Singapore instantly reminded me of Florida: the humid hug as you exit the airport, the trees, the houses and the vibe. And nobody wanted to take photos of me anymore. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little sorry about this. Restaurants now didn’t welcome “outside food and drink” (a pleasant surprise of SE Asia where almost everywhere was happy for you to use their toilets and facilities).
But it was also distinctly Asian: not quite as clean, shops open to the street, street cafes and lots of Asians. Hong Kong was different to all other destinations on my trip so far in that it was truly multicultural – part of what made it feel like London. Whilst it’s clearly not just locals, we’re back to the majority being of Asian descent.
It was a bit sad to leave HK:
But some great views from the plane:
It was dark by the time we were walking to our hotel, located in a non-touristy area. And with the night came the nightlife: gambling, prostitution. No photos, obviously. Stalls on the street hawking medicines were a first for the trip (it looked like Viagra and the like – even though this is not my area of expertise, it didn’t take a lot of imagination to guess what they were selling).
Tomorrow we start exploring, but we’ll go to the city centre for that 😉
An amazing view… if it hadn’t been covered in thick cloud:
And the audio guide kept gushing about how good the view was, so here’s what I was missing (courtesy of someone who picked a better day for their visit):
Victoria Peak has long been a hill-top retreat of the great and good (and the not-so-great and good, I suspect); for centuries, visitors have come to admire the views. For us, this took about thirty seconds, but the rest of the audio guide made interesting listening:
Early tracks to the top turned into trails, with sedan chairs the main form of transport before Alexander Findlay Smith, who had purchased the hotel at the top, researched ways (it’s 27 degrees to vertical in places) to make it easier for people (and their money) to get there resulting in the Peak Tram
Nowadays the spirit of the place lives on with a large shopping mall at the top (surprise, surprise)
“Nine Dragons” are the peaks you can see as you look towards Kowloon. But there are only eight of them; an emperor totted them up and was told (by one of his minions who was clearly trying to score brownie points) that he, as an emperor, was also considered a mountain
Victoria Harbour is one of the world’s deepest natural harbours
The Mong Kok (“prosperous and crowded corner”) area of the city was (or maybe still is – I haven’t checked), the most densely populated place on earth (as certified by the Guinness Book of Records) with 7 million people occupying just 400sqkm.
International Financial Centre 2 (IFC2) is very auspicious. Remember that Asians, in general, believe in luck. In their language, eight is “baa”, which sounds very similar to their word for “prosper”. So a building with 88 floors was always going to do well. Only it doesn’t have 88 floors… Because some have been left out: you won’t find Floor 24 (in Chinese it sounds like “easily dies”) or Floor 14 (try renting out a floor that sounds like “definitely dies”). Good business, even if not numerical, sense. This also explains why many hotels we’ve stayed at in China number their rooms starting at 8100 (first floor is our ground floor, so they precede the usual numbering with an eight)
In contrast, there were problems with the Bank of China building because the straight lines and triangles favoured by the architect were at odds with the principles of feng shui; luckily, a strategically located fish pond, line of trees and the regularity of the adjacent building sorted things out nicely
Today, Repulse Bay’s beaches and shallow waters make it popular with families; in the past it was popular with pirates, driven away by Britain’s HMS Repulse; the area also houses a hotel with a hole in the middle of it. Any ideas why they’d build a hotel with a piece missing? Exactly – to let the energy from the mountains flow down to the river. Feng shui again.
In fact, HK itself is beautifully positioned by feng shui principles, protected by a river on one side and mountains on the other. Remind you of anything? Yep, the strategic locations of temples in Champa (now Cambodia and southern Laos).
