25 June 2013 Getting ready for the trip
I'm sitting at the dining table finishing
of the last things from work and crossing some things of my to do list before I
leave for our long planned travels. Kyrah our cat is in the cattery, our rabbit Floddertje
has moved yesterday including hutch and run to one of our neighbors and
finally our chooks will be taken care of by our other neighbors. Not to forget
tomorrow before I leave to shut off the gas and power I am ready to fly. At
least physically. Its been rather hectic at work so we have to try hard to
switch that part off and focus on whats lying ahead. Just thought about a friend
of ours who is a magnificent travel story writer who always send us his travel
diaries which we used to enjoy lot and
decided to do one myself this time. Its 10 pm before I have finished my to do
list and going to be to ready for the
4.15 am alarm clock. Just to be sure, I set two alarm clocks, can't miss the flight
tomorrow. Halfway in the night I wake up by the sounds of an annoying beep.
Anyway, I decide to ignore it and find out when its time to wake up at 4.15.
Kukeleku sounds loud and clear through my bedroom and I jump out of bed. First
I wanna find out about the beep and it works out to be the telephone which has
a low battery. Then quickly under the shower, grab my backpack and day bag and
into the car for the ride to the airport. I drive 60 to 70 km an hr not to hit
any kangaroos on the way to the city. Lucky enough I don't spot any on the
road. A few annoyed drivers behind me because of the slow speed, but stuff em,
after knocking over 2 roos over the last 3 years and running over a dog, I know
what the Victor Harbor rd can be like. Quickly dropping of some keys in the
office which I forgot to leave behind for a property which supposed to settle while we are away. U-turn and on the the city. I'm lucky and have the express
way all to myself. Just before 6 am I enter the short term car park at Adelaide
Airport. Cathy and Dave two of our neighbors will be picking up my car in an
hours time to drive it back to the Lower Inman Valley to keep it there for the
time we are away. I send them a quick txt message to confirm that the car is
there. As well as Angela to say I am at the airport ready to hit the skies. To
my surprise, the airport is busy as, with hundreds of people everywhere. Still cozy compared to other airports with more international allure. Adelaide is
still a small country town compared to other parts of Australia. lets keep it
that way. After a quick check in I,m off to the Hungry Jacks for a brekky. I
have been looking around for a power point so that I can use the tablet and
charge the battery at the same time. Wifi seems to be pretty common at airports
these days so I send a photo to Angela with the plane I will be flying with to Kuala
Lumpur. She has flown to Holland a few days ahead to spend some more time with
her 2 sisters and parents. When I spoke to her yesterday she mentioned that
there was even internet connection in the plane which got me half excited to
use our newly bought tablet. Its seems to take away the romance of traveling a
bit where you used to spend hours reading your faded lonely planet or talk to
other travelers about where to go and what the best paces were to hang out or where
to get the cheapest beer in town. Anyway we have found out about the use of
these handy devices to save ourselves the inconvenience of having to walk hours
searching for that best backpacker hotel which than seems to be booked out for
another week. Nevertheless we got the Lp of China for some good info on where
to get that most lousy beer. Maybe at Micky Mao's cafe in Yangshou. The thought
alone gets me really excited to go back to China and visit those places we visited
some 15 years ago as two naive backpackers who wanted to explore the world. My
first destination obviously is Malaysia ,Kuala Lumpur where I have a stopover
of 6 hrs, plenty of time to head down to China town, the central market and do
some sightseeing around town. There's the fast train connecting the airport to the
CBD so we should be fine for a humid, sticky few hours in tropical Kl. In the
plane I am sitting next to Dan, who's an IT guy on its way to Japan. He managed
to buy himself a cheap ticket of $800 which sounds pretty good to me. More
ideas for new countries to travel. Why do we always have to work first ?????.
Anyway we can't complain about our trip. Another brekky at 9.30 with lots of
healthy stuff which lacked in my diet over the last week or so (sorry Mum). 4
hours in the flight I discover that there is actually free drinks on board and I try not to sample to much of the local grog. Watch a few movies, find out that
the usb plug actually isn't for internet use (damn, thought I could send my
media-junky friend Rob and email from the plane). Anyway, still have enough
battery power left till we arrive at Kl. More movies and drink samples. Wow,
they even bring it out to me, that light above me seems to flick on automatically. This
reminds me of my mate Kees who used to choose airlines based on their alcohol
policy hahahah. Salaam Aleikum welcome to Emirat airways would you like another
7up hahahahah. Anyway, I start to realize that I am really on holiday and up
for a real good time with any mucking around of clients and their troubles.
Yess, we are going to have a real good time. We have made a pretty tight
schedule for our time in Holland to make sure we visit as many people as we can.
For all the Brabo's living in the South of Holland we have organized a dinner
and night at the pub through our mate Jan which we are also looking out for.
Wow its been a long time since we had a decent Belgium beer, trapist, duvel,
kasteel, westmalle, you name it. What about all their beautiful junk food and
haring ? Angela told me over the phone she already had a new haring, boy water
runs through my mouth as I write this. Holland is a dam good country' you guys
are spoiled. Just hoping they can turn on a bit of sun really. Even though we
are coming to meet the people we lived with, it would help if at least it was dry,
but anyway we will see. We've got just 2.5 hr to go and other than a bit of
turbulence, the pilot is doing pretty well. Some more sampling. The lights in
the cabin have gone out and outside there is not much to see other than blueeeee skies.
We have left Australian territory and flying over the strait between Indonesia
and Northern Australia. I am staring at the flight path and slowly see the
plane moving closer to Mainland Asia. Most of which we have seen before, but it
keeps dragging us back. One country which is technically our neighbor being
Indonesia has so many island still to explore. Our next visit is likely to be
Sulawesi for a few months. On the other hand we are quite keen to go to Tasmania
as well. This is more of a summer destination where as Indonesia is more of a
winter spot, it being in the norther hemisphere. Yes we do love the sun. In
saying that, its good to realize that by the time we come back our rainwater tanks
are full. I have a quick look outside the window and realize we are indeed
flying over Sumatra. An island we definitely want to go back to as well. Sjaak,
a mate from back in SA lives on Bali, lucky bastard. Wouldn't that be
good, mnnnnn a few more years, can't wait.......... In Kl I wanna do some
shopping and buy some more presents for friends over in Holland, have something
in mind and will try and see if I can find it at the central market near China
town in Kl.
25 July 2013 Talking Double Dutch and
Triple Tibetan
As you can see by the date, I have been
rather lazy or busy or too tired to write on a daily basis about our travel experiences.
We have got some more time at night now and its good to pick up some typing
even though it will be a summery of what we have experienced. The 3 weeks in
Holland have really flown by like a second. Because we had both separate visits
and time together with Family and friends, its hard to give a day-to-day
impression of what we did, but overall we felt very warmly welcomed and it felt
like we had never left Holland. Other than the first week, we had fantastic
weather specially when we spent some time in the province of Zeeland. Jan had organized
a sailing trip over the Grevelingen and Oosterschelde river after the party organized
by the parents in law on a party ship who took us for a trip over the
Grevelingen. The girls went to a b&b for a weekend away too and enjoyed
themselves. Off course we feasted on all the beautiful Dutch food. Angela
managed to buy a bucket with 25 raw harings which we cleaned and ate at our
friends place. After our haring party we went to The Skihut in Dordrecht to
sing and dance with a traditional Dutch band. Because we had the luxury of Angela's
parents' car and home, our transport and accommodation was a breeze. Lucky
enough many of our Family and friends gave us the opportunity to be with them
for the day and night so that we got to see many parts of the country too.
