The best spear in China

Hong Kong – Yangshuo

I think I know what caused my cold. It was the contrast in temperature from going in and out of air conditioned malls to the outdoors. I was glad to get out of Hong Kong and back into China. The train back to Guangzhou passed through Shenzhen which is a city most people in the west have never heard of despite its size and significance to the lives of westerners. It has a population of around 12 million and just about all the products you have with a ‘Made In China’ written on it have either been manufactured in Shenzhen or passed through. It was tiny until the Chinese government decided to make it a tax haven in the 1990’s.

I got a hard seat night train to Guilin so need to spend more time in Guangzhou. The hard seat trains in China are very cramped. I slept on the floor rather than sit up all night, it wasn’t too bad I suppose. Unfortunately Chinese people use the floors as bins but other than waking up to find I’d been sleeping on a lump of vacuum packed meat it was ok. The Chinese for some strange reason love to eat vacuum packed meat on train or bus journeys. I’ve never had any but know that it wouldn’t satisfy my taste buds at all. After breakfast in Guilin of noodles and green beans in a vinegary chilli sauce I got a bus out of the city and a boat trip to Yangshuo. The scenery was stunning and the weather was good. I got myself a room in the ‘town’. I was a bit surprised how big Yangshuo is. I imagined it to be a little tourist city like Fenghuang. It has a population of 300,000. My room had no window and the place had no common area and a nightclub above it so any untightened screws rattled all night. On the plus side I had a double bed for the standard price of a dorm. I was expecting Yangshuo to be full of westerners; the people who tour South East Asia and get a month’s visa for China usually stay in Yangshuo as part of an essential China trip. I’d heard it was mobbed with backpackers. I don’t normally want to meet heaps of westerners but I’m a bit disappointed. I only spoke to one guy in Hong Kong and that was to ask him the football scores (he was wearing a Celtic top). I wouldn’t mind having a conversation with someone. Every non-Chinese I saw in the first night seemed to be either older people with their socks half way up their knees, family outings or loved up couples.  I got home after my evening meal and discovered my computer screen was cracked. My first thought was not ‘oh f**k, my computers cracked’, I saw this as an opportunity to lose weight in my luggage without feeling I was throwing out unnecessary waste. My second thought was ‘oh f**k, my computers cracked, how am I going to keep myself entertained in the evenings without spending any money’.

Spear Shield

I only stayed one night in the dingy little place then got a dorm with a balcony. My mood picked up as the day went on. I was joined in the dorm by a French girl who I thought was named Loanne. I found out at 3am that her name was Laura but she’s incapable of saying the RRRRR sound. We were joined by Charlie who is doing what I had aspired to do prior to getting a bad bout of sciatica. He has been cycling around the world for a year and three months.  Charlie is a very well-spoken, articulate; boarding school educated southern Englishman (from England). Although he is 24 he has done so much with his life and is one of the few people I’ve met who seems to be better than me at remembering random facts. No matter where the topic of conversation goes, he always has a humorous story related to that topic. He reminds me of a Victorian age explorer born in a time when there’s not much left unexplored. Although he appears to have seen and done it all he doesn’t come across as in any way arrogant about all the things he’s done or places he’s been to. A lot of travellers like to tell stories with a hint of bravado, but Charlie just says things in a matter of fact kind of way. His stories are also far more interesting than the people who do try to outdo each other with adventurous tales of their travels. Not many people would have the balls to cycle through Tibet alone in winter, I certainly wouldn’t. Having seen the pictures of his frost bitten fingers I guess that you’d be lucky to still have your balls after cycling through Tibet alone in winter. I’m sure I’ve met numerous people on this trip who have intelligence that far exceeds my own but Olivia and Charlie are the only people I’ve met where the gulf in experience and worldly knowledge feels significantly large.

http://www.charliewalkerexplore.co.uk/blog.html#

I spent the majority of my time in Yangshuo either cycling around the countryside or chilling on the balcony with Charlie and Michi, a young German who decided on a whim to join Charlie on his leg from Yangshuo to Beijing. My back doesn’t seem to have been affected so I’m seriously considering buying a bike in Yunnan and cycling through South East Asia. The countryside is stunning, Karst Mountains suddenly rising from the fields, quaint villages, old bridges, buffalo, fishermen with cormorants, literally thousands of red bull boats and plenty of telephone poles which were built by the Chinese tourist board to help the tourists make every photograph look perfect.