It also had more interesting nuggets about the city itself:
Brief history: Belonging to China in the third century BC, Hong Kong was ceded to the British as a crown colony during the opium wars; it was popular so Great Britain asked for a bit more land to accommodate the growing population and was given Kowloon in 1898 for a period of 99 years; when it came time to give Kowloon back (1997), Hong Kong was handed back as well
When it was handed back, the Chief Executive (interesting title, supporting the description of HK as a company subsidiary with its own management) agreed to “maintain the socioeconomic system” for fifty years
Seventy percent of HK is green, and one third of that is protected which makes it less surprising that…
HK has one of the highest life expectancies in the world (but no mention of what it was)
Then back to Hong Kong courtesy of the Peak Tram. It’s steep. Really steep. No, no, even steeper than that. This photo was taken with my camera held horizontally:
Back in the city we came across this:
Hundreds and hundreds of women camping out for the day. Plazas, underpasses, in the lee of buildings. A quick chat with some confirmed it was purely social: they talk, eat, massage, and take care of each other. All day. None of the women in the group we spoke to even knew where their boyfriends/husbands were, let alone what they were doing. Childcare surely must feature – a sizeable proportion of the women were of childbearing age, but there was a conspicuous absence of little ‘uns.
Other random stuff from today:
When Rudy went to the Post Office to send a package back home, there was definitely some trading going on:
And the tuk-tuk has made a return (I’ve kinda missed ’em):
And trams:
A snip at £15,500 – maybe I should have bought the similar one in Vietnam (£200):
And finally night fell after another wonderful day:
A lucrative port of strategic importance in the development of international trade, Macao was under Portuguese administration from the mid-C16 (Portuguese were the first of the Europeans to settle here: Jorge Alvares in 1513, followed by Tome Pires in 1517) until 1999 when it was returned to Chinese sovereignty. With its historic streets, residential, religious and public Portuguese and Chinese buildings it “provides a unique testimony to the meeting of aesthetic, cultural, architectural and technological influences from East and West.” It’s also put it on the UNESCO World Heritage list.
Featuring a grand stairway and remarkably intact facade (it’s suffered numerous fires), the Ruins of St Paul’s Cathedral is Macao’s most important landmark – the symbol of the city:
Originally, the church was attached to St Paul’s College, the first western university in the Far East. Built in 1580, fires destroyed all its internal structures leaving nothing but the facade.
Mount Fortress, built by the Jesuits from 1617 to 1626, was the city’s principal military defence structure and was crucial in successfully holding off the attempted Dutch invasion of Macao in 1622:
With no weapons facing mainland China, the fortress was only built for defence against attacks from the sea. In 1965 a weather observatory was installed at the site and the fortress was demilitarized in 1976.
Inside the fortress, the first floor of the museum made interesting reading, focusing on the convergence of the two cultures. Here’s a summary (not verified though, I’m afraid):
Chinese script: one of most ancient scripts in the world (1600 BC), standardised by the first emperor, Qin Shi Huang.
Portuguese script: pictograms and ideograms from Sumerian civilisation (3100 BC) were advanced by the Egyptians who used symbols to represent the sound of individual words. The Phoenicians developed an alphabetic writing system which the Greeks took a stage further by using distinct symbols to represent separate consonants and vowels – these were to become the alphabetic script we use today.
Chinese school of thought: Confucius (551 BC to 479 BC) plus Taoism, Mohism and Legalism contributed to the development of Chinese philosophy. Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism developed side by side.
Portuguese school of thought: early Greek philosophers Thales (c624 bc – 547 bc) and Heraclitus (c540 bc – 470 bc) studied the nature of reality and suggested various theories about the universe. Socrates, Plato and Aristotle developed methods for reasoning and endeavored to pursue truth. In the Middle Ages, Christianity became dominant.
Chinese empire of Qin: In 221 BC Qin established the first unified, multinational and centralised country. Basic state structure and a political system followed two thousand years later.
Roman empire: I’m assuming you know about this bit already.
Chinese religion: Taoism was the indigenous religion before Buddhism, Christianity and Islam gradually took root.
Portuguese religion: Christianity dominant.
Other interesting facts collected during my visit include:
Chinese tea – the two most popular are “five flowers” (sweet, cleans the bowels) and “24 tastes” (bitter, cures a cold); people would gather in tea shops and chat, exchange gossip and listen to the radio
Traditional Chinese medicine is an important part of their culture – this is a shop I saw when wandering the streets later that day:
Cigarette lighters killed Macao’s fire cracker industry
Cooking combined traditions from different cultural origins (but unfortunately the museum didn’t actually say what they were)
Chinese birth: celebrated one month after baby is born with a family gathering at which the parents distribute red eggs and receive presents in return
In Chinese culture, birthdays are celebrated when the man (yang) reaches 60, 70, 80 and 90, and the women (yin) the ages 61, 71, 81 and 91.