Roosendaal was another great opportunity to catch up with some old neighbors
and friends. Traditionally we went for some drinks to our favorite pub '' het
Wapen van Roosendaal''. Dad had also organized lots to entertain us with some
boat trips through Leiden and around, which Mum enjoyed as well. One thing I
had been looking forward to was a visit to ''the wok'' which is an ''all you
can eat'' Chinese restaurant in Dordrecht. Angela wasn't really keen to celebrate
her birthday there but after all it was a great success. Such a concept in Australia would sent the business
bankrupt aft the first week. I was pretty lucky to be invited for a 25 year reunion of the Radio Randstad crew who had a get together in Papendrecht, what a great opportunity to meet all the old DJ's from back then (1985). Since then they set up an online radio station www.radio078.fm. Other than talking, walking and eating we have
been cycling, canoeing and swimming so no lack of activities during the 3 weeks
we spent in the Lowlands. All together we had an absolute ball.
Unfortunately all good times end at some point
and on the 16 of July our family waved us goodbye and we flew to Beijing. It
was an evening flight which dropped us off the next morning in steamy tropical
China. Our lonely planet had full info on how to get to our hotel with the
underground so we didn't need any ripoff taxi ride. The hotel we had picked was
centrally located with walking distance to most attractions like the Forbidden city,
Tianmen square, the night market and the Summer Palace. Obviously we wanted to
see the Big Wall as well which we did by local subway and bus. The weather
wasn't great while Beijing suffered some smoggy days. Other than some weird
creatures we ate at the night market we couldn't miss out on a Peking Duck meal
which tasted beautiful with the original sauce (plum). After 4 days of tiring
walks and acclimatizing it was time to pack our bags and make our way to the
airport again for our flight to Lhasa - Tibet. Our permits had arrived safely
at our hotel so we were ready to go for our next part of the trip into thin
air. Lhasa was only 3 hrs flying, even though our tickets suggested 6. As a result,
we had to wait for 3 hrs on the airport before our guide picked us up. All went
well through customs and we arrived at our hotel around 4 pm. Just enough time
to have a little stroll through the old part of town where our hotel was
located. Not as easy as we thought, because the much lower pressure, only a
little walk or climbing the stairs to your room was exhausting. For this reason
they always recommend 2-3 days acclimatizing in Lhasa before you travel to
higher altitudes. The capital lies around the 3700 mtr where as the highest pass
we will be traveling over is 5250 mtr above sea level. To be save we decide to buy
two Oxygen cans just in case. Other than that, non alcoholic drinks like ginger
tea seems to work too. Angela experienced some heavy head aches, while I just
had a mild one. The second day our guide picked us up to visit a few temples,
palaces and monasteries. The same happened on the third day where we felt a
little better with our breathing. The highlight so far was The Potala Palace
which towers above Lhasa and once the home of the current Dalai Lama. Our guide
was pretty fanatic and overloaded us with info on the whole history of all the attractions
we visited. I reckon we would pass the Buddhism exam easily. The Chinese presence
is very obvious and a shame in a way. It might be the fact that we have traveled
to primitive countries before, but we strongly felt that it was all about the Chinese
tourists over here rather than a backpacker atmosphere. The real Tibet feel
might still come. Anyway, Potala was really impressive and even more by night.
If we were to compare it with eg Angkhor What or the Taj Mahal, we would pick
the Potala as our favorite. On day 4, the guide and driver were changed and we
drove to Gyantse along a wide open rd with rough scenery along either side.
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| Das een makkelijke keus |
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| sporty cap |
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| Night market vendor selling all what moved |
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| sambal bij ? |
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| Forbidden city |
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| blijf is uit je neus |
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| Temple of heaven |
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| water writing |
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| yum, peking duck from Beijing |
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| sales training |
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| sales training |
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| Allright I will try the crickets, not the scorpions |
Mnnn wrong spelling
27 June 2013 Closer to Qomolangma
A few days on and a few more experiences to
talk about. We are sitting in a tent near Everest base camp including, power,
3G and mobile phone reception at a height of 5200 mtr. After I last wrote, we
traveled along the Friendship highway and a much worse side rd to Gyantse. On
the way we visited a massive glacier, which was a real highlight of the day in
comparison to the dry, rough, grey and monotone mountains on either side of the
rd. There is a lot of nothing here on the Tibetan plateau and surprisingly very
little snow. Most likely this has to do with the fact that its Summer and what
they call their rainy season. Lucky enough our days are filled with sunshine
rather than rain. Quite often there are clouds, which in a way isn't bad
either, because the Himalayan sun is very strong with extreme uv. The next day
we drove to Shigatze which was just another big city to us. The only way to
make the trip interesting was to stop as many times along the way as possible
in little villages and simply walk around to see what came on our path. Lots of
photo opportunities of those beautiful Tibetan faces. We bought some balloons
back in Holland to give away to the local kids. Unfortunately we bought the
wrong ones which could only be inflated by a pump/compressor. To our surprise we managed
to find a painter who had a compressor running which we could borrow to inflate
the balloons and have some fun with the kids. Who thinks of Tibet, thinks of
the very characteristic Yaks and they have plenty of them. As meat its pretty ordinary,
but they are extremely photo unique. Our driver had family living close by so
we had the opportunity to visit his village and have a cup of fresh Yak butter
tea at his sisters house. No we didn't have to visit his brother gemstone
factory hahahahah. We find the Tibetans very friendly and curious, never
cheating or rarely asking for money. In the beginning we had to ask our driver
to slow down a bit rather than making it a race, but he learned quickly and
adjusted his pace. Sadly enough he couldn't avoid an accident when another car
entered the rd. The humorous side of the situation was that instead of calling
the real traffic police, he called his brother who rocked up in a police shirt
and managed to settle the deal in a few minutes. What a joke ! After Shigatze, we
drove further on the Friendship highway which if you followed it all the way down
would bring you to Katmandhu, Nepal. After a while we took the turn of to
Shegar and stayed overnight there in the only hotel so far without any screaming
Chinese neighbors or trucks passing by. All the beds are extremely hard in
Tibet and China, we normally put on a few more blanket and lay on them rather
then lay under them. All hotels were booked in advance so there wasn't much
choice, but normally we would first check whether they had a Karaoke bar and if
so, politely walk away and look for another hotel without. So far we have to
find the first Karaoke bar yet. From Shegar, the road went much worse and we
traveled another 105 km which took roughly five to six hours. The winding rd took
us over some more passes with lots of photo opportunities and stops for
interaction with the locals. We normally take some left overs and fatty bacon
from the breakfast for some poor dogs along the roadside. Always a hit when you
see a scruffy one stuffing it in his mouth. Unfortunately there are lots of
them, but lucky enough never aggressive to travelers. Today we arrived at Everest Base Camp where we spend the night. Its very different to what we expected it to be. From the
photo's we had seen before, we had hoped to see the camp with the hundreds of
trekker tents at the base of the mountain. Instead we had to stay a few kms
away from it and unfortunately there were lots of clouds. After an hour or so
it started to rain and we took the bus back to the EBC where we settled down in
our 9 person tent which also functioned as a restaurant and meeting room. In
the middle there is a stove and heater in one where they constantly boil water
for yak tea and green tea. Some scrubs are used for fire starter and than all
they use is dry Yak manure, which they have plenty off. We spend some time reading
and walking around the camp and after a few hours Mt Everest ( Qomolangma in
Tibetan )was partly visible and we took some good shots. At least we had seen a
bit of what we came for. According to the Lp, the local toilets were one of the worst in the
