You can now catch up with us on the Mother Country and the Continent by going to http://circlingeuropebicycle.blogspot.com
See you there, C&D
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Saturday, April 19, 2008
The Great Wall of China and other delights
Today is our last day in Asia, 6 months has flown by! The last 10 days have been a whirlwind of spending, sightseeing, and sleeping (badly) on trains. We left Beijing for the quieter town of Pingyao - a World Heritage Site. The town is all grey brick buildings, old city walls, red lanterns, courtyards, and horsedrawn carts. We spent 2 days wandering the alleys and walls, investigating old banks, houses, and prisons and visiting temples. Below is a photo of the Retribution Room in the Temple of the City God. You have to figure out the others for yourselves as today we can put photos on the page but not edit their layout.
This was a diarama about 20 meters long depicting scenes of torture in hell covering having your tongue cut out, being sawn in half with a timber saw, genital mutilation... Enough to deter even the hardiest sceptic. Although perhaps not given the existence of the prison down the road with associated torture rooms there as well.
This was a diarama about 20 meters long depicting scenes of torture in hell covering having your tongue cut out, being sawn in half with a timber saw, genital mutilation... Enough to deter even the hardiest sceptic. Although perhaps not given the existence of the prison down the road with associated torture rooms there as well.
From Pingyao we took the train north to Datong, a dirty town with little to recommend it except for the nearby attractions. We visited the Hanging Monastery a 1500 year old wooden structure attached to a cliffside 50m above the ground. Built to appease river gods and prevent floods, it was filled with relics of Confucionism, Taoism and Buddhism (covering their bases). Deeply impressive and slightly rickety feeling.
Then onto the Yungang Caves which were AMAZING. Started in 460AD, it took 40,000 men 64 years to complete. Dedicated to Buddha, the caves were made as repentence by an emperor who had banned Buddhism for 7 years and killled nuns and monks. Then he became ill and realised the error of crossing the Buddha. In similar fashion to the Forbidden City, it was the scale combined with ridiculous detail that made this so impressive. Incredibly, the caves didn't come before the statues, they were dug out at the same time. Huge Buddhas up to 17m high were carved from the top down in solid rock before being opened out into a cave. The walls were detailed with millions of tiny carvings in a series of caves, 45 in total, and the smallest Buddha was 3cm.
We were agog.
Then back to Beijing to visit our most famous place yet - The Great Wall of China. We took a tour with our hostel which promised to take us to the "Secret Great Wall" where no other tourists would be. As we are "travellers" and not "tourists" this sounded right up our alley. The van ride was absolutely mad, with a crazed lunatic at the wheel over or undertaking anything regardless of corners, oncoming traffic or pedestrians. Along the way we were caught in traffic jams, where engines were turned off, at the more popular entries to the Wall. Arriving alive but perhaps not unharmed psychologicaly, we were dropped in the middle of nowhere with a small track leading off the side of the road - cf other Wall options where a cable car up is the norm.
After a walk through the blossoming fruit trees the Wall could be seen beckoning on the skyline. We reached a crumbling bit of it and mounted. Ghengis would have been proud to behold. What can you say? It was a long wall. But it was the Great Wall of China, so had a certain air about it. We walked along the ramparts for an hour or so, some crumblimg and steep, others in not bad nick considering. One particularly dedicated retailer drags his stock of drinks, food and nicknacks up here every day and is ensconsed in the highest watchtower, ready to pounce. We were duly impressed and can tick that off the list of things to do this lifetime.
Nova has just left us and we are preparing ourselves for the flight to London tomorrow. A little sad to be leaving Asia but it has also become pretty comfortable so we are ready for a change of scene. Saving money might be our greatest challenge in the Tour de Europe.
For the last time from Asia, C & D
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Beijing
After spending a few days doing not much, Nova arrived and we have been into the sightseeing with a vengance. After a quick trip to the biggest airport terminal in the world we were off to our second preserved body of the trip - Mao. The Great Helmsman lies covered in a red hammer and sickle flag, looking very waxy. Not the same pomp as the Vietnamese experience which was surprising.
It was then off to where Mao is not and many argue he should be - underground. A huge underground city was built during the cold war to shelter from impending doom. Many dubious facts were bandied about by our guide, such as the tunnels being in total longer than the Great Wall, but nonetheless it was certainly massive. Not mentioned by the guide was that the road and rail tunnels are still in use and allow the pulitburo (if they call it that in China?) to move about in secret. Helen was not up to that level apparently as we saw her motorcade speeding through the middle of town.
Shopping was the next experience and we visited Silk Street, which is not a street but a mall filled with traders selling knockoffs for as much as they can get out of the tourist hordes. Very noisy with every stall you pass yelling at you to get you in the door, with calls such as "Hey handsome big man!" and "Looky looky pretty lady!". Grabing the arm was also a favourite tactic. Some major haggling was done and we walked away exhausted but with some worthy purchases among us, from silk (maybe) duvet covers, panda soft toys, jandals and a large string of 100 satin chilli peppers.
The next morning was the Forbidden City, so named as it was off limits to the hoi polloi for 500 years of imperial rule. It was teeming with tourists (mostly Chinese) but was truly staggering in terms of size and intricacy. It is a walled set of palaces, halls and gardens thousands of kilometers square but with every building honed down to the finest detail of ceramic, painted and cast iron decoration. We spent a good few hours and saw only a small amount of what was on offer. A favourite was the Hall of Clocks which contained clocks made by the imperial clock shop and others given as gifts from around the world. These were mechanical masterpieces, with one containing a model man who when the clock is running can write 8 Chinese characters with a caligraphy pen.
The rest of our time has largely been spent in the contrasting areas of Beijing - the tiny allyways of the traditional city dwellings called the Hutong, and the massive modern city of buildings that look like they are hewn from a single slab of granite the size of a mountain. Just back from a visit to the Olympic site where more massive buildings are growing by the second, including a hotel in the shape of the Olympic Flame and the 'Bird's Nest' stadium.
Off to Pingyao tomorrow for a change of scene.
It was then off to where Mao is not and many argue he should be - underground. A huge underground city was built during the cold war to shelter from impending doom. Many dubious facts were bandied about by our guide, such as the tunnels being in total longer than the Great Wall, but nonetheless it was certainly massive. Not mentioned by the guide was that the road and rail tunnels are still in use and allow the pulitburo (if they call it that in China?) to move about in secret. Helen was not up to that level apparently as we saw her motorcade speeding through the middle of town.
Shopping was the next experience and we visited Silk Street, which is not a street but a mall filled with traders selling knockoffs for as much as they can get out of the tourist hordes. Very noisy with every stall you pass yelling at you to get you in the door, with calls such as "Hey handsome big man!" and "Looky looky pretty lady!". Grabing the arm was also a favourite tactic. Some major haggling was done and we walked away exhausted but with some worthy purchases among us, from silk (maybe) duvet covers, panda soft toys, jandals and a large string of 100 satin chilli peppers.
The next morning was the Forbidden City, so named as it was off limits to the hoi polloi for 500 years of imperial rule. It was teeming with tourists (mostly Chinese) but was truly staggering in terms of size and intricacy. It is a walled set of palaces, halls and gardens thousands of kilometers square but with every building honed down to the finest detail of ceramic, painted and cast iron decoration. We spent a good few hours and saw only a small amount of what was on offer. A favourite was the Hall of Clocks which contained clocks made by the imperial clock shop and others given as gifts from around the world. These were mechanical masterpieces, with one containing a model man who when the clock is running can write 8 Chinese characters with a caligraphy pen.
The rest of our time has largely been spent in the contrasting areas of Beijing - the tiny allyways of the traditional city dwellings called the Hutong, and the massive modern city of buildings that look like they are hewn from a single slab of granite the size of a mountain. Just back from a visit to the Olympic site where more massive buildings are growing by the second, including a hotel in the shape of the Olympic Flame and the 'Bird's Nest' stadium.
Off to Pingyao tomorrow for a change of scene.
Friday, April 4, 2008
Ayutthuya to Xinxiang by bike...
We are in Beijing! However not quite as hoped. A couple of days of disaster awaited us on leaving Xian that started with a pushing match in the train station and ended 2 days later in a hospital in Xinxiang, 6 days short of Beijing.
