12th October 2008
As you may have guessed we have arrived in VIETNAM! The bus ride from Nanning was comfortable and easy and NOT scary on the border like we were expecting it to be...we didn't even have to bribe the person doing the "health check"! We got into Hanoi and went to the "Little Hanoi Hotel" with our new found kiwi friends from Nanning. Twas quite comfortable, we got FREE breakfast (anything free is GOOD!) though we didn't get the fresh fruit in our room that was advertised >=( Anyways...
Hanoi is a cool city! I really liked it there. We spent day 1 doing a self walking tour around the old quarter, which consisted mostly of shops. There were different areas dedicated to one thing ie shoes, silk, bhuddist altars, PVC products etc etc Was very exciting! That night we went to see the water puppet show, which was also really good. Highlight of my day was these cute Vietnamese boys who were eating ice cream by the lake seeing us and coming over and offering me an ice cream! SO CUTE! I said no though (not sure why) so Lindzy made me feel guilty.
Day 2 we walked to see Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum, although we missed him by 5 days! He had to go to Russia. Went to the temple of literature, the first university in Vietnam...I forget how old it was...but it was really nice and peaceful. Then we went to the old french prison nick named the Hanoi Hilton by the US POW's. Pretty interesting place and they loved to advertise that John McCain was a prisoner there...
29th October 2008
...At this stage in my boring recollection I stopped writing about what we were doing and so now I am going to try condense the last 3 weeks in Vietnam.
7th October 2008 - 10th October 2008
While in Hanoi we paid $70 for a tour up to Sapa. (FYI Sapa is a little town in the mountains where there are a lot of ethnic minorities.) It was AMAZING! We took a night train up there which was like an ice box and then spent our first day walking to the ethnic minority villages being trailed by a group of girls doing a fantastic job of befriending us, which was just a guise to get us to buy things from them. It was a little touristy (guess thats what ou get fr doing a tour) but overall it was amazing! Minus the ice box train back to Hanoi that made me sick =(
Highlight: the marijuana plant growing on the side of the road next to our hotel and Lindzys face as they tell us that they don't smoke it. Ít's only for making hemp!
October 10th 2008 - October 13th 2008
A bus boat bus combination took us from bustling Hanoi to beautiful Cat Ba Island. Here we spent a day on a boat visiting Halong Bay, a random unexciting cave, kayaked and saw Monkeys on Monkey island. Here we came across some guys feeding and teasing the monkeys. Not being amused we bad mouthed them, only to go to a bar and find that both guys work there and that they're not arrogant wankers we judged them to be. To make it all the more interesting Lindzy got some dance lessons and I went home alone ;) We then spent a day recovering from hangovers and laying on a beach all day before packing up and bus boat busing it to Nihn Bihn.
October 13th 2008 - October 14th 2008 "BORN TO BE WIIIIIIIILD"
After the dodgy bus-boat-bus trip (the man conveniently forgot to tell us that we'd have to pay an extra 50000 dong (about $3...yes that is a long of money to me!) to get a moto to where the second bus left from) we got to Nihn Bihn. We rented a moto and rode out to the fishing village singing "Born to be Wild". Fishing village not so exciting but very beautiful none the less.
Moto ride home however...more interesting.
Problem #1 We decide to take the scenic route home suggested by a local but somewhere took a wrong turn and ended up exactly where we started and riding all the way back again.
Problem # 2 It's getting dark and the light on the bike is about as bright as a parking light. This makes it very hard to avoid big rocks on the road and hay bales.
Problem # 3 The fuel guage gets stuck on half which results, just when we think we're almost back to the mainroad, the bike coming to a sputtering holt. Of course the locals come out to see why the foreigners are stopping outside there house and end up taking Lindzy to the gas station to get fuel and the rest of the family inviting me in their house, giving me tea and tring to communicate in the VERY little English they had. (Conveniently Kevin Rudd and the Vietnamese leader were meeting in Canberra so that provided some excitement and distraction!)
Next day we rented a moto again and rode 65km each way (total of 130km) to the naional park. Against our better judgement we had no warmer clothing and no raincoats so when it started to rain we got saturated. The national park was beautiful (think Jurassic Park) and we met a very entertaining pom who was writing and article for Rough Guides.
Highlight of the day: Lindzy complaining about how cold she was while using ME as a wind block!
We got a night bus to Hue that night, which turned into a drama because there weren't enough available beds, the driver had picked up locals who pay less and they were in our beds, so they got kicked out of the beds and put on the floor and we got the dirty beds next to the lovely smelling toilet!
We also met some cool Aussie guys, Scott and Barry, who shouted us beer and got everyone socialising. As well as some slightly odd Israelis and a Quebec couple (Quebec...NOT Canada!)
15th October 2008 - 17th October 2008
We arrived in Hue and got a $5 (nice and new) hotel room and explored the former ancient capital of Vietnam. The former palace (whats left of it after the Tet offensive int he Vietnam war) was interesting and the tomb we visited of one of the former kings was amazing too. Very beautiful and lively city.
We ran into the Aussies again and had a coupe of beers with them and also ran into some other people we met in Sapa. Of course one thing led to another and we were all very drunk but I was rocking on the pool table. That night was Lindzy's turn to go home alone and I got home at 530am to have a 30min nap before getting up and ready for the DMZ tour!
DMZ tour was pretty good (if you're interested in the war and know something about the places in the DMZ). Though we couldn't understand the guide very well and spent half the day in a bus because everything is so far apart. Khe San was sobering (the museum VERY bias) and the Tunnels were amazing! With bomb craters all over the ground and people having lived just underneath in a network of tiny tunnels and having survived. Incredible.