world and they are right, I reckon drinking a glass of ammonia is 'as healthy
as spending five minutes in the toilet. Reason enough to go for a bush walk
when you really need to. Angela's mum had knitted some baby clothing together
for us to hand out to some locals who were keen to try the latest Dutch
fashion. Also our last bag of balloons was a great hit with the local kids. -Initially
I used our 4wd's tires to inflate them but later on someone found a manual air
pump. Around 8 o'clock our tent manager/cook fired up his camp oven and within
minutes we could take our first layer of clothes of. I went for a last walk
around the camp before it got dark and bumped into a Chinese cyclist who arrived
that day from Chengdu. He cycled without any oxygen at hand, slept in farmers
houses and had less than 3 months training before he started one month ago. He
told me he had met guys along the way who had cycled from as far as Shanghai
which is over 5000 km away. When you are up here and finding it hard to breath
after a five minute walk and hear these stories, you really have a lot of
respect for these people. Other than the many Chinese cyclist, we only saw 2
western cyclist. Richard, a Chinese fellow camper had arrived a day earlier and
was adamant to see Mt Everest in full
and had extended by one night. He told us he was certain the weather would
change tomorrow and was going to go up early to see the mountain. He was partly
right, the weather did change overnight and we had ah huge down pour followed
by a massive snow fall. Angela who didn't sleep well during the night went out
for a visit to the bush toilet came back saying everything was white. I was
only -half a sleep and thought we will find out tomorrow morning. When we got up and left the tent by daylight,
an amazing view of the new world opened up and the mountains around us were
truly white.Something we had envisioned the EBC area to be. Due to the heavy
snow fall, the visibility was reduced to 100 mtr which meant there was no 'hope
on a better view than what we had the first day. People in the camp site were
throwing snowballs and making a snow man (maybe the Jetty still exists and was
Tintin right). After breakfast our driver fired up his Landcruiser and we drove
back on the 100 km bone shaking rd towards Shigatse. Today was mainly a
transport day with not much to see or do. It -was the same way back, but this
time the mountains were partly white and our car covered in mud. Along the road
again several monasteries, typical Tibetan villages , and several tent camps surrounded
by Yaks, sheep, goats and their shepherds. Due to the travel speed limitation which the transport 'police strictly enforced, we arrived around 6 pm in Shigatse
at the same hotel we stayed before. Time
for a quick shower and off to our favorite restaurant we ate last time.
We ordered some beautiful Indian curries with garlic naan and white rice. Time
for an early sleep, hopefully 'the main
rd and Chinese neighbors won't bother us too much.
30 July 2013
The meal was an absolute feast and we took
our time to enjoy the many different flavors. We had discussed a departure
time around 10 am with our guide and driver so we could have a little sleep in.
As a result, we stayed in bed till 9.30 and only had a quick breakfast. Angela
traditionally doesn't eat anything in the mornings anyway to not disturb her
stomach too much, but with the occasional pill she is doing well. Other than
that, our driver is very flexible to stop wherever we like. That day we had a
long rip ahead and due to the traffic restrictions and photo stops it took s 10
hrs to get to the ferry which took us to the other side of the river. The trip lasted
an hr or so and was beautiful under a half blue sky. Once on the other side, a
minivan popped up and took us and the other Chinese passengers to the monastery
a little further. It was a bumpy ride with lots of ohs and ahs from our fellow
chines travelers which when we copied there ohs and ahs created an atmosphere
for laughter in the bus. Generally they are very polite and it seems that the
spitting which we remembered from 14 years ago is over. They are also very keen to
go on photo's with westerners and if we would have charged 10 Yuan per photo' we would have had a free
holiday. Not a bad idea when you realize that the Tibetans do the same when you
ask them for a photo of them selves. The monastery was very unique and pretty
much what we had respected' a monastery to be. More or less a world on its own
between the walls of it. This monastery just breathed a sense of peacefulness
and it was so quiet with hardly any tourists. There were several main buildings nicely decorated with golden (looking) roofs and dark red and white walls. Also
we saw many stupa's in 4 different colors and their mystique Buddha eyes
painted on the top walls. There were several cows walking around and even a
deer. They are looked after by the monks. The many small dog and kittens are
always an attraction for Angela to play and cuddle. Suddenly we heard some deep
sounds of the typical Tibetan horns and we started walking in the direction of
where the sounds came from. Our guide asked around and eventually we found the
spot where they had been playing. Unfortunately their repetitions had finished,
but there was still the opportunity to take a quick snapshot of the magical
instruments and their players. Because it was already 7 pm, we headed to the
next town for our hotel. The drive to Tsetang was amazing, through a desert
like landscape along the Bramaputra river, which eventually ends up in India.
By the time we had checked into the hotel, it was pitch dark and the town was
lighted up with neon which gave it a
sparkling look. A river runs through the town with floating terraces along its
banks. Our guide had offered to take us to a nice Tibetan restaurant.
Definitely a good choice which we would have never found ourselves The restaurant
was upstairs from a shop and beautifully decorated and even plants used to create
a cozy atmosphere. Angela ordered Tibetan noodles and I ended up taking the
same Momo and dumplings what our guide and driver had order after my Yak steak
failed to come to the table. The light Lhasa beer tasted well and around 11.30
we decided to call it a day and walk back to our hotel. After a little fiddle
we got the WiFi to work and were able to have a look at our emails and check our
next destination. Internet has definitely changed the world of travel. It made
us think back to the first time we traveled to Vietnam at the beginning of our
TAW where we could read letters from our family in the middle of Saigon on a small
screen. Amazing when you think about it ! This morning we were surprised by our
guide who took us to a little Tibetan restaurant for breakfast, since the hotel
we had stayed in had no restaurant. It was our last day and we had only 2
little monasteries on the program before we would hit Lhasa for the last time.
Since we had seen plenty of them so far during this trip, we didn't expect much,
but to our surprise were good for a couple of hours sightseeing and a little
climb up the top of a rock. After the last monastery we left for the Capital
city where we would arrive around 3 pm later that day.
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| We were lucky enough to hear them play a song or two |
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| Most impressive monastry of the trip |
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| One of our favorite shots |
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| Thats 10 Yuan please |
31-7-201 On our way to Xi'an
This morning we woke up earlier than our
alarm clock, probably a little nervous to make sure we would catch the train on
time. At 10 am we left the hotel to make
our way through the morning traffic in Lhasa. Checking in was relatively easy and all
announcements were made in English too. Wow this was a new world of luxury for
us. A four person cabin with Tv, radio, panoramic windows, piped in oxygen, soft
beds/seats, air conditioning, restaurant, power points and both chinees + European
toilets in (for chinese standards) clean condition. What a beautiful way to kill
time while the landscape is rolling by. Indeed its a choice of looking out of
the cabin window or hanging out in the isle to see whats out there. We are
sharing the cabin with Elvis Wang ( no not a joke, this is a combination of his
Chinese last name and western first name) and Wehqing Huang. Elvis is an It
manager who has quit his job to spend some time traveling and taking professional
photo's. He puts on a slide show on his laptop which creates the many ohs and
ahs Wehqing is a nuclear analyst who went to a seminar and added a few days
holiday in Tibet. Both have longer travel time on the train then us two, which
means we will be sharing the cabin till Xi'an. They are good travel companions
who both speak a little English and are non smokers. Whatever they don't know
in English, there I pad translator offers help. We seem to be the only westerners
on board and getting our fair share of attention. No photo's this time
hahahahah. Our shopping bag slowly gets empty and we are enjoying the free hot
water to cook up some noodle soups in all sorts of varieties . The two little
bottles of spirits turn out to be some sort of herbal drink mixed with alcohol.
