More from Dongbei

Leaving Harbin, I headed Southwards and made it as far as Shenyang (沈阳), the capital of Liaoning province, which is the only city in China, other than Beijing, with an Imperial Palace. So next morning I visited the palace, its temples, halls and gardens and some of the streets surrounding which together form the attractive old town of Shenyang. The palace and grounds are smaller than the Forbidden City in Beijing and just about the right size so you can, if you have the time, without getting too exhausted, explore every little pathway and every building to see what there is to offer. Something that would take you a week in Beijing's Imperial Palace. It's a quite peaceful and attractive site, not over-run by tourists (at least not at this time of year), worth visiting. In contrast, the rest of the city is quite the opposite, very busy, roads full of traffic, pedestrian streets packed with people and as ever pedestrian crossings and traffic lights are of little consequence, making crossing roads a nightmare. It took me ages to get across the road to picture the huge Mao statue on Zhongshan square, which incidentally was identical in look and pose as to the one in my first Chinese city of this trip, way back three and a half months ago in Kashgar.


All pics: Towers and Halls from the Imperial Palace in Shenyang.

As well as the Imperial Palace I came across an old mansion, a protected national relic, that was the official residence and private house of Marshal Zhang Zuolin, a famous political leader and celebrity of North Eastern China. The final site worth seeing in Shenyang was the huge Mao statue.



All pics: Dragon artwork from around the palace grounds and buildings

The three provinces of North East China are commonly referred to by those from outside of the area as Dongbei, Dongbei means literally 'EastNorth'. Because of the cold weather in this region during winter, every bit of water (except it seems the Yalu river in Dandong, see later) is frozen solid for the winter months. This means winter sports for everyone, whether you like it or not as even walking along roads, it is at times more like skating than walking ;) In Harbin there were ice slides and ice rinks made along the banks of the river and in Shenyang's DongLing Park where the lakes were frozen over, speed skating tracks were marked out. People also slid around on little chairs converted to move around the ice with the help of two ski like poles, this is called a pali and were common in both Harbin and Shenyang


Left: Ice seats called 'pali' are common in Dongbei.
Centre: View form inside one of the halls of Shenyang's Palace.
Right: A typical crowd of Chinese tourists, but in Shenyang this was the only one I saw.

Haerbin's Ice and Snow Festival

After a couple of days travelling from Guangzhou, via Beijing, I finally reached Harbin (哈尓滨) early one morning. Alighting the train, it was like stepping into one of those giant freezers, with an added howling gale, which swept up the powdery snow off the platform and circulated it around in the air as if in a mini-whirlwind. Fortunately outside, the wind was not so noticeable, but at around minus 15 degrees, it was still a bit cold. The first thing you see as you step outside Harbin station square (apart from the piles of ice and snow) is a huge ice sculpture, an indication of the main focus of attention for this part of China during the winter months. Slowly negotiating the pavements and roads which is just like permanently walking along on a sheet of ice, I found my way to my hotel and checked into my oven like room. More varying contrasts in temperature in such a short space of time, I have never experienced.

So why would I chose to go somewhere so cold ? I'm not a skier, snowboarder or winter sportsman really, my reason is to check what the famous Harbin Ice and Snow Sculpture & Lantern Festivals are all about. I've seen these in the news before and I saw some ice sculptures in Leiden, Netherlands last year (indoors in an artificially cooled room), but here they have the biggest and best in the world allegedly, so why not check it out.

Harbin is so different to other Chinese cities, especially the area North of the train station up to and over the Songhua River. It is in parts very Russian-like, due to its close proximity to the Siberian Russia border and its history of Russian workers living in the area building rail connections from Vladivostock through Harbin to the Chinese port of Dalian. The main shopping street is a prime example of this with Russian/European style buildings subtly illuminated by lamps, rather than with glowing strips of neon lighting. Shop names are displayed with carved symbols, advertising on printed billboards, no bright neon flashing signs here as in most Chinese cities, quite a change. There are also many "Russian Shop"s selling the usual Russian souvenirs such as matroeshkes (those wooden multiple-doll things), communist memorabilia, badges, uniforms and of course Russian vodka. There is also an Orthodox Cathedral
which is of huge interest to the Chinese visitors who if they have not been outside of China have probably never seen such a building before ! So it is of course surrounded by Chinese people posing to have photos taken.