While in Hue I also decided to buy another camera after A LOT of ummming and ahhhing. Then the next morning we got a bus to Hoi An.
17th October 2008 - 19th October 2008 "I'm Siiiiinging in the RAIN!"
Hoi An is the Vietnamese capital of tailors and also prone to flooding. Thus, we had to have clothes made and watched the river water flood the city. That was basically all there was to Hue. Tho when the flood waters dried out a bit the old buildings (untouched by the war) were charming. From Hue we got a night bus to Nah Trang.
Nah Trang is the tourist/party/beach capital of Vietnam. We basically spent our first day on the beach (working up a nice tan of course). Then that night we headed out to a couple of bars with late night happy hour! We met a group of Canadian guys and went to another bar and met a group of Aussies, with night culminating in pool playing and drinking before going to the beach for a late, drunken swim. This would have all been a MARVELLOUS night if I hadn't gone into my bag to realise someone had stolen my camera AGAIN! They'd even gone to the effort of taking it out of the case as well. I went back to the bar (that was now closed) and the security guards in the door way playing cards refused to let me in to try look for it. So I started yelling at them and then broke down drying while sitting on a chair in the rain (oh yes it had started raining too!) I think they took pitty on me and let me in but naturally the camera was no where to be found. Thus a marvellous night turned not so marvellous and managed to lose my second ($400) camera in 3 weeks!
Next day we headed out on a boat cruise of the islands. Did a bit of snorkelling (with a million tiny jelly fish which stung like B%*&$#@!), swimming, jumping off the boat, eating tropical fruit, listening to the entertaining boat band lazing around in the sun on the boat.
From here we headed to Mui Ne.
"Beach Life and Perverts"
So Mui Ne is a more quiet beach town with huge sand dunes behind and a long beach in front. We stayed at a quiet resort on the beach and got a little bit of swimming and sunning in. Though we spent most of our first day trekking to find a bloody bank that would change travellers cheques only to discover that the resort next door did it!
Day 2, we went up into the sand dunes where you get some nice photos and ripped extorted by little kids making you pay to slide down the sand dune on pieces of plastic. All fun and games I guess. That afternoon I was felling ancy and needed to talk to someone so (after the skype near our hotel didn't work) I got on my pushbike (leaving Lindzy to sunbake and get a massage) to go find an internet cafe that had skype. Unfortunately, as I was riding up the road and got to an area where there were no buildings on either side a moto driver pulle dup beside me and asked me where I was from and I told him Australia. At this point he says nothing more and I start to get nervous cos there is nothing he can offer me (I'm on a bike and thus don't need a ride and he isn't selling anything). Then all of a sudden he grabs my arm and then gropes my boob and says something I can't understand but loses his balance so pulls away and starts following me. I'm in shock and freaking out trying to ride faster to get near some more people but thankfully someone was behind him and he pulled over and went back the other way. So I rode up the road in tears, with every internet cafe not having skype and having to turn around and go back being apprehensive that he's going to follow me again.
I got back to the hotel and ended up getting a massage which helped calm myself. This was followed by a swim, where, as Lindzy is on a beach chair reading a book another moto driver walks up to the beach via the empty lot next to our hotel. At first he just stands there, but then he starts looking at Lindzy and then back at me and fiddling with his pants. He then walks forward a little and sees that there is a policeman at the resort next to ours. Seeing this he moves back into the trees a little and continues to look at Lindzy and then me and then, to my absolute DISBELIEF, he starts jerking off!!! On realising what he's doing I start to walk towards the policeman continuing to watch but he then ddid a runner. TWO perverts in ONE DAY!!!
Next day we headed to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). Saigon was a cool city, though we didn't really do all that much there. We went on a wlaking tour of the city taking in some of the temples and going to the War Remenents museum and Reunification Palace both very interisting historical places. We also kept bumping into a gay couple from California we had met on the Nah Trang boat tour. They were both so funny and cute we were sad to say goodbye! Also. We found THE BEST fruit shakes! AND they were only 30cents...SOOOOOOO GOOD!
From Saigon we took a Mekong boat tour that would take us to Cambodia.
"Row, Row, Row Your Boat!"
We went on a boat tour up the Mekong viewing the general way of life of the local villages and having lunch at a restraunt where we could also feed crocodiles! Then headed to a hotel for a night where we made friends with a Canadian/Vietnamese with a guy and girl about our age, some Germans and John from Texas. The night included lots of drinking and some karaoke! The next morning we were up early to take a row boat out on the Mekong to a Muslim ethnic minority village. It took us a few moments to realise she was saying he was were son! So cute! Here we parted ways with our Canadian friends and got on another boat that would take us to Cambodia.
On the boat to Cambodia we made friends with an Aussie and British couple who were both really nice. Of course about an hour into the boat ride I had to go to the toilet (this whole trip has had me all of a sudden needing to go to the toilet at the MOST inconvenient times! I swear I have a bladder the size of a pea!). The boat driver kindly pulled the boat up on the bank and a group of us took the oppurtunity to pee in the bushes on the side of me Mekong...what a memory! We changed boats at the boarded and after a LONG boat ride, followed by a bus ride, Lindzy, me, the Aussies, Brits and Texas arrived at the Okay Guest house in Phnom Penh, ending our 3 week tour of Vietnam!
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Beautiful Guilin. I'm ready to KILL!
