Round the World with Ann and Katie

We’re back in Alice Springs after a fantastic trip to Uluru and other places in the Red Centre. We had another early start (5.30am) last friday and luckily we had Bonnie, who was one of the guides on our trip down from Darwin, driving our bus again. It was a smaller group this time, only 10 of us. A French woman, a couple from Seattle and 3 generations of an Aussie family from the Gold Coast. Our first stop was at a cattle station where they also do camel rides and breakfast. I rather regretted the camel pie I had eaten in Alice Springs the previous evening when I saw them. So Katie and I had a trot round the paddock for $5 a go which was rather fun. Then we proceeded to Yulara which is near Uluru where we camped on the first night. After lunch we went to Kata Tjuta which is a group of huge rounded sandstone hills. We had a walk up a gorge as far as you could go. At the top end of the gorge is an area that is sacred to the Aborigines so you can’t go in. There are lots of sites like that in the area where you aren’t allowed in or you can’t take photos. After that we drove to the spot where you get the best view of Uluru at sunset. This was a bit of a jamboree as lots of tour groups turn up. Some are very up-market and they put out tables with tablecloths and glasses and bottles of wine and they have waiters and waitresses in uniforms. How the other half do carry on! We had a couple of glasses (or plastic mugs actually!) of fizzy white wine which was very pleasant. The sunset was particularly spectacular as it quite cloudy by this time but it was impressive enough. Uluru is very impressive without the sunset anyway. Then off to camp for some dinner and an early night under the stars as we had to be up at 4.50am the next day to be at Uluru for sunrise. All go!
Sunrise was a much more picturesque affair and we got some great photos of the rock turning red as the sun hit it. We walked all the way round the base of Uluru, a distance of about 10km. Again there loads of other groups doing the same thing but we were all spread out so it wasn’t too overcrowded. It was still very early by the time we had finished our walk – although 9am feels like lunch time if you have been up before 5 I find. So we went off to the Culture Centre where I had a much needed coffee before viewing the exhibition which deals with Aboriginal culture and way of life. There was also some incredibly expensive Aboriginal artwork and souvenirs for sale – we didn’t indulge though. It is a bit difficult to get a didgeridoo into your backpack!
After an early lunch we set off for King’s Canyon which was quite a drive away. We arrived late in the afternoon at our campsite which was a much rougher affair than the previous one. But it still had proper plumbing! We had a good dinner cooked over the campfire. Alll the food on the trip was excellent. We slept out in our swags again and we had a visit from a dingo in the night. Katie was the only one who saw it strolling through the sleeping bodies at about 3am. But we up at 4.30am the next day (it will be hardly worth going to bed if it carries on like this!) because we were going for a longish walk at King’s Canyon. And it gets extremely hot after about 10am so we wanted to get the climbing over with while it was still cool(ish). King’s Canyon is quite spectacular and entirely unexpected (by me at any rate). I hadn’t even heard of it before we booked the trip. Again it is sandstone so a lovely red colour and the rock formations are truly amazing. We started off by climbing to the rim of the canyon and then we walked all the way round the rim. About half way round we dropped down to a permanent waterhole in a spot called the Garden of Eden which has lovely green vegetation, a contrast to the red rocks above, and is all cool and shady.
After lunch we headed on to Glen Helen and our last campsite of the trip. We had swapped our bus for a 4 wheel drive vehicle the previous day and were looking forward to getting off road on the last day of the trip. We dropped in to another waterhole at Ormiston Gorge on the way and there were rock wallabies there hopping about. I should also mention that we saw lots of other animals along the way in the bush including lizards, a huge iguana, wild camels, donkeys and horses. And one emu. This morning we had a lie in – we didn’t have to be up until 6.30am! We had done a bit of offroad driving the previous day on our way to Glen Helen but nothing like what we did today. It was incredibly rough and we drove part of the way along a dry river bed to visit Cycad Gorge and Palm Creek. The names of these places are a bit of a give away really but again they were well worth the bone rattling ride. After lunch we returned to Alice Springs and are now waiting to catch the bus back to Darwin – a 20 hour trip.
Thanks very much for your messages, Danny. Glad you had an exciting summer.

