Not Approved by LP

Now in isle of harris waiting for a bus using a rapidly fading battery and internet connection so apologise for mistakes. Journey to skye was lovely but the usual wind,rain and mist ,ie the same as my last visit but now very green. Stayed at a nice campsite in uig and managed to avoid being blown over. Nice little brewery there and lovely beer only spolt by the london prices. This morning took the boat to here, weather forecast meant to be good so heading for the beach, probably will be blown there before the bus arrives.

Left the chaos of Saigon and went north. Can’t be long before that place hits gridlock, a challenge just to get out. Considering Vietnam meant to be a relatively poor country they hide it well, no shortage of smart shops and businesses and even the beggars I am sure ride scooters.

The downside of them not being poor is that I am, or feeling that way with a useless pound and the high inflation common to Asia these days. So travel taken a backseat until the economic situation improves, at least for me. Now in CatBa, place changing at an incredible place. When first came here it was a great hideaway, now its backpacker central. Massive new developments taking place, probably not all for the good but such is progress in Asia, bigger and louder the better. Saying that weather great and stunning scenery and a great place to catch up on reading.
Expect to stay around here till Christmas and then maybe brave the cold further north, funds permitting.

After all the rushing around of China been busy here doing nothing.  In fact don’t know where the time has gone !. Unusually in my experience the weather had been very warm for this time of year – I was told there is a 4 year cycle – which has been good as time to chill out on the beach. 

Tomorrow is new year TET  so now everyone  getting ready for that with their orange trees used in a similar way to our Christmas trees and the usual decorations. The downside is that a lot of people leave for the provinces so quiet here. Did a nightout in Haiphong on Thursday, always a enjoyable place to spend time as not a tourist place so easy going and with its French colonial architecture and coffee shops and street life very enjoyable. Made even better by the girls being very easy on the eyes and beer even easier on the wallet, 10 beers for a pound ! Admittedly in the disco after prices 25x that but the discos are not bad and will be going back tonight.

Then Tuesday fly to Thailand and then U.K.

Finally made it to Vietnam, a chance to relax on the beach etc etc only for it to rain non stop !, should have longer in China, the weather was really nice the last few days !.  But lovely just to forget bus timetables etc and catch up with English news, sports etc.

Journey from Guilin easy enough. Bus to Nanning and then Dongxing on the border, all on good roads. Having taken the coastal road before I knew it was a poor road but then most roads in Vietnam are.  Unfortunately they have dug it up to expand it so it was a hell of a journey.  Worse is the never ending huge great jugernaults  doing the China route so plenty of holds up as everything got snarled up and then having to entangle themselves. As if things couldn’t get worse from Halong Bay we had to tow a broken down bus.  This wouldn’t have been so bad if it wasn’t for the fact the tow “rope” was old bicycle tyres.  So everytime we had to stop to let someone off the tyres broke on the restart so then had to get our tyres fixed. For anyone familar with Top Gear in Vietnam, Halong Bay was where they crossed the water to CatBa and the fun they had had to make me laugh as we tried to reenact it.  Then to hit the motorbike madness of Haiphong City in rush hour towing another vehicle was an accident waiting to happen. In China you can travel thousands of miles and rarely see an accident, in Vietnam they have display boards with running counts.  On this occassion we saw 3 majors, two with vehicles going off the road and turning over and one splattered motorcyclists. Vietnamese roads are not for the faint hearted, everyone gets a moped for their first birthday but it hasn’t occured to anyone to build proper roads.

But now no more travelling and hopefully the sun will come out at some point.

Took a day longer than planned to get here as the Kailli nightlife proved a lot better than its hotels. Popped into a bar/disco and everyone friendly and very good atmosphere so made up for a lousy day. Then when that closed carried on drinking\eating to excess with some locals and never got home to 6am so never made the bus to Guilin. But worth it as most enjoyable and needed cheering up after being messed around big time.

Paradoxically when I went to leave the weather was very nice so then decided to do some village hopping instead of going to Guillin.  Only trouble was couldn’t find the buses I wanted and people always referred me to the bus station I had just come from – Guizhou is probably one place where it would be useful to speak Chinese. So in frustration went back to plan A and bought a ticket for Guilin. Despite having major suspicions that the bus everyone referred me to was the wrong one i.e no other passengers at departure time – it wasn’t until 25 minutes after departure time that someone came running over and whisked me of to the correct bus as it was leaving the bus station – at least someone had a brain but seems in short supply there. So right to the end the place had it in for me.

Journey took longer than expected, over 14 hours and a grotty old sleeper bus with toilet stops where thankfully I didn’t need the toilet, the bushes would have been preferable. At least some very nice scenery along the way. Then at midnight kicked of the bus at some junction and left at a restaurant to wait for another bus heading for Guilin. Fortunately these people knew what the were doing and eventually a bus turned up, usefully going via Yangshou so able to get off there.

