Hong Kong

I'd decided to stay a few days in Shenzhen before heading out of China. But once I got there, I decided just to head straight for Hong Kong.

Karin - who I'd met in Shangri La - had recommended a place, so at 10pm I finally found the place and got a room.

It was at a place called Chung King Mansions - which might sound really grand - but is a totally unique experience. Chung King isn't just a hotel - it's a huge tower block packed with money changers, small business, hotels, and restaurants.

If your in HK - then it's worth staying here just for the experience. The building itself is exactly what you'd get if you decided to build something - but started building without planning it first (er...a bit like some IT projects :-)

There are loads of lifts - not all of which go to all the floors, and you'll find stair cases that just stop - and you have to walk to the other side of the building to find the next staircase.

It's also got a real multicultural element to it - and you see people from all over the world. It's not uncommon to see people in traditional dress or speaking in the many many languages of the world.

If your in town definitely check it out - although you'll get loads of hassle for fake Rolex, tailor made suits, and Hash.

On the down side - they've just had the worst weather of the year in HK, it even made the news - which hampered things a bit. But I needed a rest and this provided the perfect excuse. So, I've spent most of my time in Starbucks or drinking Iced Chocolate in McDonalds :-)

Hong Kong is a great place - and I could easily go back again. It's not what I expected at all - and it's really hard to describe what it's like. But it feels very vibrant and there's a lot going on all the time. Even in the rain.

It reminds me so much of Los Angeles in the film Blade Runner - and the rain just added to the effect. Although it's such an easy city to get around. It has one of the best transport systems I've ever seen.

Here's a pic of Mong Kok at the one time it wasn't raining - this is said to be the most densely populated place in the world - and the bit that reminded me most of Blade Runner:



One of the highlights was being able to meet up with a few people I've met on this trip. One evening I met up with Kate and Jim, and they took me to a pub called The Globe for British beer - Marston's Pedigree - and it was so good - funny how you miss the simple things in life. And then on to a great restaurant for dinner. Really enjoyed it - and it was good to catch up on Kate's travels and Kate and Jim's future travel plans.

The next day I headed to "The Peak" which is the must do thing in HK. It's the highest point on HK island, and is a great place to see the view of the whole island. There's a tram that takes you up the very steep route to the top:

Check out the angle of the tram:



Here's a pic from the top:



Yep - it was raining :-) But I had Fish and Chips at the top, and actually saw the view for about 10 seconds which was good.

I also made it to the top of the Bank Of China building in the afternoon - and from the top it looked like this:



On my last night I met up with Clare who I'd met on the run to Chengdu, and it was good to catch up and have a chat. We went for one of the best curries I've had so far, and a few drinks. It was fun to catch up on future plans and to talk political theory :-)

And that was HK - great fun - but over way too quickly, and a place I'd love to return to.

Here are some pics:

The view from Kowloon to Hong Kong Island:



A random shot:



I couldn't decide between these two pics - so here they both are (By the way - if you appreciate good architecture, then you'll love HK):





The view of HK from Kowloon at night:

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Editor's note: I've just checked the Wikipedia entry for Blade Runner which states that Hong Kong was used as the inspiration for LA in 2019. I can't insert a link due to the Internet restrictions in China, but you can read the article here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blade_Runner.

Xian - Part 2

I decided to do not much - and arranged to meet the girls later for dinner. So I headed to Starbucks, and had a wander around the city, and then spent some time planning what I was going to do next.

I needed to leave China as my 30 day's was almost up, so booked a flight for the next day to Shenzhen from which it's easy to get to Hong Kong. The booking process turned into a total nightmare as they wanted me to validate who I was before they'd issue the ticket. With the patience and help of the people who work at the hostel I was able to send what was needed. But it made me late for Dinner and I had to run accross to Xian to try and meet up with the girls.

Thankfully, they were still waiting - and we headed off for Hot Pot which was really good fun.

Just one picture - pig's feet for sale in the market - the people here go mental for them, and you see them munching away as they walk along:



That night I decided not to have too late a night - so spent about 10 minutes having one drink with the girls. Bizarrely, I suddenly discovered it was 5am and I was standing on a stage dancing with some Chinese people in a club...er...

Xian...and the Pottery Thingies - Part 1

Whenever anyone ever mentions The Terrecota Army I'll always smile - because I've just had an incredible few days where all I've done is laugh.

So I arrive in Xian afer being on the train all night with a Chinese guy snoring so loudly I was unable to sleep. And another guy who slept for 20 minutes (snoring really loudly) and then smoked for five minutes, and then back to 20 minnutes of snoring. After 16 hours I was ready to get off the flippin' train :-)

I arrived at the hostel and decided rather than go to sleep I'd walk around the city walls - it's 14 kilometres all the way around - so they are pretty big walls.

Xian - City Walls:





The main street in Xian:



And another one of the walls:



That night - I headed out to the Muslim Quarter - which is a real vibrant part of the city. It's so called because (obviously) Muslim's settled in this area, and it's an exciting place to visit. There are loads of street stalls and little shops, and hundreds of people walking along checking out the sights.

This pic is of the Drum Tower in Xian, which marks out the start of the Muslim Quarter:



At the hostel in Xian you get a free beer for every night you stay (who says there's no such thing as a free beer :-) and so I headed down to the bar for a quick drink before heading to bed.

At the bar I ran into Mina, Antonia, and Sara who were going to see the Terrecota Army the next day and arranged to go with them. And that's when the fun started - because we had such a good laugh.

The next day we had breakfast and set off to see the army. Quite a few people told me it was really disapointing - and I'd seen the excellant display at the British History Museum when I went to see Rush in London.

But it was a really fun day. Not only was the army definitely worth going to see - we had such a laugh the whole time :-) We even managed to get in half price by saying our driving licences were student passes!

OK - time for some quick history.

About 250 BC there was this guy called Qin Shi Huang - who was the ruler of one of the tribal areas in China. By all accounts, he was a bit of nasty sort, but he left his mark on history by going to war with everyone else in what is now known as China - and winnning. And in so doing so created China.

Being the kind of guy he was - he decided to build a huge mausoleum and to help out in the afterlife - decided to put together a huge army. Clearly - he was expecting some trouble on the other side - because his army was huge.

No one really knows how many statues there are - as they've not all been excavated - but estimates put it at about 8000 soldiers, and 520 horses, plus other bits and pieces.

Just down the road, he had a mausoleum built which is said to run with rivers of mercury and to have a thousand stars in the ceiling. But no one ever recorded the fact that the army was there, and so it lay - buried in the ground.

In 1974 some guy was digging a well and discovered the army. The rest - as they say - is history.

And here are a few pics:

This is Pit 3 - and the smallest collection:



Terracota Horse:



Er...me...and the warriors - I had to squeeze under a brass bar and hang out over the edge to get this shot:



and close up:



The main pit (Pit 1) where the major excavations have taken place:



The warriors:



And close up:



Antonia, Mina, and Sara - fantastic company:



And another close up:



That night we headed to the Muslim Area and had the local soup - which was good, and then it was back to the hostel for the free beer. We ran into Amy at the bar, and with so many Brits about we decided to have a good old fashioned G&T...or several :-)

Let me say - the bar in the Youth Hostel is the best in China. It was run by an Italian and Spaniard (Kim and Stefano) who really know how to do a party - and played some great tunes. Had a great night out - one to remember :-)

Thanks everyone for happy times :-)

Chengdu - again...

ecided to spend a day in Chengdu to do some washing and stuff, and booked a train ticket to Xian for the next day.

Jennifer and I headed out to an Indian restaurant for dinner - and it was one of the best curries I've had since I'd set off - a real taste of home.

The next day I headed off for the train and Xian...