We had to take a train out of Xian as there was not enough time to make it all the way to Beijing by 10 April when Nova arrives, so we planned to head east and then bike the last 800km north. After trying 3 crowded windows at the train station I (D) found one that would take our bikes. It all seemed to be going well until my 'helper' assumed that I was too stupid to figure out 2 times 21 is not 121, even in Chinese. Having already forked over 100 yuan I demnded my change rather than giving up the extra 21 he was asking for, only to provoke him into shoving me around with 5 friends watching on. With our train waiting on the platform and being slightly outnumbered there was no option but to leave it.
On arrival in Zhengzhou, surprise, surprise, our bikes had not arrived. Of course that took an hour of protracted pointing, miming, and phrasebooking to figure out, and eventually it was said they would arrive late that night. The next morning the saga continued. The bikes had arrived but not exactly in one piece. A bar end had been ripped off C's bike showing that some pretty brutal handling techniques had been employed as it's likely you could hang your whole body weight off these without them budging. Part of the brake lever was also munted, a cable partially cut and various other issues. But they were rideable, so off we rode.
Took us 2 hours to find our way out of town. 2.1 million people, rollercoasters in the middle of town etc, so like trying to find you way out of Auckland with no city map and all the road signs in, well, Chinese. All day was hard finding our way and we never really knew where we were. Crossed the Yellow River on a 5km bridge that said no walking and no biking but said nothing of walking with a bike, so with this liberal interpretation we avoided eye contact with the guard and strode on past for an hours walk. Finally we found a road that seemed to go to where we wanted and we were charging along on smooth tarmac with a slight tail wind. Things were looking up.
By this stage of the day we had seen 4 crashes and one very drunk scooter driver. Unfortunately crash number 5 and drunk scooter driver number 2 came careening across the road and straight into Claud. Next instant she was sprawled on the road and the second pushing match began. The driver had the mental ability and uncanny resemblance to the outside of an overripe avocado - a fat mushy lump destined for a life of rotting in the trash. As the shock wore off Claud's arm was really sore and we had to walk our bikes to a hotel. A helpful woman on a scooter showed us the way while the avocado rode along as well, swerving over the road, coming to the odd skidding halt, and being generally exasperated with our lack of Chinese. Nobody seemed interested in getting the police involved and neither were we really as it was likely to be a multiday saga with little result.
After dumping our gear we headed for a hospital. The first directed us down the road to another, which Claud spotted with perhaps our best moment of Chinese charater recognition - 3 characters all recognised, backwards through a sign, at a distance. Quite a feat. A nurse spoke a little English and was very helpful, guiding us through the whole proess. Before any treatment could be given Claud needed a Chinese name to fill out the form. The doctor and nurse consulted and came up with Zhongxin, which is the first half of China and NZ combined. Not sure of the combined meaning but later a policeman assured us it was a "beautiful Chinese name". Hopefully he didn't leave out "for a boy". A doctor ordered an X-ray of the elbow region, which was done immediately with me acting as an arm support, so also getting a quick zapping. Back to the doctor and a "not broken " diagnosis. We were unable to get any real idea of what it might be, but if anyone has any ideas what a "small question" could be and how it should be treated, please let us know. Got some aerosol antiinflamitory prescribed and a sling for 3 weeks. The sling consists of a bandage and a magazine holding the arm. At least we have something to read while we wait for it to heal. Claud's arm was really sore for the rest of the day so not much sleep had.
Spent a day recovering in Xinxiang and went looking for the bus station. Got our second police assisted bus ticket. Asked directions to the station and in the end they said "we can do something helpful for you", and helpful it certainly was. It was a ride in the police car to the bus station and then one of them (who used to be an English teacher) bought our tickets for us. What would have taken us all afternoon was over in half an hour. Adam, if you are reading this, take note and see that you have some high standards to meet in your policing duties when you meet any lost Chinese. You should probably start mandarin lessons immediately.
A smooth 8 hours on a sleeper bus (lying down buses they have in Asia that put Intercity to shame) had us in Beijing. Claud's arm is still sling bound and sore but has certainly improved.
Pretty gutting to be cut down 6 days short by a drunken dickhead. But at least it was so far out of our control there is no feeling of failure having come so far already. Just a shame to miss out on the excitement of rolling into Tiananmen Square.
From here we have 5 days until Nova arrives for a 10 day visit. Then we are off to London (hopefully - no tickets yet) and onto more biking around Europe for the summer. Plenty more to see here with the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, The Great Wall and so on. No more photos yet as this computer does not have the facilities. Highlights would include Claud with cheery nurse doing peace sign.
Bye for now
D and Zhongxin
We had to take a train out of Xian as there was not enough time to make it all the way to Beijing by 10 April when Nova arrives, so we planned to head east and then bike the last 800km north. After trying 3 crowded windows at the train station I (D) found one that would take our bikes. It all seemed to be going well until my 'helper' assumed that I was too stupid to figure out 2 times 21 is not 121, even in Chinese. Having already forked over 100 yuan I demnded my change rather than giving up the extra 21 he was asking for, only to provoke him into shoving me around with 5 friends watching on. With our train waiting on the platform and being slightly outnumbered there was no option but to leave it.
On arrival in Zhengzhou, surprise, surprise, our bikes had not arrived. Of course that took an hour of protracted pointing, miming, and phrasebooking to figure out, and eventually it was said they would arrive late that night. The next morning the saga continued. The bikes had arrived but not exactly in one piece. A bar end had been ripped off C's bike showing that some pretty brutal handling techniques had been employed as it's likely you could hang your whole body weight off these without them budging. Part of the brake lever was also munted, a cable partially cut and various other issues. But they were rideable, so off we rode.
Took us 2 hours to find our way out of town. 2.1 million people, rollercoasters in the middle of town etc, so like trying to find you way out of Auckland with no city map and all the road signs in, well, Chinese. All day was hard finding our way and we never really knew where we were. Crossed the Yellow River on a 5km bridge that said no walking and no biking but said nothing of walking with a bike, so with this liberal interpretation we avoided eye contact with the guard and strode on past for an hours walk. Finally we found a road that seemed to go to where we wanted and we were charging along on smooth tarmac with a slight tail wind. Things were looking up.
By this stage of the day we had seen 4 crashes and one very drunk scooter driver. Unfortunately crash number 5 and drunk scooter driver number 2 came careening across the road and straight into Claud. Next instant she was sprawled on the road and the second pushing match began. The driver had the mental ability and uncanny resemblance to the outside of an overripe avocado - a fat mushy lump destined for a life of rotting in the trash. As the shock wore off Claud's arm was really sore and we had to walk our bikes to a hotel. A helpful woman on a scooter showed us the way while the avocado rode along as well, swerving over the road, coming to the odd skidding halt, and being generally exasperated with our lack of Chinese. Nobody seemed interested in getting the police involved and neither were we really as it was likely to be a multiday saga with little result.
After dumping our gear we headed for a hospital. The first directed us down the road to another, which Claud spotted with perhaps our best moment of Chinese charater recognition - 3 characters all recognised, backwards through a sign, at a distance. Quite a feat. A nurse spoke a little English and was very helpful, guiding us through the whole proess. Before any treatment could be given Claud needed a Chinese name to fill out the form. The doctor and nurse consulted and came up with Zhongxin, which is the first half of China and NZ combined. Not sure of the combined meaning but later a policeman assured us it was a "beautiful Chinese name". Hopefully he didn't leave out "for a boy". A doctor ordered an X-ray of the elbow region, which was done immediately with me acting as an arm support, so also getting a quick zapping. Back to the doctor and a "not broken " diagnosis. We were unable to get any real idea of what it might be, but if anyone has any ideas what a "small question" could be and how it should be treated, please let us know. Got some aerosol antiinflamitory prescribed and a sling for 3 weeks. The sling consists of a bandage and a magazine holding the arm. At least we have something to read while we wait for it to heal. Claud's arm was really sore for the rest of the day so not much sleep had.
Spent a day recovering in Xinxiang and went looking for the bus station. Got our second police assisted bus ticket. Asked directions to the station and in the end they said "we can do something helpful for you", and helpful it certainly was. It was a ride in the police car to the bus station and then one of them (who used to be an English teacher) bought our tickets for us. What would have taken us all afternoon was over in half an hour. Adam, if you are reading this, take note and see that you have some high standards to meet in your policing duties when you meet any lost Chinese. You should probably start mandarin lessons immediately.
