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So, as we mentioned in the previous chapter, leaving Hong Kong was very tough for us. It has surpassed all expectations and has even overtaken Brugge as the best place we've visited on our trip so far. But as we already have our Vietnamese visa's it meant that there was a schedule to keep and therefore we needed to move on. In order to continue our trip across China towards Guilin we could only take a train from Shenzhen, which is the city directly above Hong Kong and as it has gone from a poor fishing village to China's richest city in only 20 years or so, it would have been rude not to have spent a couple of days there to explore and we thought it would be better if we were in the city before our train departure day to allow for any potential complications. Crossing the border from Hong Kong to Shenzhen is very straightforward as the two cities subway systems are connected, so you simply ride the Hong Kong subway all the way to the very end, go through the usual customs and passport checks and then jump on the Shenzhen subway straight after.
On the day we left Hong Kong, the weather was perfect. It had picked up to around 20 degrees and there wasn't a single cloud in the sky. We jumped on the metro and spent the entire duration of the 45 minute journey to the border trying to forge some form of a plan in order to come back here for around a month before we eventually return to England. We think we may have cracked it but it all depends on how much we can earn and save in Australia and New Zealand.
Shenzhen wasn't what we had expected at all. Although it was evident that the city's framework was going to be very youthful due to their recent wealth, everywhere was spotlessly clean and there also seemed to be a ethical approach to their living, which is very rare in China. However, what they don't seem to have in the city is an identity. With all the new buildings and art-deco regenerated complexes comes a certain degree of pretentiousness but not enough character to justify it. However, the warmth and abundance of palm trees kept the spirits high and after checking into our hostel, we sourced out a local eatery and sat down to a meal of noodle soup accompanied with some sliced hog's ear, which despite it's curious texture was actually quite a treat. As we were at an outside table enjoying the sunshine, we had decided to wash down the cartlidge and noodles with a cold beer which then gave us the taste for the rest of the evening, obviously. So we popped to the supermarket for a six-pack to take up to our room. However, refrigerated beers in Chinese supermarkets is not common and so after forcing down a couple of warm, average-at-best tasting lagers, we had decided that we were going to calm down on the drinks from this point onwards. We've noticed a slight increase in our respective waistlines and the only reason can be because of our beer intake, as we're very active on a daily basis and our diets are definitely balanced. Therefore, we're now only going to drink twice a week at most and we're going to make the most of the warmer climates (when we eventually get there) by switching from beer to lower calorie alternatives, such as cocktails, where possible.
Back to Shenzhen. We were advised to check out a few sites by a Brazilian chap that we had met in Hong Kong but upon arrival, they just didn't seem to deliver. One place called OCT was apparently very cultural, but after wandering around the streets for about half an hour, all we had found was a man-made waterfall. There's also a place called Seaworld which was described as a 'must see'. We were expecting an overpriced and oversized aquarium, but it's actually just a westernised village/street, complete with a Subway, McDonalds, Pizza Hut, KFC and even a Dunkin' Donuts. There's a boat on one side of it which apparently offers some insight into the culture/history of the city, but as it was surrounded by a building site, we decided against investigating further. We ate a pretty decent Mexican meal, grabbed a doughnut for dessert and then just headed back to the hostel feeling rather shortchanged.
On the day of our departure, we just checked out of the hostel at mid-day and headed straight for the train station, even though our train wasn't due to depart until around 6pm. Usually, we would ask the hostel to store our bags and we would look to do something to occupy ourselves for a few hours but as the staff were the most unhelpful that we had encountered yet, we just wanted to get out of there and out of the city to be honest. Therefore, we set up camp outside the station and played good ol' Monopoly Deal to pass the time, much to the interest of the passing locals. We relocated inside the station later on in the afternoon and went for a meal in the restaurant. We accepted the recommendations from the chap behind the counter but unfortunately he failed us; I ended up with a bowl of rice accompanied by some chicken feet and potentially dog-meat broth. Anne couldn't even describe what was in her bowl. Luckily, we had sat down at the same time that the staff were having their meal and one of the waitresses, who we'll call Edna, came over to investigate our dinners. I said my usual 'Hao Chi' which means delicious and is truly the most important word I've learnt in Chinese. She gave the usual chuckle that follows whenever I say it and then proceeded to offer us some battered fried fish, which actually was delicious. I'm quite certain that Edna knew we were eating something rather unfriendly even to the most adventurous westerners and then after speaking with her colleague, who we'll call Nora, we ended up with Nora plonking a second battered fish on our plates. Not wanting to seem ungrateful as we were already very full, we forced the second one down and then quickly scurried out of there before they could throw anything else at us, after expressing our extreme thanks of course.
