under China section]

[Update II: Have uploaded photos from Beijing to Hangzhou into the ‘Uploads to Sort’ folder. They are all shot with the Nikon – so expect to see lots of spots.. will start to Tag and Sort tomorrow]

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Another fantastic day in China. My fingers are raw and tingling from the razor sharp limestone cliffs so this post is gonna hurt. We signed up for a day’s guided climbing with the most reputable climbing company in Yangshuo (China Climb). They are a good 10% more expensive than most but worth it in our opinion. What impressed me is that they don’t rent gear out like many operators – they only do guided outings – that way they keep an accurate record of gear condition. We had two guides to ourselves (Alpha and Aniel) which was unexpected – no other tourists. Aniel climbs 33 (and if you don’t know what that is, imagine climbing across a ceiling by clinging to pea sized bumps) so we had our rope gun for the day. Poor guy was in for a boring day because even when we were climbing at our best 10-15 years ago we were in the 20-25 range.

We got a taxi ride out to ‘The Egg’ crag (about 15mins from town and a 10min flat walk-in). The crags here look amazing. Just like Thailand but the karst limestone cliffs rise out of rice paddies instead of the sea. Our guides were very professional – helmets, top ropes for clients and continuous saftey checks – a bit restrictive for us but we understand why they have to do it. We fired straight up an 18 without too much trouble, I only told V it was 18 when she got down 🙂 We had an absolute ball. Either the grading is a little soft or we are stronger than we thought. We had a go at a few 18’s, a 20 and a very long (30m) 19 that beat us both – would loved to have just kept climbing but our poor little arms ! We finished the day on a 19 that was tremendous. Flowing laybacks and technical puzzles (for us) all the way up. V took a bit of convincing because the first move looked very strenuous but in the end she sailed through it like a pro.

[whimsy]
We just love climbing. Everything about the day just took us straight back to great memories: Walking through bush to an empty crag, hiding from the sun, the smell of chalk and dust, the sound of biners, the burning in your muscles, the fear of heights all new again and the exhileration of solving and then completing a beautiful set of moves.

It is amazing how ‘at home’ we feel at a crag with other climbers – Chinese, American – it makes no difference – they are in general all wonderful people. We have to get back into this sport !
[/whimsy]

If we ever visit China again it will be for a dedicated climbing trip, but there are concerns. An American couple we met explained that access to crags is becoming an issue especially with expensive toll roads and fees being charged to climb certain areas. It’s unfortunate that the trend in China is to make money (and overcharge) at every possible opportunity. Climbing is really just getting going here – hopefully it will survive.

[Pictures: A view from the crag – clouds rolled in this afternoon – relief from the heat, our guides encourage V, V busts the first crank on the 19 and V’s new X-Men Tattoo]

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Finally a day off. We needed it. We had to change rooms in the hostel to a double (for the rest of the week) and that was about it so we decided to go shopping for some odds and ends. Got a big box of tea sachets, some plastic cups (finally) and a mountain of fruit (dunno what got into me) along with some essentials. V failed dismally at her attempt to find a t-shirt amongst the thousands on sale but the main reason for going out (besides tea) was to find a piece of PVC pipe to pack our snazzy chopsticks into.

When I asked the guy at the hostel reception for a hardware store he looked at me blankly. Pointing to a pipe on the wall he indicated where we may find some – he must be thinking we are trying to make a bong 🙂 No luck on that street but it was good to wander around the town centre – it’s a beautiful little town. Walking back to the hostel, right there, right in front of my foot was a piece of PVC pipe the right length and diameter. Just the pipe. No other building rubble, litter or junk, just the pipe – it must be a sign 😉 Boy did we LOL.

We have spent the afternoon planning the next section of the trip, watching West Wing (on Season 3 now) and generally goofing off in our airconditioned room. Life is good and my cold is much better. Tomorrow – Climbing – Excellent.

[Pictures: Downtown Yangshuo – bit of a change from Hong Kong]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi

Hopefully we missed the worst of it. So far the only real rain was in Shanghai.

[UPDATE: Moscow photos tagged and sorted]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi

Sim has definately developed a cold and was feeling pretty horrid after a sleepless night on the bumpy train. I was worried as we had no actual plan for getting to Yangshuo from the train station, but as usual Sim has a good feel for these kinds of things and there were reps from the CITS waiting at the platform directing people to the tourist information office. [sim edit: think we got ripped off with that]. We paid up for a local tourist bus,boat,bus to Yangshuo and left Guilin almost immediately after we arrived.

The bus took us through town and then along narrow bumpy dirt roads to the river. We passed by small farms with fields growing rice, corn, grapes and lots of other stuff. Farmers and their water buffalo working in the fields. Tractors that have been converted into funny little trucks trying to squeeze past us. Spectacular limestone outcrops (karsts) in the background.

Next it was onto our bamboo raft though it seems they have replaced the bamboo with PVC pipes in keeping with the times. The ride down the Li river was fantastic. Such beautiful scenery. :gps:(GPS)::25.04474::110.44725:gps:

Next they shepherded us onto little tuk tuks and took us on a mildly hair raising ride along narrow dirt roads. Think Sim was feeling seriously dehydrated at this point so he didn’t seem to enjoy the ride much. Then onto a bigger bus where they crammed as many people as possible on and before long we were in Yangshuo. For some reason I was expecting a small little town but it seems tourism has caught on big time here and we were greeted with macdonalds and more sprawling construction going on. We have booked a week in Yangshuo 11 hostel in the heart of town. We had wanted to stay further out but the peak tourist season has meant that our first choice was booked up.