Leshan...and the world's biggest Buddha...

Having felt well enough to head off - I decided to get out of Emei and The Teddy Bear Hotel, and decided to go to Leshan and see the world's biggest Buddha on the way to Chengdu...

And boy - it's big. Check these pics out:

Uber Incense at the Temple:



...and the Buddha:



Me:



View from the top:



...and the big guy's hands:



The path down the side of the mountain. In typical Chinese style - there was no orderley queuing - everyone just pushed:



Amusingly - I got the number 13 bus thinking it went to the coach station, but after about 45 minutes I realised I was back where I started. So had to take the number 13 again and head into town to catch the number 9 back to the bus station.

I actually got told to get off at the wrong bus station - but ran into Jennifer - who was also heading back to Chengdu. After some confusion about exactly which bus station we were at, we made it back to Mix Hostel, and headed out for food.

Emei Shan...or how I never climbed the mountain...

Today started off bad and just got worse.

After having such a fun time on the road to Chengdu, and a few fun filled days here, I had to say goodbye to everyone. I also discovered that I no longer had my MP3 player. The last time I'd seen it was on the bus to Chengdu when it had run out of power. At some point in the three of four days that had passed it had gone "missing".

I've been trying to think of when I'd left my bag anywhere - but can't think where it could have gone missing. And while in the grand scheme of things it's not a major issue, it just added to the mood of the day. No more music for a while :-(

I'd been planning to spend a few days climbing Emei Shan - one of the five mountains in China with special significance to the Buddhists.

So I caught the bus to Emei Shan and checked in at the hotel and set the watch for an early start. The Teddy Bear Hotel has only one dorm room - and to be honest - it was really disappointing. On one side of the wall there was a large curtain - behind which was the kitchen for the hotel next door.

There was no window - just a metal grill - so it was really noisy and seeing what was going on there was no way I'd eat at the hotel next door.

In the middle of the night I woke up and could hardly breath. Normally my asthma doesn't come on like that (unless I spend four or five hours in a room with a cat) - but on this occasion it came on really suddenly.

I laid awake for the rest of the night, trying my best to breath. It was pretty scary - and I was really hoping it wouldn't get any worse - because I wasn't really sure what I could do and my Ventolin was hardly making any impact at this point.

That morning, it took me two hours to get up, and I had a steady day. Thankfully it started to ease off - and although it took me over a week to get back to normal, I was able to get moving a few days later.

I hardly ever get symptoms like that - I think the last time was 15 years ago.

Which explains why I never did climb Emei Shan.

On the positive side - while I was taking a very slow walk one day I ran into three really nice Chinese people who I spent three really enjoyable hours talking to.

Here are some pics:

One of the pagoda's at the base of Emei Shan:



My new Chinese friends:





And an amusing sign I spotted:

Back To China...

Well - I've been trying to catch up with the blog after the problems I had accessing the web site while in China. But sadly, my time in Hong Kong has come to an end, and I'm just about to set off for the border and a flight to Guilin.

I've not been able to find a way to update the blog that will work, so if there are no posts for the next few weeks then it's because I can't get onto the Blogger site.

I will be on Facebook and E-mail as usual (assuming both still work :-), so will try and keep up with everyone over the next month...

Take care...

Chengdu

After the mammoth cross country bus journeys, early mornings, and the late arrival at Chengdu being able to sleep in felt like a real luxury. We all met for breakfast and then decided to head out to some cultural highlights. Namely McDonalds followed by Starbucks. An entirely authentic Chinese experience - honest.

And after doing nothing but eat and drink, a load of us headed out for Szechuan Hotpot - which was a real experience. Everyone sits around a table in the centre of which is a huge pot of boiling oil crammed full with red hot chilies and a type of pepper that makes your mouth go numb.

You order the food, and everything is raw, and you pick what you want and cook it in the boiling oil. It was incredibly spicy - even hotter than a Vindaloo. But a very sociable and fun way to eat.

