Ke Yuan Hotel Jinggangshan

Another night train and another mystery guest in our 4 birth cabin.

Helen and I secure the bottom bunks, a bit of a change to the Trans-Siberian where we preferred the top. The Russian's really use the space below and sit, watch tv, play cards and chat. Where as the Chinese seem to lay horizontal and sleep at every opportunity ...

... br>When we got on the train at around 6:30 p.m. and had hard seats. Our good friend Elizabeth from Xintian wrote us a note to give to the train conductor so that we could upgrade our tickets to either hard or soft sleeping. We endured the hard seats until about 3 a.m. when we moved to the soft-sleeper car. We traveled with two other ...

... t recognise without lab analysis. If I had the patience I reckon I could have pieced the chicken back together again bit by bit. The green chillies were a nice part of this dish. After another okayish nights sleep we arrived in Guilan at 5.30am and was greeted by a loud brass marching band (obviously a welcome committee for the arrival of the great Anton - word gets round). We then caught a 1 and a half hour public bus ...

... on travel. "We like to go where everybody goes," said one Chinese tourist when prompted to explain the disorder of collective travel. "If there are no crowds it means it's not a good place to visit." An alternative explanation of the chaos that orbits China's favorite attractions is the government's authoritative instruction of where and when the populace may travel, preferring brief, intensive bursts during the national ...

... food side, we were just kidding about the dogs and cats. We have not found it on the menu yet but there were some jelly fish, donkey. May be later. Yesterday, Lupita could not resist the English breakfast (she was homesick) and I had a Swiss one: There were no choice except European food. I have to admit that we have just arrived and we have got Chinese breakfast ...

... the locals on bikes with those cone hats(forgot the real name) it just puts you in the picture of rural China, even though loads of other backpackers get there, you still can find a quiet spot and watch the world pass by. Will never forget the backdrop here.

... which they use to tie up their extraordinary long black hair. While that was nice to see, it's the scenery and setting of this place that gets my vote. The hillsides are ridged with the some of the most extraordinarily extreme rice terracing in China, with the steep sided and closely packed hills surrounding the village having been carved, over centuries of backbreaking effort, to resemble the literal form of a contour map. The terraces were ...

... was great, just what i needed. i think this was probably my favourite area of china. my last day there was great, as i bumped into a few people id met previously - a danish couple i knew from the train journey between russia and mongolia, and a dutch girl i met in beijing. so i just relaxed with them, all of us enjoying the atmosphere of the cafes. it was really weird, while there, we were constantly being photographed by chinese tourists. most of them would have a friend stand not ...