A smooth 8 hours on a sleeper bus (lying down buses they have in Asia that put Intercity to shame) had us in Beijing. Claud's arm is still sling bound and sore but has certainly improved.
Pretty gutting to be cut down 6 days short by a drunken dickhead. But at least it was so far out of our control there is no feeling of failure having come so far already. Just a shame to miss out on the excitement of rolling into Tiananmen Square.
From here we have 5 days until Nova arrives for a 10 day visit. Then we are off to London (hopefully - no tickets yet) and onto more biking around Europe for the summer. Plenty more to see here with the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, The Great Wall and so on. No more photos yet as this computer does not have the facilities. Highlights would include Claud with cheery nurse doing peace sign.
Bye for now
D and Zhongxin
Friday, March 28, 2008
Of hills, smog, and exploding tires
Over the last 10 days we have gained another 1000km northwards, a hundred more saddle sores each and thighs with the girth of tree trunks. The ride out of Chengdu was hideous for the first couple of days. The pollution was at the highest level we have seen, so thick that visibility was only a couple of hundred meters and you could taste the grit in the air. We both felt ill from it and it is unimaginable that people can survive past the age of 10. Perhaps some have never seen the sun? The road was also shocking with mud, ruts, and huge trucks thundering around.
Thankfully after that things picked up immeasurably. Spring has sprung in China! The sun came out, the blossom bloomed and the road was lined with fields of yellow canola as we rolled up and down the hills heading north. The towns we come to are vastly different from the rest of our trip. In Laos, and even Thailand, there would be one road, a few basic shops and a guesthouse. In China we are hitting towns the size of Wellington every few days with malls, airports, 8 lane highways... No English though which keeps us on our toes, where we like to be when not on our bikes.
After a day off to recover from a particularly nasty 90km we started out on a section that required 400km in 3 days, followed by an 80km warm-down into Xian. The first day was over a decent hill and then down a big river valley. It was a perfect day for riding with warm temperatures and a slight downhill so we got through the 120km with enough energy left to explore the town at the end of the day.
The next day started out down the same river before heading into the mountains which we would spend the next 2 days getting across. All was going well and we were flying along in the morning before our momentum was halted as D's front tire exploded with a report not unlike that of the long nine on the good ship Hispaniola. Luckily I saw it coming so had stopped or things could have got messy. We attracted quite the crowd - 15 men and one rather concerned looking toddler who were very interested in the changing of the inner tube (and the swearing and flinging of the old tube that accompanied it).
After that the hills started and Foping was a welcome sight at the end of 150km. A 35km uphill greeted us the next morning, just to sap any remaining energy our legs may have had, so another slow 130km saw us finally over the mountains and onto the plains of Shanxi. The road was spectacular at times, with massive gorges descending from 2500m mountains to a cliff-lined and perfectly clear mountain stream at the bottom. The last gorge we followed like this was about 80km long.
A quick note here to publicly thank the Chinese engineers who built two very impressive and long (2km) tunnels halfway up the mountains on our longest days, saving us at least 2 hours riding a day - we could see the old roads crawling up over the tops and were very very glad not to have to bike them.
We have been constantly overwhelmed by the Chinese peoples' friendliness and desire to help us. On this leg we came out of our hotel one morning (where 5 staff had helped us to our room the night before and demonstrated all the facilities, including how to turn on the taps) to find our bikes had been given a quick clean overnight. In another town we were looking a bit lost so a woman approached us and said she would like to be our guide. She was an English teacher and escorted us to the supermarket, at which point she was off with a cheery goodbye. We had heard so many stories before arriving that people were ignored at hotels and treated pretty gruffly. So far we have experienced nothing but the opposite.
Off to the Terracotta Warriors tomorrow, then onto our last 800km push to Beijing (which we have to do in 8 days so we can get there in time to meet Nova!).
More photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/steelbaker/CentralChina
C&D
Thankfully after that things picked up immeasurably. Spring has sprung in China! The sun came out, the blossom bloomed and the road was lined with fields of yellow canola as we rolled up and down the hills heading north. The towns we come to are vastly different from the rest of our trip. In Laos, and even Thailand, there would be one road, a few basic shops and a guesthouse. In China we are hitting towns the size of Wellington every few days with malls, airports, 8 lane highways... No English though which keeps us on our toes, where we like to be when not on our bikes.
After a day off to recover from a particularly nasty 90km we started out on a section that required 400km in 3 days, followed by an 80km warm-down into Xian. The first day was over a decent hill and then down a big river valley. It was a perfect day for riding with warm temperatures and a slight downhill so we got through the 120km with enough energy left to explore the town at the end of the day.
The next day started out down the same river before heading into the mountains which we would spend the next 2 days getting across. All was going well and we were flying along in the morning before our momentum was halted as D's front tire exploded with a report not unlike that of the long nine on the good ship Hispaniola. Luckily I saw it coming so had stopped or things could have got messy. We attracted quite the crowd - 15 men and one rather concerned looking toddler who were very interested in the changing of the inner tube (and the swearing and flinging of the old tube that accompanied it).
After that the hills started and Foping was a welcome sight at the end of 150km. A 35km uphill greeted us the next morning, just to sap any remaining energy our legs may have had, so another slow 130km saw us finally over the mountains and onto the plains of Shanxi. The road was spectacular at times, with massive gorges descending from 2500m mountains to a cliff-lined and perfectly clear mountain stream at the bottom. The last gorge we followed like this was about 80km long.
A quick note here to publicly thank the Chinese engineers who built two very impressive and long (2km) tunnels halfway up the mountains on our longest days, saving us at least 2 hours riding a day - we could see the old roads crawling up over the tops and were very very glad not to have to bike them.
We have been constantly overwhelmed by the Chinese peoples' friendliness and desire to help us. On this leg we came out of our hotel one morning (where 5 staff had helped us to our room the night before and demonstrated all the facilities, including how to turn on the taps) to find our bikes had been given a quick clean overnight. In another town we were looking a bit lost so a woman approached us and said she would like to be our guide. She was an English teacher and escorted us to the supermarket, at which point she was off with a cheery goodbye. We had heard so many stories before arriving that people were ignored at hotels and treated pretty gruffly. So far we have experienced nothing but the opposite.
Off to the Terracotta Warriors tomorrow, then onto our last 800km push to Beijing (which we have to do in 8 days so we can get there in time to meet Nova!).
More photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/steelbaker/CentralChina
C&D
Monday, March 17, 2008
Horse trekking across the universe
Well since we last wrote, we've been to our highest point ever, horse trekked in the snow, stayed in a Tibetan village, and seen some spectacular countryside. We left Chengdu for an 8 hour bus ride to a small town called Songpan. We were met there by our horse trekking guide, put up in a seedy hotel and slept the afternoon away - we were only 2850m above sea level but completely wiped out and headachey.
The next morning we woke up to clear blue skies and sunshine, our first in a while after the smog of the cities. We were doing a 3 day trek to 'Ice Mountain' and each day was about 5-6 hours of riding. Luckily we have calloused hardy bums from all the biking, so didn't get too sore.
The villages and people in this part of the world are very Tibetan, although officially we're still in Sichuan province. We saw lots of prayer flags, the architecture is very different, we stopped at a monastery to spin the prayer wheels, there are lots of yaks around, and the people all speak Tibetian. We were planning to go to Tibet, but the NZ government have emailed to let us know it's too unsafe there at the moment due to independence protests. The Chinese claim its under control, but I think we'll stick with The Herald as a more reliable source. Anyway we've got 5 more weeks for it to settle down, but this might be as close as we get.
The first day was stunning, through Central Otago type hills (but higher!) and river valleys. We arrived at our very basic accommodation with a Tibetan family. The house was freezing cold, well below zero each night, not helped by the hole in the wall masquerading as a window through which the falling snow drifted in (a quick plug for Fairydown and Kathmandu here, whose equipment I am convinced prevented me from being carried out frozen on a stretcher). The kitchen was where we spent most of our time, huddling over a plate of embers to warm up. Chairman Mao posters lined the wall, and dried meat was hanging from the roof. Luckily our budget didn't extend to the food with meat option.
