Nantian Grand Hotel Liuzhou

... They are known as the wind and rain bridge. The one in Dazhai is my favorite. The bridge is listed as one of the three famous ancient bridges in China. Built in 1912, the semi-permanent bridge has stone piers and wooden girders and pavilions connected by a tile-roofed corridor. It is an amazing piece of architecture built without use of any fasteners of any kind. It looks very beautiful. <br> <br>In the late afternoon, I visited a local ...

... non-Chinese people in the big wedding. After that we hit the town hard, actually just one bar, but we (thats Kieran, Ryan and Ann plus me) had to find out that Chinese guys can actually drink quite a lot ... So what did we learn that night: Never ever play rock, paper &amp; scissor for drinks - no matter how good you are, you'll end up drunk.

... combination of chicken and fish with a chewier texture but absolutely delicious. I'm just glad we didn't have to drink the beating heart, as is tradition in Vietnam... So there you have it. Kristin eats snake. I'll let you enjoy the pictures of this event and the beautiful sites visited in China. They truly speak louder than words in this case. I'll post one more entry from NY but for now, it's off to Hong Kong to celebrate my last days in Asia! PS - Hope you TPT'ers get a kick out of the title :-)

... Cormorant fishing is apparently something the region is known for--the fisherman has two trained cormorants with strings around their necks. The birds dive for fish and bring them back. The string on their necks prevents them from swallowing the fish. We hadn't wanted to shell out for a tour showcasing cormorant fishing but were happy to take free shots with our zooms of the fishermen in ...

... bought that morning for 10 yuan. (Fake, of course!) We also bought Spiderman 3 and Letters from Iwo Jima. $1.40 each! Bargain! The same guy was also selling Rolex watches: 2 for 100 yuan ($14.00), but we didn't buy any. This place cracks me up, you can't buy anything real for the right price here! But it's also a lot of fun. Yangshou is a very pretty and also a touristy town, but I am glad that we went. We had lots of fun and met really nice people. It was my favourite place in China. Carly

... Men's Day" so no wonder the ladies were celebrating. They were playing musical chairs and we went to watch and got included in all the celebrations. There were party games galore, a lot of laughter and so much good will towards us. Everyone who participated in the games got prizes so we all walked away with either a tea-towel or some toothpaste. They also sat us down next to a barbeque and cooked us beef and fish on skewers. It was very tasty although very ...

... a small city with a population of 1.4 million people. It was quite developed and advanced. Our hotel was of a high standard, no pesky ants running around for a change! We dumped our stuff and then went wandering. We spent ages in the Bank of China while one of our group exchanged some money. We then went to find an internet cafe, and went across the road to the 3rd floor of the Century Mart. It was a strange place, we took the lift at the side of ...

... one, money. People in the area understandably want to earn it. The flow of foreign tourists isn't enough to expand the revenues, so the target market is changing to the nouveau riche chinese of Guangdong province. This means that the entertainent, catering and style of hotels, building and so on are changing apace. The foreign backpacker or climber might want a bargain room in with mouldy walls in a rickety "characterful" building, but the new ...

... raw or unpeeled for the rest of this trip! I realise that it's probably not a problem for the locals, etc., etc., but I think my somewhat more delicate Western stomach's just not quite as resiliant! Interesting to me from a cooking point of view was just how much oyster sauce and sesame oil was used, far more than I'd previously realised. Plus a frankly scary amount of oil and salt, though to be fair this is restaurant-style cooking, and I don't doubt I'd see ...

... Frank however became friends with a number of the local children who lived close to the hotel. He would spend many hours each day playing with them. When he was not playing with them we were either hiking up the hillsides to take in the views or sitting in a restaurant eating. In the evenings we would play cards with the family that ran the hotel. Hotel is really not the best way to describe the ...