The train ride to Guilin was looking to pass as being the most uneventful and uncomfortable one yet, as we had booked hard sleepers but could only get the middle and top bunks which offer just enough space to sit up in, if you are only 3 foot tall. Seeing as though I am over double that height, Anne and I resorted to either standing up aside our compartment or lying down on our respective beds. Fortunately, the Monopoly Deal game assisted in us making friends with the other people who occupied our 6-bed berth. They were a group of five friends from Hong Kong & China called Carmen, Howard, Jessica, Yvonne & David and we played the Monopoly game and generally just chatted with them until lights out at 10pm where we decided that it would be for the best if we were to get some sleep at this point.
We arrived in Guilin at 7:30am having little sleep between us. The train was a stopper and so through the night, there was a constant change of people who would make their presence known through the carriage, except for our friends, who had quietly departed at 1am. We made our way to the hostel and sandwiched some washing and sightseeing between a breakfast and lunch consisting of the local noodle specialty, for which we paid only 50p a portion. It is simply fresh hand-pulled noodles, with some meat, nuts and a little sauce. You can then take your bowl to a self-service station where you can add broth, pickled vegetables, chilli and a spring onion and coriander mix. To put it simply, they are the best noodles I've ever eaten and therefore, we actually had them for dinner that night as well, introducing our Finnish room-mate Mikko to them in the process, before also introducing him to Monopoly Deal.
The next morning we had the strangest wake up call yet. The door on our dorm was rather difficult to shut properly and our German roommates left it ajar when they checked out at 8am. One thing I failed to mention about our hostel is that they have two relatively young cats, who like to intrepidly investigate the building. Needless to say, I was awoken first with one of the cats clawing away at my quilt and secondly Anne was awoken when one of them decided to snuggle up under her duvet. As the day was Chinese New Years Eve, we decided to soak it all up and watch the excitement build throughout the day. We had been promised a free party by our hostel so our plans for the evening were decided. After catching up on the last of our chores, we enjoyed yet more 50p noodles and then returned to the hostel to get in the party mood, dodging many firecrackers and fireworks along the way (which had been progressively growing over the past few days). The evening was really enjoyable; we were treated to free Chinese Hot Pot, which consists of dunking vegetables and meat into broth and then taking them out to eat when they're cooked to your liking. A lot of the other guests had decided to remain in the hostel so the numbers were high and as the midnight hour approached, we had all been given copious amounts of free beer and 52% rice wine to sample. This was probably not the best time to give us fireworks to set off over the river but we embraced it all the same, whilst admiring all of the other rockets and illuminations which were lighting up the sky in all directions. Anne and I also witnessed numerous business' setting off firecrackers on their own doorsteps, including our own hostel (we later found out that this is to ward off bad spirits for the year, as the noise should frighten them away) and a young family literally throwing fireworks at each other. At the midnight hour, communicating outside could only be in the form of shouting and that was barely audible in itself, such was the magnitude of the pandemonium. At this point we had realised that whilst our plans had been slightly scuppered by the Chinese New Year and although we should have been in Vietnam the day before, this truly was a magnificent sight to behold and I felt rather grateful for the delays so that we could experience this first-hand. To top the night off, I managed to catch the second half of Man City v Tottenham, as the hostel manager was streaming it through his laptop, whilst also being asked to reel off a few City songs for one of the hostel staff as he wanted to know what the words were. In my drunken state, I duly obliged.