Which if drunk pure taste awful. Something half drinkable is to mix it with our
instant coffee powder and we call it Chinamaretto. Our fellow Chinese travelers
seem to like hanging out in the isle more than enjoying the views. Its a lively
discussion spreading out over the next three cabins. Time for a little stroll
through the rest of the train.
Certainly an interesting part of the trip
is to explore the different train compartments and their temporary residents.Just
one compartment ahead of us is the restaurant
with a happy crowd feasting on local specialties as fish, curry looking
like dishes, while playing all sorts of fanatic card games. The next one
towards the front of the train is what appears to be the soft seat class with a
lot more noise and people all over the place. They seem to entertain them
selves with their phones, I pads and more card games. I seem to be an easy form of entertainment being the only (second) white person on board. I reply their
curious looks by fluent Ni hau which they seem to appreciate well. By the looks
we are not the only ones on board who stocked up on food, I bet you can cook an
absolute gourmet feast with the different animals and ingredients which are on
the tables. Smoking seems to be only allowed in the corridor between wagons. Other
than that, they are used for storage for bikes and the occasional hard sleeper.
After that, there is a similar type compartment to ours with the only
difference being 3 beds instead of 2. Back in our coupe, its time for another
noodle soup meal, while Angela cooks up a smoked sausage. Its amazing what you
can do with just boiled water. The sun is about an hour away from disappearing
at the horizon and it promises to be an amazing sunset over the Tibetan plateau.One
Chinese fellow traveler who apparently has done the trip before, tells us that
tomorrow morning we will be passing by a huge lake called Qinghai lake in the
same name called province. Names starting with a Q are pronounced .....Tsj.
Something our cabin travelers repeat over and over again. From time to time the
train stands still for a few minutes to let trains in opposite direction pass by.
With the 4.1 billion dollar the train line has costed, there was only room for
one track. After the start in Lhasa we went through many tunnels while now its only flat land which reminds me of the Trans
Siberian express through the Mongolian steppe. Many of the passengers are
starting to get ready for bed and queuing up for the vanity with their
toothbrushes. Each person in our coupe has their private TV, but their seems to be
no working channels. This might actually not be a bad thing since we are not too
good in Karaoke. The sun has mostly faded and Angela grabs a good book to read before
she calls it a day. Our top neighbor puts up a loud performance of a mother
pig and :-) must be in a deep sleep. He has done the trip in reverse direction
and doesn't seem to be that interested in the views on either side of the
train. Our breathing seems to be quite normal and similar to when we left
Lhasa, back to the land of plenty O2. I'm pouring myself a last Chinamarretto
before I go to sleep. With the soft rythem of the train in the background, I
reckon it won 't be too hard to hit the pillow. I feel very lucky with our 2 fellow cabin passengers who are dead
quiet, already half asleep. Not so a few cabins further down with kids still playing
in the corridor. Its all part of traveling and experiencing how other people live.
Comparing the many hotels we have stayed so far, the train is a breeze. I feel
the train has come to a stop and with the little light outside, I spot a cargo train
right next to us, waiting to disappear in the dark. I decide to finish my writing
for the day, but because I /don't feel all to sleepy, will spell check the txt which is a must since my keyboard
plays up from time to time and turns up :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) instead of enters. Have
a good one !
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| Home made laundry line |
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| who wants a bite |
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| Look for the 10 differences |
1 August 2013 - I can almost hear the drums
Its 7.10 am and I wake up by the snoring competition
between my top neighbor and Angela. Not sure who's winning. It's light and I'm
here for the sightseeing so up I go and going for a quick splash in the face and
toilet stop. The restaurant seems to be still in sleeping mode, because no one
is eating food yet. I take a fold up seat in the isle and look outside the
window, nothing seems to have changed. Still wide open fields, filled with
rocky mountains, Yak, sheep, power lines and the train track. Its amazing how
much effort this Chinese government has put in this railway line, because the whole
stretch is also fenced on 2 sides. This must be to avoid one of the many stock or
wildlife on the track which could create accidents. Today is another day of blue skies
which promises a maximum joy of vistas. Not right now while a cargo train is
passing us at full speed, which makes me realize that part of the track is
double, now that we are coming closer to mainland China. While I am still half a
sleep staring out of the window, a loud voice wakes me and the other early
birds up. With his loud voice and trolley screaming something that looks like
fresh breakfast, a steward walks through the corridor. I decide to look first whats on special and give it a miss for
the minute. It's rice, egg, dumpling and some funny looking veggies. Maybe
later when we've some instant coffee ready to flush the whole thing down.The
train turns around a left bend and suddenly the sun is full in my face and tries
hard to get the left over sleepy feel out of my mind. After a minute I realize
that its not only the sun, but also its reflection who lights up my face and
makes me look like a Chinese. The reflection comes from a huge lake which I
can't see the other side of. This must be the Qinghai lake we spoke about
yesterday. Still plenty of nomad tents with their smoking flues and prayer
flags around them. I am lucky, the track has several bends so I get to see both
ends of the train. Sitting in the isle for a while gives you a fair idea of who
is overweight in the train and who's not. On a regular basis I am pushed to the
outside while someone is trying to get past. Maybe I should draw up some statts
and sell it to the Chinese health department. My attention is drawn to the toilet
sign at the end of the isle. Its a led display which says whether the toilet is
occupied or not. This one is obviously in Chinese and when some one leaves the toilet,
a Pacman eats the txt and the display is clear again. Yes Pacman is still alive
in China. Bamm, another bum hits me to the other side of the isle, our wagon
has come alive, while the 3 fellow passengers in my coupe still seem to be in a
deep sleep , because the door is still shut. The smell of ''freshly'' made instant
noodles enters my nose and I am thinking what shall I do ? Eating this
overpriced restaurant lookalike breakfast or make myself an instant noodle one.
None of the options seems to appeal at the moment and I am waiting till the door
is going to open and have access to a cup and instant coffee powder. One of the
things amazes me in this wide open country while a Chinese girl opposite me
folds down a chair and starts playing with her mobile phone. Back home over a length
of 45 km between work and home I regularly loose reception, while here out in
the open field, it seems to be normal to have full internet and mobile phone
facilities available. My neighbor next me offered me a Chinese green tea which
I politely decline. Generally the green tea tastes like nothing. I am still
more excited by the thought of my instant coffee and happy to wait. Mnn its
8.21, still no movement of the door. Suddenly I can see us approaching a little
settlement, its called Ha er Gai. Some buildings, side tracks and huge fields
of yellow flowers which must be some pasture. I decide to make a little film of
it and set up the tablet to shoot for a few seconds. Unfortunately I am not far
away from the vanity and someone from nearby starts to create some awful
background noises of clearing his nose. Welcome in China. Most of the cabin
doors are open now and Pacman is having a busy time eating away the Chinese characters
and controlling the toilet traffic. The track has bend away from the lake and
the horizon is filled with sandy hills while another smaller turquoise lake
appears. It would be great to do a bit of sailing on it and I bet that at home it
would be one big aqua center filled with powerboats, jet-skies, sailing boats
and fisherman. I decide to have a little peep through the door and see that
Angela and the top guy are already up, so time for a nice coffee. After coffee,
we head of to the restaurant for breakfast. Angela decides to wait and I go for
the set breakfast with egg, porridge, cabbage and a sticky dumpling. Not a real
feast but you gotta try these things. Around us the sound of slurping Chinese
who seem to love the porridge part of the breakfast, combined with smoking
staff who seem to have nothing better to do till a manager rocks up to get them
moving. We have just passed Xining which to our surprise we didn't stop to on and
off load passengers. So far we have only stopped once at a platform where we had
the chance to have a little stretch. Hang on, there is the first announcement
through the loud speaker system of the train. First in Chinese and than in
understandable English. Its about Tibet and Xining and apparently we
haven't passed it at all and we might still stop here for a quick walk on the
platform.
Indeed we had a 10 minute stop where most
of the people on board had a quick walk outside to get some smoggy "fresh" air.
We are happy to think that we didn't choose to stay overnight in this concrete and
industrial jungle of new build towers pretty much everywhere you look. It makes you
realize how well it goes with China who is hammering the rd to a leading
position in the world. Over the last two hrs we have passed another station and
spend some time talking to the local chinese youngsters who all have been
visiting Tibet for various reasons. Our compartment functioned a bit like a
meeting room and we had the chance to have some good and deeper conversation
than ''how are you and where are you from''. Topics like what do you think of
the Dailai Lama and where they think China would be in 20 years, are openly
discussed and gives us a good view of what the young ones think of modern day
China. Most of them are well educated and have traveled overseas. One has made the
cycling trip from Chengdu to Lhasa which seems to be a bit of a pilgrim trip
which lots of young ones do. Vincent, which his western name is, has bought lots
of souvenirs and gives us one of his Tangas. A Tanga is a piece of fabric with beautiful
pictures of Buddhist characters on it. We feel quite surprised about the gift,
but know that Chinese people would be deeply disappointed if you refuse the
offer. Our eating bag slowly gets emptier and its time to buy some fresh
watermelon to stock up on vitamins rather than all the conserved and instant
stuff. Our steward keeps playing with the temperature so we keep putting on and
off extra clothing to be comfortable. The landscape around us changes slowly to
more hilly rather than wide open flat areas. The snow is far behind us and the outside
temperatures are around the 30 degrees. The villages beside the train track are
all very different to what we saw in Tibet. The houses all have typical tiled
curly roofs and mud is no longer used as cladding of the walls. Between here
and Xian there won't be another stop so its another 6 hrs of reading, chatting,
looking, eating and drinking.
It's 11 pm and we are 2 hrs late but we
have arrived in Xi'an and I can almost hear the drums of the Terracotta
warriors. Off to the taxi stand and on to our hotel. Its been another great day
on the train.
2 August 2013 A "peaceful" day at the Xi'an
Terracotta Warriors
An easy start of the day with enough time
for the buffet breakfast and a sleep in for Angela. The WiFi seems to work fine
in the room, enough to do the necessary online activities. Since we haven't stayed
somewhere longer than a day for the last 2 weeks, its washing time. After the
first 2 loads in the washing basin, we discover that there is actually a
laundry to machine-wash all your clothes with a self help system. Off to the
third floor to use the easy option And have chat in the waiting room with
the other hotel guest. ''nice weather today isn't it'' I say yes even though I
haven't been outside, but the weather app told me this morning we were in for
smeltering day. Around 12 we head out to the bus station to catch the 611 bus
to the train station to swap for the 306 which takes us to the Terracotta
warriors. Along the way there is just enough time for quick burger (which I swore
I would never eat here in China) and we hopped in the front seats. An easy one hour drive drops us to the car park from which it is either 15 minutes walk or a
5 Rmb electric cart trip. We choose the easy one and within 5 minutes we are there.
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| 8000 terracotta warriors and 20000 chinese visitors + 2 westerners |
Back in the 306 bus, tired but satisfied. We
must have sweat 5 ltrs each because the 34 degrees outside felt cool after we
came back from the main hangar where, together with thousands of Chinese, the
majority of the Warriors are displayed. In total there are 3 excavation sides
where pit no. 1 is the most impressive where you literally see the thousands of
terracotta warriors lined up in the trenches. Its interesting to see the level
of detail on the different faces. There are also ranks, different weapons,
positions and functions visible of the personalities. Other than the warriors,
there are horses and a few horse carts. The site is about 2000 year old and
discovered in 1974, 2 years before Moa Zedong died. According to the story, some
farmers were digging a well were the ones who discovered the first site. Since
then, Xi'an was on the map and is recognized by Unesco. They call it the 8 th
wonder of the world. We both agree, this is indeed a very special place. After
all this sweating, we are thirsty and looking up in our Lp how to get to the Belgium
beer cafe to treat ourselves to nice '' Trappist met'' with chips and mayo.
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| Welcome in Antwerp |
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| Yummy streetfood |
3-8-2013 Going further South
We had a fun night at ''The Belgium'' and tasted
some of the good juice. The pub is next
door to a backpackers hotel in an area full of street life, especially at night.
Cozy streets, lots of hawker stalls and street kitchens surrounded by tables
full of people chewing on the local specialties and drinking too much Tchin Tao beer. Back in the hotel we go for the pillow after a good hot shower and scrub.
The next day its up at 8 to get ready for the airport shuttle bus. This means a
quick brekky, 2 extra boiled eggs for Angie and cleaning up the clothes which
were almost dry from yesterday. We catch the 9.50 bus who twists and turns
itself through the morning peak hour. Xian is a pleasant city where we would
have loved to stay a day or two longer. There is more to do than just the
Terracotta warriors, they have some great local temples (beautifully lit at
night), some good markets and a fully restored city wall which you can walk
over. But the reality is, we are on our way to the airport for our next flight, this time to Kunming. Last night we had tried to re-book it to a flight direct to Dali,
but unsuccessfully. This means that after the flight there is a 5 hr bus ride to
reach our end destination for today. If we manage to get there tonight, we get an
extra day in our schedule which we can use to lower the pace and just hang
around.
A Delay for half a day
We have just checked in to a hotel,
unfortunately we are still in Xi'an. When we arrived on the airport, we found
out that our plane was still in Chengdu and kept there for repairs. This meant
at least a 4 hour delay, but possibly longer. Not something we had expected,
but lucky enough we hadn't booked anything after today. The hotel we checked in
is about 20 minutes away from the airport and all we are allowed to do is hang
around at our room and watch TV. We just came back from lunch and a little
shopping round in the direct area where the hotel is situated. Outside is
stinking hot so inside the room a lot more comfortable. The lobby is
filled with music from some screaming lady who calls herself a singer. It
reminded us of the previous time we visited China of the many karaoke bars who
were around. So far we haven't found one, but she could certainly give it a
shot. After hanging around the lobby and eat some of our cookies and cakes, we
will do what the receptionist in broken chinglish told us to do....... you lest
in loom and wait till we ling you. Chinese tv gives us some entertainment.
There's an Indian movie on with Chinese subtitles (that helps) about the English
occupation of Calcutta, very boreinterseting. You gotta do something. How about
a good book. Yes I have one in my day pack.......you always end up reading your
Lp twice or more during a trip.
It's 18.17 and we have just boarded the
737 who will bring us to Kunming in the next 2 hrs. The day has flown by with a
little cat nap en some TV shows for Angela. In the end they refunded us another
400Yuan on top of the hotel for the day, so we feel we have been treated very well
other than the loss of time, but he its holiday who's complaining ? In the bus
I got talking to some other Dutchies who are traveling through China with their
3 sons. They were having a great time too and we had already forgotten about
the delay.
4-8-2013 An unexpected surprise
Even though we boarded around 18.17, we
didn't leave until an hour later. The probably got us seated as quick as
possible to avoid further penalties, but anyway, we arrived safely at Kunming
airport around 9.20 pm. Our luggage rolled off 10 minutes later and we were on
to the shuttle bus hoping would arrive on time to catch the night bus to Liijang.
That must have been a dream of false hope, because we didn't get to the bus
station until half an hour late for the last bus. Everything was closed and
the taxi who dropped us off had already left too. Knowing that most bus
stations in Asia have hotels close by, we started looking around, but no direct
sign of any accommodation. The night guard asked us in broken English what we
wanted and offered help to find us something. I was still pleasantly warm and we were waiting till he had translated some lines on his Google app. It showed that he
had a safe place to sleep for 150 Yuan on the display, which we agreed with. A quick phone call to what we thought the
hotel owner and to our surprise within 5 minutes a police car rocks up complete
with his flashing lights. A coppa jumps out and full of unbelief we ask the
night guard whether this is our taxi to the hotel he arranged ? Yes yes, no ploblem.
Well it was a bit strange, but really you shouldn't go wrong in a cop car. We hopped in and drove
for about 5 minutes and ended up in the entry hall of a 15 story apartment
building. Nothing that looked like a hotel of some kind, but our gut feel told us
it should be alright. Once we arrived at the top floor, we got more confidence
and were welcomed by some fellow Chinese travelers who apparently had just
checked in themselves. The room they showed us was part of a renovated
apartment and subdivided into many smaller rooms with and without ensuite. The
room was perfect and much better than we had expected and we fixed up the coppa with
the 150 Yuan and settled in. I went down to the reception to have a chat to
some fellow travelers of which one was an English teacher who was reasonably ok
to understand. Another guy who was very hard to understand gave me his email
address once he heard we were from Australia. He also showed me a book written
by an Australian and translated into Chinese. It was the same book as I had
given to a client a few months ago. Angela had jumped under the shower and I was
next before we sunk into our hard sleeper beds for the night. For the next morning we had arranged
with the coppa to pick us up at 8 for a drop of at the bus station. He was
already waiting ten minutes early at the reception so we arrived at 8 o'clock
sharp at the bus station. When we wanted to thank him with a tip, he politely
refused and disappeared into the morning rush hour. We are still in unbelief
how and why this happened to us. We got into the bus station ticket area and saw
a desk with the txt ''inquiry'' above it. So whats the first train to Dali,
9.30 sir it sounded in fluent English through a speaker to oversound the
masses of Chinese fellow travelers. Fantastic, I joined the queue a few meters
down while Angela stayed with the luggage. Within 10 minutes I had the right tickets
in my hand and we walked to the platforms to wait for an hour or so till the
bus would depart. Enough time for a toilet
stop and some shopping. Brekky today is instant noodles and cookies. All bus
and train stations have numerous shops surrounding them and supply hot water for
the noodle cups. We leave slightly ahead of schedule and the bus has comfortable
seats to enjoy the 4 to 5 hr trip to Dali. Dali is a town close to a lake which
we visited 14 years ago when we were backpacking around Asia which. We remember
it as a pleasant village type place which is great to do some hikes or just
hang out. Looking to the front of the bus, it seems to be pooring with rain.
Not a bad day for transport. We have stocked up on food and drinks so we should
be fine for the next 4 hrs. Other than ourselves, there are just 2 westerners on
the bus, the rest are all black and red heads (yes some color their hair too). Some hours later from when I last typed the few
lines above, we are still in the bus. All windows are fogged up and we have been
standing still for an hour now. The whole rd is blocked and there is traffic
jam for miles and miles. What to do ?
The excitement is rising by the minute
(not) because the driver just came to the back to tell us we shouldn't be long.
Apparently he had received a phone call from some one saying that the accident
had been cleared up and we should be moving soon. So far we don't really belief him, but at least
he tells us what we want to hear. Some 20 minutes later, finally after 2 1/2 hrs
of waiting we started to move again and the atmosphere on board improves clearly.
In the mean time it has stopped raining as well so we are looking forward to a
wonderful evening somewhere on a terrace in Dali.
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| two tickets please, yes 2, we need 2 bus tickets, yes go by bus to Dali, yes we go now |
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| public hot water station for noodle soups |
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| public cold water station for left overs |
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| Can I have your order please |
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| city walls Dali |
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| Allright lets have a macca's |
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| I reckon this is the best way........ |
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| What about the other way ? |
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| E-biking with a double charge along the way |
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| Fishing on Er-hau lake |
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| Drying mini fish |
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| Charging station for the E-bike |
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| Mao soldier in action |
7-8-2013 A different Dali
A few days on and we are already in a bus
to our next destination Shaxi, hopefully I am not getting car sickness while I
am typing this. When we arrived in Dali, the rains had picked up again so after
the trickshaw ride, we landed at Jims Tibetan hotel and peace cafe and settled
into the restaurant. To our surprise, the place was full of Dutchies and we
chatted the rest of the day about where everyone had been and where to go next.
The next morning the clouds were still there, but at least it was dry, so time
for a bike ride around Dali. What a relief to
escape the crowds and have some fresh green surroundings around us instead if
the 100's of souvenir stalls. Dali has changed big time and is mainly focused
on the 1000's of Chinese tourists who visit the town daily. It still has the
beautiful gates standing up which are particularly picturesque at night. The
countryside is as 100 years ago, people with cone shaped hats working in the fields, growing
all sorts of vegetables (but mainly corn). The only thing that has changed is, that the tractor is now used to pick up the veggies and the horse cart rides around
with tourists in the back. A special scenic rd is build around Erhau lake
suitable for mainly bikes and local traffic. Also the local fisherman use it to
dry their catch which is a combination of krill, tiny shrimps and miniature
like eels. Its an interesting method they use to catch the fish, so we hopped
of the bikes to have a closer look. To
set out the net, they send out two boats
and then bring back two lines and connect it to a huge motor on shore. Then the
long wait starts till the net is pulled in by the motor and the sorting of the
different type of catch can start. The have 2 size pans to sort out the 2 biggest size
fish and whats left over is the small krill. All is then put in big baskets
and spread out on tarps on the road to dry and scare away the tourists with their
strong smell. Along the way we came across several food stalls and we decided to
stop for lunch and feast on some sat'e like sticks in several varieties, small drinks and an ice cream. After lunch we headed back to Dali and decided to
stroll through the main street and came across a Belgium waffle cafe which we
couldn't ignore to buy ourselves a beer and Waffle with cream. Tired but
satisfied we went to bed (on one of the best mattresses in China we have had
so far). Fully relaxed we woke up, had a good breakfast and decided to hire an
E-motorbike for a further trip around the lake and visit some local markets.
According to the rental company the bike should last us 60 km. This was more
then sufficient to get us to our end destination and back. We took the Erhai west
lake rd which brought us through several villages, the three pagoda's and ended at
the wharf in a little town. We decided to have lunch in a local restaurant and to our
surprise there was a special power point to recharge our bike, which was pretty essential
, because the battery had already dropped by a quarter. The 60 km must have
been based on 2 Chinese feather lite passengers and not two western people. The
lunch was a bit of a challenge without any menu or English speaking person, but
Angela decided to bite the bullet and hop in the kitchen to point out what we
wanted. After a long wait and some external shopping for drinks, we got what we
wanted and awarded the kitchen with a Michelin star for excellent taste. We
decided not to participate in the local activities which was dragon less boat racing
with the local Chinese tourists. It was fun to watch though in the bright
orange life jackets hahahahah. Our E-moterbike had finished its 1 hr of power
food and we headed the same way home with some side tracks through farming land
along the way. Halfway, our battery needed a top up so we looked for a cafe with
extension cord. After a quick charge we biked along and just made it back to the
rental shop before the battery gave up completely. E-bikes are a great way to see
the country side in a quiet way, even though this modern vehicle contradicts
with the ancient looks of the traditional Chinese character of Dali. Last night we
spent time on the computer sorting out our onward travel to Guilin after we
come back to Dali in a weeks time. We decided to book a flight instead of the
train. It was a minimal difference in price, but saved us 21 hrs of travel.
Today's bus ride is an easy 3 hr trip through several villages and beautiful
green country side with sometimes towering mountains and deep gorges along the side of the rd. Angela's stomach was playing up a bit this morning, but seems stable
now and I can see a smile on her face while she watches the surroundings with the
bus passing through the different villages and rural areas. In total, including
the transit, the trip took 5 hrs and when we arrived, it was another km walk to
the town. We first decided to have lunch and buy a bit of goodwill so that we could
store our luggage and find a hotel without having to carry it all around. While
our lunches are being served it suddenly started to pour with rain so we will
make it a long lunch.
8-8-2013 Not the Lonely Planet
After the long lunch we walked around the
village and checked out the different hotels and guesthouses. We decided to go
for one Angela liked most and dropped off our luggage and waited for the rain
to stop. Lucky enough there was WiFi and we could use our Skype to call some of
our family over in Holland. The guesthouse was one of these courtyard homes
with guest quarters at the back. The room was very cozy and well decorated.
Later the sky cleared and we even had some sun, so time to explore the village.
Shanxi according to the Lonely planet is supposed to be unspoiled ancient town
with beautiful old houses back from the time that the Tea horse rd between china
and the west was still alive. Our picture was a bit different when we read this
compared to when we walked around. There were certainly some lovely old
buildings between the messy old ruins, half falling apart and two mtrs down a
new development being build with concrete mixers all over the place. Anyway we
had a look at the interesting part and took a table at the old tree house on
the square to try the local specialties. We discovered that they had Stout beer
on the menu which was an easy choice compared to the local Dali beer. Combined
with some Chinese dumplings we were good for a couple of hours while watching
the local dogs play and tourists walk by. When we came back to the guesthouse,
we had neighbors moved in to the room next door. The rice paper thin walls
wouldn't reduce any of the noise, but to our surprise, it was fairly quiet. The
next morning we woke up at 7.30 to make sure we could catch the 9.30 bus to
Liijang. Once we arrived at the bus
station, we found out the tickets were sold out and had to wait till 11.30 for
the next one. Someone told us we could flag a northern bound bus to see if they
had vacant seat but after two hours we gave up and waited for our bus to arrive
inside the bus station. Other then ourselves, there were two french travelers
on board, who were quite good to talk to and were well traveled. Something we
find quite unusual, because most times we met traveling french, they were quite
closed and only willing to talk french. After a short ride of around 2 hrs we
hopped off the bus and shared a taxi ride
with the two Frenchies from the new Lijiang to the old city we came for. With
the cobble stoned streets in mind and Angela's overweight suitcase, we decided
very quickly on a new hotel near the entry to the Southern gate who had just
opened its doors and had a promo on. We booked for two nights so we had lots of
time to have a look around. The afternoon we spend strolling down the many
streets filled with souvenir stalls, travel agents, food stalls and.....I am
forgetting something..... yes Chinese tourists. On average the town gets
flooded with around 13500 tourists daily which totals to 5 million every year. The
town looks still beautiful with its old buildings, market square and many
waterways. Even though its flooded with tourists, it has lots more character
than Shaxi who is let down over time. Maybe in another ten years, its another
Liijang. The old man who made my a stamp 14 years ago must have sold up his
shop, because the place I remember him sitting has turned into a souvenir
shop. After a chat with two Dutchies we met on the street, we decided to head back
to the bus station to book our tickets for after tomorrow, so that we don't miss
out on our Tiger leaping Gorge trip. We will still have to monitor the weather,
but are hopeful we can do the walk. Back in the hotel we decide to rest a bit
and watch some tv rather than make a few more miles through the streets of the
ancient town.
17-8-2013 Escape the crowds
Yesterday the weather was good enough for a
bike ride and we decided to escape the crowds and cycle to Shuhe. Its a town
smaller than Lijiang, but with a similar ancient look and feel, but much less
tourist. Even though the bikes looked like they were the latest models with suspension
included, we ended up with a sore bum at the end of the day. When we came back
at the rental place, we zigzagged back to the area of the hotel, but ended up at
the local market for some shopping and sightseeing. Today we choose to eat at
several small stalls and restaurants instead of having a meal at one of the
modern-old looking take-aways in the center. Our traditional sate like sticks,
dumplings and fruit all tasted very well. Before we headed back to the
hotel we went to the ATM for some cash, but unfortunately it didn't respond to
our request. After trying a few other banks, we realized they had blocked our
account so we had to get back to the hotel
to Skype them to find out what was wrong.
Just this morning we had transferred some money into our daily account and
thoughts were coming into my mind that someone could have hacked our online
account. Nothing of that kind lucky enough, when I spoke to the Aussie voice on
the other side of the line. They had blocked our account simply because we had
forgotten to tell them that we went overseas. Bit strange, because this was not
the first time we got money out of an ATM in China. Anyway, we went back to the
same ATM and got what we wanted this time. We went back to the hotel , packed our
bags and went to bed for a rest so that we would be fit for the next day.
7.15 and the alarm bell sounds, a quick
shower, coffee and we are into the the taxi for the bus station. Way too early
we arrive, but we might as well be ready to board before the masses arrive. All
seats are numbered, but we wanted to make sure our luggage was stored inside
the cabin, which was the case. Other than ourselves, there is just one
foreigner on board, the rest are all young Chinese who we would be walking the
same track with. The Tiger leaping gorge is very popular and can be done either
in a long day or two to three shorter days. We decided to choose the latter
option to allow ourselves enough time to rest and enjoy the scenery. Overall we
haven't taken too much time to rest for a few days in one spot, so if the
weather helps, this could be the place.
12-8-2013 A toilet with a view
We have just boarded the bus who is going
to bring us back to Lijiang with a quick stop at Quotou to pick up our luggage
which we left at a backpackers place. We had an absolute great walk over the
last 3 days and brought back some old memories from when we walked it first.
When we started walking, pretty soon we lost the crowds and only met the
occasional hiker along the trail. The same yellow and red markers from back
then were still in use and made it very easy to find the right path. On day one
we decided to take it easy and stopped around 14.00 at the Naxi Family guesthouse.
This is a typically traditional built courtyard home with 4 buildings in total.