[SimEdit: Tomorrow is a day off for us.. FINALLY ! Next day we have a full day of rock climbing – can’t wait, just hope I feel better. There is sooo much to do here. Also considering a hot air ballon ride – but is expensive]

[Pictures: Karst Candy and the view from the deck on top of our hostel]

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With a full 24 hours of travel ahead of us to get to Yangshuo it was always going to be along boring day. Metro to Shenzen, border procedures (quick and uneventful), Train to Guangzhou and then an overnight train to Guilin. The very moment we crossed the border we noticed the change. Loud, crowded, dirty – it’s good to be back 🙂 Incredible how in 100m people can forget that you are supposed to stand only on one side of an esculator. Anyway I’m more grumpy than usual – have caught a bit of a cold and just feel horrid. Good thing it’s a sleeper train and not a bus tonight. No applicable picture today – so here is some pure genius – a Lipton tea, milk and sugar in one sachet, just add water 🙂

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Our two days in Hong Kong went very quickly and it has been great to be back in the first world for a bit. Everything is just easy when you can understand the language and the shops stock items you recognize.

Yesterday morning the temptation was just too great and we ended up doing what most people do in Hong Kong – we went shopping ! On the way to the one of the bigger camera shops we ‘accidentally’ stumbled into a book store. My V just cannot resist books – I really need to learn to read. Some time later we left with a couple of large books – the justification being that we are going to be in Yangshuo for a week and the weather forcast is predicting rain – we’ll swap the books with other travellers to keep V entertained or just give them away (V absolutely loathes getting rid of books).

On www.dpreview.com I found a recent comparison of ‘Travel Zoom’ cameras. Going on the recommendation of the editor we now have a Samsung WB650 – let’s see how long this one lasts! On the up side it was a fair price and came with a bunch of freebies (case, gorillapod, memory card, extra battery, screen protector). The warranty is international and it was some cool specs (24mm wide angle, 15X optical zoom, GPS tagging – apparently a bit of a gimmick, etc etc). Unfortunately it did put a ding in our budget – we’ll have to use more dorms and eat more noodles later on.

Happy with our loot we headed off in search of museums. The central area in Kowloon is very compact and you don’t need to walk far. The HK History museum was pretty good – we especially enjoyed the more modern history (Opium wars, English rule, Japanese occupation and the return to Chinese rule in ’97). Beautifully presented and a pleasure to visit. The Science Museum across the way is a treasure trove for kids. A monster 3 story ‘thing’ (not sure what you call it) is surrounded by hundreds of hands-on activities – V and I had a ball 🙂 We loved the signs on the touch screens: ‘This screen is sanitized every hour’ and there was a guy sanitizing the esculator had rails – what a place !

A quick bite and short walk across Kowloon got us to the Space Museum. Not as big as I expected but anything to do with space has me hooked. They have an IMAX/planetarium there too but it was too long to wait for the next show so we headed around the corner to the ‘Avenue of Stars’ and views of HK island. Not as ‘iconic’ as Shanghai but impressive non the less. We found Jackie Chan’s star but the rest were unknown to us and that was us done for the day. Urban overload in less than 12 hours !

Today our mission was to visit Hong Kong island – a stunning clear blue sky greeted us and the streets were empty until way after 10 (Sunday morning). We hopped onto the subway (again more expensive than we are accustomed to) and got off at Victoria park. It has a ‘central park’ kind of feel. People out enjoying the green open space, exercising, worshipping (yip) or just video chatting with their friends on Skype!

We have to admit that we enjoyed the feel of central Kowloon more but HK island has it’s plusses too. The Trams are incredibly cute (so narrow they look like they are going to fall over) and the majesty of the skyskrapers is topped only by the surrounding mountains – impressive building a city on this landcsape. We popped into the massive Times Square shopping centre in search of a ‘North Face’ shop – It was like walking into a British mall – English signs everywhere and even a M&S.

The highlight of the day was the view of HK and Kowloon from the Peak viewpoint. It was busy but did not feel crowded even with the shopping trolleys (really) of photo gear that some people were lugging around (one guy even had his own step ladder to get onto rock outcrops). We took the tram up and my iPhone inclinometer maxed at 57deg (that is Steep ! and yes I’m a geek) it was quite a ride. At the top the views were stunning as excpected, but what was not excected were the shopping malls – these guys just love to build!

We decided that for sups we were going to spoil ourselves with the first real meal in a couple of months. We gouged ourselves on Steak from an Auzzie resturant. Excellent. I even ate cauliflower – it was that good. Well worth it and should satisfy our need for good beef for at least a week. Full tummies and a couple glasses of wine (not used to that any more) and I suspect our night shots of the HK skyline will be a little blurry.

We had read a lot of horrid reviews about crime in HK and the dingy hostels but we had no problems and felt as safe as anywhere else. The rooms were very small but clean and quiet – then again if we have broadband it really doesn’t matter 🙂 Sure.. shady looking hindian fellows are going to try sell you fake a rolex or a hand made suit but they are easy to ignore. Speaking of Rolex, we saw a building sized Rolex ad for a new model (the Milgauss) with the tagline ‘The Scientist’s Watch’ – how cool is that?! Big +1 for Science.

Ok, enough from us. The new camera is perfroming perfectly and I’m looking forward to uploading more photos. Tomorrow we are on the move again – adventure awaits.

[Pictures: HK skyline from Kowloon, From the Peak Viewpoint, and a tram – yes even the trams in China are skinny]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi