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so much has happened since my last entry! so will try compress the information into this one entry! been to dali, kunming and yangshuo (where i am now) since the last time i updated.
last tuesday we headed to dali. i liked it much more than zhongdian, was a nice little ancient town with roasting hot weather and yummy food :) just like in western cities there are china towns, in dali there is 'foreigner street' which is lined with shops and bars and restaurants with western menus. we went to see the 'three pagodas' which looked really interesting in the lonely planet book but not so interesting in real life. but it was a nice walk through corn fields on the way. we were meant to go on an organised exursion on wednesday including a lake cruise but on tuesday evening there was a really bad storm. rain like iv never seen before, much worse that in scotland! the streets were completely flooded and there was scary thunder and lightning! but we were determined to go out for food so we borrowed umbrellas from the hotel and waded through the streets, trying to avoid being struck by lightning and ran into a restaurant that caught our eye. it was called 'the pheonix' and is run by an older canadian man. he looked after us drowned rats and we had the best food iv had so far in china (even though the food was italian! ha). he was such an interesting man and told us all about china and their culture and people (they can be quite strange and mysterious people you see). the day after we ate at the pheonix again with our favourite friend and then went to a tea ceremony. i really didnt understand what it was all about as it was all in chinese, but we did get three cups of tea and see people dance around in colourful outfits! ha. i also had my first ever pedicure. three of us thought it would be nice and relaxing so we went into a place with two girls that looked like they knew what they were doing. but then they called someone and 5 minutes later 3 boys came in with their pedicure kits and got to work! was funny.
i was sad to leave dali as it had such a nice atmosphere and chilled out people. after dali we took a short bus ride to kunming. it was a horrible, dirty, crowded city so was glad we were only there for the day, although it had a super mcdonalds! from kunming we went to see the 'stone forest' which is exactly what its named: a huge area just like a forest with lots of huge stones in strange and interesting shapes. some looked like elephants, others like faces and one that looked like a turtle. from kunming we then took an internal flight to guilin, where we then took two busses to a place called ping'an which is in the longji rice terraces. we arrived at night time and our bus could only take us so far as it was up in the mountains so we then had to walk half an hour with our backpacks. when we got off the bus there were lots of little ladies with big back baskets waiting for us wanting to carry our backpacks for money. at first i thought it was wrong as the were a lot older and smaller than me, but then i realised that if i didnt let them then they wouldnt make any money. so i gave in. im glad i did as it was a difficult walk for us in the pitch black - the little ladies whizzed ahead with no problems! a couple of them were at least 65, put my fitness levels to shame! it was nice though as because it was so dark we saw lots of lightning bugs lighting up the sky :)
the next day we went for a hike through the rice terraces. it was a scorching day and walking for 6 hours was hard going! but it was worth it for the beautiful views. we even found a little stream along the way where we went for a swim. we had our bikinis on under our clothes as we were determined to swim somewhere! the people there in the countryside work really hard. they work and work and work until their dying day. so many men and women we saw carrying huge loads were elderly and so small and skinny. they have a hard life and look exhausted.
from ping'an we had a 4 hour bus journey to yangshuo, which i leave tomorrow night. yangshuo is the most beautiful place iv seen so far. it has lots of strange shaped hills and mountains that make up an interesting landscape. yesterday we rented bicycles and went for a cycle out into the countryside. i absolutly loved it, cycling really is the best way to see things. i hadnt been on a bike in years and years, but its true that you never forget how to do it. we also went on a cruise down the li river in a tiny little boat and saw some lovely sights and the sunset there. at night we went to watch comrade fishing, which is when the fisherman goes out on a little bamboo boat and uses birds to catch the fish, then he scoops them up and takes the fish from them. poor birds, but they do get a treat now and again. they are very well trained! today i have been quite ill ... three of us seem to have gotten some sort of food poisoning from some dodgy pork last night so throwing up has filled my day :( but inbetween i was able to cycle for a little while and see 'moon hill' from a distance before going back to the hotel to sleep. hopefully will be fine tomorrow. it seems no food is safe now! the heat here is unbelievable, i love the heat but its too hot even for me. im always bright red!
and, it had to happen sooner or later ... i saw butchered dogs. dog lovers to not read this. our first day in yangshuo we had a wander around and found a local market that was in the lonely planet book. it was this dark, dirty open space and the first thing i saw when i went in was severed fish everywhere. iv never seen inside a fish before, its not very nice! there were tiny cages full of live chickens, geese, ducks and rabbits, all killed right there when people want to buy them. then saw some live frogs and turtles for sale for eating, after which i witnessed a market woman cutting into a live frog with scissors. it was awful. she just cut into the poor thing and ripped it apart, letting all its insides fall out. i had heard dogs barking but assumed it was coming from outside or was someones pet, but no. i came across a little cage crammed with live dogs. they were all the same breed but im not sure what kind they were and they were yelping and scared. and no wander as right next to them was a skinned dog hanging from the roof, as well as two skinned dog legs. i got really upset. to me dogs are pets and i just wanted to free them. yesterday a couple of people from the tour group who hadnt seen it went to the market and they saw a dog being killed. they slit its throat and leave it lying there in the market until it dies. after that market i realised that chinese people have no compassion for any living things. major culture differences, not always good.
anyway, apologies for the horror story! i also have photos so they will be coming soon! tomorrow i leave yangshuo on the night train to guangzhou. my tour ends on saturday, will be sad to say goodbye to the other tour members as they are lovely people. rachel is meeting me this friday and so then it will just be the two of us taking on asia! uh oh! ha. aiming to be in vietnam some point next week, depending when we can get trains/busses organised. really excited about going there :)
will update again as soon as possible
love
xxx
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