Not Approved by LP

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 ... [Continue reading this entry]

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 ... [Continue reading this entry]

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. ... [Continue reading this entry]

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 ... [Continue reading this entry]

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 ... [Continue reading this entry]

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 ... [Continue reading this entry]

Made it to a wet H.K after 12 hour overnight bus journey but luxury bus so no hardship. Arrived H.K and  for once British passport seemed to be an asset which makes a nice change and all very straight forward. Coming ... [Continue reading this entry]

Tomorrow take the overnight bus to Hong Kong so have to face another city.Would be easy to stay here longer if I wasn't so lazy to find a better hotel as I like the place. Very laid back and plenty ... [Continue reading this entry]