Day 2 was a hike up to the base of Ice Mountain, which had covered itself in a cloud for the day. Very impressive nonetheless, with frozen waterfalls cascading through snowy tree-lined slopes. We explored the ruins of a Tibetan monastery at 4300m above sea level. The return to our accommodation coincided perfectly with the onset of snow, which continued throughout the night. We woke up to our last day to white everywhere.
A quick aside here to talk about toileting. Apparently the family didn't have a toilet. On the first day I was shown to the barn (unfortunately I was having stomach troubles, necessitating regular visits to the great outdoors) where I had to go in the corner with the pigs. It sounds terrible, and let me tell you, it was. After that D and I found a quiet corner of a field to relieve ourselves in (we weren't allowed to use the barn at night anyway because the dogs would bark and wake everyone up). So in the night I had to crawl out of a warm sleeping bag and scramble up a slope and under a fence - and bear in mind the second night it snowed all night! Very glad to be back in civilisation. Nice views though.
Our last day we went back to Songpan via a monastery. The going was slow through the snow and we had to walk some of the icy patches. We passed a team of yaks hauling logs uphill, but weren't allowed to take photos so you'll just have to imagine that bit. It snowed quite heavily on us for about an hour and we were shivering in our saddles. It certainly makes it picturesque though so not too much complaining. A quick wander around Songpan in the afternoon (ancient walls guarded by bronze warriors, covered bridges, impressive architecture etc) and back on the bus today for our 8 hour journey back into the grey.
Now debating the best course north, will keep you all updated as usual. Photos of horses and snow at: http://picasaweb.google.com/steelbaker/CentralChina
Love C&D
The next morning we woke up to clear blue skies and sunshine, our first in a while after the smog of the cities. We were doing a 3 day trek to 'Ice Mountain' and each day was about 5-6 hours of riding. Luckily we have calloused hardy bums from all the biking, so didn't get too sore.
The villages and people in this part of the world are very Tibetan, although officially we're still in Sichuan province. We saw lots of prayer flags, the architecture is very different, we stopped at a monastery to spin the prayer wheels, there are lots of yaks around, and the people all speak Tibetian. We were planning to go to Tibet, but the NZ government have emailed to let us know it's too unsafe there at the moment due to independence protests. The Chinese claim its under control, but I think we'll stick with The Herald as a more reliable source. Anyway we've got 5 more weeks for it to settle down, but this might be as close as we get.
The first day was stunning, through Central Otago type hills (but higher!) and river valleys. We arrived at our very basic accommodation with a Tibetan family. The house was freezing cold, well below zero each night, not helped by the hole in the wall masquerading as a window through which the falling snow drifted in (a quick plug for Fairydown and Kathmandu here, whose equipment I am convinced prevented me from being carried out frozen on a stretcher). The kitchen was where we spent most of our time, huddling over a plate of embers to warm up. Chairman Mao posters lined the wall, and dried meat was hanging from the roof. Luckily our budget didn't extend to the food with meat option.
Day 2 was a hike up to the base of Ice Mountain, which had covered itself in a cloud for the day. Very impressive nonetheless, with frozen waterfalls cascading through snowy tree-lined slopes. We explored the ruins of a Tibetan monastery at 4300m above sea level. The return to our accommodation coincided perfectly with the onset of snow, which continued throughout the night. We woke up to our last day to white everywhere.
A quick aside here to talk about toileting. Apparently the family didn't have a toilet. On the first day I was shown to the barn (unfortunately I was having stomach troubles, necessitating regular visits to the great outdoors) where I had to go in the corner with the pigs. It sounds terrible, and let me tell you, it was. After that D and I found a quiet corner of a field to relieve ourselves in (we weren't allowed to use the barn at night anyway because the dogs would bark and wake everyone up). So in the night I had to crawl out of a warm sleeping bag and scramble up a slope and under a fence - and bear in mind the second night it snowed all night! Very glad to be back in civilisation. Nice views though.
Our last day we went back to Songpan via a monastery. The going was slow through the snow and we had to walk some of the icy patches. We passed a team of yaks hauling logs uphill, but weren't allowed to take photos so you'll just have to imagine that bit. It snowed quite heavily on us for about an hour and we were shivering in our saddles. It certainly makes it picturesque though so not too much complaining. A quick wander around Songpan in the afternoon (ancient walls guarded by bronze warriors, covered bridges, impressive architecture etc) and back on the bus today for our 8 hour journey back into the grey.
Now debating the best course north, will keep you all updated as usual. Photos of horses and snow at: http://picasaweb.google.com/steelbaker/CentralChina
Love C&D
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Three Gorges
After a long convoluted booking process, us and the bikes managed to get onto a Chinese cruise ship up the Yangtze River. This was a 4 day exercise in not understanding what was going on. We started out with an extremely gray bus ride (our own private van so we could take the bikes) to an unknown destination to catch the boat. Turned out this destination was past the Three Gorges Dam, so we missed seeing that, which was one of the main points of the trip...
The next day we were herded onto a smaller boat, off to see something but we were of course unsure exactly what. It was a trip to experience the local "boat trackers" who used to pull ships up the river by hand against the current. This involved yet a smaller boat, and a lot of explaining of what was going on in Chinese. Mercifully our guide's megaphone ran out of batteries. At one point there was a group sing along.
After returning to the cruise ship we headed into the gorges proper. Massive cliffs towered over the river with rocks jutting about at odd angles, reaching up to 900m peaks above us. One rock was said to look like Chairman Mao. These gorges appear on the 10 Yuan note so there was much photo taking holding up a note. There was also a Chinese celeb of some sort on board (we named him "Square Jaw") so there was all sorts of swooning and grappling for group photos with him as well. We too were the subject of many photos - as soon as one of them plucks up the courage to ask, the dam bursts and we are mobbed.
There was a museum along the way, showcasing one of the towns that was covered by the rising waters behind the dam. We got a private tour from the curator, who quit his job three years beforehand to chronicle the event and save as many of the local artifacts as possible. It was obviously a pretty heart-wrenching experience for the townsfolk to be forcibly moved on and their town demolished before being innundated. Something like 1.5 million people have been forced out of their homes' to make way for the dam. No idea what help they got to find somewhere to go.
After this the trip was pretty boring, through gray concrete towns and factories, before an unceremonious wake-up knock at 6.30 am to evict us from the ship in Chongqing. This place has the worlds largest public toilet but in all the excitement (excrement?) we forgot and missed it. It was a massive town, something like 30 million in the area, with not much to attract us so we headed to the bus station to make our way to Chengdu. The ride between promised 4 days of pollution and muddy wet roads, and as my health was still far from 100% a bus was an attractive option. Despite the attraction there was much spitting on the floor, smoking, and someone stopping to take a dump on the side of the road in full view of the bus so we were very glad to disembark.
We're staying in a great guest house which fully caters to tourists - this means English speaking staff, a great restaurant, no smoking in the rooms, DVD's for hire, a book exchange, other travellers etc. It's very nice to be here and very relaxing. We spent a day wandering through town, stocked up on some English books, saw a large Chairman Mao statue, visited a park, and had some tea at a tea house.
Yesterday we spent half a day visiting the Panda Reserach Centre and ooohing and aaahing over the baby pandas. Really the best way to describe pandas is cute, incredibly cute. However evolution has it in for them in a big way and I'm not surprised they are so endangered. When they're born the first-time mother is usually pretty shocked with this ugly screeching underdeveloped thing that's shot out of her (literally shot, we saw a movie) and will often kill it. If she has twins, the chances of her looking after both are slim to none, so only one survives. This is if she gets pregnant at all - pandas are only receptive to sex 1-2days of the year and finding a mate is hard as they are fussy rooters and live far apart from each other so often can't even find each other. In addition the males penis is short and the females vagina long. Not to mention working up the energy to copulate. Pandas need to eat up to 16 hours of the day, because bamboo is the food of choice. Bamboo doesn't provide much energy and the panda can only extract 2% of the energy available. Bamboo has a nasty habit of flowering before completely dying out every 25 years or so, leaving the pandas no living habitat, so they starve to death. Luckily for them they are adorable and a valuable political commodity so a lot of effort is going into saving them from themselves.
It's hard to tear ourselves away from this guesthouse where we can speak in English and people understand us, but we're going to spend the next 5 days making our way to a town called Songpan up towards the Tibetian plateau to do some horse trekking. Then back on the bikes (after 3weeks off, eek!) and onward to Beijing!