Harbin City



Left: Harbin station, early morning and the first ice sculpture of the day.
Centre: Harbin's Russian Orthodox Church, St Sofia's
Right : Harbin's main shopping street (Zhongyang Dajie) by night

So, onto the festivals:


Snow Festival

Walk across the Songhua river or take a horse & cart and then stroll around the quiet Sun Island, which contains a Russian Village with Russian style shops and cafes, large parks with snow sculptures, lakes which are of course now frozen solid and various recreational activities such as ice/snow slides, ice skating rinks, husky pulled sledges and snow buggies which you can drive around on the frozen lake.


Left: Street of houses, many were not just solid snow, but had shops inside.
Centre: A snow castle
Right: Looking along the Songhua river, while standing in the middle.


Ice Lantern Festival at Night (Zhaolin Park)

The ice sculptures are apparently made from ice blocks taken from the Songhua River once it has frozen over. There is a diverse collection of sculptures, including churches, pagodas, cartoon characters, bridges and walkways, a full-size stage, chess-set, a disney style castle with long ice slides and steps, everything is made entirely from blocks of ice. In the evening they are all illuminated with colourful lighting which turns the park into a bit of a winter wonderland. There are too many sculptures to be able to give a good overview without overloading this page with photos, but here are a few examples:


Left: Illuminated pagoda (and church in background)
Centre: The entrance to Zhaolin Park
Right: Chinese New Year Pigs (2007 will be year of the pig).


Ice Lantern Festival in the Day (Zhaolin Park)


Left: Ice Bridge.
Centre: Ice archways.
Right: Too late ! These poor fish didn't move around quick enough ;)

Since my visit I have found out (damn that Rough Guide for omitting this) that an even bigger snow and ice sculpture park also exists called "Harbin Snow and Ice World" !! I searched lots on the internet before the festival and found nothing to tell me what was going on in Harbin, other than the basic info of "ice lantern festival, annually Jan5 - Feb5, Zhaolin Park" and so knew nothing of this other park that has been holding the festival for 8 years now. Unfortunately being rather busy during the first few weeks the festival was going on I neglected to do any further research before I arrived and so just went by my guide book and what I gleaned from the one tourist tout I found there, who spoke any English. But, it turns out from info now readily available on the net, that I missed what is apparently the biggest and best part of the whole thing !!! Damn. Thoughts of returning have been dealt a blow by the newsflash I spotted on TV, that due to the unseasonably warm weather, with temperatures touching zero degrees and above in Harbin, organizers have decided to end the festival early and began demolishing the sculptures at the weekend. Damn, damn, damn global warming (that's who the Chinese news blame anyway). Looks like I will have to go back again next year, well at least I have the warm coat now. Going back again would be no great issue as Harbin is a decent place to visit. As well as the festivals, there are plenty of winter recreational activities going on and I also found two decent places to go out in the evenings, the Russian Bar and the Blues Bar, where I found plenty of young Chinese wanting to practice English with me, it was fun couple of nights out in Harbin, I look forward to visiting again next year now!

Hong Kong Phooey

"Is it Penry, The Mild Mannared Janitor ? Could be !!! " A great cartoon hero....

First time in Hong Kong for me. Stu and Perry have now gone back to Guangzhou for their flight, Phil has also gone back to Guangzhou for a couple of days of Cantonese culture, I will catch up with him a day or two, I am staying in Hong Kong as my Chinese visa has expired. I want to stay longer in China so a trip to HK is the easiest option, I'm already in the area, visas are easy to get and I fancied seeing it sometime anyway. So boat from Macau, across the South China Sea and into the Macau Ferry Port in the North of Hong Kong Island. Found accomodation in the Causeway area (Eastern Hong Kong Island) and off we wnt to the infamous Lan Kwai Fong, the heart of Hong Kong's drinking culture nightlife. Well it was Saturday and therefore live football again. It's quite a weird experience going there after three months in China and a previous four months in Central Asia to find somewhere that feels just like you are out in London! After the football was over we found another club with a great live band, well the band was great, especially the guitarist, but the singer was not my favourite, they however played some great cover tracks such as Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Green Day, Killers etc which kept the dance floor packed and it made it a great fun night out in HK.