A friendly family of the Naxi tribe runs the place in a very efficient way. The
son came to have a chat with us while we were sitting on the terrace
overlooking the beautiful gorge. He told us the whole history of how they
started the guesthouse back in 1984 when the first guest came to knock on their
door. Since then lots had changed and they had build more buildings with rooms
for guests, a road was build to the village, power was connected and even
internet and mobile phone was now available. What hadn't changed was the track,
the gorge and the atmosphere around it. We enjoyed every minute of our walk
through the worlds deepest gorge. The vistas along the way are amazing and its
a joy to see the wind playing with the clouds through the gorge. Our first day
was mainly sunny with some rain later in the day after we had checked in to the
guesthouse. We met a nice dutch couple who had booked a room in the same
guesthouse along with some other foreigners who we would meet many more times
during the track. We had a quick look in the village and many courtyard farm
houses and noticed that marijuana plants freely grow in the fields and possible used as medical
herbs by the locals. The next day we would find out that it was also sold to
tourists when we were offered some along the track. After a good sleep in in a
nice comfy bed complete with electric blanket we started the second day around
10 am. Breakfast was a high energy locally made pancake which was a bit dry and
tough, but it filled the stomachs. Today the track was about climbing to a
higher altitude through the so called 28 bends/turns. They were certainly
tiring and it took us a few hours to get to the highest point. The views were absolutely
stunning so we decided to take a little rest and soak in the fresh mountain
air. The same people we met the night before, slowly one by one came passing by
and it started to create a bit of a connection. The weather wasn't as good as
the day before and from time to time we had some rain. Lucky enough we both had
our rain gear with us so we didn't get wet. The landscape changed from bamboo
forest to pine forest all under the towering mountains on both sides of the
gorge. After 5 hours we arrived at the halfway guesthouse which we had stayed
15 years ago. Lots had changed and we hardly recognized it anymore. The one
thing that couldn't be missed was the toilet with a view, an all open air
toilet without any windows and great views towards the other side of the gorge.
No fresh mountain air btw, but traditional Chinese toilet smell. We didn't go
for an afternoon walk since our muscles had had enough for the day. Instead we
settled in to the restaurant and had dinner with the Dutchies and drank too
much rice wine and beer that night. From what I could remember the next day, we
had tried hard to embarrass ourselves, and with success. Anyway we hit the foot
path around 10, with a sunny outlook over the scenery. It was the best weather
so far and in roughly 1.5 hours we were at Tina's guesthouse down in the gorge.
Angela's knees were sore and we decided to hang around town for a bit before we
would take the 3.30 bus back to Lijiang. On day two our camera battery had run
flat, but a Malaysian couple offered to email us some copies of their shots when
they get back home. While we were at Tina's we decided to book our accommodation
for tonight in Lijiang to make sure we wouldn't have to search something in the
dark. We have picked a guesthouse outside the old town to avoid the crowds and
have a quiet day tomorrow before we would take the bus to Dali.
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| Local vegetables |
A break in communication
Speed up the travels
Around 9, a taxi comes to pick us up for the bus station to take us to New Dali and from there onto another bus to Kunming. All went fluent that day and we even didn't have any traffic jam along the way. This means we arrived well on time before we had to be on the airport for the 11 o'clock flight that night. We had tried to book the airport hotel in Guilin, but had no luck doing so, so we just walked there and booked a room on the spot. The next morning we decided to sleep in a bit and since there was no breakfast included, there was no need to rush. The shuttle bus back at the airport dropped us off in the center of Kunming from where we took a taxi to the bus station for a trip to Yangshou. Guillin was just another big city to us which gave us no reason to hang around. The bus was easily organised and on our way we were. Unfortunately the weather wasn't all that good, but lucky enough we had organised our accommodation a few days earlier so a simple taxi ride brought us just outside Yangshou where we were warmly welcomed by the staff of the Outside Inn. They had a little gazebo under which we spend the rest of the day reading, eating and drinking. It was an old farm house which had been restored and renovated by a Dutchie some years ago and it was the type of place to just hang around and between showers do some cycling, walking and chat to other travelers. The day after we arrived we had a good look around the river site and took some photo's of the picturesque hill which characterize Yangshou so much. The next day we decided to visit the town and have a look whether we recognized some from when we were there last time. Obviously we were quite ill at the time so didn't see much of it then, but we managed to find the hospital which we were treated in. It was all still there. Because the rain held on and weather forecasts weren't pretty either we decided to hop online and try to find out how to get to Hong Kong by boat as we did 15 years ago. Things had changed much since new highway had been put in place, but there seemed to be an option from Guangzhou. We decided to give it a shot and booked a bus for the next day. While it was still pissing with rain the next day, we hopped on the bus and were happy to leave Yangshou for what it was. The bus driver very quickly managed to get us upset by telling us we couldn't sit together and pushed us around the bus for another side. This ended up in a big argument with lots (I guess) Chinese swear words and in the end they stopped the bus and went outside for a smoke with the stereo on 10. In the end I gave up and moved, but within half an hour he let me go back to my seat. What a dig head, he probably just wanted to show off, but anyway we arrived safely at Guangzhou where we quickly booked ourselves a room in a Hotel in the central district and treated ourselves on a pizza or 2. The same night we managed to find out some more details of the boat trip we wanted to do so much. It meant we had to take the underground to the other side of the city and take another shuttle bus from there to a town further up the river. We decided to do the extra mile so we could at least do what we came for and take the boat to Hong Kong even though the bus would have been heaps cheaper and easier. The boat trip was good fun and we were lucky when we arrived in Hong Kong that the weather was at least dry. We hadn't booked any accommodation, but found a computer terminal in a shopping centre to quickly hop online and find a reasonably priced hotel for 4 nights. An easy taxi ride brought us to the concrete tower and we settled in on the top floor with a great view over the harbor.
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| The old hospital |
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| The old hospital |
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| The old hospital |
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Just another rainy day
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| Boat to Hong Kong |
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| Hotel booked in the shopping Mall |
Finding the Chunking Mansions
The name Chunking Mansions would remember most backpackers who have ever been to Hong Kong about crammed in rooms with tiny beds and minuscule showers run by Indians and Pakistani hosts without any sense of hygiene and noise levels of their own TV's. We stood right in front of it and curious as we were we wanted to have a look inside. Wow, this looks like little India with all the little shops and take away restaurants. Much less scary than we had imagined before and cute in a way, so we decided to shop around a bit and fill our stomachs with some nice momo's and spicy vegetables. Providing your hotel is not too far from the harbour, Hong Kong is the type of city you can best see on foot. The extremely busy streets are filled with people, cars, buses, trams and endless shops. The public transport is super efficient and brings you anywhere you like. Since there is heaps of water around, this is the opportunity to take the ferries and further explore the surrounding Islands. As we did and for an apple and an egg you can sail around for a few hours. The temperature and humidity were pretty high so we decided to head for the beach for a day and had a great swim and tan at the end of the day. Other than that we spend our days walking the streets of the different areas , looking through shops, shopping malls and markets till late in the evenings. Honk Kong is like new York a city that never sleeps. With all the neon light, the feel and atmosphere changes dramatically after sunset. Specially the harbor which has a sound and light show every night at around 8pm with the different buildings flicking their lights on and off to the tune of the music combined with a laser show. A great place to watch all this is the Walk of the Stars, an esplanade like area with full views of the Harbor. After 4 days it was time to pack our bags and head for the airport. We had planned to leave our belongings at the airport and do some more sight seeing, but because of the foggy weather we decided to hang around the airport and spend our last money on food and drinks while using the free Wifi and thinking goodbye of Asia. Our flight was relaxed and the next morning we dipped through the layer of clouds and landed safely Down Under. Outside the airport we had 2 friends waiting for us to drive us back home. Just a minute, do you feel the temperature ? Wow , it feels like spring, yes we have skipped the winter. Good idea for next year too. Its good to be home.
A@F
