Hello there, it has been awhile so I thought it was about time I updated you on my China adventures! It has been none stop the last couple of weeks and time seems to be flying, I can’t believe I have been gone nearly 2 months, I will be back before you know it!
So, last update I was getting ready for my hike on the Great Wall! Well I did it and live to tell the tale! The views from the Wall were absolutely breathtaking and the 10km walk, yes I repeat 10km walk seemed to fly by with the scenery. It was not how I expected, for some reason I thought it would be a nice flat wall for me to have a little mooch along, oh no! Firstly it is on top of the mountains separating Mongolia and China so I had to get up there, needless to say no cable cars at the bit we were climbing! The steps up to the Wall were new but absolute killers. Then when I got on the wall it was really hilly and just like ruins in some places. I went up some bits on my hands and knees! After the 10km walk (have I mentioned that before!) we got the Flying Fox, a zip wire down over lake and then a boat ride to our hostel that was just at the bottom of the Wall. We sat on the terrace of the hostel watching the sunset over the Wall with a beer in hand, absolutely amazing! *I feel I use the word 'amazing' a lot, but what I am seeing at the minute really is and with my limited vocab amazing is all you get I’m afraid!
After that I headed to Xian on the overnight train, the same night of the train crash, thankfully not my train! Which I think was a surprise to everyone with my track record! Anyway Xian was a nice City, much smaller than Beijing. It seemed a little poorer, there were a lot of beggars on the streets. It felt a little more real than Beijing though, with the Olympics they are trying to 're-educate' the people of Beijing, you know like coughing up a lung then spitting it on the street is not such a nice thing to do! But it did feel quite manufactured for the Olympics. The main highlight in Xian was obviously the Terracotta Warriors! These were unbelievable, the history and story surrounding them blows your mind. There are 3 different pits or sites were they have dug up the warriors. Pit 1 was the best with hundreds of the warriors lined up. I didn’t realise that initially they were all painted in colour, each face is completely different and it is said that the workers based the faces on the man they were working close to. I also biked the City Walls of Xian, one of the few cities in China to still have the walls in tact, lovely view. We also got to do Karaoke, the Chinese really do love it and take it very seriously, we went at 4pm in the afternoon so not like the drunken karaoke fun you have in the UK. We had to get a few beers down us before anyone was brave enough to get up but we soon got in the swing of it and even booked an extra hour!
I had a very hot, humid, and sticky time in Shanghai. Again, really nice City, very cosmopolitan. As it was a Bank Holiday there were people everywhere! A tour guide I had explained walking the streets was like having a full body massage, she was not wrong but I certainly wouldn't pay for that kind of massage. The main highlight in Shanghai for me was the Bund, the new business center is on the banks of the Huang Pu River and the view from the other side is great especially at nighttime. We had a special evening up the Grand Hyatt Hotel, the highest bar in the world, $14 for a cocktail though… only had 1. Also went on the fastest train in the World, it got to 432 kmph! All in all quite a memorable day in Shanghai.
I have got to say after doing the major cities in the north of China I was looking forward to the countryside of South China and Yangshou did not disappoint! It was a little town with beautiful limestone cliffs in the background with the Li River running through it. I went on a boat ride (more of a raft made of bamboo with a wooden bench stuck on top of it!) down the River Li, went to the best outdoor show I have ever seen… the Inspiration Show (check it out on YouTube, it was great!) did a Tai Chi class, my thighs hurt for 2 days after, really enjoyed it but don’t think it will be something I will take up! I have had some nice meals and some not so nice meals in China! Some of the menus are the most random things I ever seen, from Chicken feet to pig intestine!! The main ingredient in most dishes being fat and grease!! Needless to say I am now the size of a small house! But as Yangshou was a tourist resort was able to get some really nice food here, even apple pie and custard!!
After Yangshuo it was on a bike to get to the Longji rice terraces. The rice terraces looked like they went on forever. We did another big hike but it was absolutely chucking down with rain and I got drenched so not so much fun!! Also there had been a major landslide a couple of days before which we had to climb through, another thing to add to my ‘disaster averted list’! All the buildings are like ski lodges in Longji, but not so nice. It was quite a strange place really. The women there do not cut their hair as they see it as a gift from their mothers, but they look a bit creepy with long black hair! It was like living in a scene from the movie The Ring!
So, in Hong Kong now, left South China the day before the Earthquake, obviously! Haven’t seen much of Hong Kong yet so on my way out to explore!
Have loaded my pics on to snapfish and will give you login details when I have sorted them out. Got bored with trying to put them on here!
Take care x