30th September 2008- 4th October 2008
We arrive in Guilin at 7am. The night bus...though with a bed...is traumatic. My body feels like it has been compressed. My spine is aching. I've gotten little sleep. I feared for my LIFE! It started out relatively smoothly (minus the snooty American girls who would have made lovely punching bags for my aggression). Come 2am we start hitting rough terrain, down hill slopes, swerving traffic. It was a ONCE in a life time experience. (Note the "ONCE").
We are staying at Annes hostel. Which is actually her apartment that she vacates when guests arrive equipped with bathroom, lounge and computer room. It's also in a really cute neighbourhood with so many children and everyone is friendly and LOVES to use their English vocab...which for the most of them consists of "Hello!".
We have arrived several hours earlier than expected so she takes us to her parents house while she cleans and readies the apartment. Her mother and father decide to cook us breakfast, all the while her mother laughing and smiling at us speaking Chinese. Breakfast is huge and deliscious and consists of noodles, soup, rice cake and crispy balls that taste like cereal. Anne picks us up and takes us to the apartment where we promptly shower and then pass out on the bed.
Day 2 in Guilin. We head to the Seven Star Park. A park famous for its cave and interesting rock formations. It's nice though a little crowded because of the national holiday. Then it happens. We are lining...more like pushing to get on the bus. My backpack is at my side. I feel a slight tug on it and pull it closer to me and glare at the person behind me. In the corner of my eye I see them back away and instantaneously realise he's taken something. I check my bag and realise the zips undone. I look in. My camera is gone. I shove my way out of the crowd and try to see where he's gone. Wanting to chase him. Tackle him. Break his arm, fingers, beat him to a pulp. (I had many fantasies after the event) But I'm too late. Too many people wearing black shirts. All look the same. I can't F*cking BELIEVE IT! WHY! Does everyone want to rip ME off?!
Lindzy is confused and not sure whats happened but soon realises as I search numerous times through my bag and start to get teary eyed. We go to the tourist information, where the nice English speaking women calls the police. I give a statement while she translates and then take a ride in the police car so I can get a copy of the statement for insurance. The policeman (whom both Lindzy and I agree is quite cute) gives us some fruit tea and he drops us off back at the bus. We make our way home. I'm emotionally exhausted. Vacant expression on my face. The only emotion I could probably express to a Chinese person would be rage so I switch off. We go home and I sleep.
Day 3. We take a bus and boat tour to see neighbouring Yangshuo. We end up stopping several times at a cave, temple, rock exhibition??? Our fellow tourers are nice and we are soon adopted by a family of 3 and a young pregnant couple. They guide us and tell us (mostly which hand gestures) where to go and what to do. This river is BEAUTIFUL! We also seem to become the main attraction on the boat as we get photos with our adopted family almost EVERYONE wants to get photos with us. We're CELEBRITIES!
The remainder of our time we laze about, walk into town, change some money, head home. For the 2nd time in our whole trip we manage to arrive at the train station with time to spare! NO RUNNING! IT'S a MIRACLE!
Guilin has restored my faith in China. I no longer believe it's a lost cause. I no longer want to kill (except for douchebag theif who I still have fanatsies about mutilating). I feel like the South is a lot nicer. People are nicer. But maybe thats because we were in cities a lot and this was our first time in the country. Either way it was beautiful.
We are now in Nanning. Our easiest arrival by far. The Lotus Hostel, where we are staying is so NEW! So MODERN! So CLEAN! So FRIENDLY! AND! The bed is so damn comfortable its going to be hard to wake up. It just MOLDS itself to your body. Today has been lazy. Lots of internet and spent half the day in a food coma...TOO. MUCH. FOOD!
I leave China a little sad. A LOT relieved. Though a little concerned that I have some deep homicidal tendencies. (Note to self. MUST find a way to release anger/tension/rage!)
Tomorrow morning we get our bus to Hanoi! Goodbye China! Hello VIETNAM!
We arrive in Guilin at 7am. The night bus...though with a bed...is traumatic. My body feels like it has been compressed. My spine is aching. I've gotten little sleep. I feared for my LIFE! It started out relatively smoothly (minus the snooty American girls who would have made lovely punching bags for my aggression). Come 2am we start hitting rough terrain, down hill slopes, swerving traffic. It was a ONCE in a life time experience. (Note the "ONCE").
We are staying at Annes hostel. Which is actually her apartment that she vacates when guests arrive equipped with bathroom, lounge and computer room. It's also in a really cute neighbourhood with so many children and everyone is friendly and LOVES to use their English vocab...which for the most of them consists of "Hello!".
We have arrived several hours earlier than expected so she takes us to her parents house while she cleans and readies the apartment. Her mother and father decide to cook us breakfast, all the while her mother laughing and smiling at us speaking Chinese. Breakfast is huge and deliscious and consists of noodles, soup, rice cake and crispy balls that taste like cereal. Anne picks us up and takes us to the apartment where we promptly shower and then pass out on the bed.
Day 2 in Guilin. We head to the Seven Star Park. A park famous for its cave and interesting rock formations. It's nice though a little crowded because of the national holiday. Then it happens. We are lining...more like pushing to get on the bus. My backpack is at my side. I feel a slight tug on it and pull it closer to me and glare at the person behind me. In the corner of my eye I see them back away and instantaneously realise he's taken something. I check my bag and realise the zips undone. I look in. My camera is gone. I shove my way out of the crowd and try to see where he's gone. Wanting to chase him. Tackle him. Break his arm, fingers, beat him to a pulp. (I had many fantasies after the event) But I'm too late. Too many people wearing black shirts. All look the same. I can't F*cking BELIEVE IT! WHY! Does everyone want to rip ME off?!
