Well, here we are, day 4 of our trip and we are still happy and healthy (touch wood) and there has been no adverse incidents to date.
We jagged an upgrade to premium economy on the way over which was fantastic, but doubt if we could be so lucky on the way home. Our transfer from the air port didn't show up and neither did anyone elses apparently, so we can claim the cost of hotel shuttle bus back from Intrepid when we get home!
The architectural dichotomy of Hong Kong...
A pleasant few days were spent in Hong Kong with a few excursions around town and up to Victoria Peak, where as we know prices get higher with elevation! $53HK for a TsingTao beer (divide by 4) but down on the ground they were only $15HK and the equivalent here in Yangshou.
A nice day in HK was capped off with High Tea at the Peninsular Hotel, the HK equivalent of Singapore's Raffles Hotel (image to be uploaded later as i forgot the disc). That was technically day 1 of the trip, so we met the others at the Stanford Hillview Hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui that night - 3 from US, 1 Canadian, 1 Northern Irishman and a lass from Germany, plus our local guide Peter Wang, from Yangshou. Off to our first chinese dinner as a group then back to the hotel room.
Off to find the Temple St night markets
The next morning we caught up with Matt Lennartz - Senior Planner (who used to work in Cl's Ulladulla office) and had a bit of a chuckle about life in HK - he seems happy and is enjoyin himself now that he has settled in. That afternoon we caught a train to the HK / Chinese border at Lo Wu where you walk across the border, with its attendant razor wire, concrete walls, CCT cameras and machine guns... Getting though customs was easy, but i had a wet back and trousers as the water bladder in my backpack leaked down my back and legs as i was crossing the border - can't work out what happened there - and no i wasn't wetting myself!
Then on to Shenzen for the overnight train to Guilin, the train being another interesting experience - we had soft sleeper class with 4 to a room - sardines in a tin can! I slept well though but Cathy didn't. At least there were both eastern and western loos on the train! Peter threw in a bit of a mandarin lesson for us so we has some of the basics to improve our interaction where ever we went.
After a late arrival at Guilin, we caught a private bus to Yangshou, where we checked our luggage and commenced our journey to breakfast at a place called Kelly's Bar - seemed to be Aussie, but couldn't be sure. Had a fantastic pork dumpling breakfast there and then continued on our orientation tour of Yangshou. Great market stalls, well more like permanent shops really, so there are more than enough souveniers to go round, with hawkers gallor (Boo yah she she - Kerry phoenetics - is "no thank you" and that one is used a lot). Peter presented us with our own forest freindly chops sticks to carry with us always during our trip...
Came back to our hotel, checked in and had a nice shower, and then later met our guide in the lobby for our optional Li River cruise by private boat with canopy! Pity about the weather really - very smoggy or misty - the jury seems to be out on that front as no one wants to admit liability! Great scenery though when you can see it.
Li River cruise
Cathy and I had a cultural Chinese painting lesson after the boat trip and then on to try the local delicacy of "Beer Fish" - cat fish cooked in a beer batter by the look of things, I preferred the beef and beans, and stir fried aubergine... Then off to Bar 98, an Aussie place for pool... Saturday nights in Yangshou go OFF - the place is BBQ city with everything you want on a stick for dinner... it is the Australian equivalent to the Shoalhaven - where everyone comes for thier weekends!
Today has again been raining early, obviously not enough beer for Buddah last night, and a relaxing day of doing not much.
Until next time, Planner Kez and Accountant Cate...