After 3 days on the Stuart Highway we have arrived in Alice Springs. It was a good trip although the bus seats got a bit hard towards the end. We were with a good group of fellow travellers from all the place – Japan, Germany, France, England etc. We had a very early start from Darwin (5.30am) and stopped for brekky at a pub where they have the water buffalo that was in “Crocodile Dundee” stuffed in the bar. After that we headed for Katherine where we spent the first night. We arrived at lunchtime and during the pm we hired canoes and had three hours paddling down Katherine Gorge. There were crocodile nesting sites along the banks but they were freshwater crocs rather than saltwater ones so they don’t eat people. We had a swim (the water was really warm) before paddling back down river to the boat place. The gorge was very picturesque with red rocky sides and sandy beaches.
We had a big camp fire after dinner and you could sleep out under the stars in a swag which is similar to a bivvy but has a nice thick mattress inside. The stars here are, of course, all different to the ones at home. The next day we were up at 5.30am again while it was still dark for departure at 6.30am. Our first stop was Mataranka where there are hot springs so we wallowed about there for a while before heading off for lunch ( a few hundred km later) at Daly Waters. Daly Waters has a very interesting history and was a big airforce base during the WW2. It also had the first international airport in Oz. Now it is just a pub! Well, not just a pub, a very nice pub. Anywhere serving cold drinks out here is wonderful. Then back in the bus and off to Tennant Creek for our second night out under the stars. We had a lie in the next day (up at 6am!). The highlight of the day was a visit to the Devil’s Marbles which are huge round granite boulders all piled up on top of each other in the desert. Really bizarre. Katie did a bit of bouldering but it was a bit challenging in sandals. We then visited the UFO hotspot of Oz at a place called Wycliffe Well. They have had loads of sightings of UFOs there though some of the photos looked very suspicious to me. We arrived at Alice Springs in the late afternoon yesterday. It is quite a big place by NT standards (population 30k). We had dinner last night with the group (camel pie!) as they were all heading out to Uluru this morning and we are not going til tomorrow.
Today we have been to Alice Springs Desert Park and learned all about the desert environments and the plants and animals. Some really cool kangaroos and nocturnal beasties.
Off early again tomorrow bound for Uluru. Will be back on line when we get back to Darwin next Weds probably.

Hi
We had a lazy day yesterday recovering fromour flights to Oz. But we did book a tour to Alice Springs and Uluru which will take about a week. And we are looking into hiring a car to drive from Darwin to perth when we get back from the outback. We went down to the narbour last night and saw some dolphins and suiqd swimming about. But again it was so quiet although there were lots of people there eating and drinking.

We arrived in Darwin at about 4am and are feeling a bit tired! We have been for a look round and our first thought was “Where is everyone?”. Saturday morning in the centre of town and it was deserted. We are used to having to fight our way down the pavement avoiding people trying to sell us water, kites suits, watches etc etc. and the massed hoards of China and Hong Kong trying to come the other way. And there is nobody here! It is a very pleasant, sleepy little place though.
We are going a trip to Uluru, hopefully departing on Monday. This will take about a week so we will be off line for a while. A full report will be given on our return.
We have just sold our Chinese books and maps at a secondhand bookshop so our bags will now be a bit lighter. After booking our trip we are going to adopt horizontal mode for a while.

So it’s fairwell to Asia today after two and a half months. It seems like years ago that we set off in our fleeces on a dark morning bound for Glasgow airport. And after thousands of miles on trains, buses and boats we are about to take our second flight of the trip this afternoon. We have bought our Lonely Planet guide for Oz and NZ: Katie has inherited the planning gene from me so I tend to leave it to her really to sort out the itinerary. She has booked us a hostel in Darwin which is described in the book as being full of young people in cool threads so I don’t know how well I will fit in!
We have continued to enjoy our time in Hong Kong over the past few days. One of the highlights has been the Tai Chi classes in the mornings. These are put on free by the Tourist Board and take place most mornings between 8 and 9am. I am ashamed to say that I overslept yesterday and we missed the class! The problem is that our room has no windows so the light doesn’t wake you up and with earplugs in neither does anything else – including Katie. But the classes were excellent and were run by a tiny little man in white silk pyjamas. We did some very basic moves and breathing exercises. It looks very graceful when the experts do it but it is difficult to put all the elements of the moves together as the position of your hands and fingers and feet are very important. It would be good to take some more classes when we get home. But you couldn’t beat the setting for it here on the harbour wall in Kowloon with the skyscrapers of Hong Kong island in the background. We have also visited some more museums including the Science Museum which is all hands-on exhibits, I suppose mainly aimed at children but we enjoyed them too. And we went back to the History Museum so now we are very knowledgeable about the Opium Wars and the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong during the war amongst other things. I have found exploring the history of all the places we have been fascinating and we are looking forward to more museums in Oz. The Museum of Medicine was a bit disappointing as it was very old-fashioned compared to the others (no buttons to press!) but it dealt with both Chinese and Western medicine, comparing the two and showing how they fit together. Yesterday we rounded off our Hong Kong experience by another trip to the beach, this time to Shek O on Hong Kong island. It is a lovely beach with good waves – people even had surf boards so it was a kind of transition to Australia I suppose. The water was nice and warm but we got a bit sunburnt despite our best efforts with a beach umbrella and the factor 35. Have to be more careful. We had booked a free trip on a junk round the harbour when we arrived in HK and so we had to abandon the beach and head back to the pier for 5pm. The trip lasted an hour and the water was quite rough so we plunged up and down. But we didn’t get seasick. For our last meal with chopsticks we splashed out a bit and went to somewhere more upmarket but still cheap by HK standards. They did lovely cold fruit cocktails (kumquat and lemon and lots of other flavours). You can spend a fortune on a meal here if you have a mind to. The cost of living seems comparable to the UK in many respects: we checked out an outdoor shop (well you have to, don’t you) and the prices were the same as in the UK. In mainland China you could get cheap North Face gear but the quality was a bit suspect so we didn’t bother.
Anyway, that’s all for now. Except to ask if there is anybody out there reading all this stuff that I am painstakingly typing up? We have had a bit of feedback from a few people (thanks for that) but it would be nice to know what the rest of you are up to and what you all got up to over the summer. We are heading for the Spring now down under although Katie tells me it is 35 deg in Darwin today. Catch up with you from Oz…..