Lindzy is confused and not sure whats happened but soon realises as I search numerous times through my bag and start to get teary eyed. We go to the tourist information, where the nice English speaking women calls the police. I give a statement while she translates and then take a ride in the police car so I can get a copy of the statement for insurance. The policeman (whom both Lindzy and I agree is quite cute) gives us some fruit tea and he drops us off back at the bus. We make our way home. I'm emotionally exhausted. Vacant expression on my face. The only emotion I could probably express to a Chinese person would be rage so I switch off. We go home and I sleep.
Day 3. We take a bus and boat tour to see neighbouring Yangshuo. We end up stopping several times at a cave, temple, rock exhibition??? Our fellow tourers are nice and we are soon adopted by a family of 3 and a young pregnant couple. They guide us and tell us (mostly which hand gestures) where to go and what to do. This river is BEAUTIFUL! We also seem to become the main attraction on the boat as we get photos with our adopted family almost EVERYONE wants to get photos with us. We're CELEBRITIES!
The remainder of our time we laze about, walk into town, change some money, head home. For the 2nd time in our whole trip we manage to arrive at the train station with time to spare! NO RUNNING! IT'S a MIRACLE!
Guilin has restored my faith in China. I no longer believe it's a lost cause. I no longer want to kill (except for douchebag theif who I still have fanatsies about mutilating). I feel like the South is a lot nicer. People are nicer. But maybe thats because we were in cities a lot and this was our first time in the country. Either way it was beautiful.
We are now in Nanning. Our easiest arrival by far. The Lotus Hostel, where we are staying is so NEW! So MODERN! So CLEAN! So FRIENDLY! AND! The bed is so damn comfortable its going to be hard to wake up. It just MOLDS itself to your body. Today has been lazy. Lots of internet and spent half the day in a food coma...TOO. MUCH. FOOD!
I leave China a little sad. A LOT relieved. Though a little concerned that I have some deep homicidal tendencies. (Note to self. MUST find a way to release anger/tension/rage!)
Tomorrow morning we get our bus to Hanoi! Goodbye China! Hello VIETNAM!
"We're more civilised here"
26th September 2008 - 29th September 2008
Hong Kong...wonderous Hong Kong. Beautiful Hong Kong. No longer have to use squatters and dodge spit on the footpath Hong Kong.
So we arrived in Hong Kong after a pleasant night on the train, I could feeeeeeeel the difference already. As we go up an elevator a conversation transpires between an older American man and two English speaking Hong Kong locals behind us...it goes something like this...
Hong Kong man: Can I help you with that?
American man: No I'm fine. You're so kind!
Hong Kong man: Yes, we are more civilised here.
Immediately I start laughing...not in disbelief but in agreement...as sad as it is to say, China has roughed me up a bit and I've been craving western stability.
We do our usual run around buying tickets, getting a visa to re-enter China, finding our accomodation...we have decided to try out couch surfing (because you have to pay a bit more to live in western comfort). We are staying with an older gentleman named Dave who works for the Hong Kong University, lives right next to the uni and has a really nice apartment with an AMAZING view over the ocean. His house keeper lets us in, we wait until Dave arrives home and then things become awkward. I will not go too much into it but basically we weren't sure if he liked us, wanted us there, didn't want us there, were we invading his space, were we not around the house enough???...we ended up trying to limit our time with Dave deciding the less awkwardness the better!
So Hong Kong. I'm still in awe. We went to Lantau Island to see the biggest bronze Bhudda in the world, ate a really yummy lunch at the temple, walked to see the infinity path and saw some amazing views. We checked out the symphany of lights from the Kowloon side of the bay (little dissapointing), though we did see the big statue on Bruce Lee! (I did have a photo posing next to him but...for reason that will later be revealed I no longer have >:|) We did a little bit of market browsing, visited Stanley (very nice costal town) and then went to the Peak to get a view of Hong Kong and Kowloon from above...twas AMAZING!
Funny story. So we're lining up to get on the peak tram and Lindzy and I are discussing the lack of Irish we have seen so far on our travels and low and behold who is walking toward us getting off the Peak Tram...None other than Stephen O'Connor and Catherine Beatty! My two irish friends whom myself and James befriended while on our trip to South Korea, who then came to visit us in Toyama and will also visit me on Australia! So we agree to meet up at the Irish bar in Kowloon (where else) and end the night drinking and heading to another bar (Sticky Fingers...name says it all) where they played an assortment of top 40 to ACDC, Metallica and some hard metal, before making our way home at 4am.
Another incident also occurred this night that only 2 people know about and that incident will be KEPT between the 3 of us or they may find that they will meet an early fate! I am only mentioning it now as a matter of record because for now I plan to forget it and hope that I can look back in the future and laugh.
We spent our last 2 days wondering here and there going to Starbucks (where they had LAMINGTONS! DELISCIOUS! MOIST! LAMINGTONS!), eating subway (with half a fresh avocado!) and picking up visas.
(P.S As you may or may not know Hong Kong has a very large Australian population, thus, after one of our Starbucks stops, lamington in hand, we walk toward a bar (open unusally early) where there is shouting and the sound of sport on the TV. As we draw closer what do you think is on the big projector screen? None other than the AFL GRAND FINAL!!! Did I mention I love this City!)
"Quote of the day"
(Lindzy and Natalie on conversation about boobs)
"HEY! I was traumatized by my boobs when I was growing up! When I was in highschool this one guy teased me when we were doing highjump in PE...He's dead now."