As bad as Kailli is, Yangshou couldn’t be easier even at 2.30am. Hundreds of good hotels/restaurants/bars, friendly people, all the old backpacker favourites like hire bikes, go climbing, learn to cook etc etc and best of all great scenery. Still one of my favourite places and nice to have blue skies and sunshine. Surprisingly few people, I would have expected more Chinese escaping the cold north.

So that brings things to an end. Next stop Vietnam and a month to rest on the beach and catch up with friends. After 4 trips to China have done a pretty good job at seeing a fair bit of the country and whereas the East coast lacks the stunning scenery of Yunnan/Sichuan and Xinjiang it was still good to see and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Been a lot of hassle since last writing. What looked an easy enough trip from Fenhuang ended up in taking 3 different buses and all of the knees in the chest, crowded uncomfortable type. The first leg at least pleasant scenery winding our way thru the villages along a narrow road. After that an expressway so quick but boring. But very long connections meant we didn’t arrive into Kailli until dark.

So Kailli, Guizhou Province. Was here a couple of years ago and one of my favourite provinces except then I decided to leave the villages around Kailli for a later trip.  Lots of great villages, colourful ethnic groups, friendly and in many ways like north Thailand, Laos, N Vietnam but still relatively undiscovered. L.P quotes a Chinese proverb for Guizhou as “without three li of flat land, three days of fine weather, or three cents to rub together”. And when I told Chinese people I was going there the reaction seemed to be pretty similar.

And then it all went wrong.  None of the hotels/guesthouses would let me stay as a foreigner.  Its the first time on this trip it has happened and rarely except in the most politically active places like Xiahe – which turned into a major riot that night so understandable – on the last trip.  After about 10 attempts had to stay into a totally overpriced groggy place mentioned in L.P. Then next morning set out with the intention of exploring/staying in local villages, first stop Xijiang, a Miao village which gets a glowing report in L.P. First they hit me for a 60Y entrance fee, a bit steep to see an ethnic village and wooden houses.  Worse the place a building site, basically being turned into a shopping mall for Chinese tourists.  It was awful and not even friendly with the people listless and no character and when I checked out a room and they wanted a 100Y to sleep in a shed it was time to get the next bus out. L.P could have been right and I am sure it was very nice before but this was Chinese rebuild job going badly wrong in my view.  Maybe in time it will be ok but for now in reminded me of Dali in Yunnan, another place I hated. So anyone thinking of going there I would say don’t , many and much better places elesewhere.

Next stop was Langde, not a bad place but nothing to get excited about and not worth a night. So went back to Kailli and after being refused at a couple of other places tried to get an overnight bus to Guilin. Nothing being available until tomorrow I had to go back to the previous grotty hotel. Kailli itself I quite like but if that is the attitude of the local government regarding foreign tourists they can shove it up their ….

So tomorrow head for Guillin/Yangshou, at least that is a great place and expect it still will be and then Vietnam sooner than planned.

Still here.  What a difference a day makes.  Yesterday bitterly cold and everyone huddled around the charcoal stoves they use in a vain attempt to keep warm.  Today blue skies and sunshine and could nearly wear shorts and a t-shirt. So decided to stay an extra day and enjoy the sun and more importantly catch up with washing which is always a pain as without heating nothing dries.  It seems the whole town doing likewise as people all spread along the river doing their bit, think I will avoid the fish tonight.  But a nice day and good to relax for once.

Tomorrow should be off to Kailli in Guizhou Province.

Over night train journey to Zhangjiajie easy enough but very crowded with students returning to their provinces. Then at 3.30am dumped of the train to face the bitter cold and with everything closed couldn’t even get a drink or food so not a place I would recommend to arrive early. But eventually got to the bus station and then a bus to the national park for a nice refreshing 8am start.

Zhangjiajie/Wulingyuan is in the premier league of sites in China and often seen in photos and pictures for its stunning rock formations with needle sharp karst formation rising up into the sky and not seen anywhere else in the world. For me it was also the last major destination in China I wanted to visit even if mid winter was always going to be difficult. Whereas only stayed at 800 metres it still made a difference with snow and ice in the high areas. Luckily there were a couple of Chinese girls on the bus who had a better idea of things and recommended staying in the park rather than follow the L.P and stay in the village outside. So spent 2 nights in the park and did some excellent hikikng and walks and very enjoyable. Only let down was the weather refused to do any favours and visibility extremely limited so rarely saw the best parts and by the third day my plan to head into the north of the park laid waste in freezing fog with visibility down to a few metres. Would have been easy to have spent a week but whereas the cold can be handled (even if my camera seemed to disagree) but when you can’t see nothing and with bad weather forcast it was time to move on. At least enjoyed the hikes, the girls good company as were the local ethnic people and the many monkeys friendly posing for the camera. And seem to be getting good at sliding around in the snow and ice with a full pack as this time managed to avoid falling over.

