Mingren Hotel Liuzhou

... suitcase. Then when we finally got to the "hotel", I wasn't very happy with it, but I didn't say anything. Its probably good that I didnt, it was the tourguide's sister's place. There were alot of flies, and since I've learned (the hard way) that I'm very allergic to mosquito-killing coils, I asked them to light one before we left to look at more scenery. Before we had gotten to the hotel I was hoping to ditch ...

... who has been working for Lehman Brothers in Tokyo but is going back to Law School in Vancouver. It's actually quite refreshing to have some new faces and personalities on board! We all bonded that first night together in Hanoi over 10 cent beers - yes, very weak but STILL only 10 cents!! We all traveled out to the Halong Bay, a gorgeous UNESCO preserved area off the Vietnamese mainland, for a few days of relaxation. Taking in the scenery from land and sea was ...

... calls confirming that the bus was on its way. When it arrived we were quickly passed over to somebody else, and it was all very confusing. The girls had no idea what was going on, and were not allowed on the bus when they tried to board. At last we all insisted on getting on the bus and somebody appeared to be sorting it out, though it looked like a few local passengers were asked to leave. Presumably they were paying a lot less than we were. We were directed to sleepers ...

... running section. Usually, this worked and the raft slid over with only a little bit of laughter from us because we were sprayed with water. A lot of times, though, we got stuck and Dan had to get off and push us along with the boatman. Most of the weirs were small enough that the bump of going over the waterfall wasn't much worse than riding a jerky elevator. But once we got to the part of the ...

... and cafe staff, who gladly kept us talking English. Our lacklustre efforts must've been torturous to them. We can certainly see why this place is labeled as a legendary backpacker hangout. If you've been in China for sometime this place would be the perfect remedy to the traveling in China malady. That's all folks. Next Pod - Ping Xiang, China (Border with Vietnam). Love, Nath and Kat.

... into the Arctic Circle. The fleece that I've been carrying for the last month finally got its first outing. China has a very different feel to the other countries we've visited so far. First up it looks a lot much westernised. The concrete and brick houses, a lot more glitzy advertising, more cars, less motorbikes. The attitude of the people seems much different too. Not so many smiles, in fact often no acknowledgement at all. Everyone seems to be doing their own ...

... paddy fields, manoeuvring water buffalo, others with big baskets tending to the rice while the huge karst formations towered overhead. One of the mountains had a hole right the way through it- very peculiar! Some of the villages had obviously not had quite the benefit of Yangshuo's economic boom, but even so were busy- plenty of people going about their various jobs. Occasionally a small child would be dispatched to try to sell us foreigners some small carved ...

... a tonal language, so getting the pronunciation right isn't enough- you've go to be using the right tone, too. It's pretty tricky, and if I'm honest with myself there's no way I'll ever be able to manage more than the tourist phrases, but hopefully it'll be enough to get me by. Interestingly, at least some of the written characters bear a passing similarity to Japanese, such as the one for 'female' (these are ...

... would be in Yangshou the next day so I gave her the card from the hotel and tried to indicate that is she found time to stop by. We said goodbye and rode back to the hotel. The next morning Frank went downstairs to use the internet about 9am as he usually did. A couple minutes later he came back to the room and said guess who is in the lobby? It was Hung Yen and she had been there since 7am. I went downstairs and greeted her. Since she spoke so little English we did ...

... first. Before his train left we talked about the world cup and he was pretty optimistic about Korea's chances and I almost wished I said I was from England to not have to admit that we did not even qualify. Hanging around the station gave me a good view of the Chinese queuing system or lack there of. From what I could tell it consisted of a three stage plan of attack: 1. Herd together as tightly as possible. 2. Wait for train entrance gate to open. 3. CHARGE!!!