(Lindzy proceeds to burst out laughing.)(Maybe one of those had to be there moments...)
So after an awkward goodbye with Dave and a leisurely walk (as opposed to mad dash) to the train with about 3 hours to spare before our bus leaves, we leave Hong Kong to cross the border at Shenzhen and catch our bus. Do you think it could be that easy??? OF COURSE NOT! We arrive in Shenzhen, go to the bus station indicated by the women at the travel agent on our map and wait out hte hour before our bus departs...15 mins till departure we make our way downstairs to get on our bus...but hang on! You're bus doesn't leave from here. It leaves from the Bus port up the road! So. Once again. We RUN. Me cursing. 10 minutes till departure. Heavy pack. We make it to our bus once again sweating and slightly out of breath. Welcome back to the madness that is China.
Hong Kong...wonderous Hong Kong. Beautiful Hong Kong. No longer have to use squatters and dodge spit on the footpath Hong Kong.
So we arrived in Hong Kong after a pleasant night on the train, I could feeeeeeeel the difference already. As we go up an elevator a conversation transpires between an older American man and two English speaking Hong Kong locals behind us...it goes something like this...
Hong Kong man: Can I help you with that?
American man: No I'm fine. You're so kind!
Hong Kong man: Yes, we are more civilised here.
Immediately I start laughing...not in disbelief but in agreement...as sad as it is to say, China has roughed me up a bit and I've been craving western stability.
We do our usual run around buying tickets, getting a visa to re-enter China, finding our accomodation...we have decided to try out couch surfing (because you have to pay a bit more to live in western comfort). We are staying with an older gentleman named Dave who works for the Hong Kong University, lives right next to the uni and has a really nice apartment with an AMAZING view over the ocean. His house keeper lets us in, we wait until Dave arrives home and then things become awkward. I will not go too much into it but basically we weren't sure if he liked us, wanted us there, didn't want us there, were we invading his space, were we not around the house enough???...we ended up trying to limit our time with Dave deciding the less awkwardness the better!
So Hong Kong. I'm still in awe. We went to Lantau Island to see the biggest bronze Bhudda in the world, ate a really yummy lunch at the temple, walked to see the infinity path and saw some amazing views. We checked out the symphany of lights from the Kowloon side of the bay (little dissapointing), though we did see the big statue on Bruce Lee! (I did have a photo posing next to him but...for reason that will later be revealed I no longer have >:|) We did a little bit of market browsing, visited Stanley (very nice costal town) and then went to the Peak to get a view of Hong Kong and Kowloon from above...twas AMAZING!
Funny story. So we're lining up to get on the peak tram and Lindzy and I are discussing the lack of Irish we have seen so far on our travels and low and behold who is walking toward us getting off the Peak Tram...None other than Stephen O'Connor and Catherine Beatty! My two irish friends whom myself and James befriended while on our trip to South Korea, who then came to visit us in Toyama and will also visit me on Australia! So we agree to meet up at the Irish bar in Kowloon (where else) and end the night drinking and heading to another bar (Sticky Fingers...name says it all) where they played an assortment of top 40 to ACDC, Metallica and some hard metal, before making our way home at 4am.
Another incident also occurred this night that only 2 people know about and that incident will be KEPT between the 3 of us or they may find that they will meet an early fate! I am only mentioning it now as a matter of record because for now I plan to forget it and hope that I can look back in the future and laugh.
We spent our last 2 days wondering here and there going to Starbucks (where they had LAMINGTONS! DELISCIOUS! MOIST! LAMINGTONS!), eating subway (with half a fresh avocado!) and picking up visas.
(P.S As you may or may not know Hong Kong has a very large Australian population, thus, after one of our Starbucks stops, lamington in hand, we walk toward a bar (open unusally early) where there is shouting and the sound of sport on the TV. As we draw closer what do you think is on the big projector screen? None other than the AFL GRAND FINAL!!! Did I mention I love this City!)
"Quote of the day"
(Lindzy and Natalie on conversation about boobs)
"HEY! I was traumatized by my boobs when I was growing up! When I was in highschool this one guy teased me when we were doing highjump in PE...He's dead now."
(Lindzy proceeds to burst out laughing.)(Maybe one of those had to be there moments...)
So after an awkward goodbye with Dave and a leisurely walk (as opposed to mad dash) to the train with about 3 hours to spare before our bus leaves, we leave Hong Kong to cross the border at Shenzhen and catch our bus. Do you think it could be that easy??? OF COURSE NOT! We arrive in Shenzhen, go to the bus station indicated by the women at the travel agent on our map and wait out hte hour before our bus departs...15 mins till departure we make our way downstairs to get on our bus...but hang on! You're bus doesn't leave from here. It leaves from the Bus port up the road! So. Once again. We RUN. Me cursing. 10 minutes till departure. Heavy pack. We make it to our bus once again sweating and slightly out of breath. Welcome back to the madness that is China.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Confessions of traveller
25th September 2008
Forgive me father for I have sinned, it's been 7 days since my last confession. If Beijing was our baptism of fire, then Xian was the depths of hell. Well maybe thats a slight over exageration.
We arrived in Xian slightly stiff...a little tired...but we got to our hostel "Bob's Guesthouse" (the name should have given it away) without too much hassle. The girl who checked us in was what I would call...an airhead. After some issues with our booking we finally got to our room, unpacked etc etc Lindzy tried to have a shower, which turned out to be cold because apparently we had to go use another room for hot water. After half and our or so the girl was knocking on our door telling us we had the wrong room and had to move next door. Done and done.