Traditional Chinese wedding outfits:
Portuguese weddings are like the standard Catholic wedding (religious ceremony, wedding reception and bridal gown); but in Macao the reception is a traditional “cha gordo” with both Chinese and Portuguese customs (again, it didn’t say what)
WWII: Sheltered from the horrors of war, Macao became a haven flooded by waves of refugees. In 1941 population grew from 150,000 to 500,000
During the Sino-Japanese War, Macao supported China
Key Portuguese poets: Luis de Camoes (c1530-1580) and Camilo Pessanha (1867-1926) – apparently the latter had an interesting life marked by opium addiction and a prodigious memory
Then back on to the street to see the numerous buildings that made UNESCO interested in the “historic centre”.
Cathedral: built around 1622, originally constructed in taipa (a compound material consisting of clay and straw) that is compacted in a timber frame:
Sam Kai Vui Kun temple: built between 1723 and 1795, its name means “the streets’ meeting corner” as the temple was originally used as the meeting venue for business representatives from the three adjoining streets (the deity “Kuan Tai” is worshipped here).
And finally St Lawrence’s Church: built in the mid-C16, it underwent reconstruction in 1618, 1768, 1846, 1898 and 2006 (so which bits, if any, are “historic” I don’t know):
And, just for the record, we had loads of pictures taken of us. Mostly by Chinese. Normal service has resumed 😉 In fact, I asked Lucy why, and gently suggested that it was because we had big noses. She laughed shyly (but she was quite shy anyway) and explained that it was because we looked unusual. Read into this what you will 😉
Other things that were more Asian than Western: table bars and anti-queue jump barriers.
There was something else today that I was going to mention but I’ve forgotten. Blast. Knew I should have written it down. What was it? Ah yes, I remember now…
… I jumped off the 233m Macao Tower – the highest bungy in the world:
I did it my way: inquisitive, analytical, calm, camera shy (in fact, I totally forgot about the GoPro until I was almost at the bottom; if you ask, I might show you the video; or I might not 😉
Some random bungy facts:
Cords are a thick bundle of thin elastic – the same as used when making pants (but probably more than three pairs)
Four cord thicknesses – each used for a different weight range
Each cord can be used for 1200 jumps – here they only use them 400 times
As the bungies are used they stretch; the more they stretch, the more you bounce (obviously weight plays a part, too)
I wasn’t scared because I didn’t look down. But I realised afterwards that it also meant I wasn’t excited either. In my world, it didn’t beat Stealth* at Alton Towers, but I’m glad I did it – it was, in fact, a highlight of my trip even though I’d never felt the urge to jump off a high building before.
* One of the best company events I’ve ever been to was when a supplier hired out Alton Towers for the evening – “round and round on Stealth we go” 🙂
Built by the monks of Po Lin Monastery “for the stability and prosperity of Hong Kong, for the well-being of the nation and the people, for the perpetuation of the Buddha light, the ever turning of the Dharma-wheel and the peace of the world” the “Big Buddha” is the largest outdoor bronze seated Buddha statue in the world at 34m high:
That’s a few qualifiers, but it’s still quite good, although what part the monks actually played in its construction is unclear as a separate company was thanked during the opening speech for building it. However, the best bit was the views from the 20-minute cable car journey to get there (yep, still in China):
And from the Buddha:
And the climb up was welcome after a travelling day yesterday.
