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Aloha all :)
From Xian to Hong Kong
Today I went to the Terra-Cotta Army. That day what I can remember was: it was a very hot day. The bus ride Xian to the Terra-Cotta army was 90 min. The Terra-Cotta Army area is a huge complex with 4 different pits. The best spot of the pit is area no.1. On that pit you will see the Terra-Cotta army on a queue. They are still reconstruction all the army. It was an amazing view to the army.
Later in the afternoon I went back to Xian. The rest of the day was free time and I didn't do much. Just relaxing and surfing a bit on the net at the Internet bar. The hotel in Xian was located in the center. One of the best spot is: the bell and drum tower.
During the evening I walked around the bell and drum tower to make some pictures. At Muslim Street there were a lot of markets around. Also on that street you will find a lot of shops and restaurants. It's a whole adventure if you walk around, because it's so crowded. Xian has a lot of dumpling restaurants and some of them are pretty good J
After the sightseeing, we went the whole group to a club. You'll say: On Tuesday night to a club? Yes, it was and it felt like Saturday night hahaha J. The club was called: 1+1 club. Chinese people and club: it was very interesting to saw all those people going crazyJ. As you know all: I'm a Trance-Addict and the first stage was R&B and Hip Hop. The second stage was more House and later on into Hardhouse. What sometimes so disgusting about the people is: spitting on the floor. Of course there were some cleaners to clean that up, but it's not they way how it should be. Also what I mentioned was that Chinese people, I would say the males are so desperate about getting girls hahaha. They touched the ladies in their butt and sometimes what I saw was they refused it. Mostly of the girls were dancing on the sideway and the males are dancing on the dancefloor.But the nightlife in Xian was good and there are a lot of clubs around. If you can spend more time in Xian, I suggest to check the nightlife in Xian J
The day train from Xian to Yichang was a nice view by daylight. Mostly of my travel mates were sleeping, cause of the night before. But I didn't drink and I went early to bed then others. Also it was the first time that I could see something about China. Mostly of the journey by train was overnight, so you couldn't see much. This was my opportunity to see how China is.
It was nice to see Beijing, Shanghai, and Xian etc as a city. You know, pretty good developed and the necessary facilities. But going deeper into China and I saw a complete different view of China. Some of those parts what I saw was just like Indonesia. What I meant with that is: poor houses, bad roads, the life how it goes, not modern etc. It's totally the opposite, but it gave a good view that China is still a developing country. I think that it will be good developing country in the coming 5 till 10 years from now on. Of course some of them will be the same, but probably they will carry their culture for the next generation.
What I mentioned during my traveling by train was: people don't care about rules. If there is a sign saying: no smoking, no spitting or no littering, it doesn't matter and they ignored. Especially during the overnight train. The seats aren't smoke free and mostly you can smell the smoke and that's not good. It was a good experienced so far to see how it goes by train in China. Further mostly of the train where I traveled were pretty old. So it's not like the Shinkasen a.k.a bullet trains in Japan. Further the bed are hard sleepers and not so comfortable to sleep on.
Around midnight I arrived in Yichang. It's also the hometown of my tour guide. In Yichang I didn't spend to much time. It was just sleeping and the next 2 days was spending on a boat to see the Three Gorges. Before I went with the boat, I went first to the Three Gorges Dam Project. They completed the Dam last year and the project was started 12 years ago. Nowadays they are still building new dams to protect against floating during the raining season. The Dam itself was a nice view to see and of course I was the only one who got trouble getting ticket for the entrance. If you have still you college card or you are still a student, you will pay half price. But they lady was very pissed off, because she said: I cheated her and that my college card wasn't mine.
Well, I used that college card many times and I didn't get any problems except at this Project Dam. A whole discussion with my tour guide and after 10 minutes she gave up, but she said in Chinese to my tour guide and my tour guide translated it to me: Please Patrick, don't come again to the Three Gorges Project Dam, cause you made a lot of problems for me. Also she was very mad on me and she wished: you were gone as soon as possible. That was pretty good to hear about it and I was calm. But I have my thoughts about it and I just keep it for myself. Of course you can guess what I will think ;)
In the evening, I went to the boat. It's not a cruise ship, but a normal boat and it's a cheap version of a cruise ship. During the night you can't see much, but also it rained during the night too.
In the morning, the view was absolutely amazing of the Three Gorges at the Yangtze Sea. Later in the morning I went with a little boat to see one of the Three Gorges. Truly amazing and also I was fully surprised about that China has that kind of view. Definitely one of the best spot if you want to see some beautiful view of China J
During the night I didn't do much, because the next morning I had to get up at 5:45 am. I know it was short, but for 2 days at the boat was good.
The day was, like I said pretty early started. My next stop in China was Yangshuo in Guillin. Before I'll reach Yangshuo, I went first back to the hostel where I slept 2 days ago to get my bags. After a little breakfast, I went by private bus to Wuhan. It was a 4h driving. Also during the day I saw some view of China. The ride to Wuhan was a kind of risk, cause rules in China…there are not much rules. It doesn't matter how you pass a car or bus. Also 2h before the train was heading to Yangshuo, I got stuck by traffic jam. The first thing what I surprised was: my tour guide needed a middle man to get the train tickets. The location where he met his middle man was at strange place and I thought this is not a save place. I was not that scared, but always be caution in some way.
Suddenly, a car came with blinded windows. It was so strange to see how my tour guide got the ticket for the train. Also my following travel mates were a bit surprised. Normally, you will get your tickets at the train station, but because of the time, the middle man couldn't be on time at the station in Wuhan. So it was so weird and also I was thinking about the other train tickets before. Something I didn't feel comfortable and I had my doubts about that meeting point.
But about the traffic jam: it was a truck that didn't pass a car and the track got stuck between an up hill and road. But it costs a lot of trouble on the road, because the road was narrow and lots of traffic activities around that area too. It was not efficient how they did that to pass a truck and car. Some of them are such a dumb people and hardly to understand them. But after talking, including my tour guide, the traffic went better.
Suddenly, I arrived at Wuhan station. It's a new station and it was finished last year. But again, the signs are saying: no smoking, no littering and no spitting. But suddenly I saw a lot of people spitting on the floor and it was so disgusting to see that. It's definitely a bad manner of the Chinese people, but it's not all of them.
On the train from Yichang to Yangshuo was for me one of the worst experienced so far of my world trip. First of all, the train had a delayed for about 2 hours. Further the bed was already used and didn't get any new blankets. Mostly of them are used and some of them was horrible to smell. Third thing was the people that were making a lot of noise. Even when the lights went off, they still keep going talking and hard too. Also on train were a lot of kids and you know kids how they are? It was a hell 12h in overnight train and I didn't sleep.
Around 7:00 am I arrived in Guillin and it was another hour driving to Yanghsuo. After almost 27 hours traveling from Yichang to Yanghsuo I arrived finally. But the room wasn't available yet. All of my travel mates are having their room, except my and another travel mate. Suddenly, I was together with my travel mate the last one who got our room. As you know all: I was freaking tired and also it was also hot too. The last couple of hotel and hostel they didn't have internet in the room, so sometimes it was so frustrated. But the Internet bar in China isn't that kind of expensive, so that's good J
During the day in Yangshuo I went first to the market. They sold a lot of things and even they sold dog bones. Also I saw a dead dog that will be cut into pieces. It was worst to see that. But you know, it's China and they didn't care about things. So I was trying to get used to it.
After the market, I went to the Li River. I went for a bamboo raft. It was a 2h raft to see the view around the river. It was a very nice spot and definitely worth to get there. So far I didn't regret for this activity J
During the evening I went to see the nightlife of Yangshuo. Yangshuo is a favorite spot for tourist and backpackers. Also in this little town, they have a lot of bars and clubs. I was of course very surprised about it. So I went with the whole group to check out the nightlife.
The next day I rent a bike to see Yangshuo. We went with a whole group to the Moon Hill. But first we have to cycling to that place and the weather was hot and humidity. I've been so sweat before so far. I was totally drenched from top till bottom. But if you wanted to explore yourself in this town, you should definitely rent a bike. Definitely worth it so far J
During the evening we got our last group meal in China. In Hong Kong will be everyone individual, so much choice to get there. After the last meal, we went with the whole group to the karaoke bar. It was funny to see all those people singing hahaha. Mostly of the group drank before, because during the last meal there was a happy hour. So you all can imagine how the cocktails and beer were floating J
The next day was the last day in Yangsuho. Till 7 pm we could do a lot of other activities like cooking, kung fu lesson, tai chi lesson etc. I did cooking and kung fu lessons. Both are very interesting and during the cooking lesson I made Kung pao chicken & dumplings. Also we got other recipes from other dishes, so very handy J
The kung fu lesson was pretty cool. We got a kung fu master and learning the basic steps of kung fu. The first 10 steps of the basic kung fu I can do that ;)
The last overnight train from Guillin to Shenzhen was pretty good. Of course I didn't sleep well, but much better then last overnight train ;)
At Shenzhen I crossed the border to Hong Kong and everything went relax and no problems at all. The coming few hours I will spend some time in Hong Kong before I will go to Jakarta, Indonesia.But my few hours in Hong Kong weren't a great success. Lots of rain showers and thundershowers too L So maybe next time I will spend more time in Hong Kong and I guess it's such a great city to spend 3 days, 2 nights J
Till the next message from Indonesia :)
Greetz and take care
Patrick Delsine
- comments
Romy Hey Patrick, Sorry dat ik niet eerder even gereageerd heb maar druk druk druk...ik loop ook een beetje achter met al je verhalen dus dat ga ik snel een keer bijlezen :D... ik zie dat je weer bijna naar Indonesie gaat!!! Ik heb zo'n heimwee daarheen! Kun je alle indrukken een beetje verwerken of is het echt too much?! Je maakt wel wat mee zeg!!..nou ik wens je nog veel succes en geef Indonesie een dikke zoen van me ;)
Chantal Hey wereldreiziger! Erg leuk om je verhalen te lezen zeg... je maakt veel mee en ziet een hoop, geweldig! Bijna naar Indonesie.... heerlijk... geniet er lekker van. Take care greetz Chan
Patrick Chantal: Een hele belevenis in China. Duidelijk een goede ervaring en goed om te zien hoe China nu is op dit moment In Indonesia ben ik echt blij om family te zien. Ik ben weer terug waar mijn roots is :) De komende dagen even uitrusten en dan over een week of 2 naar Bromo mountain en dan gelijk door naar Singapore. 3e week van September ga ik naar Sydney, Australia en dan door naar Brisbane :) Dus daar kijk ik naar uit! Maar mogelijk dat ik nog wat langer blijf in Indonesia, want misschien ga ik weer terug naar de World Expo in Shanghai met mijn tante :) Greetz and thanks :) Romy: Ik snap dat je het druk hebt ;) Maar goed het is al fijn dat je weet dat ik richting Indonesia ga en ik ben er nu :) Het is aardig veel wat ik nu heb meegemaakt en duidelijk dat Japan het omgekeerde wereld is van China. Ik kan je het uitleggen, maar dan ben ik zeker nog 2 uur verder met typen ;) Maar even kort: Japan is schoon, mensen zijn aardig en zo beleefd. Verder infrastructuur is goed en alles is op tijd. China is echt omgekeerd en dat is van spugen in de trein tot onbeschoft hahaha. Mensen moeten zeker manieren leren, maar Chinezen zijn harde werkers, dus respect :) Maar in Indonesia: it's good to be back :) Eindelijk na een jaar weer terug te zijn :) Family and friends to see again :) De komende dagen dus even rusten en dan Bromo mountain en dan gelijk door naar Singapore. 3e week van September naar Australia en misschien dus eind October naar Shanghai, China met mijn tante. Ik zal een dikke zoen geven aan alle mensen in Indonesia :p Greetz Patrick Delsine