As amazing as our trip so far had been, I was starting to feel that travel these days is missing some of the adventure it used to have. You hop on a plane, watch a film and poof! you're in Bangkok. Or Tibet. Or Timbuktu. Just a little too easy. Something more challenging was in order, I thought.
We had made our way from Hong Kong to Beijing by train, with side-trips to Macau by boat and Xi'an by train. No planes. My home town, Hexham, is in the Northeast of England. Would it be possible, I wondered, to get all the way from Hong Kong to Hexham without a plane? The overwhelming power of alliteration won the day, and so the morning after Chris flew home I found myself in Beijing Central Train Station, awaiting the 7.50am number 3 train, to Moscow.
Six days and 4735 miles later, at 2.40pm on Monday afternoon, I got there. On the way I had crossed to the Chinese border, the Gobi desert, Mongolia and Siberia. I had seen ruined sections of the Great Wall, nomadic Ger villages, the extraordinary Lake Baikal and the epic steppes of Siberia. I had hopped off for brief stops in interesting Cold War era stations across Eastern Russia. I had improvised a shower with a sink and a thermos. I had eaten terrible dining car food and too many instant noodles. I had enjoyed the most stunning scenery I have ever seen, in places too vast or remote for most people ever to visit. I had enjoyed Russian vodka and good company. I had spent four and a half days by myself in a cabin on an almost empty train, and read a lot of books... I had experienced northern summers where the sun never actually sets.
And I had really, properly, truly, travelled.
Friday, 24 July 2009
Friday, 3 July 2009
Beijing, China: Last days in Asia.
Back to Beijing, and the final days of my trip (Jacqui had 3.5 weeks ahead of her). The first thing we needed to do was some serious souvenir and present hunting. The nature of backpacking means that most of the gifts you buy for people back home have to be bought in the last place you visit, due to the logistics of having to carry everything around. Thankfully, Beijing is not short of shopping.
We spent an enjoyable few hours going around the enormous Panjiayuan Market, also known as the 'dirt market'. Jacqui was quickly among the bargains, but it took me much longer. My haggling technique was finely honed after five months of practice, but I wasn't getting anywhere with the Beijingers. The trouble is, too many tourists come to this market and slap their cash around as if they were at home. So I was struggling to buy things at the price they were actually worth. It took about two hours before I actually bought anything. Eventually though, we both left with all the items we wanted for ourselves and for people at home. In the evening another old friend of mine Lingyan came over to Julia's for dinner, along with her husband Jiang and their very sweet one-year-old baby Sai'er (known as 'Tintin' due to being conceived in Brussels).
The following day we checked out the Summer Palace. I'd been in deepest winter back in 2005, and had enjoyed sliding around on the frozen lake and playing football with lumps of ice. To see the place on a gorgeous summer's day made me realise that I hadn't exactly soaked up all the culture on show on my first visit! It's a really pretty setting, especially the little shopping and cafes area called Suzhou Street which makes for some excellent photos.
After lunch it was time for the obligatory 'ahh bless' moment with a trip to see the pandas at Beijing Zoo. This was excellent fun. I hadn't really realised before how funny pandas look when they're slouching with a pile of bamboo on their belly ready for eating. Most comical. They have the demeanour of a lazy teenager who can't be bothered to do anything. In searching for a token picture for this paragraph, I stumbled across this one which clearly shows a panda from the zoo playing the flute while his mate shines his shoes for him. Nice.
On my last day, I had some unfinished business to attend to. In 2005, I was one of the first Westerners to be allowed inside the (then under construction) Beijing Olympic Stadium, as part of a tour arranged through work. At the time it was a hive of activity with thousands of workers working three shifts around the clock to get the enormous venue built. The chance to come back and see it completed was not to be missed. We bought tickets to enter the venue, and then you could just wander more-or-less where you pleased. There was an enormous thunderstorm while we were inside, giving the place a rather eerie feel. I wasn't quite as blown away by the stadium as I thought I might be. Its clearly quite impressive from the outside, but inside it has no more character than, say, Arsenal's Emirates Stadium. Personally I think Munich's Allianz Arena is still my favourite futuristic-looking stadium in the world. We also went in the Water Cube, which was the Olympic swimming venue. Again, pretty impressive, but it probably looks a lot better on a sunny day. The 'soap bubble' design of the exterior of the building looks a little on the grey side on a dull day. It certainly looks the business at night, but I was flying that afternoon, so no time...