Po Lin Monastery itself consisted of the “Hall of Ten Thousand Buddhas” with an eye-catching interior of green, gold and red that sparkled against the marble floor and five big seated gold Buddhas (were they the prototypes?):
And the less impressive-looking but pleasingly realistic monks’ digs:
Then back to Hong Kong via the cable car:
And the ferry, where I rather liked this reversible bench – ingenious:
Back at the ferry terminal there was a shop with Chinese calligraphy – this is my name:
I asked why the short and long versions of my name were completely different, even though they share the same first syllable. I was astonished to be told that I had to pay to get an answer to my question. Apparently it’s good business. Except that we then didn’t buy anything despite both liking one of the t-shirts. It’s a principle thing.
An advert on the metro was a subtle indication that things are different here:
And finally back to Chungking Mansion, which deserves a little mention: apparently it’s an iconic building in HK (but I’ll be honest, I’m not entirely sure why – the building next to it looks much more interesting – it’s much less grand than the name suggests):
It’s bustling all day with traders, money exchangers and restaurants.
One of which did a rather nice Indian buffet for £5:
And that’s another thing about HK- after months of natives dominating the ethnic mix, I’m suddenly in a place with much more diversity. What does “eating local” mean here? Not sure, but nobody’s taking photos of me anymore. And I’m not sure how I feel about this.
Chinese people are far and away the best thing about China. With very few exceptions, they have been friendly, fun and kind. So, despite the language challenges, tourist circuses and lack of major tourist destinations in the south, I’ve enjoyed my time here. But it’s good to be moving on…
… to Hong Kong. Technically it’s part of China (a “special administrative region”), but has a border crossing, it’s own currency and they drive on the correct side of the road 😉 One person I spoke to described it well: it’s like China is the parent company and Hong Kong a subsidiary which is has its own management.
We’d taken the high-speed express train to Kowloon. Once again the train was fast, efficient and clean. And the toilet had the flush button in front of you so you didn’t have to turn round in the small cubicle. UX* people notice these little things, you know 😉
At the border, things were serious and official, but still fast and efficient. So why was it taking Rudy so long to get through? I peered over. He was laughing and chatting with immigration officer #facepalm. Eventually he emerged and we compared tickets (no stamps here anymore). I’d been given a six-month stay (UK), him only three (Belgium). “Yeah,” he explained, “she wants to see me again soon.” I couldn’t help but feel there may have been an element of truth in this 😉
It didn’t take long to start seeing the differences from mainland China, such as:
Throne toilets, with paper provided
No spitting on the street
No table bars to whack my knees on
People queue to get on the bus
Nearly everyone speaks English
Signs are in English and Chinese rather than Chinese and (maybe) English
But some things were the same:
Shops open out on to the street
Squat toilets were also available in public conveniences
And I felt oddly at home. Or maybe it’s not odd as Hong Kong was a British territory from the opium wars until 1997 and so much reminded me of London, little things like the escalators: stand on the right, walk on the left. And the high prices and tiny hotel rooms. And I mean tiny: two beds and a bathroom in 7sqm. But it was surprisingly functional – the shower was over the toilet, the beds butted up in an L-shape and plenty of under-bed storage.
Confectionery in the 7-11 also reminded me of home:
But then she short-changed me to remind me that I was, in fact, still a tourist 🙁
Spent a very pleasant hour touring the harbour (one of only three natural harbours in the world – can you name the other two?**):
With this guy spending the entire trip (really, the *entire* trip) making a video starring himself:
Hong Kong Convention Centre was designed to resemble a soaring bird, and hosted the Sino British handover in July 1997:
The Colosseum’s claim to fame stems from its construction method – the roof was built and the hoisted up before the non-load-bearing walls were added to create this striking inverted pyramid (image courtesy of Google as mine were rubbish):
This clock tower is the only thing left of the railway terminus of the line from Canton (as was, now Guangzhou), somewhat ironically the rest was demolished to make way for the cultural centre:
Also, a mini London Eye:
A beautiful sunset:
And a visit from some of the locals:
Rudy admitted the light show (“it’s amazing”) was a bit of a let down. But the general ambience and friendly vibe made it worthwhile.