The Hulong River

To the left of this image was a man fishing with cormorants but I'd rather show you the red bull boats, there were thousands of them.

Karst after karst

My old desktop image was from this viewpoint while I fantasised about escaping from my pleasant but thoroughly boring life.

Whilst out cycling I met a young Chinese couple who had hitch hiked from Beijing to Yangshuo and intended to go through Yunan and into Sichuan. The most interesting thing about meeting them was that they are about as liberal as you get in China but they were still so indoctrinated into the conformist Chinese mentality.

Myself Charlie and Michi spent two nights socialising with expats. We were told of an architecture student who studied in China for a year. All of the students’ designs were very similar and the foreigner asked the students why they approached the design in the way they did and the answers were simply because the teacher said so. No disrespect to the Chinese people but this didn’t surprise me. They aren’t encouraged to think for themselves. We also met a really nice South African girl named Nicki who is a primary school teacher in an elite fee paying school in Hong Kong. She says that when she gives her children free time they don’t know what to do because their lives are so structured. Even at 5 or 6 years old they have their own C.V’s and spend all their out of school hours either doing homework or learning violin or anything else that will give them an edge over their colleagues. When she asks them to play, they just don’t know how to play freely or get involved in activities that involve imagination. It’s apparently taken a long time for the western teachers to convince the rest of the staff and parents that play is a beneficial way for them to learn problem solving, using initiative and negotiation skills.

After Michi and Charlie got on their bikes, myself and Nicki left Yangshuo and went to a nearby village called Xingping. We met a Finnish lady in our hostel named Aura (the coolest name ever) who is passionate about linguistics and speaks good Chinese. She told us about the origin of the Chinese word for ‘contradiction’. It literally translates to ‘shield spear’. The majority of Chinese people don’t know of the origin of the word because the characters come from ancient Chinese symbols.

There was a shopkeeper who sold military equipment and told people who wanted a shield that he sold the best kind of shield available, strong enough to withstand an attack from any type of spear. Whenever a potential customer was in need of a spear he’d tell them he had the best spear money can buy, strong enough to pierce through any shield. Someone noticed the irregularity and the story became synonymous with any contradictory statement until shield sword became the standard way of explaining a contradiction and the story behind the word got lost from mainstream consciousness as the language evolved. I’ve often heard people refer to the chicken and the egg when describing something that is a vicious cycle with no obvious first cause. Maybe in a thousand years’ time the English word for perpetual will be chickenegg and no-one will know why (to future generations, it will be so blatant that it’s the egg that no one will debate about it and the story will disappear). 

 The hostel in Xingping had a squat toilet and a western one. Here's the instruction manual for the western one. No fishing.

I’ve enjoyed my time in and around Yangshuo. I think I was feeling pretty lonely since the 2 Americans left Fenghuang and had begun to think that I needed a woman in my life. I think I just needed a bit of company and I had excellent company throughout my time in Yangshuo. A woman would do no harm coming to think of it, but I’m happy enough on my own. 

The sunset whilst cycling around with two Chinese hitch hikers.

Cycling around with Nicki.

Sunset from a hill above Xingping

I left Xingping and spent a day in Guilin getting my computer screen fixed. I gave a doric lesson to a Chinese receptionist in the evening then headed north the next day with this note that the hostel staff kindly translated for me….

Guangdong & Hong Kong

The Lonely Planet says that the Guangdong countryside contains the most under-rated of all China's scenery. Judging by my train journey to Guangzhou I agree, I still won't go there though. Guangzhou is huge, it has a population of around 20 million in it's metropolitan area, China's second biggest I believe. Like Chinas biggest city Shanghai, I didn't feel it was overly crowded or congested. I reckon the urban planners in both cities have done a good job. I opted to see the city in a day then get a train to Hong Kong. The Guangdong museum was good, I stayed there a while and could have stayed there longer. I went up a tall building (600 metres) and that's about it. It's not easy cramming in a lot in a day.