And then it was time for me to head to the airport (Etihad Airways are fantastic by the way). The last couple of months of the trip went unbelievably quickly. So strange to be leaving Jacqui behind after five and a half months of being pretty much joined at the hip. But a whole new chapter of the adventure was just starting for her, as she will reveal in her next few posts.
We spent an enjoyable few hours going around the enormous Panjiayuan Market, also known as the 'dirt market'. Jacqui was quickly among the bargains, but it took me much longer. My haggling technique was finely honed after five months of practice, but I wasn't getting anywhere with the Beijingers. The trouble is, too many tourists come to this market and slap their cash around as if they were at home. So I was struggling to buy things at the price they were actually worth. It took about two hours before I actually bought anything. Eventually though, we both left with all the items we wanted for ourselves and for people at home. In the evening another old friend of mine Lingyan came over to Julia's for dinner, along with her husband Jiang and their very sweet one-year-old baby Sai'er (known as 'Tintin' due to being conceived in Brussels).
The following day we checked out the Summer Palace. I'd been in deepest winter back in 2005, and had enjoyed sliding around on the frozen lake and playing football with lumps of ice. To see the place on a gorgeous summer's day made me realise that I hadn't exactly soaked up all the culture on show on my first visit! It's a really pretty setting, especially the little shopping and cafes area called Suzhou Street which makes for some excellent photos.
After lunch it was time for the obligatory 'ahh bless' moment with a trip to see the pandas at Beijing Zoo. This was excellent fun. I hadn't really realised before how funny pandas look when they're slouching with a pile of bamboo on their belly ready for eating. Most comical. They have the demeanour of a lazy teenager who can't be bothered to do anything. In searching for a token picture for this paragraph, I stumbled across this one which clearly shows a panda from the zoo playing the flute while his mate shines his shoes for him. Nice.
On my last day, I had some unfinished business to attend to. In 2005, I was one of the first Westerners to be allowed inside the (then under construction) Beijing Olympic Stadium, as part of a tour arranged through work. At the time it was a hive of activity with thousands of workers working three shifts around the clock to get the enormous venue built. The chance to come back and see it completed was not to be missed. We bought tickets to enter the venue, and then you could just wander more-or-less where you pleased. There was an enormous thunderstorm while we were inside, giving the place a rather eerie feel. I wasn't quite as blown away by the stadium as I thought I might be. Its clearly quite impressive from the outside, but inside it has no more character than, say, Arsenal's Emirates Stadium. Personally I think Munich's Allianz Arena is still my favourite futuristic-looking stadium in the world. We also went in the Water Cube, which was the Olympic swimming venue. Again, pretty impressive, but it probably looks a lot better on a sunny day. The 'soap bubble' design of the exterior of the building looks a little on the grey side on a dull day. It certainly looks the business at night, but I was flying that afternoon, so no time...
And then it was time for me to head to the airport (Etihad Airways are fantastic by the way). The last couple of months of the trip went unbelievably quickly. So strange to be leaving Jacqui behind after five and a half months of being pretty much joined at the hip. But a whole new chapter of the adventure was just starting for her, as she will reveal in her next few posts.
Monday, 29 June 2009
Xi'an, China: Terracotta warriors and twice round the pagoda.
Another day, another sleeper train, this time sharing with a couple of Chinese blokes and their ever-so-talkative mate who kept popping in to our carriage. As we got on the train, one of the guys who was quite fat and not wearing a t-shirt, scrambled to get it on as soon as he saw Jacqui. Apparently its alright to get your big belly out for the whole of China, but as soon as there's a foreign lady present its time to put it away. He even said sorry.
On arrival in Xi'an it seemed like a harsh, hectic place. This was the real China, we presumed. There was activity everywhere, noisy traffic, grubby beggars with even grubbier children that looked as if they'd just come from playing chimney sweeps in a school play. I don't mean to be cruel saying that; it's just that's exactly what they looked like. Mischievous urchins with sooten faces. Is sooten a word? It is now.
Our hotel wasn't up to much, but fine for a night and the cheapest option in town. We freshened up and took a taxi about six kilometres to the Big Goose Pagoda. This taxi cost us about £1.70 and well worth it given that we couldn't work the buses out to save ourselves. The pagoda itself was very nice, but weary from previous days sightseeing we elected not to climb it and just look around. Following that, we went to the Forest of Steles museum, where all kinds of historical information is preserved in stone calligraphy on giant stones sat on the back's of turtles - we think this was probably the inspiration for the doctor's steles we mentioned earlier in the trip in Vietnam. There's everything from Confucian teachings to poetry to public record keeping engraved on the steles. We really enjoyed it, but if you happen to be able to read Mandarin, I imagine it's an enormous treat.