Well, the sleeper bus was something of an experience. It was fitted out with bunks which resembled supermarket trolleys. There is a little basket in which you can put your belongings and then you sleep (or not!) in a semi-reclining position with your feet wedged under the basket. You also get a huge fleecy blanket which takes up about half of your trolley – if you are more than 5ft 6ins and inclined on the tubby side you would have no chance. I can understand now why you see all those toddlers screaming in supermarket trolleys and they are not being hurled along at breakneck speed through the dark. I thought it was a bit like the Black Hole at Alton Towers, an experience I swore I would never repeat. We were at the back so everytime the bus went over a bump we flew off our “mattresses”. However, we did arrive in Shenzhen in one piece and then came the fun of finding out how to get to the border. In the guide book it makes it sound very easy but in practice we had quite a long bus journey followed by a long underground journey until we finally got to the border. Getting through was quick and easy and we then caught another train which dropped us in Kowloon just before lunchtime. Our hostel is not very nice and we saw a cockroach in the room this morning. It is, however, our first cockroach of the trip so that is not too bad. We are staying here until Friday when we fly to Darwin.
Hong Kong is a big contrast to mainland China. What a difference 200metres can make. The toilets flush, they provide paper, hot water, paper towels etc! Another big difference is the ethnic mix. There are a lot of Indian people here and so there are Indian restaurants and people on the streets trying to sell you made to measure suits and watches etc. And there is no spitting or smoking in lots of public places (huge fines are in operation for transgressors). When we had deposited our luggage in our room we went down to the Star Ferry terminal where you get the ferry across to Hong Kong island. The view across the water is amazing – although I had seen lots of photos of Hong Kong nothing prepares you for the real thing, a bit like seeing the Grand Canyon in the flesh as it were. Every time I see it I have to go “Wow!”. They have an excellent tourist information office at the ferry terminal so we picked up lots of leaflets and went off to have a coffee and consider our options. I had wondered if a whole weeek in Hong Kong would be too much but we will have trouble fitting it all in. There are so many good museums and other things to do (we are going to a free Tai Chi class tomorrow and a free boat trip on Thursday). We spent Saturday morning at the history museum and only managed to see half of it (you can get a weekly pass that gets you into all the museums for $30) and then we went across on the ferry to the island. It is an amazing place to walk round: there are sort of aerial walkways through the central part where the shops and offices are. All the shops seem to sell designer stuff so I guess you have to be very well heeled to live here. We then went to the Dr Sun Yat Sen museum for a guided tour. He was instrumental in overthrowing the Qing Dynasty (“Last Emperor”) and is a bit of a hero in HK. I don’t know how well he is thought of on the mainland though. After our bit of culture we caught the tram up to the peak just as it was getting dark for stupendous views over all the buildings all lit up. Very spectacular. We then walked down and got the ferry back to Kowloon.
On Sunday we went hiking. There is, surprisingly, a lot of good hiking in the New Territories. We took the tent and did the first section of the MacLehose Trail. The whole trail is 100k. But our section ended at a beautiful beach of white sand with waves rolling in. We camped there overnight and lazed about on the beach in the afternoon and had a swim. The water was lovely and warm. We were the only people camping there. When it got dark we lit a fire (after eating our noodles!). But when we got in the tent it was unbearably hot and we could barely breathe. I’ve never sweated so much just lying still (note to self:do not bring a 4 season sleeping bag next time). Eventually it cooled down a bit but it was a relief when the morning came and we had another swim to cool off.
Yesterday (Monday) we carried on with the trail. The second section was more interesting than the first and we gained some height which gave us good views before dropping down to yet more lovely beaches. I didn’t think that we would get good walking or beaches like that in Hong Kong – quite a revelation. The downside of the trail is that an awful lot of it has stone steps or is a concrete path. I suppose it is a permanent solution to erosion but not one that I would like to see in Scotland.
Back in Kowloon last night we went for a curry. We have abandoned the idea of eating Chinese food because Hong Kong is not China at all. You can get any sort of cusine you like. We have (I am ashamed to say) even been in the Irish pub just down the road from the hostel where a pint of Guinness is $44 (about 3 quid) during Happy Hour (5-8pm). We are off to do the Science museum this afternoon and then a walk through the market area of Kowloon.