 Is that smog on the horizon? Surely not.

 Glass Floor

Hong Kong is a nightmare. There is a maximum fine of $5000 dollar and 6 months in prison if you get caught smoking by the riverbank or in a subway. It's a far cry from mainland China. Everyone waits at traffic lights even if there is no vehicle in sight. It definitely feels like I've crossed a border into a different country. The differences between mainland China and Hong Kong feel a lot more profound than differences when crossing from one European country to another. I've developed a bit of a cold and felt a bit worn down. the one time I could do with clearing my throat chinese style and I can't.

I wandered to the riverbank then made it to the Chungking Mansions around 10pm and got myself a room. It's a fascinating building. The wikipedia page is well worth taking a look at. I won't say I like this place, it's the first place I've been to in China where I've felt a bit uneasy. I don't think it's dangerous, it's just got the potential to get ugly. My room doesn't have a window but I'm not really bothered. It's cleaner than a lot of places I've stayed in and much better than in the stories I've read about this place. The area around the Chungking Mansions is easily as multi-cultural as London and does have some charm despite it's decay. It is surely the only place on the face of the earth where National Geographic magazines are sold on the same shelf as dildos.

Hong Kong does have many similarities to Mainland China, such as the air quality......

 The view from the Ferry that takes people from Kowloon to Hong Island.

The view from up Victoria Peak.

There's as much if not more western signs than Chinese ones. Roads are often only crossable via underground tunnels which double up as high end luxury shops. I ate at the worlds cheapest michelin star restaurant. I got prawn dumpling noodle soup for 30 H.K dollars. That's not much more expensive than a fish supper from Zanre's. It was pretty nice. Nothing special. Here's a handful of photos from my wander.

 I did manage to escape the innumerable department stores to more interesting streets.

 I name this photo 'air conditioning vents and some windows' quite poetic I think and very Hong Kongesque.

I think I haven't written enough to do Hong de la Kong justice. On the positive side it's well organised and full of fit birds. I don't have time to write too much because I'm knackered, my joints are all stiff, I'm sniffly and I will be getting some sleep then heading back to Guangzhou tomorrow. I hope to get to Guilin as soon as possible, work my way up to Jiuzhaigou and the south through Western Sichuan into Yunnan and into Laos.

Given the recent instability of Freegate Software, I may very well be in Laos the next time I make a blog update, some time in January. I'm looking forward to getting back into Mainland China. My first and hopefully last visa run of my life has been smooth enough. Adios.

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Fengtwang

I didn't badly sleep in, I was checked out by 10am but still managed to have a whole day in transit even though it is not far from Zhangjiajie to Fenghuang. Even though I have a lengthy visa here I’m still pressed for time. I was at the bus station for 10:30 out the ticket office by 11 and in Jishou by 1:30. After a quick breakfast/lunch I got my ticket for Fengfuang and missed the first two busses. On one of them I put my rucksack in the baggage compartment and by the time I got on the bus there were no seats left and I had to remove my luggage. The Chinese don't really do queuing. It was 5:30 by the time I got into Fenghuang and due to poor directions from hostelworld it was 7:30 by the time I had checked in. That’s a whole day taken up travelling about 100 miles. Were it not for two Americans that I bumped into I would never have found my hostel. They stayed at the same place as me and speak fluent Chinese but it still took them 4 hours to find the place. The 3 of us went for an evening meal, they were good company. Like most expats I've met they seem to have a love hate relationship with China. 

I’ve had chillis in every meal since Tunxi which is about 10 days. Either Hunan chillies are weaker than most varieties or you get immune to them. I’ve been quite happily munching away on them. The small fish are my favourite food. The slightly bigger fish are a nightmare because the bones are noticeable but still too small to pick out.

Fenghuang cuisine is interesting. There are a lot of Pheasants in cages. There are also a lot of pigs smoked whole and one of the local delicacies is flattened pigs head. They batter the head with a club until it's nice and flat. I’ll stick to my fish with eyes. I’ve also seen something that looked like a mongoose or a civet and some sort of giant grey mole rat.