The next morning, Anne slept off her hangover whilst I pottered about the hostel's communal area. No-one from the previous night seemed to be around apart from a Dutch couple who had arranged to go to some Hot Springs with Anne. I apologised to them later on when I realised. Paige and Leigh from Dallas, with whom I had enjoyed a lot of banter had checked out, Mikko was also still asleep and Ben & Christina, a British couple who were teaching near to Shanghai, must have gone out. I chatted with our new roommate, Eliza from Frankfurt and when Anne finally awoke, she dragged me along to McDonalds for a typical western hangover cure - I had already enjoyed some dumplings to clear mine off though. Afterwards, we jumped on a bamboo riverboat with Eliza & Mikko, just for the experience and the four of us played cards with Liz & Ricardo from Mexico and Pete & Rhiannon from Los Angeles. We moved on to Yangshuo the next morning by way of bamboo riverboat down the River Li, a common form of transportation between the two areas. We were paired with Ben & Christina and bizarrely, Olivier (who we had met in Hong Kong and had taken us to the Michelin Star restaurant) joined us on the bus. What was even more coincidental was that Olivier was actually staying in the same hostel as us in Yangshuo, although I suppose this makes sense as he is Belgian and the hostel offers a number of Trappist Beers from his home country. After enjoying the sights down the river and the Cormorant Fishing Show (People from England may remember that there was a HSBC advert where a chap in China used a Cormorant Bird to fish - we actually got to see this live), we headed to the hostel and enjoyed a few Belgian delights with Olivier, who was actually also in our room. I had a Rochefort 10 and Anne had a Chimay Blue, it was definitely a taste I had missed since leaving Brugge!
To summarise the next few days, we went on a 25km bike ride with Olivier around the countryside, but unfortunately didn't see many spectacular sights. We enjoyed an abundance of Guilin Noodles and headed to a Water Cave, where you can jump around in mud before washing it off in a Hot Spring. Although Anne and I had insisted on sticking to the Hot Spring, we changed our mind at the last minute and splashed around in the squidgy dirt. We also met up with people who we had befriended along the way. It was all getting to be rather incestuous actually, for want of a better word. Joe from Leamington Spa, who we had met in Xi'an and Shanghai was rooming with Mikko from Guilin. There was also a Danish chap called Christian who we met in Shanghai. It turns out that Olivier had met him there as well and Olivier had also slept in the exact same room as we had at the hostel, only a week before. The final night in Yangshuo was most definitely one of the most interesting. One of Joe's hostel buddies, Aidan from Australia, had been told that there was a night market where we could sample some Dog Hot Pot. This was particularly intriguing to me as I had said to Anne the week before that we weren't being adventurous enough with our food and that I wanted to step it up a gear. This led to some curious meals, including frog, snails, chicken feet and hog's ears but I thought that dog would top it all off nicely. So we set off with Aidan, Joe, Olivier and Antoine from Canada in search for our culinary treat and after circulating a particular area, I decided to consult one of the quaint restaurant owners nearby. It turned out that they had dog meat on offer (this was apparent after a couple of woofs, barks and dog-like actions from the six of us present) and so after negotiating a price, reminiscent to a high-pressure drug deal, we finally sat down and chewed our way through man's best friend. I have to say, whilst it was a rather tough texture, it was a very bold and delectable flavour; somewhere between mutton and beef.