We went for a little walk through the city and rode bikes around the city wall...(interesting and different but nothing spectacular)...before we headed back to our hostel to catch up on internet time and get some things sorted. Also tried to book train tickets for two days later but had to wait till the morning with reassurances the tickets would be booked when we came down. NO SUCH LUCK! "Cathy" from the previous night was gone and the airhead in her place with no tickets and no idea how to get tickets. After a heated discussion (heated mostly on our part) in which we explained several times that "NO! We can't just call because we DON'T SPEAK CHINESE!" they kindly walked us to the ticket office where we discovered we had to pay top price and didn't have enough cash! To the bank we go to get money changed and then another long line to get tickets, by which time it's about 2pm and we decide "FUCK IT!" lets get on the first train out of here. Thus we wasted a whole day buying train tickets, missed the Terracotta warriors and the other historical wonders of Xian and regretted our decision to go there instead of Qingdao to the beer festival. So...we got on our train and headed to Shanghai.
Arrival in Shanghai. Not so Stressful except for the difficulty in finding a public telephone or internet cafe. Situation not helped by lugging 25kg + pack and my deep seeded grumpiness developed while in Xian. We did however get in contact with Katie (of the Toyama Katie and Sarah) and made our way to their amazing apartment!
Fact: You can get your hair washed and blowdryed, with a head, shoulder and arm massage for 10 Yuon (approx. $1.80). As Katie candidly confessed to us, she hadn't washed her own hair in 6 months.
(Note: this is all possible of course, unless you get an arsehole hairdresser who tries to sell you a perm and then a hair treatment 3 times and then refuses to do anything else to your hair (leaving it puffy and messy) unles you buy the treatment! So I left paying 88 Yuon with hair slicked down with hair treatment, while Lindzy leaves paying 10 Yuon with straight nice looking hair! Note to self - Stick to your guns!)
Fact: You can get pretty much anything Tailor made (mostly silk) for under $50.
Fact: Lots of great shopping can be found in Shanghai, especially in the bag, accesories and glasses department. Lindzy bought a pair of Loui Vitton prescription glasses for 180 Yuon ($30). I also satisfied my secret desire to wear glasses and bought a pair for 70 Yuon ($12).
Fact: Shanghai is really HOT, HUMID and SMOGGY!
Fact: Shanghai acrobatic show is a MUST SEE! It was called ERA and for $30 you see a heart stopping acrobatic show (produced by some of the same people from Cirque Du Soleil) that had us laughing, gasping and crying.
Fact: I have now had 3 fantasies of killing people.
#1 Man snoring in Beijing hostel room.
#2 Arsehole hair dresser
#3 RIDICULOUS workmen in the apartment above Katie and Sarah's who start drilling at 8am in the morning!!!
Katie and Sara were really hospitable and our time in Shanghai was GREAT! We booked tickets to Hong Kong and after another "Amazing Race" moment...(Envision Lindzy and I with big packs on backs, smalls packs on front and shopping bags of food, frantically running through the subway and train station (and in my case getting lost) to make it by the skin of our teeth through immigration and onto our train covered in sweat, slightly out of breath and shaking)...we have arrived in Hong Kong!
Forgive me father for I have sinned, it's been 7 days since my last confession. If Beijing was our baptism of fire, then Xian was the depths of hell. Well maybe thats a slight over exageration.
We arrived in Xian slightly stiff...a little tired...but we got to our hostel "Bob's Guesthouse" (the name should have given it away) without too much hassle. The girl who checked us in was what I would call...an airhead. After some issues with our booking we finally got to our room, unpacked etc etc Lindzy tried to have a shower, which turned out to be cold because apparently we had to go use another room for hot water. After half and our or so the girl was knocking on our door telling us we had the wrong room and had to move next door. Done and done.
We went for a little walk through the city and rode bikes around the city wall...(interesting and different but nothing spectacular)...before we headed back to our hostel to catch up on internet time and get some things sorted. Also tried to book train tickets for two days later but had to wait till the morning with reassurances the tickets would be booked when we came down. NO SUCH LUCK! "Cathy" from the previous night was gone and the airhead in her place with no tickets and no idea how to get tickets. After a heated discussion (heated mostly on our part) in which we explained several times that "NO! We can't just call because we DON'T SPEAK CHINESE!" they kindly walked us to the ticket office where we discovered we had to pay top price and didn't have enough cash! To the bank we go to get money changed and then another long line to get tickets, by which time it's about 2pm and we decide "FUCK IT!" lets get on the first train out of here. Thus we wasted a whole day buying train tickets, missed the Terracotta warriors and the other historical wonders of Xian and regretted our decision to go there instead of Qingdao to the beer festival. So...we got on our train and headed to Shanghai.
Arrival in Shanghai. Not so Stressful except for the difficulty in finding a public telephone or internet cafe. Situation not helped by lugging 25kg + pack and my deep seeded grumpiness developed while in Xian. We did however get in contact with Katie (of the Toyama Katie and Sarah) and made our way to their amazing apartment!
Fact: You can get your hair washed and blowdryed, with a head, shoulder and arm massage for 10 Yuon (approx. $1.80). As Katie candidly confessed to us, she hadn't washed her own hair in 6 months.
(Note: this is all possible of course, unless you get an arsehole hairdresser who tries to sell you a perm and then a hair treatment 3 times and then refuses to do anything else to your hair (leaving it puffy and messy) unles you buy the treatment! So I left paying 88 Yuon with hair slicked down with hair treatment, while Lindzy leaves paying 10 Yuon with straight nice looking hair! Note to self - Stick to your guns!)