I spent one day wandering about the village. It's not really a village, especially during the autumn festival, it was jam packed. 

There were people from the ethnic minority Miao tribe who were available to hire for photos. The people who paid them were ordering them about as if it were a professional shoot, grabbing their arms and placing them in a certain way then changing their minds and moving them slightly. As the chinese middle class becomes bigger, I assume they will travel around Europe more, I can imagine a person in a kilt being treated like this, it's quite depressing. But anyway, the scenery was nice, and the way the town was lit up at night was cool. However, it was a long way way to come to see what I saw.

I started to get a bit pissed off with people as the day wore on. I couldn't be arsed being photographed like I'm some sort of zoo animal. In the night market one guy was shouting hello in English so that I'd turn around and he'd get a photo of my face. He took at least 30 photos of me as I ate my noodles. He was totally shameless about it all. This is the little cockmunching eunuch and his smelly wife here. I can smell their lack of cultivation just by looking at this photo. 

I was then faced with a bit of a dilemma. I really want to go to Jiuzhaigou but don't want to go in the middle of winter but also didn't want to trek down to Hong Kong from way up there in the north of Sichuan to renew my visa. I opted to renew my visa as soon as possible which meant going back to Changsha. I hate back tracking and went to the bus station first thing in the morning and got a bus at 11. It was 7pm before I arrived in Changsha. Another day of doing nothing. Luckily I got a night train to Guangzhou that night. It instantly changed my mood once i got a ticket. I've wasted far too many days in Hunan and was glad to be getting a move on. I had been envisioning myself spending two or 3 days more in Changsha waiting for trains to be available.

Some things I forgot to mention from earlier

·         * The Shaolin temple has numerous holes in the trees caused by the students poking their fingers at the trees really hard in their quest to becoming the ultimate ninja.

·         * According to my phrasebook the word miantiao can mean noodles or tampon depending on how you say the first syllable. I’m sure I’ve gone into a restaurant and asked for noodles and received sniggers.

·        *  Mount Huangshan has over 4500 species of plants.

·        *  I haven’t felt affected by my sciatica since Nanjing.

·        *  Even though I live an unconventional lifestyle, I’ll always think times new roman is the best all round font.

(To Dawn) – I misread my lonely planet. Huangshan doesn’t have leopards and pangolins, Zhangjiajie does. I got the two mixed up. I didn’t achieve my lifetime ambition of getting eaten alive by a big cat anyway, you didn’t miss out on much.

* 

Wasting time in Hunan

Wuyuan - Zhangjiajie

I had an early start. Up at 5:30am and travelling for 13 hours before I arrived in Changsha. The guy who’s house I was staying in had arranged transport for me as public transport is more or less non-existent. It was a rickety old lorry full of bricks that was also the school bus. I was a bit sad to leave but it was raining and I would have felt I was wasting my time just hanging around the village then do a bit of labouring when the weather was suitable for harvesting rice. It took ages to get to Wuyuan town which gave me an idea of how far I must have walked to get to Guankeng. 

I got a bus from Wuyuan to the provincial capital, Nanchang. The journey through the rest of Jiangxi was interesting but Wuyuan is clearly the nicest area on the road from Hangzhou to Nanchang. Outside of Wuyuan County the farm buildings often look like they are decorated in bathroom tiles. Wuyuan is much more classy. I was in Nanchang for 3 ½ hours. It was so fascinating I’m not going to even start going into detail. The coffee was nice, I’ll leave it at that. I then got a train to Changsha, the capital of Hunan Province. Changsha is like Taiyuan. The office blocks have big spires and light up at night even though they are the same height as the surrounding residential towers. The drivers are one notch more chaotic than the other parts of China just like Taiyuan. I was going to sleep at the train station but my muscles were really stiff from the farm work so I got myself a motorbike to the only hostel in the city. None of the taxi drivers knew where it was so I had to get a motorbike. I love having the wind in my face and have decided that wherever I settle down I’m getting an electric scooter. However, I will not drive like this dude who picked me up and certainly not in a city like Changsha. Fate was out of my control so I just kept my eyes looking forward and didn’t think about the busses swerving around us. I did some research online and found out that I’ve already paid back almost half the price of my tent by opting not to camp using one of the tents up Huangshan. 