We've got some more photos for you:
http://picasaweb.google.com/steelbaker/CentralChina
Until next time, C&D
The next day we were herded onto a smaller boat, off to see something but we were of course unsure exactly what. It was a trip to experience the local "boat trackers" who used to pull ships up the river by hand against the current. This involved yet a smaller boat, and a lot of explaining of what was going on in Chinese. Mercifully our guide's megaphone ran out of batteries. At one point there was a group sing along.
After returning to the cruise ship we headed into the gorges proper. Massive cliffs towered over the river with rocks jutting about at odd angles, reaching up to 900m peaks above us. One rock was said to look like Chairman Mao. These gorges appear on the 10 Yuan note so there was much photo taking holding up a note. There was also a Chinese celeb of some sort on board (we named him "Square Jaw") so there was all sorts of swooning and grappling for group photos with him as well. We too were the subject of many photos - as soon as one of them plucks up the courage to ask, the dam bursts and we are mobbed.
There was a museum along the way, showcasing one of the towns that was covered by the rising waters behind the dam. We got a private tour from the curator, who quit his job three years beforehand to chronicle the event and save as many of the local artifacts as possible. It was obviously a pretty heart-wrenching experience for the townsfolk to be forcibly moved on and their town demolished before being innundated. Something like 1.5 million people have been forced out of their homes' to make way for the dam. No idea what help they got to find somewhere to go.
After this the trip was pretty boring, through gray concrete towns and factories, before an unceremonious wake-up knock at 6.30 am to evict us from the ship in Chongqing. This place has the worlds largest public toilet but in all the excitement (excrement?) we forgot and missed it. It was a massive town, something like 30 million in the area, with not much to attract us so we headed to the bus station to make our way to Chengdu. The ride between promised 4 days of pollution and muddy wet roads, and as my health was still far from 100% a bus was an attractive option. Despite the attraction there was much spitting on the floor, smoking, and someone stopping to take a dump on the side of the road in full view of the bus so we were very glad to disembark.
We're staying in a great guest house which fully caters to tourists - this means English speaking staff, a great restaurant, no smoking in the rooms, DVD's for hire, a book exchange, other travellers etc. It's very nice to be here and very relaxing. We spent a day wandering through town, stocked up on some English books, saw a large Chairman Mao statue, visited a park, and had some tea at a tea house.
Yesterday we spent half a day visiting the Panda Reserach Centre and ooohing and aaahing over the baby pandas. Really the best way to describe pandas is cute, incredibly cute. However evolution has it in for them in a big way and I'm not surprised they are so endangered. When they're born the first-time mother is usually pretty shocked with this ugly screeching underdeveloped thing that's shot out of her (literally shot, we saw a movie) and will often kill it. If she has twins, the chances of her looking after both are slim to none, so only one survives. This is if she gets pregnant at all - pandas are only receptive to sex 1-2days of the year and finding a mate is hard as they are fussy rooters and live far apart from each other so often can't even find each other. In addition the males penis is short and the females vagina long. Not to mention working up the energy to copulate. Pandas need to eat up to 16 hours of the day, because bamboo is the food of choice. Bamboo doesn't provide much energy and the panda can only extract 2% of the energy available. Bamboo has a nasty habit of flowering before completely dying out every 25 years or so, leaving the pandas no living habitat, so they starve to death. Luckily for them they are adorable and a valuable political commodity so a lot of effort is going into saving them from themselves.
It's hard to tear ourselves away from this guesthouse where we can speak in English and people understand us, but we're going to spend the next 5 days making our way to a town called Songpan up towards the Tibetian plateau to do some horse trekking. Then back on the bikes (after 3weeks off, eek!) and onward to Beijing!
We've got some more photos for you:
http://picasaweb.google.com/steelbaker/CentralChina
Until next time, C&D
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
"This town is not for foren-jers"
Hello
Its been an eventful couple of weeks since the last update. Just when China was seeming O so easy, it proved to have a few tricks awaiting us.
We left Yangshou for Guilin, which was a massive city of neon and packed to the gills with Chinese tourists. From there we were quickly into the countryside enroute to the Dragon's Backbone Rice Terraces (I'm just going to go ahead and call these the most famous rice terraces in the world). After a big day ending up a steep 6km hill we came to Ping'An, a 600 year old Miao village perched on the mountain tops. This place is all about rice. The hills are huge and every inch is carved out into flat terraces so they can be flooded to grow the rice. The terraces flow on as far as you can see and must have taken the majority of those 600 years to build it seems. The village is really cool too, with wooden houses and their tiled rooves interconnected by a labyrinth of stone paths.
After tearing ourselves away from this place we headed north onto the worst road yet encountered. 50km of 'roadworks' but sort of an 8-year-old kid style road works where everything has been ripped apart very successfully and nothing put back together. We ran the full gammut of dust, mud, rock, 45degree dirt slopes... The town at the end of it all was a very welcome sight. Welcome for about 45 minutes until the police turned up.
This was our first raid, and consisted of two cops and an interpreter. Apparently the town was 'special' and not open to foreigners. We would have to leave. Where would we go on our bikes at 5pm? OK, you can stay the night but are not to leave the hotel room. What about dinner? OK, you can go to a restaurant. This went on for a while, our passports were taken away for further scrutiny, we were thumb printed, and finally given the ok to wander around town. Apparently we could bike to the next town "no problem" and the police there would be rung so as to be forewarned of our imminent arrival.
No problem eh? After a very unmemorable ride the next day we rode into town only to start one of the more memorable parts of the journey. Raid number 2 was three police and an interpreter - who was majoring in Japanese not English. Luckily we knew the score from the day before. However negotiations here were not quite as fruitful and it soon became apparent that our claims of poor us, biking in the dark, etc etc were not going to work. These ones had heard of buses, so decided we could get one of those. This resulted in a police escort through town on our bikes, and further police assistance in purchasing bus tickets (no queueing required), saving us a seat amid the scrum while I tied bikes on the roof, and a cheery wave as we were successfully run out of town. Our bus ride took 4 hours for 130km and we arrived to a freezing cold night, only to be turned away from a hotel, I think for being too dirty.
On to greener pastures. Back in the land of openness, we hit a small town called Fenghuang. This town is Chinese to the core, just as you may imagine China should be. Tiny cobbled alleys, red lanterns, a guesthouse overlooking a pretty river, old city walls, pagodas etc. It was packed with Chinese tourists (so that means KTV karaoke) and certainly dolled up for visitors but a fantastic place all the same. Spent an atmospheric evening wandering the streets and along the ramparts.
Next day was Dehang, a tiny village in yet another karst peak area. This place was well off the beaten track, at least at this time of year. No English in the entire town (we probably talked to all of them) and it took about an hour and a half to find somewhere to stay as there was no one around. Cows wandered the alleys (Claud found a cowpat in the dark that we had watched being made earlier), and we saw both our first stars and snow in Asia. Was extremely quiet, no KTV, no honking and very peaceful.
We were charging along at this stage, having easily clocked up our first 1000km in China, and passed 5250km overall. But then it came unstuck, the dream died. I (D) got sick yet again. This was the 3rd time in a week and about the millionth time it feels like on the trip. Was a nasty chest infection that had me bed ridden for 2 days of sweating myself to a state of near drowning, and unable to walk to the supermarket let alone bike 100km a day.
So public transport has been employed to varying degrees of success. To go north, we first had to go south. Then a train north that took a whole afternoon of bargaining at a train station that seemed to have no useful destinations at all. So we had to overshoot our intended town, stay another night and get a bus south again. All of this with no English, and me struggling to walk the length of the platform with a coughing seizure. But finally we have made it to Yichang on the Yangtze and holed up in a nice hotel (have not been pushing the limits of slumminess in China) to plot our next move.
Despite the odd issue we have been repeatedly surprised at the helpfulness of the Chinese who often go well above the call to sort us out. Generally if we turn up looking lost, someone will come over and take us under their wing. This took a bit of getting used to after Vietnam where such good natured help was non-existent and we found it hard to believe people actually wanted to be nice to us, but they do!
Blogspot is actually blocked in China but we have found a way around this. Unfortunately it means we cannot update our photos on this site as we could before but we can still put them up on the other site we were using. There are heaps of new photos up so here is a link (you might have to copy and paste it): http://picasaweb.google.com/steelbaker/SouthernChinaAndHongKong
Till next time
D & C
Its been an eventful couple of weeks since the last update. Just when China was seeming O so easy, it proved to have a few tricks awaiting us.