Random stuff from today starts at breakfast when my noodle soup had a salted duck egg in it (remember those Laotian snacks from a few weeks ago?):
It was actually really good 🙂
David and Lucy: they were on our train and we got chatting at the border. They met online three years ago and struck up a friendship (he’s late fifties, she nineteen). I obviously didn’t pry (another western trait) but I got the impression he’d had a major life event (divorce?) and decided to teach in China. Came over in September, secured a position very, very quickly, had to return home and was now out a few weeks before the start of term to explore. Step in Lucy who came across as a shy, intelligent and kind lady. If you’re a native English speaker with reasonably good literacy, the world really is your oyster. I wish them both all the very best 🙂
Finally, a T-shirt slogan that makes sense:
Overall a very enjoyable introduction to Hong Kong 🙂
* UX = User eXperience = making things easy and satisfying to learn and use.
** San Francisco and Sydney (is this actually right? I mean they might not be big, but I’m sure there are more natural harbours than this..? Update: Wiki advises there are, in fact, lots of natural harbours in the world – I lost count)
“So what brings you back to China?” I asked the Israeli who’d recently finished his PhD in Taiwan.”To find a girlfriend. But I’m not sure where to start.”
Ah, right. I admire your honesty. But can’t help you, I’m afraid.
So far in Guangzhou we’d seen the South Railway Station, Main Railway Station, East Railway Station, and the Long-Distance Bus Station. Rudy suggested adding the Ferry Terminal to our collection, but we decided instead to branch out and visit the old city:
Not much more to add, to be honest – people going about their lives. That in itself is worth noting though – we define nationalities, races and religions but the more I travel, the more I’m reminded that we’re all part of the human race.
A minor change of plan: we needed some admin time and, as Hong Kong is very expensive, we’ve decided to spend another night here and head to Hong Kong first thing tomorrow.
Random stuff from today:
Still lots of smoking here and with a packet costing from £1 to £2.50 it’s not surprising (although I guess it’s relative to earnings)
At dinner, these girls behind us were each glued to their mobile phone – social norms are changing
And, walking back to our hotel that evening, Rudy revealed that he had a big t-shirt collection… stored in alphabetical order (“So ones from ACDC and Australia, through to, err…” / “Zaire and ZZ Top?” / “Yes, exactly”. Reminded me of Rimmer*. I gently suggested that he might want to keep this information to himself and, for instance, not mention it when meeting new people 😉
* Red Dwarf character who would hang his identical shirts, pants and trousers in groups, perfectly spaced
China really knows how to travel by train – it’s clean and efficient. Plenty of space and airy carriages make it a very pleasant experience indeed:
And it’s fast:
Because the lines are straight – as I’ve mentioned previously, they’ve money and vast amounts of land (and I’m guessing, but I suspect a Communist government helps – as Sene said, the big wigs decide, nobody dares object and it gets done).
Outside, the landscape changed very quickly (no, not just because we were going almost 250kph):
But was still defined by lots of karsts:
Passing through numerous towns and cities, the homogeneity of the buildings was marked – metal and concrete, box-like, mostly symmetrical. Aesthetics clearly aren’t valued, which surprised me a little considering their elegant written script, descriptive language and cultural heritage.
The metro was in the same vein as their trains, the glass screen improving efficiency – very similar to London’s Jubilee line, the newest Tube line, so their transport system is clearly quite new. Plastic tokens this time, instead of thin card tickets – you place them on the sensor to enter through the barriers, and put it in the slot to exit. Efficient, sustainable and environmentally friendly. Regular travellers had plastic cards, again a better solution. Another difference was the seats – plastic and not divided by arm rests. I’m in two minds: on the downside, everyone was sliding all over the place as the train pulled away stopped at stations (which a metro is wont you do); on the other hand, they’re easy to clean. Eating was not allowed – this wouldn’t be a popular change on the Tube, but it would improve the experience for everyone (and I say this as a regular Tube eater although, for the record, I’m extra careful not to make a mess).