We spent the latter part of the afternoon and evening exploring the cute backstreets at the southern end of the central, walled-in section of Xi'an city. We also climbed up to the top of the city walls themselves, to discover that they were about three or four times as wide as the Great Wall, and that the wall stretched for a good couple of miles on each side. Forgive me for going all The Sun on you and using capitals for emphasis, but this is a MASSIVE city. The city walls contain only a fraction of the total area. There's about eight million people here. Now be honest - had you ever heard of it before you read this blog? That, in a nutshell, is China. There's a city comparable with London here and not only have you never even heard of it, neither has your boffy mate who's quite nifty at pub quizzes. Here's a stat I've just researched for you. Number of Chinese cities with an administrative area population of over seven million: 26.
Twenty-six! How many can you name? Welcome to China, folks.
Anyway, somewhat blown away by the view from our lofty perch, we then went and checked out the Bell Tower and Drum Tower, a common feature in Chinese cities. Beijing has a set too. We didn't go inside them because we were immediately lured away by an excellent night market, heavily influenced by the town's Muslim population.
The food smelt amazing. I'd spied some delicious looking potato cubes sizzling away in a big wok, all covered in herbs and spices. At least I thought they were potatoes. I bought myself a plate-load and chomped down on a mouthful. I then made a noise a bit like a sea-lion (I know, it surprised me as well) as I realised these were not tasty tuberous treats, but in fact very weird savoury jelly freaky things. I desperately wanted to give them to the couple sitting opposite who were loving theirs, but a little part of my brain was saying "Don't. You've only had one mouthful. You'll look like an idiot. Especially after the seal impression." So I just left them uneaten in front of me, because that made much more sense. The bread, luckily, was incredible.
Next morning we were booked on a tour to go and see the Terracotta Warriors first, with additional trips to Ban Po ancient village and Emporor Qin's tomb. It turned out that we'd been misled by the travel agent. We were actually seeing the warriors last, following trips to Ban Po and not the tomb but instead (and you might be one step ahead of me here) the Big Goose Pagoda.
So for the second day running we found ourselves at the Big Goose Pagoda. "I guess we should climb it this time," I said. And we were glad we did, the view in each compass direction only confirmed what we'd already realised the day before: Xi'an is gigantic. Here's one direction (in truth, it could be any direction), taken on a misty day.
Ban Po ancient village is a small archaeological site where they discovered the ancient remains of an old village (and some of its villagers), and were able to learn plenty about the customs and architecture of the time. Though I couldn't help feeling it was cashing in on being located near the Terracotta Army somewhat. It was quite interesting, though I'd have enjoyed it more if our tour guide hadn't zipped round it like Billy Whizz from The Beano.
Finally, we arrived at the warriors' site. This is what we'd come all this way for, and we weren't disappointed. When you first walk into the main hall which houses row after row of life-size terracotta figures, each different from the rest, its a superb sight. The warriors are a form of funeral art that were buried with Emporor Qin when he died. Their purpose was apparently to help Qin rule another empire in the afterlife. How brilliant is that? They were discovered in the 1970s by a group of farmers, one of which was Mr Yang Zhifa. He was on site the day we visited, signing copies of books about the warriors. He was wearing dark John Lennon shades and looking like quite the rockstar, bless him.
We spent ages getting scores of photographs from different angles, inside what essentially looks like a giant aircraft hangar. You walk along raised platforms around the edge of the excavation site, so you can't get as close as you'd like, but it's still a spectacular sight. The warriors' weapons were stolen by robbers shortly after the army's construction, but they must have been one hell of a menacing sight when armed. They were also very colourful when they were made, but the colours partly perished with time but were also finished off by what our tour guide referred to as "less sophisticated archaeological techniques than today". Translation: they couldn't wait to dig them up and show them off, and they messed it up a bit. However, they still make a wonderful sight and a great story.
Friday, 26 June 2009
Beijing, China: Amazing architectural feats, both old and new.
Another ferry from Macau back to Hong Kong, and we were straight off to Hung Hom station to catch the afternoon train to Beijing. The train takes 24 hours (almost exactly in fact) and we couldn't believe our luck when it turned out that our four-person carriage was unoccupied except for ourselves. It made a big difference to not have random strangers snoring above you, or getting up in the middle of the night to get a drink, etc. We slept like logs for 11 hours, meaning there was less time to kill on the train. Enjoying the scenery during daylight, plus several episodes of American Dad on my iPod got us through the rest pretty painlessly. If you pay the extra to travel soft sleeper in China, it's really very comfortable.