Fact: You can get pretty much anything Tailor made (mostly silk) for under $50.
Fact: Lots of great shopping can be found in Shanghai, especially in the bag, accesories and glasses department. Lindzy bought a pair of Loui Vitton prescription glasses for 180 Yuon ($30). I also satisfied my secret desire to wear glasses and bought a pair for 70 Yuon ($12).
Fact: Shanghai is really HOT, HUMID and SMOGGY!
Fact: Shanghai acrobatic show is a MUST SEE! It was called ERA and for $30 you see a heart stopping acrobatic show (produced by some of the same people from Cirque Du Soleil) that had us laughing, gasping and crying.
Fact: I have now had 3 fantasies of killing people.
#1 Man snoring in Beijing hostel room.
#2 Arsehole hair dresser
#3 RIDICULOUS workmen in the apartment above Katie and Sarah's who start drilling at 8am in the morning!!!
Katie and Sara were really hospitable and our time in Shanghai was GREAT! We booked tickets to Hong Kong and after another "Amazing Race" moment...(Envision Lindzy and I with big packs on backs, smalls packs on front and shopping bags of food, frantically running through the subway and train station (and in my case getting lost) to make it by the skin of our teeth through immigration and onto our train covered in sweat, slightly out of breath and shaking)...we have arrived in Hong Kong!
Friday, September 19, 2008
Beijing..."The Baptism of Fire"
September 18th 2008
So we've just spent 4 days in Beijing...and an eventful 4 days it has been. The last two things that I said as we pulled out of Beijing on the very crowded uncomfortable (we have to try sleep on for 11 hours) train..."Well...I think we learnt some very valuable lessons in Beijing"..."that was our baptism of fire".
Lesson 1: Change money into the new currency BEFORE you arrive...thus to avoid mad dashes to the nearest bank in order to pay for a taxi and train.
Lesson 2: Taxi drivers are dodgy. To be fare the first cab driver was just doing what we'd asked him to do but in our state of disorientated exhaustion he had a hard time explaining to us that he wasn't tryin to rip us off but take us to Tianjin station by the only means possible. HOWEVER, cab driver number 2 who we haggled down to 90 youn (roughly $15) to take us to the bus station from the Great wall was a right $&*%&^&*%$! After we had walked up the road for a few k's haggling with him he proceeded to tell me I needed to sit in the front because I was fat (all communicated with lovely gestures) and then drive us 10min up the road and stop at a random intersection and tell us that we have to get a bus from that point and try to get us to get into random peoples cars...after some yelling we took of up the road and managed to hitch a ride with a passing tour bus.
Lesson 3: Don't go have drinks with Nigerian men after you have just met them at the hostel check in and they know you're room number. This may lead to them assuming you will sleep with them and come knocking at your dorm room door at 11pm drunk asking where you are and when they will see you. (This also leads to sudden ducking and nervousness)
Lesson 4: French Paralympians are very hospitable (making me review my previous judgment of French people). As we were walking up the street this guy saw that I was cold and gestured to give me his jacket which I politely laughed off and said it was ok. Then as we were sitting outside a bar with our new found Kiwi friend someone came up behind me and put a jacket around my shoulders and to my suprise the frenchman had gotten his friend to bring me his jacket.
Lesson 5: Children can go to the bathroom in the most unexpected places and unexpected ways. Scene 1. On the subway two old women are holding a 2 year old boy and pull out a plastic bag, strip him off and try to get him to pee in the bag...until an olympic volunteer yell at them and point out that there are foreigners watching. Scene 2. At the Summer Palace a mother is placing sheets of paper on the ground as her daughter proceeds to squat.
Lesson 6: It is possible for 1 man to drive 8+ people into a murderous rage. Continuous, thunderous, wall penetrating snoring...after 2 nights, if the staff hadnt come in, woke him up and told him he needed to stop snoring...he would have been dead by next morning.
Lesson 7: Book trains several days in advance. This is to avoid 3 hour waits in train stations and the aforementioned 11hr uncomfortable night train, where a friendly co-passenger gave me some newspaper to spread on the floor and I managed to twist myself and my sleeping bag under the chair to attempt something somewhat like sleep.
Overall Beijing was an amazing place! The food was good (especially from "favourite restraunt" which had 4 youn (80 cent) beer and cheap delicious food). The sights were awesome...a 10km trek along the great wall, Tian men Square, Summer palace and Lama temple. Plus all the cool people we met including a couple of Aussie girls, a Kiwi guy and a British and Serbian duo. The Chinese were friendly for the most part, once we realised that they weren't abusing us everytime we asked the something. Although, (as my mum would say)...the police "couldn't organise a root in a brothel with a fist full of fifties!" We do get stared at alot though...I've never experienced anything like it. We, though more so Lindzy, have also been asked several times to pose in pictures with random people.
Tomorrow our adventure continues in XiAn. Until then!
So we've just spent 4 days in Beijing...and an eventful 4 days it has been. The last two things that I said as we pulled out of Beijing on the very crowded uncomfortable (we have to try sleep on for 11 hours) train..."Well...I think we learnt some very valuable lessons in Beijing"..."that was our baptism of fire".
Lesson 1: Change money into the new currency BEFORE you arrive...thus to avoid mad dashes to the nearest bank in order to pay for a taxi and train.