And another baffling slogan for the collection:
As usual, we hadn’t booked a hotel but as soon as we exited the metro we were presented with an offer of a hotel. The trick is to know the going rate (thanks, TripAdvisor). Rudy negotiated from 188¥ to 148¥, so we followed the guy to the hotel… where the room rate was set at 168¥. Dilemma: we were prepared to pay 168¥ but didn’t want to encourage his dishonest practice. Or let him off the hook. We put him on the spot; he did the Chinese embarrassed laugh and shaking of head. Point made, we went for dinner – a local(spicy) fish specialty which was delicious (also saw an African woman – haven’t seen any Africans during my travels so was a point of note):
… And then checked in at the hotel he’d brought us to 🙂
Another hotel aimed at Chinese, but I’m used to them and they’re good value for money (and usually come with respirators which is obviously very important).
We’d ended up in the * real* part of town – a trading estate near the station. Walking round that evening, we immediately noticed all the Africans – the lady in the restaurant hadn’t been a one off. Stopping to talk to a group hanging out on the street, it turns out they’re here to trade, sending (fake) goods back home – most of them are from Tanzania here on a one-year visa. But they can only stay thirty days at a time, so each month they make a day trip to Hong Kong. And with the Africans come African home comforts (mostly food). So on our last day in China, we found Little Africa 🙂
When you buy a ticket on a bus, train or mini van it seems to give you unlimited luggage space for no additional cost. I’ve travelled with TVs, dozens of crates of beer, chickens and dogs. I reasoned that we could save some money and suggested to Rudy that I travel in his rucksack. One man got on our bus with three large sacks of I-don’t-know-what. As he disembarked, he suddenly remembered them. “Yep, don’t forget Grandma,” said Rudy.
Privacy
Chinese have different norms for privacy. I’m not going to go on about the toilets again, but that’s one example. Another is sitting at the same table as you in a restaurant without even acknowledging our presence. Rude people are all over the world, and I won’t judge China on them, but I did wonder whether this was, in fact, just the way things are here.
Chinese writing
Beautiful but really slow to write. Because you have to take your pen off the paper so often, unlike Latin script that you can write “joined up”. And the digital signs are made up of lots of dots, rather than the 18 dashes required for our letters.
Bites
I’ve been bitten. But not by a mozzie (they don’t itch). Five big bites on my face. Thanks.
Photo bombing
I’m getting used to people wanting me in their pictures. Joining someone’s selfie is met with a smile. I must remember that English people and tourists in the UK may not feel the same way. I must stop photo bombing, I must stop photo bombing, I must stop…
City Wall Gate is the number one tourist attraction in Guilin. Here it is. Brace yourselves:
Another Che Guevara’s pants situation? I think so. We didn’t bother with whatever numbers two, three and four were 😉
Liver in my noodle soup this morning – that’s a first:
Twin pagodas (sun and moon, one is blue and the other yellow but they both looked grey today):
I haven’t had a western dinner for a month, so ordered steak and chips at the “Irish pub” (run by a Chinaman). Roughest one I think I’ve ever had – I should have predicted this as beef in China is tough, and the fact that he had to check what “rare” meant >_<
Jesting with the locals continued, as we tried to sell their own tours to the touts. And a conversation with a man who just kept talking and palm-writing in Chinese – funny thing was that he didn’t ever make it clear that he had no idea what we were saying. He just kept smiling, nodding and copying our hand gestures in agreement. He never came back with the beer and mango smoothie that Rudy ordered 😉
Other stuff from our walk round town included these living keyrings (I told you animal welfare was non-existent here):
And what appeared to be a “poetry battle” as each took it in turn to write beautiful (but to me unintelligible) script on the pavement in water:
And unexpectedly coming across this made me suddenly miss home:
Another selfie request from the table behind us at dinner (we’re averaging at least five a day). She was so lovely. There’s a definite gender split: females prefer photos with Rudy, males with me. Her older male companion (maybe her father) stopped by our table on their way out and said something to me. Problem was, I had no idea what he said. I should have recorded it for translation at a later date, but didn’t think. There are some apps that can translate spoken Chinese to English, but I can’t seem to access them in the app store. Plus they need me to activate mobile data (I haven’t bought a local SIM like I did in Cambodia). I would have paid to know what he said to me, though – he’d obviously thought about it. Or maybe it’s best that I’ll never know.
