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Tom Round the World 2006
We are in China, (although the photo is misleading we are about 2000 miles from the great wall heading towards the border with Vietnam)
Just Arrived in Yuangshuo in Guanxgi Provence via Zhaoqing and Wuzhou (Details Below) We have Spent 15 hours on buses and ferries in the last two days but have hardly moved on the map of China. Until this evening we hadnt seen any other tourists since leaving Hong kong. Didnt mind that except for the fact that very few chinese in this area speak any more English than we speak chinese. We have resorted to pointing to phrases in the guidebook in the hope of being able to understand the response. But the language barrier has been only a minor problem in a place where the speciality food is "chickens feet". Having tried this I will not be having it again, there is not a great deal of meat on them. Fortunately Ronald McDonald came to the rescue and delivered the goods. Also its very cold here
Since leaving Hong Kong......
On Saturday morning we took a ferry up the river from Hong Kong to Zhaoqing in Guangdong province, a relatively small chinese city beside a lake. We found a very nice twin hotel room for 3 pounds a night each. At first there didnt seem like much to do here until we heard a little chinese lady shouting "you want tour". After a brief discussion about how dodgy she was we decided to hop in the back of a 3 wheeled motorised trike that whisked us up the side of the lake occasionally stopping at various rocky outcrops that offered excellent views across the lake. The tour lasted about 2 hours and cost slightly more than the accomodation but was an excellent experience. the area around here is very beautiful.
From Zhaoqing we took a about a 3 hour bus to Wuzhou in Guanxgi provence, another small city next to a river. The accomodation here was slightly cheaper than Zhaoqing but there was little to do except explore. I dont think too many tourists visit this area because it was common for people to stare at us and randomly shout "heloo" as they walked past. A weird experience but they all seemed friendly and intrigued by our presence.
Today we took a seven hour bus journey to Yuangshuo and the place is crawling with travellers, or so it seems compared to Zhaoqing and Wuzhou. Tonight we had a pizza and a beer... (at last).
Further China Update on the way
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