Anyway - that night Pascal suggested we go to a club he knew - and man - what an experience it was. From the minute we walked in, locals were totally fascinated by the fact that there were westerners in the club. All the Chinese wanted to either dance with us, or drink beer - even though none of us could speak each others language.

I spent zero on drinks all night - and there was no shortage of drinks to go around. I spent the last hour of the night chatting to some Tibetan guys how could speak reasonable English. They were such nice friendly people - and very kindly shared some of their beer with me. It was one of those moments where I really felt I'd connected with some of the local people.

We finally made it back to the hostel at 5am, and I was feeling totally awake - so decided to do some e-mail. It turns out Irish was on Facebook so we ended up chatting for a while, and then it seemed pointless going to bed as the Panda trip we were booked on left at 7:40am.

It was a great morning out - Pandas are really cute - although they do have long claws and sharp teeth - and a few looked like they'd be happy to have a go if you got too close.

So cute:





"You lookin' at me?"



And our chance to get really close to some real life pandas:



After a rather good lunch at the hostel, I headed out to see the Wenchu Temple (well I had to do something cultural). It looks like something out of a Kung Fu movire - so did some moves - but now one was up for wire effect style Kung Fu :-(





Sit!



AKA - The Dharma Initiative:



Chengdu Old Town:



And then it was more food - this time a tiny place with a Chinese menu and no English. We spent 10 minutes trying to work out what it said, and then the owner walked up and asked in perfect English what we wanted :-)

And that was Chengdu...

The Road To Chengdu - Part 3 - Chengdu

Another early early start - and another all day bus journey: eight and a half hours this time to Kangding - although the scenary was awesome.



The road was pretty good - all the way until lunch, where we stopped at a place for pork and potatoes. Pretty tasty and only 1 pound and sixty pence. And then things went down hill, because it got very very bumpy. Quiet a lot like this:



Except it went on for hours and hours and hours. But we had a laugh - and it helped the time pass...and at least it looked like this outside the bus:





When we got to Kangding I'd been planning to stay - but the other guys were heading straight for Chengdu (another 6 hours on a bus) and it looked like there wasn't much there - so decided to head for Chengdu.

Except it wasn't six hours. It took 10 because there were really bad roadworks. Although the dinner break was really good.

We finally made it to Mix Hostel in Chendgu over 18 hours after we'd set off. But what a trip. I'd do it again at the drop of a hat, just to go back to Litang.

The Road To Chengdu - Part 2 - Litang

It was 5:15 when the alarm went off - and it was dark when we headed off for the bus. Thankfully we'd been organised and got breakfast the night before. Strangely, there were two buses, and they split every one up with one bus really full and the other half empty.

The journey takes five hours, and goes through incredible scenery. The road is on the border with Tibet, and it feels and looks like your in Tibet.

As we were getting up early again, we decided to stay opposite the bus station at the Peace and Happiness Hotel. It was only one pound fifty a night - but what a dump. There was only one toilet (a squat toilet as well) which didn't flush and no sink to wash your hands.

Litang is a small town, and it's pretty obvious that not many westerners go there. Everyone wants to say hello, and when we went for lunch, people were starring at us through the door of the restaurant or taking pictures.

We had Tibetan Yak Dumplings and Noodle Soup for lunch, and it was one of the best meals so far in China. We even ended up ordering more dumplings they were that good.

A wander around town took us to the Monastery up on the hill and we ended up talking to some local girls who walked up with us. The monastery is being renovated, including the building of a new Buddha, and the friendly monks allowed us inside to take a look:

Typical Litang house:

Hanging out with the locals:

Outside the monastery:

Crazy painting inside the monastery:

New Buddha in the process of being born:

And boy - what a view:

Happy monk on a motorbike - not something you see everyday:

Not so good dumplings that night - although we did find a tiny tiny disco where people were doing weird line dancing - but the early bus in the morning meant we couldn't hang around...