China is a country full of contradictions, and like the first half of the trip, the second half of the trip was both amazing and frustrating....
Sixth Stop: Chengdu........
Our time in Chengdu was both burdened and made more interesting because of Chinese New Year. New Years Day we went to a temple on the outskirts of town and it was absolutely packed to the rafters with people. We literally followed/got pushed through the doors and each consequent building. It was intense, people were throwing incense into massive burners while a man stood at guard with a fire hose actively trying to keep all the fires under control. I don't know how much of what went on was religious but more so tradition and hysteria.
Chengdu is an amazing city with a LOT to do (when everythings not closed for Chinese New Year). What we did do however was fantastic. Our first stop was the Panda Conservation Centre. The pandas were gorgeous, especially the little panda babies, who were so active and fat, climbing up their play pens and then falling on their butts. I've taken so many pictures of pandas now that it's bordering on stalking I think. Another big day trip
we did was to climb Ching Chen Shan, or some random mountain north of Chengdu. The senery was really pretty, however the whole thing was paved and to me that doesn't constitute treking but as a tourism endevour. It was really cool however because there are monestaries built all the way up and into the mountain, it's pretty intense to think these monks live surrounded by constant tourism on a mountain. We also went on a day trip to see Dafo the Giant Buddha. The Buddha is huge, his toes are literally the size of a regular sized person. We saw it by boat and got to wear some hideous lifejackets and were in the best position to take photos. Chengdu was also the place which will never be forgotten for Tex-Mex food, amazing friends, cold/quirky hostel, the random new years festival with huge ugly mascots and the random cab ride back, my first snow experience, closed markets and malls and having to enrol for uni at 6am. Chengdu was my favourite city of the trip and I'm relatively certain Paul and Cinja would agree!!!!!!!!!!
Seventh Stop: Kunming (昆明).................
The train ride to Kunming was where we left Cinja and Paul and I went on. I was incredibly sick by this point, what with my cold getting progressively worse and worse. Bright-side, I slept through about 80% of
the train ride which is a miracle considering we were on it for 22 hours and sitting on a hard seat with smokers!!! I liked Kunming but it's definitely a city of mixed reviews. To me it's a lot like Adelaide, or as much as China can be. It's pretty, warm, got some nature and yet it's still a city. We basically just spent our time exploring the city, we went to Kunming Park/Lake, a temple in the mountains, the bird and flower market (which co-incidently sells puppies not birds or flowers), ate fantastic Indian food and went on the eternal search for cold and flu tablets. Getting a cab in Kunming was a nightmare, but the city is small enough that we could walk most places, especially because it was warm and sunny. Our biggest dramas in Kunming revolved around getting train tickets back to Hong Kong, or Guangzhou anyways, unfortunately China is retarded and you can'y but tickets outside the town you want to leave and you can't buy tickets more than five days in advance. Long story short we had to do the rest of our trip first and hope to hell we would be able to get out of Kunming when we returned.
Eigth Stop: Lijiang (丽江).....
Lijiang is one of the few traditional Chinese towns left remaining, a world heritage site, and the Chinese governments favourite tourist site. The old town is r
eally cute and looks extremely traditional, even if all the buildings are full of souveniers and tea, it's also extremely expensive for China. The highlight of being in Lijiang was treking through Tiger Leaping Gorge. (虎跳峡) It's a two day trek that is extremely hard (especially when sick) but made easier by being able to rent an Ass (or Donkey or Horse if you're Chinese). The gorge is spectacular, the mountains are so high that it wasn't until 11am ish that the sun finally made it over the mountains. There was snow on the tops of some mountains, the water was rushing below and although it was one of the hardest things I've ever done it was well worth it, even if I was in pain for the next week!
Ninth Stop: Dali (大理)......
We went through Dali on the way back to Kunming and HK and were only there a day but Dali is gorgeous. It's mainly farm land with one traditional town and a more modern town. We stayed in the walled town, which had been restored only recently when the Chinese government realised they could cash in o
n tourism. We didn't do a lot in Dali as we were both exhausted but we walked around the town, souvenier shopped, ate good food (predominantly western, opps) and relaxed in a hostel im relatively certain we had all to ourselves at very very low rates (they undercharged us). One of the most vivid memories I have from Dali is walking past all the restaurants and out the front there being buckets and buckets of fresh fruit and vegetables. Everything was so fresh and colourful, even the farms which were bright yellow and green with a few people ploughing in amongst it all. Dali was the perfect place to unwind after travelling through China for some twenty-six days.
The journey back to Hong Kong...............
The journey back home was a long and stressful one. Once we got back to Kunming first on the list was a train ticket to Guangzhou, FAIL, so we decided to train it to Nanning instead, VICTORY. From there we had to try and figure out how to get to Guangzhou, there were no train tickets left so we headed for the bus station. There are buses running every half an hour all day and at 8am the only bus out we could get was for 1030pm, Chinese New Year is nuts. By the time we got to Guangzhou it was the last day before our visa expired and resulted in us getting fines so we hoped straight on another bus to Shenzhen. Eventually we got to immigration and crossed the border back into Hong Kong, just in time. It wasn't easy getting back but we managed it with a few hours to spare.
Sixth Stop: Chengdu........
Our time in Chengdu was both burdened and made more interesting because of Chinese New Year. New Years Day we went to a temple on the outskirts of town and it was absolutely packed to the rafters with people. We literally followed/got pushed through the doors and each consequent building. It was intense, people were throwing incense into massive burners while a man stood at guard with a fire hose actively trying to keep all the fires under control. I don't know how much of what went on was religious but more so tradition and hysteria.