An old work colleague of mine, Julia, was kind enough to offer to let Jacqui and I stay with her and her husband while we were in Beijing. She has a fantastic apartment and we had our own room and bathroom, so we were very comfortable. She gave us a spare key too, so we could come and go as we pleased. On our taxi ride to her house we passed the building that will soon open as the headquarters for China Central Television (CCTV). Designed by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, its probably my favourite building in the world. Just a shame about the scotched remains of a Mandarin Oriental hotel next door that was also almost completed when it burned down in a fire caused by Chinese New Year fireworks.
Our first evening was made memorable by a visit to a bizarre Russian bar called Chocolate with the weirdest burlesque/variety stage show soundtracked by pumping Euro dance music. One of the oddest venues I've ever been to - you must poke your nose in if you ever visit Beijing.
On our first full day we went to the Great Wall. It was my second visit (this was my fourth trip to China, and third to Beijing), but Jacqui was in China for the first time so this was a great way to get her started. We went to the Mutianyu section of the wall, which is less touristy than the hugely popular Badaling, and probably safer to clamber around on too. Despite a little haziness, the views were superb. On our way up we saw a Chinese couple coming downhill, both clutching their bloody noses. Apparently they'd gone further than you're supposed to at the top, onto some unsafe crumbled ruins - and paid the price. Hard way to learn that lesson - I'd say they might both have broken their noses judging by the state of them. They looked like they'd been boxing each other!
Next day we took in all the famous sights around Tiananmen Square, including Chairman Mao's mausoleum and the Forbidden City. You have to check in all your belongings bar your passport before they'll let you in for the briefest of gawps at the nation's controversial yet celebrated former leader. Security guards hurry you along; you're not allowed to stop. I assume they're paranoid that somebody would cause a disturbance if they had the opportunity. An interesting experience to stroll past him, though he looked oddly waxy. Wonder if it's really him?
The Forbidden City was an interesting as you'd expect, and looked like it had been given a lick of paint in readiness for the 2008 Olympic Games as all of the decoration on the major halls was gleaming and immaculate. After two or three hours exploring all of its various nooks and crannies, we climbed the hill at the northern exit which gave spectacular views of the entire complex and its more modern surrounds. The new National Theatre building (known as 'The Egg') looks almost comic from up on the hill, positioned as it is just a few hundred metres away from the Forbidden City.
An old work colleague of mine, Julia, was kind enough to offer to let Jacqui and I stay with her and her husband while we were in Beijing. She has a fantastic apartment and we had our own room and bathroom, so we were very comfortable. She gave us a spare key too, so we could come and go as we pleased. On our taxi ride to her house we passed the building that will soon open as the headquarters for China Central Television (CCTV). Designed by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, its probably my favourite building in the world. Just a shame about the scotched remains of a Mandarin Oriental hotel next door that was also almost completed when it burned down in a fire caused by Chinese New Year fireworks.
Our first evening was made memorable by a visit to a bizarre Russian bar called Chocolate with the weirdest burlesque/variety stage show soundtracked by pumping Euro dance music. One of the oddest venues I've ever been to - you must poke your nose in if you ever visit Beijing.
On our first full day we went to the Great Wall. It was my second visit (this was my fourth trip to China, and third to Beijing), but Jacqui was in China for the first time so this was a great way to get her started. We went to the Mutianyu section of the wall, which is less touristy than the hugely popular Badaling, and probably safer to clamber around on too. Despite a little haziness, the views were superb. On our way up we saw a Chinese couple coming downhill, both clutching their bloody noses. Apparently they'd gone further than you're supposed to at the top, onto some unsafe crumbled ruins - and paid the price. Hard way to learn that lesson - I'd say they might both have broken their noses judging by the state of them. They looked like they'd been boxing each other!
Next day we took in all the famous sights around Tiananmen Square, including Chairman Mao's mausoleum and the Forbidden City. You have to check in all your belongings bar your passport before they'll let you in for the briefest of gawps at the nation's controversial yet celebrated former leader. Security guards hurry you along; you're not allowed to stop. I assume they're paranoid that somebody would cause a disturbance if they had the opportunity. An interesting experience to stroll past him, though he looked oddly waxy. Wonder if it's really him?
