Off to the country

Trip Start Nov 03, 2008

Trip End May 2009

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Where I stayed

Fawlty Towers Hotel - honest

(Guilin hotels)

Flag of China Guilin, Guangxi Zhuang, China
Sunday, November 16, 2008

left Shanghai on the "hard sleeper" over night train ( its sooooo the way to travel) and about 22 hours later arrived in Guilin. The train is a great way to meet new people, along with people you might have wished not to meet.We shared the open carriage with Kelly and Zhau, from and 2 "locals", who I thought were married, based on the fact they didnt talk to each other, but had a shared habit of snorting snot loudly....sussed by the morning, they were not married, just enjoyed snorting. On the journey we got more of a sense of rural China, then we took the bus to Yangshuo on the Li river. The mountains are very picture postcard....have to dodge the hawkers trying to sell you packs of them...just like every other town we have visited, the locals try very hard to extract money from the tourists, fair play really.
We did some tai chi this morning = very relaxing. Went bamboo rafting this afternoon = very scary, its like punting crossed with low level white water rafting. The ole girls try selling you plastic bags for your feet, its not your feet you need to worry about ; o ) The bike ride to the river for the rafting was probably the most scarry bit ( and I can do scarry rides) crossing the duel lane traffic was like playing russian roulette

Kelly and sleeprtrain bedhead

. The way it works here is if you have a hooter that is loud, you can do anything, drive anywhere and pavements are an extention of the road if needed. If you are a pedestraian......you have no hooter = you have no rights
Yangshou is the last post before you get to the Longji Terraces. You can pick up all sorts of "moody" gear like a North Face fleece for 5 quid, if your more serious about your kit, there are a couple of shops that look reputable, hmmmmmm then again, this is China. Mable

Hi campers Mac here, well what a mad place, like Oxford Steet in London on speed. All the stuff here is 100% fake, guranteed but sooooooo cheap. The hotel Fawlty Towers does not let the name down at all.. At least our beds are not wet, unlike Luke's.... ha ha, but we do have to take the top off the loo to pull the bit of string that isnt connected to the ballcock to get it to flush. Food here is fab, we met a young Chinese lad called Joe last night, he was 9 and spoke fantastic English, wants to be an astronaught and I bet he will be.

The hotel has the slowest internet in the world, bit like the the toilet that keeps breaking but the beds are comfy. The safe deposit box is a carrier bag with your room number written on it and put in a draw marked with do not steal , I suppose they do know kung fu here. People need to come here to see how easy it is to be killed crossing a road and have the strangest of breakfasts... including salad and fruit salad with your full fry up. Mac x