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After the hustle and bustle of Shanghai, Hong Kong and all stops in between we did manage to find the calmer, quieter soul of China. After or Hong Kong visa fiasco we were rather pleased that we had been allowed to leave that enclave and were even happier that our rusty dirty old Air China plane got us to Guillin in one piece. From Guilin (has a fantastic Szechuan restaurant by the river that will float anyones chilli boat but little else to recommend it) we were headed for the Dragon's Back, or to give it its proper name Longshen Rice Terraces.
These terraces covering hundreds of acres across tens of hill sides were built some 500 years ago and still produce a bumper crop of rice and corn annually. The Dragon's Back along with the Nine Dragons Place refer to hillsides that are dominated by oval and circular paddies receding upwards one on top of the other like a green and watery wedding cake. They create a vista that is unlike anything I have seen and I enjoyed it more because they are still in use and still so economically important to this day. It was a joy to be wandering along the hill paths and looking down over such a strange but beautiful sight. Inevitably, though we thought we had escaped the worst of the tourist traps in Ping'an we got way-laid by a gang of three local Yao women in traditional garb who when I asked to take a picture instead bullied Laura in to wearing some of their clothes and posing for pictures with them. I don't think it would be possible to enjoy being mugged but I did. These ladies where so cheerful and full of energy, chattering away to each other and us. Their attempts to use my camera showed that they had not yet got the best of modern technology but it was funny when one of the older ladies, wearing clothes in a style that has not changed in some 700 years, paused our photoshoot to answer her mobile phone. After we had bought a bracelet from them and said our goodbyes we were showered with hugs and kisses and allowed to go on our way.
From Longshen we made our way to Yangshuo via a night in Guilin. Yangshuo was billed in our guide books as a bit of a backpackers Mecca. It was but I can't say I wasn't disappointed. It has too many bars and far too much loud dance music in the evening but it does have a lake in the middle of the town, cobbled streets, streams behind carved balustrades along the main thoroughfares and a backdrop of sugarloaf hills all around. Our first and only afternoon we spent there we did not waste. We decided on the recommendation of our hotel owner Judy that we would like to do a raft cruise down the river. We were told that we could get a guide there and do the raft thing then cycle back. In the end we cycled the 9km to the raft spot valiantly keeping up with our moped riding guide. It was nice to have the excercise, though the roads were scary to start with.
The rafts used for this excursion are made of ten large bamboo poles of about 15ft long lashed together. There are then two wicker chairs lashed to the middle facing forward. Sound precarious? It was! We were too heavy for the first raft we were assigned. Embarrassingly we, and our bikes, had to get on to a different one in front of a snickering crowd that seemed to take our weight a bit better.
But once we were going it was a delight. There was those familiar sugarloaf hills, wallowing water buffalo , a man with 5 cormorants hitching a ride on his raft, the magnificent 700 year old Dragon Bridge and the gorgeous green paddy fields filling up every piece of flat land. Punting Chinese style is great. We even got to go over some weirs which caused some alarm until we had done our third one. The ride only benefited from those short lived white knuckle experiences though some of the pollution we saw did look alarmingly faecal. When we did make land we had a delightful cycle back through the paddys and villages to our hotel. We had worked up an appetite that day and we had decided to sate it with a local speciality called the Hot Pot. Forget Betty in the Rovers Return, this is an entirely different proposition. The hot pot itself is sat in the middle of the table upon a small stove and is then filled with stock. We chose the spicy stock and the double flavour stock. You then order plates of dumplings, meat and veg that you cook in the hotpot before dipping in sauces and then munching. I liked it a great deal. Particularly the mushrooms and the pork dumplings all done in the chilli stock. Yum. We made such a mess but had so much fun.
The next day we boarded a train for Hanoi. This train journey was memorable for the border guards asking us to unpack all our belongings and explain them as necessary. At one in the morning and after having taken away our passports I had to explain what the CDs I had where for and where I had bought them as well as explain what my Nivea aftershave was for. All this whilst the train was under armed guard and after I had seen one Chinese guy get taken off the train. They made beelines for books wherever they saw them but luckily we had nothing confiscated. To their credit they where very polite and apologised for the inconvenience. I even had a brief conversation with one guard about Sony PSP. I couldn't help wondering if that guy I'd got a grin out of over the PSP would return to the office and join in the beating of the poor hapless chap I saw getting taken off the train earlier. There was a definate air of menace about the whole experience.
And so into Vietnam and Hanoi. I think we liked it almost immediatley. Old French colonial architecture, Buddhist temples splashed about and heaving street side markets and foodstalls pumping all sorts of delicious smells in to the air. We have seen all the regular sights but my favourite thing to do was sit at a Bia Hoi stall at the side of the road and watch the bustle go on. Bia Hoi is the local beer, brewed fresh everyday without additives or preservatives then delivered in kegs all over the city. Not a single keg will have anything left in it come 11pm as everyone goes mad for it. And at about 8p a glass and tasty too, who can blame them. Beer that good after the great food we've been having was such a treat.
Halong Bay we visited after a couple of days in Hanoi. It is a 3 hour bus journey away on the coast. It is where The Man with the Golden Gun was shot, though James Bond had much better weather when he was here. Though it was still warm we didn't see any sun at all and even got rained on a little on the morning after we arrived. It was fun though. We got to swim in the warm see and stay out on deck until late drinking beer. After the busy-ness of Hanoi it was a nice respite. After a visit to a seafood farm the next day (where I learnt that crabs come in all sorts of spangly patterns) we got back on our bus to Hanoi where we enjoyed a few more Bia Hois befor getting or train to Hue. And here we are. Tomorrow we go to the DMZ and learn about 'Nam.
Chris
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