The Forbidden City was an interesting as you'd expect, and looked like it had been given a lick of paint in readiness for the 2008 Olympic Games as all of the decoration on the major halls was gleaming and immaculate. After two or three hours exploring all of its various nooks and crannies, we climbed the hill at the northern exit which gave spectacular views of the entire complex and its more modern surrounds. The new National Theatre building (known as 'The Egg') looks almost comic from up on the hill, positioned as it is just a few hundred metres away from the Forbidden City.
Tuesday, 23 June 2009
Macau, China: Enormous casinos and gorging on egg tarts.
The one-hour hop from Hong Kong to Macau was relatively painless, and we were delighted to discover that our hotel room there was five times the size of the one in Hong Kong. And five times nicer too - certainly in our top three of the whole trip.
Macau, traditionally a Portuguese colonial enclave, is now home to some enormous casinos - a result of the island's gaming laws being opened up to international developers some years ago. It has in recent times overtaken Las Vegas for gambling revenues, which gives you an idea of how many 'high-rollers' are in town, most of them from the Chinese mainland (where gambling is prohibited). We spent an enjoyable evening cruising around some of the big ones near our hotel, such as the Wynn, StarWorld and the Lisboa.
The following day, we took in some of the non-gambling culture that Macau has to offer, with a walking tour around the old town centre, which radiates out from the picturesque Senado Square. (This was also the only place we could find a launderette whose staff could understand that gesturing at our bag of laundry meant that we'd quite like them to wash it for us in exchange for money. Our walking tour took in several quaint old sights, including the ruins of St Paul's church. Here, excellently, the most intact bit of the ruins is the entire front wall. An enormous stone staircase leads down from the church and this area gets crowded with obsessive Chinese holidaymakers all determined to get the perfect vacation snap.
Sight-seeing out of the way, we decided to head to the Grand Lisboa - a bit of a Macau icon these days, and something of an opinion divider architecturally, to put it mildly - and enter a tournament in their poker room. There were sixteen entrants, almost all of whom were extremely competent players. Jacqui, who did extremely well not to get knocked out on a very awkward first hand, made a straight on one hand before her stack of chips was gradually whittled down and she finished 13th - still pretty good since she'd never played poker in a casino before. I came 9th after my ace-king of spades came up against another guys pair of queens when I didn't think he had anything like as good as that! You had to come in the top three to win money, so we left empty handed but having thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
In the evening we took a free shuttle bus - the casinos lay on these super-comfy buses intended for shipping punters to their door; the reality is the local Macanese use them as a convenient free way of getting across the island before walking the rest of their way to their destination - to the incomprehensibly gigantic Venetian casino. To give you an idea of the scale of this place, how's this for a stat? The Venetian is the fourth-largest building in the world by area. Inside, like its Vegas counterpart, there are fake blue skies (look closely when you visit and you can see the built-in sprinkler system on the blue and white mural) and fake riverways full of Venetian gondolas, complete with singing operatic gondoliers. Visitors can take a ride in one, for a fairly steep price. We decided against, and merely opted for a gawp at this silly spectacle. Next door at the new City of Dreams resort was pretty impressive too, although its newly opened and I think they could improve the signage a tad: we traipsed round for the best part of half an hour trying to find the restaurant we were after. Otherwise very nice though, and featuring an impressive audio-visual show inside a room called The Bubble.
On our last full day, we took the bus (a public bus this time) all the way to the southernmost tip of Macau, the former island of Coloane. Its connected to the mainland these days thanks to artificial land reclamation - a popular urban development technique in this particular part of the world. Coloane was lovely, a really charming little settlement where nobody was particularly bothered about going for the tourist dollar, they'd rather just carry on with normal life. The highlight - and, if we're truthful, the number one purpose - of our visit, was to drop in at Lord Stow's Cafe and try his famous egg custard tarts. These things are so damn gorgeous that the company exports them to various places around Asia including Japan and Korea. We liked them so much that we bought three boxes of six: one for us and two as gifts for friends we'd soon be seeing in Beijing.
Dinner on our last evening was heartily scoffed at a superb and authentic Portuguese place called Afonso III. Delicious and reasonably priced Portuguese fare if you're ever in town and run by nice people. I devoured my pork escalopes inbetween enthusiastic 'mmm...' noises. The evening ended with a nightcap at the Wynn, where we caught the bizarre Tree of Prosperity Show as we were walking out. When it finished, we left bewildered but grinning all over our faces. Such a Vegas touch, yet on the other side of the world. Watch the video to the end and you'll see some of the sights at the Venetian too.