We left Yangshou for Guilin, which was a massive city of neon and packed to the gills with Chinese tourists. From there we were quickly into the countryside enroute to the Dragon's Backbone Rice Terraces (I'm just going to go ahead and call these the most famous rice terraces in the world). After a big day ending up a steep 6km hill we came to Ping'An, a 600 year old Miao village perched on the mountain tops. This place is all about rice. The hills are huge and every inch is carved out into flat terraces so they can be flooded to grow the rice. The terraces flow on as far as you can see and must have taken the majority of those 600 years to build it seems. The village is really cool too, with wooden houses and their tiled rooves interconnected by a labyrinth of stone paths.
After tearing ourselves away from this place we headed north onto the worst road yet encountered. 50km of 'roadworks' but sort of an 8-year-old kid style road works where everything has been ripped apart very successfully and nothing put back together. We ran the full gammut of dust, mud, rock, 45degree dirt slopes... The town at the end of it all was a very welcome sight. Welcome for about 45 minutes until the police turned up.
This was our first raid, and consisted of two cops and an interpreter. Apparently the town was 'special' and not open to foreigners. We would have to leave. Where would we go on our bikes at 5pm? OK, you can stay the night but are not to leave the hotel room. What about dinner? OK, you can go to a restaurant. This went on for a while, our passports were taken away for further scrutiny, we were thumb printed, and finally given the ok to wander around town. Apparently we could bike to the next town "no problem" and the police there would be rung so as to be forewarned of our imminent arrival.
No problem eh? After a very unmemorable ride the next day we rode into town only to start one of the more memorable parts of the journey. Raid number 2 was three police and an interpreter - who was majoring in Japanese not English. Luckily we knew the score from the day before. However negotiations here were not quite as fruitful and it soon became apparent that our claims of poor us, biking in the dark, etc etc were not going to work. These ones had heard of buses, so decided we could get one of those. This resulted in a police escort through town on our bikes, and further police assistance in purchasing bus tickets (no queueing required), saving us a seat amid the scrum while I tied bikes on the roof, and a cheery wave as we were successfully run out of town. Our bus ride took 4 hours for 130km and we arrived to a freezing cold night, only to be turned away from a hotel, I think for being too dirty.
On to greener pastures. Back in the land of openness, we hit a small town called Fenghuang. This town is Chinese to the core, just as you may imagine China should be. Tiny cobbled alleys, red lanterns, a guesthouse overlooking a pretty river, old city walls, pagodas etc. It was packed with Chinese tourists (so that means KTV karaoke) and certainly dolled up for visitors but a fantastic place all the same. Spent an atmospheric evening wandering the streets and along the ramparts.
Next day was Dehang, a tiny village in yet another karst peak area. This place was well off the beaten track, at least at this time of year. No English in the entire town (we probably talked to all of them) and it took about an hour and a half to find somewhere to stay as there was no one around. Cows wandered the alleys (Claud found a cowpat in the dark that we had watched being made earlier), and we saw both our first stars and snow in Asia. Was extremely quiet, no KTV, no honking and very peaceful.
We were charging along at this stage, having easily clocked up our first 1000km in China, and passed 5250km overall. But then it came unstuck, the dream died. I (D) got sick yet again. This was the 3rd time in a week and about the millionth time it feels like on the trip. Was a nasty chest infection that had me bed ridden for 2 days of sweating myself to a state of near drowning, and unable to walk to the supermarket let alone bike 100km a day.
So public transport has been employed to varying degrees of success. To go north, we first had to go south. Then a train north that took a whole afternoon of bargaining at a train station that seemed to have no useful destinations at all. So we had to overshoot our intended town, stay another night and get a bus south again. All of this with no English, and me struggling to walk the length of the platform with a coughing seizure. But finally we have made it to Yichang on the Yangtze and holed up in a nice hotel (have not been pushing the limits of slumminess in China) to plot our next move.
Despite the odd issue we have been repeatedly surprised at the helpfulness of the Chinese who often go well above the call to sort us out. Generally if we turn up looking lost, someone will come over and take us under their wing. This took a bit of getting used to after Vietnam where such good natured help was non-existent and we found it hard to believe people actually wanted to be nice to us, but they do!
Blogspot is actually blocked in China but we have found a way around this. Unfortunately it means we cannot update our photos on this site as we could before but we can still put them up on the other site we were using. There are heaps of new photos up so here is a link (you might have to copy and paste it): http://picasaweb.google.com/steelbaker/SouthernChinaAndHongKong
Till next time
D & C
Saturday, February 16, 2008
The mainland
Ni Hao
Here we are in China proper! We took a ferry up the Pearl River from Hong Kong, biked for 5 days, and here we are in Yangshuo, 65km south of Guilin. It's cold here but not snowy so far. China is pretty cool - not many people speak English but the ones that do are keen to practice. The people have been as friendly as anywhere we have been, with some going well beyond the call of duty in our aid. One girl in the street we asked for directions called the hotel we were trying to find to arrange for someone to come and take us there. The first few nights we were staying in towns that not a lot of foreigners go to so we get a lot of stares, and attract crowds of people in the supermarkets.
The first day of riding was miserable as it was freezing cold, rained on and off all day,and of course we got a puncture as well. This did not bode well. But since then it has been mercifully dry although still finger numbingly cold. The road we followed was busy but after Vietnam it seemed relatively peaceful. Did see 3 crashes in one day however...
The countryside has also been a nice change from the dreary bits of Vietnam and we are yet to see much of the hyperindustrial China that would make for very unpleasant riding. Rather it has been forested hills, rivers, and bamboo sprouting in every direction. Plenty of dilapidated little towns but they only take a few minutes to breeze through on the bike. Unlike the rest of the trip, at the end of the day we have usually found ourselves in a big city, with public transport, malls, fastfood and all the trimmings. A nice change to be able to get food easily. The towns down south were ghostly empty probably because of the New Year holiday but now we are into some more bustle.
The food here is good, on our first night we ordered noodles and they were hand-pulled in front of us. This invlves a lump of dough being rolled flat, twisted and pulled until miaculously noodles spring forth. None of this fancy-pants cutting the Italians rely on. We have also been getting into Chinese dumplings and much much tea.
Yangshuo's scenery is impressive with hundreds of karst cliffs surrounding the town. Our guest house owner is very friendly and has been teaching us some Chinese. Up until this point we have been struggling to make ourselves understood, no one even understands when we say the names of towns. Not sure the lessons will help much though as our pronounciation is shocking.
From here we are off north and into the province of Hunan that has been the recent victim of the worst snow in some decades. Great timing. Hopefully winter comes to an end at some stage in the near future.
Goodbye (in Chinese)
Here we are in China proper! We took a ferry up the Pearl River from Hong Kong, biked for 5 days, and here we are in Yangshuo, 65km south of Guilin. It's cold here but not snowy so far. China is pretty cool - not many people speak English but the ones that do are keen to practice. The people have been as friendly as anywhere we have been, with some going well beyond the call of duty in our aid. One girl in the street we asked for directions called the hotel we were trying to find to arrange for someone to come and take us there. The first few nights we were staying in towns that not a lot of foreigners go to so we get a lot of stares, and attract crowds of people in the supermarkets.
The first day of riding was miserable as it was freezing cold, rained on and off all day,and of course we got a puncture as well. This did not bode well. But since then it has been mercifully dry although still finger numbingly cold. The road we followed was busy but after Vietnam it seemed relatively peaceful. Did see 3 crashes in one day however...
The countryside has also been a nice change from the dreary bits of Vietnam and we are yet to see much of the hyperindustrial China that would make for very unpleasant riding. Rather it has been forested hills, rivers, and bamboo sprouting in every direction. Plenty of dilapidated little towns but they only take a few minutes to breeze through on the bike. Unlike the rest of the trip, at the end of the day we have usually found ourselves in a big city, with public transport, malls, fastfood and all the trimmings. A nice change to be able to get food easily. The towns down south were ghostly empty probably because of the New Year holiday but now we are into some more bustle.
The food here is good, on our first night we ordered noodles and they were hand-pulled in front of us. This invlves a lump of dough being rolled flat, twisted and pulled until miaculously noodles spring forth. None of this fancy-pants cutting the Italians rely on. We have also been getting into Chinese dumplings and much much tea.
