So here we have the third post on our blog. Due to China's shall we say difficult internet regulations, apparantly websites with 'blog' in the title are also banned along with facebook. Therefore we have found it difficult doing our next post, although we have done so much and been so busy in the last four weeks. We have completed our trip around China and have now made it to Hong Kong. Our China itinerary for those interested (google image the places!) was:
Shanghai
Hangzhou
Tunxi (Including Huangshan Mountain)
Suzhou
Kunming
Lijiang (Including Tiger Leaping Gorge)
Dali
Guilin
Yangshou
Where to start with the highlights...
Our last post mentioned that we were just about to climb Huangshan, and that we most definitely did, and in quite an impressive time. Due to setting off at 4:30am we had made the peak by 10am. We had the choice between an easier but less scenic route and a harder more scenic route, so being suckers for pain we chose the latter. This was like an intense gym work out, after climbing for the first bit much to my dismay we then made it to the entrance with a sign that said "if you are finding this difficult now turn back". I was already covered in sweat and said to Scott I had better go back, but he was having none of it. We managed to take in some breathtaking views on the way up to the peak but once we'd climbed above the cloud all that could be seen was a white mist. We looked absolute states by about halfway up, but continued to be asked by our fellow Chinese climbers for photo's with us (a recurring theme on the trip, especially for Scott as he is blonde) so there are going to be hideous photo's in a few people's albums!!
After our epic climb we boarded a supposed 6 hour bus to Suzhou (The Venice of the East, cough cough) Though bus drivers in China have the habit of driving round the town or city they are leaving from, shouting from the windows to pick up customers and not leaving until they have a full bus, hence adding about 2 hours onto your trip. We had read that Suzhou was famous for its gardens, and thats all there was really. After doing some date crunching we worked out that in order to hike Tiger Leaping Gorge we would have to fly to Yunnan province as trains would take a few days. SO we got a last minute flight from Shanghai and flew into Kunming. A lovely leafy laid back city where we made the terrible error of visiting the zoo. The animals were literally chained to their dirty cages and Scott was almost in tears when we saw inside the reptile cages were living mice and cute bunny rabbits, ready to be eaten for dinner by the fat snakes. The Chinese visitors seemed to take pleasure in throwing rubbish into the 'Monkey Mountain' where the mammals hanged out. It was a state. No care at all. The zoo signs for elephants and zebras went unrewarding, as most of he cages were empty, lucky for the animals who had moved out!
After an overnight train from Kunming to Lijiang we woke up to blue skies surrounded by picturesque mountains. The town was pretty with lots of yummy street food and a hippy vibe to it. This was our base for heading out to Tiger Leaping Gorge for our two day trek. It was incredibly hard work for me, though Scott seemed to enjoy it! You will see our pictures on facebook of how close we were walking to the cliff edge, and how steep the climbs were. 2 hours into our first day I uttered the words no boyfriend really wants to hear 'Scott, the bottom of my trainers has fallen off'. It would appear that my nikes couldn't handle the gorge either and both the soles of my shoes were left behind on the climb, making for a very interesting and slippy walk back down the other side! Towards the end of the first day Scott then got his revenge with the words that no girlfriend wants to hear 'FUCKING HELL THERE IS A HUGE SNAKE'. This made me unable to breathe normally for a good three minutes, and we had to jog past the side of the path where the snake was. We had no idea what kind it was, though it was yellow and black so probably extremely deadly! Shortly after this I then tripped over an errand tree root and slashed my knee, so we walked into our guesthouse on the gorge for the night looking like we'd definitely been in the wars. That night we stayed with most of the people we'd met and spoke to on our trek as we watched it go from day to night and the sky pack out with stars. (While Scott was doing this I was nursing my wounds with an antiseptic swab).
From the Gorge we then head onto Dali which was similar to Lijiang and a lovely resting spot seen as we both decided to get upset stomachs for a couple of days (potentially something to do with the street food). We then boarded another night train over to Yangshou and had the most lovely few days in the Chinese countryside, doing biking and kayaking, resting and reading. Our next stop being Hong Kong which is where we are now. The epic difference in prices between China and Hong Kong has definitely hit Scott hard, as he looks painfully everytime he hands over 15 pounds for a meal compared to our usual 3 in China. We have been soaking up the Hong Kong culture where Scott feels incredibly badly dressed compared to all the trendies (not many people were well dressed in China!), we've also been to the beach and had some yummy cocktails, which after barely drinking in China didn't take long to make us feel a bit giddy. Tomorrow we are flying to Bangkok to begin our Thailand leg of the trip, something we are very excited about. We promise to be much better with the blog from now on.
Love Kate and Scott xxxxx