Macau, traditionally a Portuguese colonial enclave, is now home to some enormous casinos - a result of the island's gaming laws being opened up to international developers some years ago. It has in recent times overtaken Las Vegas for gambling revenues, which gives you an idea of how many 'high-rollers' are in town, most of them from the Chinese mainland (where gambling is prohibited). We spent an enjoyable evening cruising around some of the big ones near our hotel, such as the Wynn, StarWorld and the Lisboa.
The following day, we took in some of the non-gambling culture that Macau has to offer, with a walking tour around the old town centre, which radiates out from the picturesque Senado Square. (This was also the only place we could find a launderette whose staff could understand that gesturing at our bag of laundry meant that we'd quite like them to wash it for us in exchange for money. Our walking tour took in several quaint old sights, including the ruins of St Paul's church. Here, excellently, the most intact bit of the ruins is the entire front wall. An enormous stone staircase leads down from the church and this area gets crowded with obsessive Chinese holidaymakers all determined to get the perfect vacation snap.
Sight-seeing out of the way, we decided to head to the Grand Lisboa - a bit of a Macau icon these days, and something of an opinion divider architecturally, to put it mildly - and enter a tournament in their poker room. There were sixteen entrants, almost all of whom were extremely competent players. Jacqui, who did extremely well not to get knocked out on a very awkward first hand, made a straight on one hand before her stack of chips was gradually whittled down and she finished 13th - still pretty good since she'd never played poker in a casino before. I came 9th after my ace-king of spades came up against another guys pair of queens when I didn't think he had anything like as good as that! You had to come in the top three to win money, so we left empty handed but having thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
In the evening we took a free shuttle bus - the casinos lay on these super-comfy buses intended for shipping punters to their door; the reality is the local Macanese use them as a convenient free way of getting across the island before walking the rest of their way to their destination - to the incomprehensibly gigantic Venetian casino. To give you an idea of the scale of this place, how's this for a stat? The Venetian is the fourth-largest building in the world by area. Inside, like its Vegas counterpart, there are fake blue skies (look closely when you visit and you can see the built-in sprinkler system on the blue and white mural) and fake riverways full of Venetian gondolas, complete with singing operatic gondoliers. Visitors can take a ride in one, for a fairly steep price. We decided against, and merely opted for a gawp at this silly spectacle. Next door at the new City of Dreams resort was pretty impressive too, although its newly opened and I think they could improve the signage a tad: we traipsed round for the best part of half an hour trying to find the restaurant we were after. Otherwise very nice though, and featuring an impressive audio-visual show inside a room called The Bubble.
On our last full day, we took the bus (a public bus this time) all the way to the southernmost tip of Macau, the former island of Coloane. Its connected to the mainland these days thanks to artificial land reclamation - a popular urban development technique in this particular part of the world. Coloane was lovely, a really charming little settlement where nobody was particularly bothered about going for the tourist dollar, they'd rather just carry on with normal life. The highlight - and, if we're truthful, the number one purpose - of our visit, was to drop in at Lord Stow's Cafe and try his famous egg custard tarts. These things are so damn gorgeous that the company exports them to various places around Asia including Japan and Korea. We liked them so much that we bought three boxes of six: one for us and two as gifts for friends we'd soon be seeing in Beijing.
Dinner on our last evening was heartily scoffed at a superb and authentic Portuguese place called Afonso III. Delicious and reasonably priced Portuguese fare if you're ever in town and run by nice people. I devoured my pork escalopes inbetween enthusiastic 'mmm...' noises. The evening ended with a nightcap at the Wynn, where we caught the bizarre Tree of Prosperity Show as we were walking out. When it finished, we left bewildered but grinning all over our faces. Such a Vegas touch, yet on the other side of the world. Watch the video to the end and you'll see some of the sights at the Venetian too.
Saturday, 20 June 2009
Hong Kong, China: Feeling the squeeze.
Well, it's been a while. As you may know, my trip has come to an end and I am now back in breezy Britain. We've been unable to access the blog due to the 'Great Firewall of China', where they don't like people blogging lest they, God forbid, express an opinion. Anyhow, let's see if I can't bring you up to speed quickly over the next few days. Jacqui's trip has over a month to run (she's three days into her epic six-day Trans-Siberian train from Beijing to Moscow as I type). She'll fill you in on that once she finds an internet cafe in Russia next week.