Yangshuo's scenery is impressive with hundreds of karst cliffs surrounding the town. Our guest house owner is very friendly and has been teaching us some Chinese. Up until this point we have been struggling to make ourselves understood, no one even understands when we say the names of towns. Not sure the lessons will help much though as our pronounciation is shocking.
From here we are off north and into the province of Hunan that has been the recent victim of the worst snow in some decades. Great timing. Hopefully winter comes to an end at some stage in the near future.
Goodbye (in Chinese)
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Happy New Year, again
After spending our new years eve in Laos and in bed by 10pm we have come to Hong Kong for the lunar new year as celebrated by the Chinese.
Hong Kong RULES!! That was our initial assessment and we have pretty much stuck to it. It is such a friendly place. One of the touts even told me I was too angry before we readapted to the different way of doing things. It is so easy to be here, with signs at every corner telling you which way to the sights, an attendant at the Peak Tram told us that the more expensive option we asked for was not advised that day because the view would not be worth it, and even when we were told off by the Police for sitting on an illegal wall it was a pleasant experience (compare Vietnam where a whistle was blown and we were yelled at accompanied by vicious pointing).
We got our Chinese visa on day one, which was excessively easy. An agency did it for us, for cheaper than the Embassy charge, in a fifth of the time they take. They seem totally legit to boot. Then we did some major shopping, brake pads that were non-existant after the mud (we bought out the shops supply of 7 sets), new inner tubes as our cheapies are falling appart, new seat, polar fleece, neck gaiter, gloves, running shoes, dry bag to carry new purchases... The locals were also out for some serious shopping so the streets were absolutely packed in every direction you could look, which included up and down thanks to the subterranian malls, and concourses. Great fun just looking at what is around, from dirt cheap street markets to the top-o-the-top like windows full of watches all over $50,000.
Then there are the new years activities. A night parade last night covered children balancing in reverse pyramids - going from one on the ground to 5 across on the top row, lion and dragon dancers, USA cheerleaders, and of course the futuristic "Tourist Ostriches" from France. Tonight is the fireworks, with about $7,000,000 about to go up in smoke.
We have started the Chinese tour of world superlatives with the worlds longest escalator, and the worlds largest permanent light and sound display that sees the buildings lighting up in time to music. Many more to come, not least of course the most populous polulation - there is a city just north of here that is 10 million strong. Won't bother you with the name, you have not herard of it and neither had we. Nor had we heard of the 5 others that top 4 million within about 150km. We are off to one of them by boat on Sunday to avoid the bulk of the hugely populated area where HK meets the mainland, and then we are into China proper. A little nerve wracking after this blissful introduction.
Still, it is cool to be getting into the last country of our alliterative bike tour, with about 3 months to Beijing. Pray for good weather!
D&C
PS no photos as this place does not have the facilities
Hong Kong RULES!! That was our initial assessment and we have pretty much stuck to it. It is such a friendly place. One of the touts even told me I was too angry before we readapted to the different way of doing things. It is so easy to be here, with signs at every corner telling you which way to the sights, an attendant at the Peak Tram told us that the more expensive option we asked for was not advised that day because the view would not be worth it, and even when we were told off by the Police for sitting on an illegal wall it was a pleasant experience (compare Vietnam where a whistle was blown and we were yelled at accompanied by vicious pointing).
We got our Chinese visa on day one, which was excessively easy. An agency did it for us, for cheaper than the Embassy charge, in a fifth of the time they take. They seem totally legit to boot. Then we did some major shopping, brake pads that were non-existant after the mud (we bought out the shops supply of 7 sets), new inner tubes as our cheapies are falling appart, new seat, polar fleece, neck gaiter, gloves, running shoes, dry bag to carry new purchases... The locals were also out for some serious shopping so the streets were absolutely packed in every direction you could look, which included up and down thanks to the subterranian malls, and concourses. Great fun just looking at what is around, from dirt cheap street markets to the top-o-the-top like windows full of watches all over $50,000.
Then there are the new years activities. A night parade last night covered children balancing in reverse pyramids - going from one on the ground to 5 across on the top row, lion and dragon dancers, USA cheerleaders, and of course the futuristic "Tourist Ostriches" from France. Tonight is the fireworks, with about $7,000,000 about to go up in smoke.
We have started the Chinese tour of world superlatives with the worlds longest escalator, and the worlds largest permanent light and sound display that sees the buildings lighting up in time to music. Many more to come, not least of course the most populous polulation - there is a city just north of here that is 10 million strong. Won't bother you with the name, you have not herard of it and neither had we. Nor had we heard of the 5 others that top 4 million within about 150km. We are off to one of them by boat on Sunday to avoid the bulk of the hugely populated area where HK meets the mainland, and then we are into China proper. A little nerve wracking after this blissful introduction.
Still, it is cool to be getting into the last country of our alliterative bike tour, with about 3 months to Beijing. Pray for good weather!
D&C
PS no photos as this place does not have the facilities
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Mud, rain and cycling
Hi
Hanoi is in a Tet frenzy, cleaning the streets, selling gift baskets, and having more chaotic traffic than usual. We spent a few days cycling around the countryside to escape...
Day 1: The word "muddy" doesn't adequately describe the state of us at the end of day one. Our bikes, our bags, and our persons (ah, the indignity) were hosed down before being allowed into the hotel. Still, we got out of Hanoi without getting lost, maimed or killed, no small feat.
Day 2: After a climb over a mountain pass in dense fog (cold, wet, miserable, etc) we popped out the other side into a stunning valley. Inadvertently ate dog meat for lunch - it's orange and fatty and tastes like, well, dog. We felt a little guilty and uncomfortable, especially as there was a dog sitting by our table staring at us, so we left most of it in our bowls. We spent the night in a fantastic village of stilt houses in the middle of rice paddies surrounded by mountains - very peaceful.
Day 3: Brilliant riding today on a small highway which we often had to ourselves. We followed a river valley, meandered through rice paddies dotted with karst cliffs, and were generally impressed by the scenery. Hit 4000km today! Arrived in a tiny town in the pouring rain, and again out came a hose.
Day 4: Ah, the innocence of us on day one - we didn't know what true mud was! Well, today we were enlightened. At one point the bikes wouldn't even move, so clogged were they with mud. After wrecking our brake pads we arrived at Cuc Phuong National Park where we spent an enjoyable afternoon in the freezing cold looking around the Monkey Rescue Centre.
Day 5: Another sodden ride, another hosing down. We stayed the night in Ninh Binh and convinced ourselves to get the bus back up Highway 1 to Hanoi. Although this proved to be no quieter or any less dangerous, we were at least warm and dry and not hosed down on arrival.
We're leaving here tomorrow (Tues) to fly to Hong Kong. In the meantime we're cleaning bikes (all that hosing and they're still not clean), and cramming in as much of Hanoi as possible. Yesterday we had the very weird experience of going to see Ho Chi Minh's body. This definitely rates at one of our top Vietnamese experiences. First we were ordered to arrange ourselves into two lines of two abreast, thanks. Our bag was searched and X-rayed, then we went through metal detectors. We were ushered through a huge complex by whistle-wielding guards (and they aren't afraid to use them!) and finally found ourselves at the doorway to the mausoleum itself. I (Claud) was pulled out of line and my bag searched again (maybe I have a shifty face??) before finally being allowed in. The interior was dim, the lights were red, and Uncle Ho was flanked by four guards. The man himself was pale and waxy, and the only noise inside was the shuffling feet of hundreds of tourists. Very bizarre, we are already looking forward to Mao.
Love C&D
Friday, January 25, 2008
In Limbo
Hi
We are still in Hanoi, pottering about the Old Quarter, eating a lot of great food (Hanoi really does have fantastic food), and trying not to freeze too much. We spent 2 nights in Halong Bay - one night on a boat, and the second on an island with only 4 guests including us (and about 16 staff). Halong Bay was pretty incredible - huge karst cliffs rising out of the sea (there are over 2000 of them ranging from 5-300m in height), and a few caves to explore. We went into "Amazing Cave" which is absolutely huge and filled with rock formations that look like turtles, elephants, feet, the Buddha, etc. These are mostly fairly dubious and I usually can't see them.