Chengdu is an amazing city with a LOT to do (when everythings not closed for Chinese New Year). What we did do however was fantastic. Our first stop was the Panda Conservation Centre. The pandas were gorgeous, especially the little panda babies, who were so active and fat, climbing up their play pens and then falling on their butts. I've taken so many pictures of pandas now that it's bordering on stalking I think. Another big day trip
we did was to climb Ching Chen Shan, or some random mountain north of Chengdu. The senery was really pretty, however the whole thing was paved and to me that doesn't constitute treking but as a tourism endevour. It was really cool however because there are monestaries built all the way up and into the mountain, it's pretty intense to think these monks live surrounded by constant tourism on a mountain. We also went on a day trip to see Dafo the Giant Buddha. The Buddha is huge, his toes are literally the size of a regular sized person. We saw it by boat and got to wear some hideous lifejackets and were in the best position to take photos. Chengdu was also the place which will never be forgotten for Tex-Mex food, amazing friends, cold/quirky hostel, the random new years festival with huge ugly mascots and the random cab ride back, my first snow experience, closed markets and malls and having to enrol for uni at 6am. Chengdu was my favourite city of the trip and I'm relatively certain Paul and Cinja would agree!!!!!!!!!!Seventh Stop: Kunming (昆明).................
The train ride to Kunming was where we left Cinja and Paul and I went on. I was incredibly sick by this point, what with my cold getting progressively worse and worse. Bright-side, I slept through about 80% of
the train ride which is a miracle considering we were on it for 22 hours and sitting on a hard seat with smokers!!! I liked Kunming but it's definitely a city of mixed reviews. To me it's a lot like Adelaide, or as much as China can be. It's pretty, warm, got some nature and yet it's still a city. We basically just spent our time exploring the city, we went to Kunming Park/Lake, a temple in the mountains, the bird and flower market (which co-incidently sells puppies not birds or flowers), ate fantastic Indian food and went on the eternal search for cold and flu tablets. Getting a cab in Kunming was a nightmare, but the city is small enough that we could walk most places, especially because it was warm and sunny. Our biggest dramas in Kunming revolved around getting train tickets back to Hong Kong, or Guangzhou anyways, unfortunately China is retarded and you can'y but tickets outside the town you want to leave and you can't buy tickets more than five days in advance. Long story short we had to do the rest of our trip first and hope to hell we would be able to get out of Kunming when we returned.Eigth Stop: Lijiang (丽江).....
Lijiang is one of the few traditional Chinese towns left remaining, a world heritage site, and the Chinese governments favourite tourist site. The old town is r
eally cute and looks extremely traditional, even if all the buildings are full of souveniers and tea, it's also extremely expensive for China. The highlight of being in Lijiang was treking through Tiger Leaping Gorge. (虎跳峡) It's a two day trek that is extremely hard (especially when sick) but made easier by being able to rent an Ass (or Donkey or Horse if you're Chinese). The gorge is spectacular, the mountains are so high that it wasn't until 11am ish that the sun finally made it over the mountains. There was snow on the tops of some mountains, the water was rushing below and although it was one of the hardest things I've ever done it was well worth it, even if I was in pain for the next week!Ninth Stop: Dali (大理)......
We went through Dali on the way back to Kunming and HK and were only there a day but Dali is gorgeous. It's mainly farm land with one traditional town and a more modern town. We stayed in the walled town, which had been restored only recently when the Chinese government realised they could cash in o
n tourism. We didn't do a lot in Dali as we were both exhausted but we walked around the town, souvenier shopped, ate good food (predominantly western, opps) and relaxed in a hostel im relatively certain we had all to ourselves at very very low rates (they undercharged us). One of the most vivid memories I have from Dali is walking past all the restaurants and out the front there being buckets and buckets of fresh fruit and vegetables. Everything was so fresh and colourful, even the farms which were bright yellow and green with a few people ploughing in amongst it all. Dali was the perfect place to unwind after travelling through China for some twenty-six days.The journey back to Hong Kong...............
The journey back home was a long and stressful one. Once we got back to Kunming first on the list was a train ticket to Guangzhou, FAIL, so we decided to train it to Nanning instead, VICTORY. From there we had to try and figure out how to get to Guangzhou, there were no train tickets left so we headed for the bus station. There are buses running every half an hour all day and at 8am the only bus out we could get was for 1030pm, Chinese New Year is nuts. By the time we got to Guangzhou it was the last day before our visa expired and resulted in us getting fines so we hoped straight on another bus to Shenzhen. Eventually we got to immigration and crossed the border back into Hong Kong, just in time. It wasn't easy getting back but we managed it with a few hours to spare.
2 comments:
sounds like China was awesome! I'm glad you updated, now our trip is at least somewhere online, cuz I STILL haven't updated mine though I've been back for like 6 months.
Miss you! Hope all is well and when are you coming to LA?
It didn't take me too long to do it once I sat down and actually just wrote. That and I have been avoiding the massive amounts of work for the last few weeks anyways.
China was amazing, hard though and im so so glad I didnt try to do it myself wouldve prob come home a lot earlier than I did. lol.
Miss you heaps, we should find a time to skype about whats going on. How's the new job going????? Ill be in LA with any luck from the 3rd of January. Im saving and its looking promising!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! you gonna travel around california with me, if not more.....?
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