We briefly returned to Hanoi after Halong Bay before flying to Hong Kong. After several months in developing countries, arrival in HK was a shock. Everything seemed so clean, cars would actually stop at pedestrian crossings, barely a scooter in sight: we were a bit bewildered in truth. The city centre is squeezed into quite a small area of land, yet it's tough on pedestrian shoe leather with plenty of steep hills.
We stayed in Kowloon, across the harbour from Hong Kong Island. We had little choice but to stay in one of the big 'mansions' around the main drag (Nathan Road). These buildings feel like tired old office complexes that have been converted into budget accommodation. Each floor has two or three small guesthouses - many of which seemed to be housing migrant workers. Our hotel room in Mirador Mansion was perhaps our smallest of the trip. All Hong Kong backpacker rooms are shoe-boxes. Our room consisted of a bed, a small table and mirror, and about two square feet of standing room outside the equally miniature bathroom. This was not a room for a six-footer like myself, but I just had to lump it. Thankfully there was storage space under the bed for all our gear.
Space is at a premium here. Unpromising, scruffy lift-shafts can often lead to large and fancy first-floor restaurants; a tawdry looking silk shop might have a cracking bar in its basement - our guidebook helped to an extent, but you probably need a goodly amount of local knowledge to make the best of Hong Kong. Our one bar tip though: Cafe 71, an excellent bohemian little place, if you can find it...
The first thing to do when you get to Hong Kong is take a ride on the Star Ferry at night and take in the hugely impressive cityscape. This was a whole world of difference from SE Asia where we'd seen very few skyscrapers over the previous two months.
Prices gave us a jolt too. From 50p beers in Vietnam I was suddenly confronted with the prospect of a pint of Carlsberg setting me back 57 HK dollars (£4.45). I nursed one gingerly while we watched the Championship Play-off Final in an Irish bar.
We also took the earliest available opportunity to visit the legendary Happy Valley Racecourse, which proved a really entertaining night out, made all the better in the last race of the day when a horse, appropriately named Really Happy, wiped out the losses we'd accumulated by betting on earlier races, leaving us slightly in profit for the night. Can't argue with that.
The following day we were lucky enough to be in town for the annual Dragon Boat Festival in Stanley, at the southern tip of HK Island. Despite some rainy weather everybody seemed to be having a brilliant time, with most competing teams comprised of groups of friends or workmates. I especially enjoyed the team competing in panda outfits.
We had given ourselves plenty of time for Hong Kong and this meant we were able to go on a couple of walking tours our guide book had recommended, which gave us a less touristy insight into real Hong Kong life. The walk we did in Kowloon was especially interesting, as we got off the beaten track away from sterile shopping malls and took in some hectic markets. This felt more like China; less colonial than other parts of Hong Kong. Our HK Island walk took in Norman Foster's unusual HSBC building, described by locals as an 'inside-out robot'.
We briefly returned to Hanoi after Halong Bay before flying to Hong Kong. After several months in developing countries, arrival in HK was a shock. Everything seemed so clean, cars would actually stop at pedestrian crossings, barely a scooter in sight: we were a bit bewildered in truth. The city centre is squeezed into quite a small area of land, yet it's tough on pedestrian shoe leather with plenty of steep hills.
We stayed in Kowloon, across the harbour from Hong Kong Island. We had little choice but to stay in one of the big 'mansions' around the main drag (Nathan Road). These buildings feel like tired old office complexes that have been converted into budget accommodation. Each floor has two or three small guesthouses - many of which seemed to be housing migrant workers. Our hotel room in Mirador Mansion was perhaps our smallest of the trip. All Hong Kong backpacker rooms are shoe-boxes. Our room consisted of a bed, a small table and mirror, and about two square feet of standing room outside the equally miniature bathroom. This was not a room for a six-footer like myself, but I just had to lump it. Thankfully there was storage space under the bed for all our gear.
Space is at a premium here. Unpromising, scruffy lift-shafts can often lead to large and fancy first-floor restaurants; a tawdry looking silk shop might have a cracking bar in its basement - our guidebook helped to an extent, but you probably need a goodly amount of local knowledge to make the best of Hong Kong. Our one bar tip though: Cafe 71, an excellent bohemian little place, if you can find it...
The first thing to do when you get to Hong Kong is take a ride on the Star Ferry at night and take in the hugely impressive cityscape. This was a whole world of difference from SE Asia where we'd seen very few skyscrapers over the previous two months.
Prices gave us a jolt too. From 50p beers in Vietnam I was suddenly confronted with the prospect of a pint of Carlsberg setting me back 57 HK dollars (£4.45). I nursed one gingerly while we watched the Championship Play-off Final in an Irish bar.