Left: Hong Kong Island skyline from Kowloon in the day.
Right: And at night.

As well as the nightlife part, I always want to experience some of the more traditional local cultures of course, so trying to ignore the British bars, the now odd sight of British people around me and sandwiches in shops, I jumped on the famous star ferry across to Kowloon, a place I have heard and read about in books and wondered what it must be like. On the Chinese mainland, Kowloon was ceded to the British in 1860 and was developed uncomprimisingly to create one of the most densely popualted areas on the planet. On arrival I was greeted by hordes of mainly Indian or Middle Eastern men selling fake watches, they don't give up these boys !! Walking through the centre of Kowloon, through the bustling streets, packed with shoppers, through streets almost covered overhead with advertising hoardings and banners, with shops, markets, hotels, the infamous Chungking Mansions crammed full of cheap guesthouses and looks like it could do with a bit of work, you can reach the surprisingly quiet Kowloon Park with a few people sitting around the fountains, playing cards, mah jong, chinese chess or performing taiji.

Further north again I headed out to find Hong Kong's most thriving Taoist, Buddhist and Confucian temple (Wong Tai Sing Temple) packed with Chinese making their offerings, shuffling around with bunches of incense, filling the air with a dense aromatic smoke due to the huge number of people. There were also some worshippers kneeling in front of temples offering traditional gifts of food, which is usually some fruit, oranges, bananas etc. but here I even saw two ladies with a roast chicken each!

Looking back at Hong Kong Island from Kowloon is a spectacular view (if you like the skyscraper kind of thing, I'm half taken but not completely), non-stop skyscrapers from one end to the other across the island, which in the evening (I went back again that evening) are colourfully illuminated with bright neon glowing outlines and signs.


Left: Wong Tai Sing Temple, possibly the busiest temple I have ever been to.
Right: Chinese chess players in Kowloon park.

Back on Hong Kong Island, the Sunday afternoon crowds were out shopping and it was even worse than Fratton Park at 14:59 on a Saturday, when everyone rushes in last minute from the pubs. There was an onslaught of people from all directions, waves and waves of shoppers, workers, tourists, whatever they all were, all seemingly heading around the same area of town as me. The mixture of faces there was also huge, as well as Chinese and British faces, there were clearly many from parts of SE Asia, such as Phillipinos, Malays and Indonesians, as well as Indians and maybe even some Middle Eastern people, as well as of course various other Europeans, Americans and Australians/New Zealanders. It's a real melting pot of people Hong Kong, more so than I could possibly have imagined.

My next target was to get up to the top of the large hill in the centre of Hong Kong Island which they have imagintively called 'The Peak' (it must have taken hours to come up with that). There is a fenicular railway going up there which I decided to take as it was the quickest and simplest way and from the top you have great vies of Hong Kong's skyline, Kowloon and the outlying islands. All very nice on a nice clear day. A bonus was the EA store on the way up to the viewing platform where you could tryout EA games as long as you wanted, so I spent a good few hours testing out the new release of FIFA 07 while I was there, great !!


Left: Hong Kong From the top of 'The Peak'.
Centre: Lady at Wong Tai Sing Si, gives offerings that include a roast chicken.
Right: One of Hong Kong's strange narrow trams.

A multi-coloured Macau

Taking a ferry from Shenzhen we dropped into Macau for a quick visit, landing on the Eastern port side of the island. Found a hotel and wandered around the town which is very European architecturally from its Portugese heritage. Low storied, brick, brightly coloured buildings, lit by lamps rather than strips of neon lights. There are a few churches around which were all a big attraction to visitors, who crowded in front of them in order to take photos. But, despite the European feel, Macau's biggest pull these days is its casinos which attract Chinese gamblers from all around, especially Hong Kong. They are all huge, glittering, neon covered hotel/casino buildings whose illuminations stand out from afar in the evenings. We weren't tempted in, but instead found a Portugese style restaurant and some local bars and spent a relatively peaceful evening in Macau.

The next day we went up the 338m Macau tower, from which you can do the world's highest bungee or sky jump, None of us chose to have a go, but we watched a couple of other nutters jump off, while we enjoyed the comfort of a seat in a cafe with 180 degree views of Macau.


Left: Macaus casinos at night, you can't miss them really.
Right: View of Macau from the Macau Tower.