We went kayaking around some of the cliffs and past a floating village - over 400 people live on rafts and make their living from fishing.
On arriving back in Hanoi (after a harrowing journey with a very sleepy driver) we booked our flights to Hong Kong - we'll be leaving here on Feb 5th and arriving in time for the Chinese New Year, very exciting! We've still got 10 days in Vietnam and we've planned to spend 6 days biking around Hanoi to the "Halong Bay of the rice paddies" and a national park to see some monkeys. We're also going to go and visit Ho Chi Minh in his eternal slumber, and catch a water puppets show.
Weather here is absolutely horrible, wet, grey and cold, hope you're all enjoying the balmy NZ summer! (Except of course for you Kali).
Love C & D
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Finally
Hello again (hopefully...)
Turns out blogspot is blocked in most of Vietnam, so we have been unable to update our site. Friends of ours have found the same problem but for some unexplicable reason it seems to work in the two main cities but nowhere else in the country. China blocks it nationwide...
We arrived in Hanoi yesterday morning after a 13 hour bus trip - longer than our flight here but in a "sleeping bus" with beds so it was a comfy trip. The highway is just too dismal to make cycling worth it. Between Hue and Hanoi there is not much to see so 700km in the rain and traffic (see below) seemed pretty pointless.
After we left Savanhaket in Laos we headed east for 3 days into a headwind, nothing much to see for a lot of it. Certainly well off the beaten track here, so it was 3 nights in tiny towns, no English speakers, and somewhat boring end to Laos. There was a bit of interest on the last day as we crossed the Ho Chi Minh trail, the supply route for the Viet Cong. The countryside was really barren with nothing growing over shoulder height - a legacy of the deforrestation from agent orange (and white and blue). There were a few war wrecks around, the back end of a helicopter, some tanks, and anti-aircraft cannons.
The change into Vietnam was immediately apparent after we fumbled our way through the border. From a tiny village on the Laos side to a pretty decent town in Vietnam, with highrise hotels even. Unfortunately this has proved to be the downside of cycling here - it is majorly populated. 82 million people and in most of central Vietnam, only one road. The traffic is insane, with little to no regard for any road rules (presuming there are any??). Saw a car crash on day one, a dead scooter rider a week later, and several smaller scooter-on-scooter incidents. But it is the horns that are the real issue for us. It seems that you can do pretty much anything you like as long as you announce your intentions with a sharp burst on the horn. The louder the horn, the more liberal your interpretation of road etiquete can be. We have taken to riding with earplugs in but it is still a nerve wracking experience. Even on the backroads there is constant traffic, towns, and people yelling at us.
Some of the towns we have been to are great, and it was a real relief after the tiny villages of Laos to be able to find something to eat at will. The first town we stayed in (Dong Ha), the guidebook described as dusty and of no interest. We thought it was fantastic because it had a bakery that we visited 3 times in our 12 hour stay. We have spent most of our time here so far hanging out with Claud's parents and their friends in Hue and Hoi An. Both of these towns are really nice and it was fun checking out the old citadel in Hue, and wandering the streets of Hoi An that are lined with 500 tailors. The vendors are all very keen to get you in their shop, so there are many cries of "Hey you, you buy something!!" This carries on as we bike, with some pulling alongside on thier scooters and taking advantage of our inability to easily escape. The best offer we have had was for some 7 foot high solid marble lions. The difficulty of transporting these on a bike was of minor concern to the seller.
We had a very average day of riding as we headed back north to Hue, with a really busy highway 1, and then once we reached a side road to avoid the traffic we had to deal with occasional groups of people yelling "FUCK YOU" at us as we rode past (according to one Vietnamese man these are the people from "bad families"). The next day we went for a ride in the coutryside around Hue and were invited into someones home for a tea. This was all very pleasant but after giving us a bowl of noodles we were asked to pay for the duaghter's university fees. We were a bit taken aback and after a rather awkward and finally bitter exchange we left being told we were not nice people. This was after going to temples and being told we had to pay to lean our bikes on a tree, twice, and on the same day told that we had to buy a ticket for our bikes on a bus for the same cost as our seats. We feel rather as though we are seen not as people but just a potentially open wallet. The only people that show any interest in us are those that want money and as soon as it is clear you are not going to give them any they either go away or get angry.
We are off to Halong Bay soon for a 3 day cruise. As this involved giving someone quite a decent amount of money, it might be a pleasant trip.
D & C
Turns out blogspot is blocked in most of Vietnam, so we have been unable to update our site. Friends of ours have found the same problem but for some unexplicable reason it seems to work in the two main cities but nowhere else in the country. China blocks it nationwide...
We arrived in Hanoi yesterday morning after a 13 hour bus trip - longer than our flight here but in a "sleeping bus" with beds so it was a comfy trip. The highway is just too dismal to make cycling worth it. Between Hue and Hanoi there is not much to see so 700km in the rain and traffic (see below) seemed pretty pointless.
After we left Savanhaket in Laos we headed east for 3 days into a headwind, nothing much to see for a lot of it. Certainly well off the beaten track here, so it was 3 nights in tiny towns, no English speakers, and somewhat boring end to Laos. There was a bit of interest on the last day as we crossed the Ho Chi Minh trail, the supply route for the Viet Cong. The countryside was really barren with nothing growing over shoulder height - a legacy of the deforrestation from agent orange (and white and blue). There were a few war wrecks around, the back end of a helicopter, some tanks, and anti-aircraft cannons.
The change into Vietnam was immediately apparent after we fumbled our way through the border. From a tiny village on the Laos side to a pretty decent town in Vietnam, with highrise hotels even. Unfortunately this has proved to be the downside of cycling here - it is majorly populated. 82 million people and in most of central Vietnam, only one road. The traffic is insane, with little to no regard for any road rules (presuming there are any??). Saw a car crash on day one, a dead scooter rider a week later, and several smaller scooter-on-scooter incidents. But it is the horns that are the real issue for us. It seems that you can do pretty much anything you like as long as you announce your intentions with a sharp burst on the horn. The louder the horn, the more liberal your interpretation of road etiquete can be. We have taken to riding with earplugs in but it is still a nerve wracking experience. Even on the backroads there is constant traffic, towns, and people yelling at us.
Some of the towns we have been to are great, and it was a real relief after the tiny villages of Laos to be able to find something to eat at will. The first town we stayed in (Dong Ha), the guidebook described as dusty and of no interest. We thought it was fantastic because it had a bakery that we visited 3 times in our 12 hour stay. We have spent most of our time here so far hanging out with Claud's parents and their friends in Hue and Hoi An. Both of these towns are really nice and it was fun checking out the old citadel in Hue, and wandering the streets of Hoi An that are lined with 500 tailors. The vendors are all very keen to get you in their shop, so there are many cries of "Hey you, you buy something!!" This carries on as we bike, with some pulling alongside on thier scooters and taking advantage of our inability to easily escape. The best offer we have had was for some 7 foot high solid marble lions. The difficulty of transporting these on a bike was of minor concern to the seller.
We spent Claud's birthday in Hoi An and did a cooking class. A tailor gave her some flowers (Barbara was proving to be quite a valuable customer, easily swayed by the cunning sales technique of "You buy more?", so a bunch of flowers was probably quite a good bet to get us to return). There must be a particular flower or something that is given on birthdays as carrying them down the street people kept calling out "happy birthday".
We had a very average day of riding as we headed back north to Hue, with a really busy highway 1, and then once we reached a side road to avoid the traffic we had to deal with occasional groups of people yelling "FUCK YOU" at us as we rode past (according to one Vietnamese man these are the people from "bad families"). The next day we went for a ride in the coutryside around Hue and were invited into someones home for a tea. This was all very pleasant but after giving us a bowl of noodles we were asked to pay for the duaghter's university fees. We were a bit taken aback and after a rather awkward and finally bitter exchange we left being told we were not nice people. This was after going to temples and being told we had to pay to lean our bikes on a tree, twice, and on the same day told that we had to buy a ticket for our bikes on a bus for the same cost as our seats. We feel rather as though we are seen not as people but just a potentially open wallet. The only people that show any interest in us are those that want money and as soon as it is clear you are not going to give them any they either go away or get angry.
We are off to Halong Bay soon for a 3 day cruise. As this involved giving someone quite a decent amount of money, it might be a pleasant trip.
D & C
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