We also took the earliest available opportunity to visit the legendary Happy Valley Racecourse, which proved a really entertaining night out, made all the better in the last race of the day when a horse, appropriately named Really Happy, wiped out the losses we'd accumulated by betting on earlier races, leaving us slightly in profit for the night. Can't argue with that.
The following day we were lucky enough to be in town for the annual Dragon Boat Festival in Stanley, at the southern tip of HK Island. Despite some rainy weather everybody seemed to be having a brilliant time, with most competing teams comprised of groups of friends or workmates. I especially enjoyed the team competing in panda outfits.
We had given ourselves plenty of time for Hong Kong and this meant we were able to go on a couple of walking tours our guide book had recommended, which gave us a less touristy insight into real Hong Kong life. The walk we did in Kowloon was especially interesting, as we got off the beaten track away from sterile shopping malls and took in some hectic markets. This felt more like China; less colonial than other parts of Hong Kong. Our HK Island walk took in Norman Foster's unusual HSBC building, described by locals as an 'inside-out robot'.
Sunday, 31 May 2009
Halong Bay, Vietnam: Finding beauty in a junk.
After stealing a few hours sleep (everyone's a thief in Hanoi...) we dragged ourselves out of bed early and waited for our pick-up, with some trepidation as our tickets were among the things stolen. Luckily, the tour guide was full of understanding and we made the three-hour bus journey without a hitch. Well, except for a little girl in our tour group throwing up in the back of the bus. Our dismay turned to stifled giggles when she loudly proclaimed, over her Mum's embarrassed protestations of surprise, "Mummy, that's what I did yesterday".
We arrived in Halong Bay with no further incidents and made our way onto the beautiful boat, an old-fashioned junk cleverly fitted out with rooms. Setting sail into the bay was like entering another world. Halong is a collection of almost 2,000 limestone islands, which are actually the peaks of an ancient mountain range now almost completely submerged in the sea. The rocky outcrops are an eerie and beautiful sight, resembling nothing we'd ever seen before.
Some of the islands are hollow, containing labyrinthine caves. We explored one the tour operator's call 'Surprising Cave', which we thought was funny until we got inside and were surprised. It's huge, and through the good works of UNESCO (who are becoming a feature of this blog it seems), has been cleverly paved and lit to be accessible but not 'Disneyed'. Some of the rock formations resemble things such as a Buddha, elephants and a turtle, all with local legends attached, as well as the inevitable.
Some of the rocks stand in groups, sectioning off small 'lagoons' in the sea. We took to a kayak to explore one. Floating through a small tunnel, we emerged into a truly awe-inspiring place, with rocks jutting into the sky as high as we could see, and eagles flying overhead. We were lucky enough to be the only people in there so the view was matched with an almost reverential silence. Breathtaking.
The bay is home to a small community of indigenous fisherfolk who live on floating homes and rarely if ever take to dry land. Their floating bar may be familiar to some of you from this, which was our first introduction to Halong Bay. We used a far more sensible boat.
We arrived in Halong Bay with no further incidents and made our way onto the beautiful boat, an old-fashioned junk cleverly fitted out with rooms. Setting sail into the bay was like entering another world. Halong is a collection of almost 2,000 limestone islands, which are actually the peaks of an ancient mountain range now almost completely submerged in the sea. The rocky outcrops are an eerie and beautiful sight, resembling nothing we'd ever seen before.
Some of the islands are hollow, containing labyrinthine caves. We explored one the tour operator's call 'Surprising Cave', which we thought was funny until we got inside and were surprised. It's huge, and through the good works of UNESCO (who are becoming a feature of this blog it seems), has been cleverly paved and lit to be accessible but not 'Disneyed'. Some of the rock formations resemble things such as a Buddha, elephants and a turtle, all with local legends attached, as well as the inevitable.
Some of the rocks stand in groups, sectioning off small 'lagoons' in the sea. We took to a kayak to explore one. Floating through a small tunnel, we emerged into a truly awe-inspiring place, with rocks jutting into the sky as high as we could see, and eagles flying overhead. We were lucky enough to be the only people in there so the view was matched with an almost reverential silence. Breathtaking.
The bay is home to a small community of indigenous fisherfolk who live on floating homes and rarely if ever take to dry land. Their floating bar may be familiar to some of you from this, which was our first introduction to Halong Bay. We used a far more sensible boat.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)