Today we hired bikes, this time with our room-mate, Suzanne and went to Moon Hill. It is about 10k south of Yangshuo and is a limestone karst structure with a big hole all the way through it shaped like a half moon. We climbed up to the moon, followed all the way by a woman trying sell us drinks. We had made it quite clear that we didn’t want any drinks because we had brought some with us but she would not give up or give us any peace at all. Suzanne asked how much a can of coke was and they were 20 yuan – more than you would pay at home. And then she felt sorry for the woman and bought one! Anyway that aside it was a very nice spot and one of the best places for climbing in China apparently. There were about 14 bolted routes that had been put up by some American climbers a few years ago. We had a great view from the top. Then we cycled to the river to cool off. Suzanne actually swam but we just had a paddle and then cycled back to Yangshuo along the river for a very late lunch. During lunch we were pestered incessantly by women trying to sell us souvenirs etc. They just won’t leave you alone. It makes me quite angry at times when they just barge into your meal and conversation and just go on and on and on.
We are catching the sleeper bus to Hong Kong tonight at 8.30pm. I don’t know how much sleep we will get the way they drive here. I envisage all the passengers ending up in a heap on the floor by about 11pm. Will keep you posted.

As mentioned in the last episode we went cormorant fishing the other night. We went out on a boat in the dark and found the fisherman who was on a bamboo raft (with an outboard motor though!) with about 8 cormorants. They are tethered to the raft with string round their legs and have string tied round their necks so that they can’t swallow the fish. They paddle along and dive down, sometimes coming up with fish in their beaks. They swallow them down as far as they can and when they have caught a few they are lifted out on a pole and they have their catch extracted by the fisherman. I can’t decided whether it is cruel or not but I can’t see it going down well with the RSPB. After about an hour we landed the catch and had a photo session with the cormorants – all very touristy.
On Tuesday we wanted to go cycling but it was raining hard in the morning so we decided against it. So we had a bit of a wander round Yangshuo hoping the rain would stop. In the end however we had a change of plan because our new room-mate, Suzanne (from Sydney) suggested going on a Chinese cooking course. I phoned and booked us in and the chef came and collected us at the hostel and took us to the market where we purchased our things for the lesson. There were all sorts of fruit and vegetables, spices, dried goods etc etc. The meat is mainly live until you get it home – well the chickens, ducks and rabbits are anyway. There was also dog for sale – it was quite grotesque seeing quarters of dog hanging on hooks. We saw our fish being knocked on the head before being gutted so we knew it was fresh. Then we went on the bus to the cooking school. It was all very well organised and we each had our own place with a gas ring, wok and chopping board (with one of those big cleaver-type knives). The chef demonstrated each dish and then we did ours. We made beer fish, which is a local dish, chicken with cashew nuts, aubergines with garlic and ginger, green veggies with garlic and ginger and we also stuffed some tofu balls, tomatoes and yellow flowers with a minced pork mixture. The stuffed things were steamed and all the other dishes were cooked in the wok. The results were excellent and we all sat round the table and ate the fruits of our labours. We bought a recipe book so if I can remember how to do everything I will cook it all again when I get home.
Today we hired some bikes and explored the countryside around Yangshuo. Most of the tracks were very muddy after the rain and also very stony so we are all shaken up. We went along the river through little villages and through fields with people going about their farming activities. It was very pleasant. But again we encountered the problem with Chinese maps. They often bear little relationship to what you see on the ground so inevitably we got lost – or rather we were not sure whether we were lost or not which I suppose amounts to being lost. So we had to go back to where we last knew where we were and try again from there. Eventually we managed to find our way back to Yangshuo, crossing the river at one point on a bamboo raft.
As we will beleaving China tomorrow night (we don’t consider Hong Kong to be really China) we thought we would summarise our experiences.
THE EIGHT BEST THINGS ABOUT CHINA: the food, the public transport, not knowing what you are going to get or what is going to happen next, the cost of living, Tiger Leaping Gorge, trying to speak Mandarin, cheap beer, the variety of experiences
THE EIGHT WORST THINGS ABOUT CHINA: the noise, the pollution, the toilets, the language barrier, being hassled by people trying to sell us things, spitting, people smoking everywhere, Chinese music
TEN TOP TIPS IF YOU CPME TO CHINA: learn some Chinese, always carry some toilet paper, don’t believe the guidebooks, don’t believe what people tell you, stay in hostels rather than cheap hotels, eat in places where Chinese people eat even if they haven’t got an English menu (see point 3 in 8 best things about China), use hard sleeper on the trains, use your elbows if you are in a “queue”, bring some earplugs, and most important of all COME TO CHINA before it all becomes too Westernised.