The next morning, we had booked onto a bus to the nearby city of Nanning to depart at 8.10am, where we were hoping to catch a train to Hanoi and end our Chinese experience after a month meandering south from Beijing. We were due to arrive in Nanning by early afternoon, maybe 2-3pm and the overnight train left at 6:45pm, so we were cutting it rather fine, especially considering that we hadn't booked our tickets as yet and we had the hangover of the Chinese New Year to contend with. As we arrived at the station, we were wrongly ushered onto a bus by the driver and this is where we met Matt & Jess, who had lived in Liverpool but were from Northern Ireland and Bristol respectively. To continue the crossovers of people, they had actually stayed in the same hostel with Ben & Christina and had a chat with them, as well as going out for drinks with Joe from Leamington Spa. Funnily enough, the couple were looking to get to Hanoi as quickly as we were and when they learned that we were looking to do the same, Jess provided a very quotable sentence, "By hook or by crook, we're getting to Hanoi today". This was all the motivation we needed and when I found out that Matt was also a lifelong Man City fan, it seemed like fate. After finding the correct bus, we set off to Nanning an hour late. The 5 hour journey flew by for Matt and I, as we discussed everything and anything City. Jess and Anne slept. In Nanning, the coach station was packed but as we were advised that there may have been a later coach leaving for Hanoi, we decided to investigate further but unfortunately, we were too late. This meant the four of us taking a taxi to the train station in the hope that there were still soft sleeper beds available on the night train. After correctly locating the Hanoi ticket window, we anxiously queued and browsed the display screen which appeared to show that all the tickets were sold out. When we got to the booth, Anne handed the clerk the piece of paper with our ticket order written in Chinese by the Yangshuo hostel staff. After studying for 15 seconds, he offered us a brief nod - much to our delight. We were to be leaving China that night. Although we had enjoyed our time there, we were glad to be leaving as the months journey had taken it's toll on us. We had found that you could switch between the Good, the Bad and the Ugly of China in a matter of minutes. From picture perfect views, to an undoubtedly visible gap between the rich and the poor, to amazing cuisine, to being fleeced by taxi drivers, to being given lots of attention and generosity, to severely underestimating the Chinese New Year, we definitely had had an experience to remember. If we were to return to China, it would be in the summer and we would focus solely on the south, as we had missed out on trips to Tiger Leaping Gorge and the Yellow Mountain due to the detour we had taken.
Back in Nanning, we boarded our train and managed to switch a bed so that the four of us were all in the same compartment. We knew that we were in for a rough night as there are two passport and custom control checks where we need to leave the train somewhere between midnight and 2am before the train was set to arrive at 4:45am. The border crossing went by without a hitch but we only managed around 3 hours sleep each. This would have been fine had we been able to check into our hostel, but unfortunately, our room wasn't to be ready until 2pm. At this point it was 5:30am so we just decided to drop our luggage and head out for breakfast with Matt & Jess as they were in a similar boat. It was a refreshing change, being in Vietnam. The architecture of Hanoi was very westernised, due to the French colonising the area around the turn of the 19th Century until the end of the Second World War. After our vegetarian breakfast (the only place open that early) we headed for a walk around to pass the time. We stumbled upon some great sights within the Old Quarter and after locating another hostel as our drinking venue for that evening, we turned in to our respective hostels to catch up on a few hours sleep.
For dinner that evening, we decided to check out some local specialties. As there is a massive French influence in the cuisine combined with a rustic Eastern foundation, the results are spectacular. We opted for a street BBQ, which is where you are given your own stove & pan and a great mix of ingredients with fresh, vibrant flavours of coriander, lime, chilli and lemongrass meeting with steak, onion and baguettes (which wouldn't go amiss on a Pub-Lunch menu in England). Needless to say, we were more than satisfied and after and evening of drinks, we actually at down to a second serving at 1am with Matt and Jess. Another interesting observation is that we didn't see Spring Rolls on offer anywhere in China, yet they're a staple in Vietnam. It seems weird as I'd always associated them with the Chinese take-aways back home.
So, we are finally in a new country and we've crossed into the Tropics. Unfortunately, we've still not experienced much sun but after checking out some more of the north, we're going to rush down towards the south in order to work on our tans. After braving the Siberian and Mongolian winters and enduring traveling through China during it's busiest month for rail travel, I think we definitely deserve a week of Sun, Sand and Sea. After all, it is such a hard life...
- comments
-a- Awesome read once again! Your culinary adventures have left me feeling strangely hungry, but I think I'll go with something more Vegan Academy approved. Have fun in Vietnam and enjoy the tropical warmth. It's -33 C here at the Arctic Circle. O_o
Mum Well it's took me a while due to time to read this but I have thoroughly enjoyed it! Nora made me giggle and I thought you stumbled so to speak in your dog hot pot not actually go looking for it like you did haha , brilliant reading along with my emails it's helping me as I'm missing you so much but I love it that your having such a fab time, take care xxx
New Yorker Friend Yeaaaaaah it's all about the DOG MEAT. Woof Wooooooof hahaha.