So on the third day took the worlds longest elevator (and probably at over 5 pounds the worlds most expensive) back down with the plan to catch a bus back to the entrance only to be told no buses were running so got a nice long walk back to the entrance. National Parks in China are not like at home, a wilderness to be protected.  They are a mass market money making venture with buses to whizz you around, proper steps and hand rails to make walking easier and no shortage of restaurants and full facilities including cable cars  and hotels. The positive side is that it does allow a lot of people to visit in all weather with some degree of comfort. Except on this occassion despite being told we have to pay for the buses to whizz us around they then told us no buses were running due to bad weather, when is it good weather in January !.

Got the bus back to Zhangjiajie city – very friendly people – as the rain started and after an intensive intake of caffeine at McDonalds got the bus to Fenhuang. A wet slippery journey but some good scenery despite the weather.  Arrived Fenhuang late at night in the wet and feeling extremely tired, never ideal.  But Fenhuang a lovely place and arriving at night even better.  Its an old town on the river with rickety old wooden buildings, city walls and bridges and populated by the Miao and Tujia people. Also like Lijiang in Yunnan and Yongshou near Guillin a place where the Chinese come in huge numbers to have fun and party so some decent nightlife ( for China) . So despite the tireness still neded up having a few beers till late. 

Spent yesterday wandering the place, easy to take good photos even if the weather very overcast and not much life. The place is hugely popular with Chinese but still doesn’t seem to be on the backpacker list as no westerners around, admittedly outside of H.K and Shanghai haven’t been anywhere.  The place also getting the Chinese rebuild job but in fairness a lot of the building probably need it before they fall down. And any place where I can sit on my balcony and take great photos is fine by me and those night views … One negative,  the restaurants bit like going into a pet shop in England, but sad really.  At least when I go for a meal with the chinese there is no arguments from me about having the “best” bits, I am happpy to concede the head, eyes, feet neck etc .

Next stop will be Kailli.

To be honest Hengyang isn’t much more exciting at 3.30pm, the only difference is at 3.30am you can’t see much because its dark, at 3.30pm you can’t see anything because of the pollution. I did make a vague effort to look around, there were places mentioned on the internet but after a few minutes realised just how bitterly cold it is and kind of lost interest.  Times like this that you realise how useful the internet is.

After writing this morning, left here and there was a KFC just opening up, not quite McDonalds but they do a better breakfast.  Then went to the train station and learnt from the long queues student holidays just starting which probably explained the packed train last night. At least language no problem and the ticket clerk unusually helpful and got her British Rail Chinese – English phrase book out and wrote everything out for me – I do have one but its still hiding at the bottom of my backpack, keep meaning to get it out.  The downside is no train to Zhangiajie until 7.30 tonight and then arrive 3.30am so another awful arrival.

Z is a national park and anther UNESCO heritage site so should have some stunning scenery but in this weather probably the only stunning thing will be the 25 pound entrance fee. But has to be done and if there is snow should be nice, admittedly the students did recommend I buy a proper jacket, obviously haven’t been taught about global warming and how hot everywhere is getting !.  Just hope they don’t take all the hotel rooms but hopefully they have more sense than to go sightseeing in winter.

Off topic, was told that the student balance in so highly in favour of girls that now the universities are having to accept men in equal numbers even if they fail their exams. Which is kind of strange given that there are so many more men than women (everyone wants a boy and with a one child policy have a habit of getting one) even going by the official statistics and whilst travelling at least on the East coast the difference seems even greater.

Now in Hengyang in Hunan Province. Seemed a good idea at the time yesterday, not so sure now but train was in the general direction of where I wanted to be.  So took the overnight sleeper from Shenzhen and arrived here 3.30am, not the best time to arrive and now at 5am doesn’t feel any better especially after an awful breakfast.  You can never get a McDonalds when you want one and a extra greasy joes cafe in Hengyang isn’t quite the same. No mention of this place in L.P and I don’t expect English to be widely spoken but someone did manage a hello. Has to be said internet cafe very busy so maybe I am not the only one homeless and at least a lot warmer in here than wandering the streets.

Got the Vietnamese visa in H.K yesterday and leaving Hong Kong easy enough with a train to the border. Then the usual medical form filling, temperature check and a stamp of the passport and back in China, all very straight forward. Unfortunately they are having unusually cold weather and the 10 day forecast grim so see what happens.