Guigang Hotel

... have ever really understood that if they back away from the average tourist a little and let the them come in a touch by themselves they might actually sell more rubbish.. So Wei my hostel manager was there on time to collect me and take me away from the madness to the quieter realms of his more than welcoming house/hostel. 5 of his family lived there permanently and made the stay more than just the normal bed and travel desk.. His elderly inlaws managed the fridge and purchasing of ...

... in your ear because they think you just can't hear them! Aside from the usual ambling around the place, I went climbing for a day, and of course, any stay in Yangshou wouldn't be complete without a couple of nights drinking, though it oddly seemed to be less busy than in January. No matter, there were still people to drink with. One thing - I'm never touching bijiu again! Until the next time, at least...

... even 1 poor guy with 1 leg, walking round on all 3'rs like a dog! Once on the bus, everything seemed fine. The beds were comfortable, and we were at the front. A couple hours in the other direction, the roads turned from smooth double lanes, to bumpy to no clear sign of where the lanes actually are! From watching the coach driver, i now know the main rules of the road in china - While driving a coach, only overtake 2 lorries at a time, while ...

... and the traders and merketeers are still omnipresent, unfortunately. I gave up trying to sit outside at the cafes because everytime I did, it was impossible to eat a meal or have a cup of tea without having half a dozen people try to sell me postcards or something else I didn't want. Not just try, but thrust them under my nose for a couple of minutes before finally giving up, after I had said no a dozen times. So maybe there are a couple ...

... foreign friends, so off we headed to at the aussie Buffalo Bar. This is a cool bar in Yanshuo run by an ex-pat Aussie/Spaniard, married to a Chinese woman with the cutest kid out. They have an aussie theme with aussie beers, aussie wine and meat pies. You can buy bloody Coopers Green here. Fantastic!! Now Al, all you need to do is get some Boags Draught in and I'll never leave! Most of the crew were ...

... from my side of the hill. As for New Years Eve, well there were bugger all fireworks really. New Years Night the shopping centre put on a heap, strangely from in the middle of the shopping centre. I thought at first there was a gas explosion or something. I don't why they let them off 'in' the shopping centre when they had ...

... non-metal' music of the 80's so for me it would be 'better never!' Anyhow, sometime in the morning we found a hotel and got eaten by mozzies all night. Made it to Guigang by mid day and were met by Karen a beautiful and very caring Adelaide gal whom has been teaching overseas for the past few years. She gives up a lot of her time and money to help children in need in countries such as Cambodia and Vietnam. We met up with ...

... but then one day, as we were heading out to the market, we realized that the kindly management were playing it for our pleasure. How thoughtful. I have a real desire to find out where they broadcast it from, break in and replace the CD with a home made one I brought with me. I can only imagine the looks on people's faces, stumbling out of bed after being rudely woken up by Ice-T's Body Count. Oh, how I'd laugh. We are living in the middle of a ...

... is that whereas in Canada in the winter you run from your nice warm office / place of work to your nice warm car; from your nice warm car into your nice warm house, where (not surprisingly) you stay nice and warm until you have to venture outdoors again; in Southern China there is no such thing as central heating. I must admit that truth be told I am going on hearsay, but rumour has it that south of the Yangtze River this is the case. This means that you run from your ...

... on where we will end up. No matter which side of the street we stand on we never know if the bus is going to or from the office. The first few times I used the bus I got lucky and guessed right so I didn't even know that there was an issue. It was the third or fourth time, when the driver blasted through the intersection, horn blaring as usual that I thought: "Hey, shouldn't we have turned back there...?" If we guess wrong we end up on the outskirts of town in ...