I ended up staying in Changsha too long. My hamstrings were unbelievably stiff and  was told that Zhangjiajie would be jam packed for the October holiday so I hung around there until my muscles loosened up. I can’t believe how much my muscles ached after half a day’s work. I guess I need to man up a bit, what a blouse I am.

Zhangjiajie City is nothing to write home about. I stayed in a nice wee hostel in an office building. It is only 30kuai now that I’ve got a card which gives me a 10kuai discount every night. I’ll get my money back on the card in 5 nights. The weather forecast was terrible. The Forest Park is expensive for a two day pass and I didn’t want to go there when there was nothing to see. I did a bit of 3D modelling and reading, I also mapped out the course I’ve taken in Google Earth just for the sake of it. I have lost my Google jumper. More to the point I lost my only jumper and had to buy a new one. I’m also going to get rid of my big towel and get a hand towel instead. I drastically need to reduce the weight I’m carrying.  I can’t afford to go up and down steps all day with a backpack on. My knees would disintegrate.

Zhanjiajie Forest Park

Even though James Cameron got his inspiration for Avatar from Huangshan, Zhangjiajie more closely resembles the scenery in Avatar. It was on my must see lists for China. It was nothing special in the rain. The views were ok and I’m glad I went. My camera got a bit wet and broke for a few days. More importantly I went to 5 banks in the evening and none of them allowed me money. The next day I went to loads of banks and had the same problem. Unfortunately an Australian who was staying in my hostel managed to get money from a bank that refused me. He had also gave me a lend of money to pay the park entrance earlier on in the day because I didn’t realise how little money I had. Because my Hotmail is blocked I could have contacted the bank but would not be able to receive my response. I set up a new Hotmail account and requested a new password for my old account. Unfortunately I couldn’t open the email to see my old password.

I've spent 50p on cigarettes and bargained so hard for a bowl of rice this evening that I ended up getting a heap of veg and a refund. Because I exaggerated about how skint I was, I put the equivalent of 30p beside her wok when she wasn't looking because I felt a little bit guilty.. I also got a free lunch from a customer in a restaurant that felt sorry for me because I wouldn't pay 70p for a meal. It was a cheap day. 80p and 30p was voluntary. It's my ambition to live on a dollar a day for a month once I'm more of a hardened traveller. The day didn’t go how I planned. I wanted to be in Zhangjiajie Park in glorious sunshine but it's been good practice for me. If I can live on close to a dollar a day in a city I should be able to do it in a rural part.

The next day I went to the Western Union to pick up money that my brother sent me. The Western Union was closed for the Autumn Holiday and wouldn’t reopen for 6 days. I did not understand the guy who was telling me it was closed. He wrote it down on a sheet of paper and my heart nearly sank when the woman in the hostel translated it for me. All I had was the 50 kuai deposit I got when I checked out the hostel in the morning and a few 1 Yuan coins. I’m glad it was me who was in that situation and not a melodramatic sort of person. I was a bit distressed but was up for the challenge of living on peanuts. I probably couldn’t buy 6 days’ worth of peanuts for 50 odd kuai. I was skint. One night’s accommodation in the cheapest place available would be 45 due to it being the holiday season. I couldn’t access a phone to call RBS but a Canadian guy I met let me phone RBS and I got the problem eventually sorted. The card didn’t work in the first two ATM’s I tried, I was elated when I finally got money. I got a new Hotmail password from my older brother so all is back according to plan. What an anti-climax.

It was late afternoon by the time I’d got my financial situation sorted and got myself some breakfast and opted to stay another night in Zhangjiajie to avoid travelling in the dark so I can hop off at a random village if it looks nice. I got my evening meal from the woman who gave me free food yesterday and paid the full amount from both the meals then chilled out in the evening making models of Chinese style windows on google sketchup. If I build my own place I can resize the model and then have the correct dimensions to make the individual pieces.