As evening drew near, it's back to pick up bags and off to the HK ferry port. Hong Kong here we come...

Guangzhou - The Dragons have landed

Visiting friends were flying into Guangzhou airport so I went there a couple of days before they arrived to have a look around, check out the place and see what there is to be seen and done. A city of over 6 million people and arriving at the main Guangzhou train station, it feels like it. The square outside the station and the walkways between there and the bus stations are heaving during the day and evenings and pretty busy even at night. Queueing to buy tickets is a slow process which later on when I returned early this month when the train traffic was starting to increase with the upcoming Spring Festival, was unimaginably worse. They even have large marquees outside the station now where people have to sit and wait before they are allowed into the station, to ensure no overcrowding in the ticket office itself. Last week it was bad, I don't want to be there during this week prior to Spring Festival !!

Guangzhou (广州) - previosuly known outside of China as Canton - is an international business centre within the booming South East of China. High buildings, chaotic traffic, overcrowded streets, multiple flyovers, heavy pollution give a bit of a daunting feel at first, but by hunting around, you can find some nice places which are a little more peaceful than the bustling stations area in the North part of 'Downtown'. (Despite the fact everyone tells me they are proud to be taught British English in China, for some reason, China still has this disappointing habit of using Americanisms such as 'downtown'). Like many Chinese cities, Guangzhou has various parks which are well looked after and with many having an entrance fee, they are usually pretty quiet, even in the middle of the city.


Left: Buddhas in the main temple at Liurong Si.
Right: Outside the main hall of Guangxiao Si.


First day was a 'temple day', Liurong Si (Temple of Six Banyan Trees) and the 17-floor Hua Ta (Flower Pagoda) contained in its grounds were the first stop. A couple of monks sat around quietly reading, Chinese Buddhists bought bundles of incense sticks and shuffled around each of the temples or shrines one by one, making their offerings to Buddha. Not far away weaving my way through a small market street and some other roads, I found Guangxiao Si, Guangzhou's oldest Buddhist temple with halls containing various Buddha images, the largest being a familiar trinity in the main hall. Both were a nice break from the crowded streets and because they were the first Buddhist temples I had seen for a while.

Next day a visit to Shamian island, an old colonial area with colonial architecture, a peaceful park overlooking the Pearl river and a few touristy shops. Following the Opium Wars, the island was leased to the French and British, they shared half each and the architecture thoroughout the small island is still much as it was back then, with large, solid Victorian style villas all around.

The main shopping street is Beijing Lu (Beijing street) and as a foreigner I was constanly accosted in the street by vendors trying to sell mainly fake Rolex wathces, also Gucci/Armani suits or DVDs which you'll get offered somewhere in most cities.


Left: Buddhist monk at the Liurong Si.
Centre: Phil with his silly paddy field worker's hat.
Right: Photo of Perry taking a photo of me taking a photo of him in Yangshuo.

In the evening it was time to check out the Guangzhou nightlife, which although limited is quite busy. A number of ex-pat bars have appeared in Guangzhou's Eastern area around the World Trade Centre over the last years and there was quite a crowd out and about during the evening. On orders from my forthcoming visitors I found a bar that showed live Premiership football for the next evening's entertainment and having sampled a few places, I felt sure we would find enough decent places to go out for a Saturday night in Guangzhou when they arrived.

First night, we watched football in the Elephant & Castle and followed on to The Hill, one of Guangzhou's oldest established 'pubs', both are a good venues for a few drinks as is Gypsy Kings not far away, as long as you go there later in the evening.

After Guangzhou we headed off to Yangshuo to show them the hills, rivers and amazing countryside in the area, Phil bought a nice paddy field hat and Chinese fan, while Stu and Perry avoided the Chinese theme and bought some cheap North Face jackets, shoes and bags and all sorts between them.



Left: Perry & Stu in Gypsy Kings.
Right: Stu and Phil on the Li River.


Left: Yangshuo scenery.
Right: Cormorant fisherman in Yangshuo.

From SE to NE China

Spent a couple of days in Hong Kong while I arranged a new Chinese visa, so I could get back into the real China. Macao and HongKong are now of course part of China politically, but administratively they are not and on arrival you are stamped out of China and into Macau or HK. Coming back with a new visa I got into a bit of trouble as I was caught trying to smuggle two bananas from China into China, which the quarantine inspection people were not happy about. I pointed out i had bought them in China (HK) , so why ? but they were not very understanding.

