Xijiang Hotel Guigang

... his wife and sister pottered about cleaning and cooking and his nease just sat there in silence looking very centered about these stranged faced backpackers trailing through the family space.. and Wei, we'll he just looked like the king of the jungle, master of his domain.. always open for a chat about the local history, discussions about chinese life and reflection on what might the future hold.. The food was great, breakfast & lunch, and the dinner.. well that felt like a ...

Ok, so we left Hong Kong on monday 5 feb at midday. we made our way across the border, and through to mainland china to Shenzhen. What a Different place to Hong Kong! Can u believe, we are in a foreign country, and nothing is in English, and nobody speaks English!! whats goin on!! Henriette sat down with the bags while i ran off to find the bus/coach station. After about an hour of running around pointing at mandarin phrases in the back of the ...

'As the passengers disembarked, the town exploded and we were mobbed by traders and marketeers... time was of the essence; tourists did not linger long in Yangshou' - Paul Theroux, Riding the Iron Rooster I stayed here a little over a week. Things have changed since that book was written. Yangshou is almost certainly the smallest town I have yet come across in China. Small, as in population 300,000. About twice the size of the city nearest ...

... got there in onepiece and in between filling my drawers, I managed to take in some of the absolutely awesome scenery here. So, there's a reason this place is chock-a-block full of tourists. We were followed by heaps of locals, some trying to flog stuff off to us, others just wanting to gawk at the wierd pale guy with big eyes. In the end, one of them managed to convince us to dine at their restaurant. I was more than glad to eat there. I was starting to get ...

... already on their way so I gave of them their first taste of rice wine. Evil, wha ha ha ha. After playing pool and fuse-ball, we were getting bored. Time to move on. Outside on bar was a kid with an over sized "Motorhead" shirt. Ooohh rock 'n' roll. Yes thanks, I believe I'll drink here. How wrong I was. It was a hip-hop bar. Bugger. I did offer to buy his shirt though. Wish I had have worn the "Manowar ...

... for another year but Canadian Chris and Cathy are heading off pretty soon. I met a heap of people and had a great time so all up; I had a grand welcome into 2006. Bring it on baby, bring it on! Anyhow, tis time to have a smoke and a coffee before English Corner. I'm back in shorts and sandals today...oh baby, bring on summer!!!!!

... took over the cooking. I guess they weren't used to our typical Aussie ways. That of only one person takes care of the bbq (between beers) and everyone else drinks and chats. So what we had was two Chinese per bbq tray and the beautiful Chinese Lisa going from bbq to bbq making sure everything was ok. She didn't stop cooking all night. Oh, the story of the meat sticks or kebabs. Karen had a bright idea, why not do a ...

... If China was the girl next door, by the time it was finished 'developing' it would have breasts the size of water melons and all the boys would want to take it to the garden shed to play 'Doctors and Nurses'. As everybody knows; hosting the Olympics is a pretty big deal for any country. Greece stunned the world with its spectacular games in 2004 and as always the game of 'one-upmanship' for the next host nation began as soon as the closing ceremonies ...

... a big deal of that fact in one of my first missives. I seem to recall spouting some old claptrap along the lines of; '...there's not much need for insulation values around here'. Well, pardon my French but that statement has turned out to be a complete load of bollocks. Scientists reckon that you lose up to 90% of your body's heat through the top of your head, which is why every winter you wear the nice woolly hat that your Granny knitted you. Your friends may laugh and ...

... from the office it is obviously not going to go back that way. Brilliant eh? The back up plan, for especially busy traffic days when it's hard to see that far, is to walk about a kilometre to the corner of the intersection and wait for it there. Now I can hear all of you thinking to yourselves, "Why doesn't he just ask the bus driver which way he's going?" Because the vicious buggers lie, that's why. One day, after I had shown up at the office an hour and a half ...