Liuzhou Grand Hotel

... and found some of them have the benches, tables, even the fire pits, but commonly, they all have a big drum. The local people told me that the drum is used to send signals to the entire village. When there was an emergency, like a fire, or an attack, the drum would be beat, and because of the design of the structure, the sound would be amplified and could be heard for miles around. <br> <br>For me, the highlight of this area is the ancient ...

... wed, so a lot of couple got married that day. It was strange, how similar and then again so different from western weddings. The fast was plenty to choose from - rabbit, duck, chicken, pork, beef, fish, prawns ... it was (mostly) really good food. And, the beer (and for the rice wine) was brought to our table constantly, since we were the ...

... our way. Since I was only taking a small sip, I had to sample first and then hand over to John for the swig. It simply tasted of red vodka but who knows how I'll feel tomorrow or in years to come? Supposedly, the snake is lucky in China and its blood will bring you good fortune. Anyway, after John downed the drink, the handler ran back to the kitchen to skin the reptile and hand it over to the chef. What came out later was a beautiful stirfry and a snake bone soup. The meat tasted like ...

... was hardly busy. We waved at several unresponsive raft fishermen, who stood on their long, thin rafts pulling net after net. After a time we passed a man walking his water buffalo and calf along the riverbank. The buffalo looked at us wild-eyed and decided we were safe enough to swim beside. A group of tourists had beat us to a point a little farther upstream, where a cormorant fisherman posed for ...

... river) and asking 20 yuan (amost 3 dollars a picture) for our wet Yangshou adventure. It is so Disneyland it's unbelievable! When we came to the place that would let us off, our bikes were there waiting for us to ride them back to town. We rode back to Moon Hill, then along a country road for a few kilometers before heading back to town. The day was almost done and we went back tired and hungry, had an early dinner, took one last walk down West Street, then watched Casino Royale, which we ...

... me (and will unfortunately stay with me for life) was the state of the public toilets. I won't go into details but let's just say that I think I'll need a few therapy sessions to get over the post traumatic shock. We stayed that night in Huashan, a little town not on the map but with a lovely guesthouse and friendly owners. When we arrived there was a party going on with some locals - celebrating "Woman's Day". Apparently the other 364 days of the year are ...

... buses. And then the luxury began! This coach was like travelling business class on an aeroplane (OK, a bit extreme, but you get my drift). Large leather seats, two television screens in the aisle with Rush Hour 2 playing (albeit in Mandarin), and a 'bus hostess' serving water and newspapers! Crazy! But really nice, the journey was comfortable and went quickly. Before long we were in Liuzhou. I was expecting it to be a small town, but it was in ...

... are a lot of relaxed smiling faces. It's a unique, must visit place, even if you think I'm loopy when you get here. But.... And with Yin and Yang floating around there's always a but. In a year since I last came, the place changed. Talking to one or two old hands the place has been changing for the last 30 years, but maybe now the change is faster and places all that I tried to convey about what makes Yangshuo special in jeopardy. The issue is a ...

... were using had been that clean to start with. They'd certainly been laid out with the flies for quite a while before we'd got there. My nearest neighbour on the course was a Dutchman who (of course) spoke flawless English. At one stage he whispered to me "My God, it's like one of those Ministry of Health commercials, isn't it?" More encouragingly though, what we did cook was fried off hard, so I guess it's true that cooked food's OK. I'll just not be eating ...

... unique thing was that the building was constructed of wood a rare thing in Asia. We are used to everything being concrete and tile. We had an upstairs corner room with a very nice view. The whole floor which consisted of 12 to 15 rooms shared a single toilet and one shower. The good news was we were the only guests during a 3 night stay. There really is not a lot to do in Ping An but marvel at the ...