Anyway I left HK and went back to Guangzhou to catch up with Phil for his last night and a evening out in a couple of local bars. The next day I left a warm, sunny Guangzhou and after 2 days travelling, with a half day break in Beijing, I arrived in Harbin. In Guangzhou it was around 15 degrees when I left, in Harbin when I arrived Saturday morning it was around minus 15 degrees. Harbin is a very Russian town, being so close to the border with Siberian Russia, with architecture, roads, lighting that all reflect a Russian style rather than Chinese. Harbin is also the host of the world famous ice and snow sculpture festival held here each year, which is why I am here..

All I have time for now..

Brown Sauce Bemuses Chinese Shoppers

One thing I have found myself doing a lot in China is asking Chinese friends, "what's this food?", "what's that?", "is this nice?", "do you really eat this?" before trying things in cafes or sometimes just when noticing some of the many strange looking packets, bottles, jars or boxes in shops or outdoor foodstalls. Of course there is a huge, huge difference in food products generally available as snacks, ingredients or dishes in Asian foods compared to those in Europe, more than I imagined and so many of which I was barely or completely unaware of before.

This I found out yesterady of course works the other way too, when I read an article about Tesco opening their new store in Beijing. Here's an excerpt

Most of the products on sale are Chinese, including soy sauce, sheep's feet and even live turtles.
There is one rather forlorn aisle selling food from the United Kingdom, including sage-and-onion stuffing and mint jelly.

A tin of baked beans and a bottle of Tesco's brown sauce seemed to perplex the early customers."I'm not sure that these are the baked beans, and it might be a Chinese-style yellow bean sauce," one person said at the opening. "This brown sauce, I think it's probably a fish-egg sauce or maybe a banana sauce."

It made me laugh and was comforting to see Chinese people also having the same bemused thoughts about European food products at times.

A friendly visit

It's been a busy time the last week or so, I had a few friends from Wales come over to China for a bit of a trip. Phil, Stuart and Perry, arrived last Sunday in Guangzhou, where we watched the Arsenal v Man Utd match in the Elephant & Castle, not very Chinese at all... Guangzhou in fact has a bit of an ex-pat community, including British style pubs, serving foreign style pub-food, the first time I have seen this kind of environment for a very long time. To be honest I can't say I have really missed it as there's usually been some acceptable local alternative whenever the need arose for an evening in the pub, though of course I did enjoy it.

After Guangzhou we went to Yangshuo to show them the limestone hill scenery around Guilin and Yangshuo and stayed there a few days. After that, next stop was Macao and I am now in Hong Kong as my Chinese visa expired and I have had to organise a new one to get back into the 'real China'. Meanwhile Perry and Stu have returned home and Phil is back in Guangzhou, I may catch up with him tomorrow before he leaves for a quick drink in the classicly named Irish Bar, "The Paddy Field".

all for now....

Backlog of Updates

The network connections are a bit better now, so have been able to publish a backlog of updates, here we go:

--> 31/12/2006: Welcome to Nanning!

--> 01/01/2007: Chili picking, Karaoke and Jiangtang

--> 07/01/2007: Guilin

--> 10/01/2007: Yangshuo, Xingping & the Li River

Yangshuo, Xingping and the Li River

Yangshuo (阳朔) is an hour mini-bus ride from Guilin, there are boat trips that cruise down the Li river to here, which sounds an idyllic way of getting there and was my original plan, but the high prices, the fact that during winter, due to low water levels, the 5-6 hour trip is reduced to about one and a half hours without any discounts and the gloomy grey weather all convinced me it would be better to save it for another time. A good decision that turned out to be too. Arrived in Yangshuo and as usual greeted by someone trying to sell a hotel room at the bus station, which on this occasion I took a look at and found a nice room in the 'Fawlty Towers Hotel'. (This shows the amount of tourism that has hit Yangshuo). So after Sybil showed me a room, Manuel checked me in and I had dumped my bags, I went for a walk around Yangshuo, (I didn't see Basil anywhere).

