The Great Wall Hotel Liuzhou

... forbidding any modern style buildings to be built in the area, so all of the buildings are made of wood, and do not use nails, or fasteners of any kind. All the buildings are legged and built of a mortise and tendon design, and uses their own weight to hold them together. The locals call them - Diaojiaolou. The domestic animals live in the first floor, and the upper floors are the living quarters. The houses are usually three levels high. In ...

... but black) which actually just tasted like egg and not so bad. Andy, a guy from the UK, also ordered some liquor that was like rice wine which had had red ants soaked in it. It was not so great...We both really liked the chili sauce they had. So much that we asked them if we could buy it from them! They gave us a neat little package of it for the road for FREE. So nice.

... look into a traditional snake feast! I have a feeling the one in Vietnam is a bit more elaborate but China's version was just fine for starters. So John and I arrived at the restaurant a bit suspicious and with no idea what to expect from this spectacle. A man in a corner who we quickly found out was the snake handler, stood up and held up a huge black bag. He reached inside and yanked out a 2 ft long black snake that was clearly not happy about his destiny. After displaying the beast ...

... who wanted to take an early morning boat ride. In a few minutes conversation in choppy Mandarin by the XingPing riverbank, Dan and I organized a sunrise tour with a crazy-haired riverboat pilot. The afternoon before our river trip, we wandered around the town's sunbaked streets taking pictures of the mountains and houses and spraying bug repellent at anything that flew near us. The town showed ...

... our weight, and very well, too.They also made us wear these silly looking bright orange life jackets, probably so that they could spot us foreigners from far away. The paddler pushed with a long bamboo stick from the back of the boat. It was really quite lovely; the mountains' reflection in the water, the paddler whistling behind us, the warm water around our toes... Then you hear it, "BEER! WATER! COLA? YOU WANT?" Sales people are EVERYWHERE, even in the middle of the river, in ...

... s got through no trouble) and suspicious looks. At one point the official was closely inspecting my passport and asked me how many countries I'd been to. I readied myself for the rubber glove treatment but I guess they were just trying to earn their wage and after about half an hour waiting we all got through. Vietnam's border offices were bland and dirty, whereas China's was almost majestic. Large buildings kept spotlessly clean, and a massive friendship ...

... toilets here like the rest of Asia so at least ma legs are getting a good workout!!! Another thing is that China is 8 hours ahead and even though it spans a couple of time zones I'm currently stopped off in Liuzhou (situated on the Lui river in central Guangxi) on our way to stay in a Dong Village with some locals then its off to Hong Kong. Right of to sample the local fare and search out new and exciting beers : ) Safe travels

Yangshuo is an eclectic mix of Chinese and Western, Old and Modern, Chilled out and Hyper. It's a weird but hugely agreeable fusion of cultures. It is famous because it is unique. Western Backpackers and wealthy tour groups enjoy it because it's relaxed and calm and comfortable. The Chinese students and tour groups come because it's quaint and famous for the westerners. Everyone comes for the stunning Karst scenery whether you explore it alone or ...

... Being on the river, the market was full of buckets of live fish, eels, snails and even a bagful of live frogs in a netting bag that was trying to make a spirited bid (or rather hop) for the door. There was also a little cooked dog available, but oddly enough no raw dogmeat- I'm not entirely sure why. Next we were off to the kitchen itself, which proved to be the rooftop of a restaurant, with great views of the mountains as the sun set. Sadly, the view in the ...

We left Yangshou on the 29th on a bus for Guilin. When we reached Guilin we caught a bus for the town of Longshen. After two hours we reached Longshen. As soon as we stepped of the bus in Longshen a lady walked up and said she had a bus leaving for Ping An so off we went. Ping An is a small village located in the Longji Rice Terraces. This is all located way up in the mountains. It is a pretty ...