Lesson 2: Taxi drivers are dodgy. To be fare the first cab driver was just doing what we'd asked him to do but in our state of disorientated exhaustion he had a hard time explaining to us that he wasn't tryin to rip us off but take us to Tianjin station by the only means possible. HOWEVER, cab driver number 2 who we haggled down to 90 youn (roughly $15) to take us to the bus station from the Great wall was a right $&*%&^&*%$! After we had walked up the road for a few k's haggling with him he proceeded to tell me I needed to sit in the front because I was fat (all communicated with lovely gestures) and then drive us 10min up the road and stop at a random intersection and tell us that we have to get a bus from that point and try to get us to get into random peoples cars...after some yelling we took of up the road and managed to hitch a ride with a passing tour bus.
Lesson 3: Don't go have drinks with Nigerian men after you have just met them at the hostel check in and they know you're room number. This may lead to them assuming you will sleep with them and come knocking at your dorm room door at 11pm drunk asking where you are and when they will see you. (This also leads to sudden ducking and nervousness)
Lesson 4: French Paralympians are very hospitable (making me review my previous judgment of French people). As we were walking up the street this guy saw that I was cold and gestured to give me his jacket which I politely laughed off and said it was ok. Then as we were sitting outside a bar with our new found Kiwi friend someone came up behind me and put a jacket around my shoulders and to my suprise the frenchman had gotten his friend to bring me his jacket.
Lesson 5: Children can go to the bathroom in the most unexpected places and unexpected ways. Scene 1. On the subway two old women are holding a 2 year old boy and pull out a plastic bag, strip him off and try to get him to pee in the bag...until an olympic volunteer yell at them and point out that there are foreigners watching. Scene 2. At the Summer Palace a mother is placing sheets of paper on the ground as her daughter proceeds to squat.
Lesson 6: It is possible for 1 man to drive 8+ people into a murderous rage. Continuous, thunderous, wall penetrating snoring...after 2 nights, if the staff hadnt come in, woke him up and told him he needed to stop snoring...he would have been dead by next morning.
Lesson 7: Book trains several days in advance. This is to avoid 3 hour waits in train stations and the aforementioned 11hr uncomfortable night train, where a friendly co-passenger gave me some newspaper to spread on the floor and I managed to twist myself and my sleeping bag under the chair to attempt something somewhat like sleep.
Overall Beijing was an amazing place! The food was good (especially from "favourite restraunt" which had 4 youn (80 cent) beer and cheap delicious food). The sights were awesome...a 10km trek along the great wall, Tian men Square, Summer palace and Lama temple. Plus all the cool people we met including a couple of Aussie girls, a Kiwi guy and a British and Serbian duo. The Chinese were friendly for the most part, once we realised that they weren't abusing us everytime we asked the something. Although, (as my mum would say)...the police "couldn't organise a root in a brothel with a fist full of fifties!" We do get stared at alot though...I've never experienced anything like it. We, though more so Lindzy, have also been asked several times to pose in pictures with random people.
Tomorrow our adventure continues in XiAn. Until then!
Leaving Toyama...
12th September 2008
Last night I left Toyama and it was really hard! It hurt a lot to leave everyone behind but part of me is still thinking that I'm going on holiday and will be back again soon. I'm getting more excited now that I've left for my upcoming adventures and I'm glad I'm doing this before going home because I don't think I'd cope at all otherwise. I'm going to miss Toyama and Japan...this land of contradiction and kookiness but I'm looking forward to the future.
13th September 2008
Day two of our slow boat to China. After having a close call catching the boat we are on our way to China! (Getting travellers cheques at a JAPANESE bank 1 hour before check-in closes...not such a good idea. Running up the streets of kobe bare foot with a 25kg pack...not fun!)
So we've spent the majority of time on this boat sitting on deck, sleeping, reading, sleeping, trying to get to the restraunt for meals on time and...sleeping.(Sleeping is so easy on this boat when there is nothing to do and the rocking and vibrations lull you to sleep..."like being in the womb again!") We are in a dorm style room with 6 Japanese and Chinese ladies sleeping on the floor with brick like pillows. Entertainment has consisted of weird music, Lindzy's public display of leg waxing and noticing the differences between the 2nd class and 1st class bathrooms.
I'm still a little sad about leaving Japan but continue to look forward! So now we're settling into our final night on the boat before we arrive in Tianjin tomorrow afternoon!
Last night I left Toyama and it was really hard! It hurt a lot to leave everyone behind but part of me is still thinking that I'm going on holiday and will be back again soon. I'm getting more excited now that I've left for my upcoming adventures and I'm glad I'm doing this before going home because I don't think I'd cope at all otherwise. I'm going to miss Toyama and Japan...this land of contradiction and kookiness but I'm looking forward to the future.
13th September 2008
Day two of our slow boat to China. After having a close call catching the boat we are on our way to China! (Getting travellers cheques at a JAPANESE bank 1 hour before check-in closes...not such a good idea. Running up the streets of kobe bare foot with a 25kg pack...not fun!)
So we've spent the majority of time on this boat sitting on deck, sleeping, reading, sleeping, trying to get to the restraunt for meals on time and...sleeping.(Sleeping is so easy on this boat when there is nothing to do and the rocking and vibrations lull you to sleep..."like being in the womb again!") We are in a dorm style room with 6 Japanese and Chinese ladies sleeping on the floor with brick like pillows. Entertainment has consisted of weird music, Lindzy's public display of leg waxing and noticing the differences between the 2nd class and 1st class bathrooms.
I'm still a little sad about leaving Japan but continue to look forward! So now we're settling into our final night on the boat before we arrive in Tianjin tomorrow afternoon!
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