Random stuff from today:
Another day, another slogan:
In China, the streets are tiled. Yes, like you’d do at home. When it rains, they’re lethally slippery:
Thus far, noodle soup has not been given the time and space it deserves. I feel the need to correct this:
It started as a love-hate relationship – easily available, cheap and healthy, but my body was still conditioned to crave western breakfasts. As SE Asia is accustomed to western tourists, western breakfasts are easily available. Occasionally I tried to “eat local” for breakfast but my body just didn’t want it. Then I came to China. She’s not used to western tourists, so toast and eggs weren’t available. Noodle soup it was. Didn’t take long for my body to adjust and it now wants a nice bowl of noodle soup every morning.
It works like this: you choose your meat (of which you get very little, of course, because this is Asia and their diet is predominantly carbohydrates), they lower the noodles (you might get to choose which type) into some boiling water for a minute or so, the noodles are dumped in a bowl and various bits are added (meat, beans, peanuts, leafy veg – each place does it slightly differently), the bowl is topped up with stock, you add extra bits (again, it varies, but chili sauce, small green beans chopped with chili, coriander and spring onion are almost always offered) and finally you eat it (maybe wishing you hadn’t gone quite so heavy on the chili). Wherever makes it, it’s basically a bowl of fresh noodles – the rest is to make it more palatable. I’ve had it for breakfast every day since arriving in China, the Hilton buffet being a notable exception when I made the most of some western influence. So anyway, after noodle soup:
… we got on the bus to Guilin (actually we were in a tuk-tuk going to the station when he waved down a bus, pulled over, chucked us out whilst pointing at said bus saying urgently “Guilin, Guilin”, and snatched our fare out of my hand (despite the fact that we’d only gone half a kilometre down the road)).
We’d paid 22Y to get here, so I knew the bus fare. Short changed. I signalled more. Straight away she gave me more and continued down the bus without a word. I’m getting very fed up of this – it makes the travelling less enjoyable no matter how much I try not to let it. One of the things I’m looking forward to when I go home is not having to be on constant guard for overcharging – it started in Dubai and hasn’t stopped. I’m not even safe in supermarkets that have displayed prices as their tactic is to not “beep” it but put the value in manually. I’ve got wise to that one, too. And our hotel owner in Yangshuo had massively overcharged us for our bamboo raft tickets – I mentioned it politely, and she made excuses. I let it go as I’d made my point. I’ll let TripAdvisor do the hard work 😉
On a positive note, when I told the bus conductor that I needed the toilet, we pulled over at a petrol station less than five minutes later. That’s the Asian way.
From the bus window I saw lots of buildings. All single skin with no apparent damp proof course. Black damp was already crawling over even fairly new ones. It’s strange that cavity wall insulation, central heating and double-glazing hasn’t reached here yet, despite their climate being very similar to ours.
I spent much of the trip exploring Rudy’s music collection, tunes that I hadn’t heard in a long time, many of which brought back memories, and new stuff: Dire Straits, Aerosmith, Paul Kelly, The Eagles, Melissa Etheridge, Dream Theatre, Enya…
Walking the city streets later, we found those pizza bases again – must be a local delicacy – and “orange hand grenades”:
Then to the bus station where my latest app is coming in very useful by providing Chinese translations – technology can be wonderful.
And the photos – some sneaky, some requested. Sitting outside near a transport hub of some kind we were people-watching and noticed a group of young girls a few seats away.
“They want a photo,” said Rudy.
“Why don’t you go up and sit next them – it’ll make their day?”
“No, I want to see how long it takes them to summon up the courage…”
About five minutes later, one finally approached: “Can I take a photo?”
“Yes, of course you can.”
I think we made their day! Her English was pretty good so we chatted to the group for a while which was really nice – but again we forgot to ask them why they’d wanted a photo with us. Next time, I’ll remember next time.
To end, some clever packaging (I told you there weren’t so many interesting sights in China) – this yogurt packet had an air-filled compartment:
I think it’s to protect the main compartment so that, when under pressure, it doesn’t burst. Ingenious. If, indeed, that’s what it is. If you can confirm or deny, I’d be most grateful – I’m intrigued.