We woke up on the train on Saturday morning to a completely different scene: banana trees silhouetted against a red sunrise. Lots of water buffalo and rice fields. Arriving in Guilin at about lunchtime we booked into our hostel and went exploring. The change in temperature from Kunming was quite dramatic and we sweltered in the heat as we explored the town. We had become used to life at altitude with its more moderate temperatures and lack of humidity. Guilin itself doesn’t have a huge amount to do but is quite a pleasant place, especially at night when everywhere is lit up. There is a hotel (The Waterfall Hotel) down which water cascades from the top floor to the bottom and a lake with pagodas and some nice gardens. The town does however make a good base for exploring the area so yesterday (Sunday) we took a tour to Longshen. This is an area where there are lots of terraced rice fields which were created hundreds of years ago by one of China ethnic minority groups called the Yao. They have turned the Yao people into a bit of a tourist circus. We stopped at a village where the women don’t cut their hair so it is up to 2 metres long. They all dress up in their costumes which are quite attractive and put on a song and dance routine for the tourists. I must admit I have mixed feelings about this sort of thing. It certainly brings in much needed money to the village as evidenced by the poverty of neighbouring villages which are not part of the tourist jamboree. They have been able to build new houses, for example. But in other ways it seems a bit demeaning for people to have to make a pantomime of their culture for the punters. However, the main reason for going was to see the terraced fields so after lunch we walked up the hill to see what we could see. Which on account of the rather Scottish hill weather was not very much. The cloud was down and it was raining so we wandered about in the mist for a while. It did clear and allow to see some terraces and take some photos but it was rather disappointing. Still, I bought some postcards so we know what it should have looked like. The other thing we wanted do from Guilin was take a boat trip down the Li River to Yangshuo. This is supposed to be one of the best things to do in China but we were rather concerned that it would be a rerun of the rice felds trip and we wouldn’t be able to see much. So we decided to wait until this morning to see what the weather was like. As predicted it was still raining! But we made a snap decision to do it anyway, sprinted round to the tour agency, booked the tickets, packed our bags and were on the bus on the way to the wharf before we could have second thoughts. As it happened it did rain most of the day – it is still raining – but the scenery was spectacular anyway. You go past wierd limestone pinnacles covered in the trees and there was mist swirling about which made it all very atmospheric. In fact if it had been blazing sunshine it wouldn’t have been anywhere near so dramatic. Included in the price was a rather good lunch: we shared a table with some Spanish people and a Dutch couple. Foreign tourists pay more for the trip than Chinese people but we get a better lunch! Also (and I know this sounds really bad) we don’t have to sit with Chinese people. In our experience the concept of quiet enjoyment of scenery is entirely lost on the Chinese and all the men chain smoke, making enclosed places very uncomfortable. Amazingly, on the Chinese deck of the boat they produced playing cards and newspapers and didn’t look out of the windows much. Quite odd as it was an expensive boat trip. On the bus trip yesterday there was a man sitting behind me who used his mobile phone as if it was a loudhailer all the way to Longshen, which took about two and half hours!
So we reached Yangshuo after about 4-5 hours and found a nice hostel near the river. We’ve had a wander about and booked a short trip this evening to watch people fishing with cormorants. We hope to hire some bikes tomorrow and explore the area a bit – if it is not too wet. This is also the climbing capital of China but the season does not start for month or so (when it may have stopped raining!). And there are some caves that you go in as well. So that should keep us occupied for a day or three. We then intend to go by overnight bus to Shenzhen where you can cross the border into Hongkong.