Hong 'How much!?' Kong

I left the martial arts academy just over a week ago now. It was a strange mix of emotions to leave as I was enjoying it a lot and miss the friends i made. However i don't miss the constant bruises, cuts and general pain so much. I got the train from Yantai to Xi'an which took 25 hours. It wasn't a great 25 hours as i only spoke to a 9 year old Chinese boy (i made my first joke in Chinese, i was very proud) and didn't eat or sleep much. The bed was a top bunk and was rather short and close to the ceiling so i couldn't sit up or stretch out properly. I got there eventually and found my hostel. I met a Uruguayan/Israeli who was impressed enough by bad Spanish and worse Hebrew to invite me to see the Terracotta Warriors the following day. They were quite impressive but very similar to photos obviously and exactly how you would imagine them... but with more Chinese tourists surrounding them. Xi'an isn't the most exciting city and i was glad i was only there for a couple of days but it was really nice to start meeting people and hearing there stories. The real travels had begun. As i was now a real traveller i had to wear flip flops at all times and clear some space in my bag to accumulate junk and useless tat. I sent my large towel home along with my trainers and waterproof jacket and went to Yanshuo.

I arrived in Guilin in pouring rain. I hadn't considered that it may be rainy season in south china during may and June before jettisoning my jacket and towel. From guilin i had to get a bus to yanshuo. The bus took 2 hours instead of the 30 minutes it should have taken as the woman selling the tickets was hanging out the door the whole time, and hopping off every 100 yards to try and harass locals and tourists alike into going to yanshuo, 'cheap price' of course. I got off the bus and started the search for my hostel which i had dotted on a rough map. It wasn't where it was supposed to be. It was still raining, i had no jacket or towel and had my big backpack (admittedly slightly lighter) was weighing me down. I was getting a little antsy to say the least. A chinese guy came up to me saying he knew where my hostel was. Turned out he just new where a hostel was, not my hostel. Anyway after trudging around with him for an hour we found it. At the desk they asked me for payment (i had already paid a deposit) so i went into my wallet and realised i had run out of money and needed a bank machine. No problem, my new chinese friend knew where a bank was just round the corner. It was out of money. The next bank, chinese agricultural bank, only for farmers... obviously. The third bank would not accept my card. So i went back to the hostel moneyless and wet. They agreed to let me pay tomorrow and my new chinese friend, chao choo, said he would buy me dinner. Turns out he was a student and just in town to practice English. I was happy to talk to him for a free dinner. After that shaky start (i eventually found a bank that accepted my card) and with a new friend in tow i went about exploring the countryside around yangshuo. Its an amazing place. Huge karst hills covered in trees are everywhere and are crossed by streams and rivers.


I went about exploring by bike and then by scooter the next day with chao choo. We spoke to local farmers who use buffalo to plow their fields and rice Paddy's. It was interesting to see rural china and speak with local people. The food, although equally interesting was not always a great experience. Especially with chao choo saying "this is a very special dish here, we should get it". "It" always seemed to be far too spicy for me and usually involved me putting on a brave face as a variety of animals and weird vegetables were served. I met other people at the hostel and we went for a swim at a secret beach which was great and i also went with a swiss couple and choa choo to hot springs and mud pits which were in a cave. To get to the hot springs and mud pits you had to go on a boat into the cave which was very low and claustrophobic. I would liken it to the pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disney, but with no pirates, no singing and no regard for safety. The mud pits were fun and i got a few good Martin Sheen/Apocalypse now inspired pictures. After 4 days or so in yanshuo i got the bus to shenzhen.



The bus to shenzhen is a sleeper bus. I had never heard of a sleeper bus but thought that 12 hours over night on a bus with beds would be better than a bus with seats. I was wrong. The coach is arranged into three rows and 2 levels of beds. The beds are too small for an average sized westerner. You are forced to put your legs at awkward angles just to fit, comfort was clearly not their number one concern. Then you get people shouting on the phones in chinese, people smoking and a movie on all night with sound. Why have sound on a sleeper bus? About 3 hours in, the bus was full but that didn't stop them picking up passengers. A guy came and made his bed on the tiny aisle space between me and the next person. His head was literally 2 inches away from mine. I turned the other way and put my jumper over my head to make it less awkward. This was fine for 10 minutes until he fell asleep (quite how, i don't know) and started to lean into me. I had to keep pushing him off, fairly violently at times, but he just continued to sleep. After a sleepless night i arrived in Shenzhen with extreme pain and numbness from the 'bed'. I wasn't at the bus station i thought i would arrive at and it took me a while and much pointing and pantomiming from the local officials to realise i had to get to the other end of the city to go into Hong kong.

Finally i arrived in my hostel at Hong Kong after a bus, taxi, train and an hour on the metro. I was told by the receptionist check in time wasn't until 2. i had 3 hours to kill, so being tired and hungry i went to the cinema. It was nice to sit in a comfortable chair and just watch a film that wasn't in chinese. I got back to the hostel and met my new room mates who were just about to go for food so i joined them. Then we started drinking at the hostel which led to going out of the hostel to drink and into the bar area of the city. It was pouring down all night but was great fun. I got lost for a short time and fell into a large puddle in front of a lot of people, it wasn't my finest moment but i picked myself up and got on with it. The night ended at 5am with me talking to a guy from LA in a McDonalds about nightlife in bangkok... that's not a euphemism. This morning i didn't feel great, although the vomiting sounds coming from the toilet told me i was doing better than some of my roommates. Hong kong is great but really expensive so its probably for the best that I'm leaving for Vietnam tomorrow.


P.S.

Now that I'm out of china and can use my blog properly i will try to put pictures up in the relevant places in each post. My chinese phone is out of commission so don't try to call. Keep the emails and messages coming.