Yangshuo lies in the shadow of 'Green Lotus Peak' and other limestone hills to the south. A small town turned into a real tourist centre, lying in a beautiful setting on the river. It's quiet vehicle free central street contains rows of art, craft, textile and clothes shops, mixed with coffee shops, cafes, restaurants, bars, and tourist info places trying to sell boat trips, tickets to evening dance shows, rent bicycles and tour guides. Despite the blatant commercialism, it's green, natural setting and peaceful, relaxed atmosphere (at this time of year at least, in summer I suspect it's completely packed with tourists) gives the feel of a little paradise in a rural part of China. Despite a few exceptions, even the tourist touts are quite relaxed and don't really hassle you, one was even really pleasant to chat with, giving no real pressure at all, just wanting to talk about my home country. In the quiet streets you see women walking around knitting, or cafe staff playing badminton while they wait for customers, it's a really laid back place to stay for a while.


Left: A boat trip view of the Li River
Centre: Relaxed Yangshuo: Card game in the middle of the street
Right: Relaxed Yangshuo: Knitting in the middle of the street.

Along the roadside overlooking the river there are also many interesting souvenir stalls selling typical Chinese art, scroll paintings, decorative Chinese fans, anything silk, coins and jade. Food is also always easily available in cafes or on the streets where locals are selling fruits, corn on the cob, fresh sugar cane among other things, the most abundant of which is the pomelo, a fruit something like a grapefruit, but bigger and sweeter, which must be in season during winter as heaps and heaps of these could be seen all around town and neighbouring countryside.

Left: Another view from the Li River boat trip.
Right: Yangshuo's "West street" at night.

On my second day in Yangshuo, the weather changed and it was almost like summer again, sunny, clear skies, warmer, though still a bit cold. So, having not done the boat trip from Guilin, I checked out the options available here and found that it was possible to arrange one from here for a lot less cost. Although you could take a bamboo raft along the river here, it would not go far, so a bus ride to Xingping was necessary, to where the water levels were high enough and from there I joined a 90-minute trip which is along the most scenic of the Li River and its limestone peaks. The bonus was knowing that I was seeing almost all the river route of the journey I would have seen had I taken the shortened (bus-aided) boat trip from Guilin to Yangshuo. It cost 70 yuan including bus to Xingping, instead of 240 yuan (or 410 yuan for English speaking tour boat!) from Guilin. So that's a useful tip for anyone travelling these parts during winter, in summer, maybe it's worth the extra for the whole trip, but I don't know yet.


Left: View as our little boat starts its trip.
Right: View from Xingping dock at end of the trip.

Guilin (桂林)

Guilin (桂林), lying in a lovely setting on the banks of the Li River, has long been a popular tourist resort for foreigners and nowadays more and more Chinese. It gets its name from the tree that lines its streets, the osmanthus, Guilin means literally 'osmanthus forest'. To be honest I had never heard of the osmanthus tree before, I always thought trees had simple, memorable, monosyllabic names such as elm, oak, fir, gum or ash, osmanthus doesn't sound like a tree at all ;-) so I learnt something new by coming here.

It's quite a touristy place which means there are some people who speak English making it easier to get around and discuss what to do in the area, but, it also means you get lots of hassles from tourist touts, many of who will just not give up chasing you. I also had many random people stopping me in the street wanting to speak English, English students, English teachers, or just those working in the tourist industry wanting to practice English with a 'westerner' who as far as they are concerned are all native English speakers!. Usually this was an innocent, friendly practice but occasionally they turned into touts trying to take me to a tea-tasting shop, an art gallery or sell some tickets for an evening show. I did the tea-tasting anyway as I wanted to and tried a few teas including osmanthus flower tea - which is good for the skin - and osmanthus leaf tea, which had a bitter, sour taste. This bitter taste in the mouth felt quite appropriate when they then tried to force me to buy some of their tea at silly prices and then asked for more silly amounts of cash for the usually free/small fee tea-tasting. Others I met were more pleasant and I had interesting chats with a couple of students who wanted to know absolutely everything about differences between Chinese and European cultures.


Left: Guilin's two pagodas at night.
Right: Osmanthus trees line the road and water sides in Guilin.

I arrived in Guilin on New Year's Eve and during the evening wandered around the lake area with its two pagodas, many bridges, trees and quiet paths all nicely lit, which creates a relaxing atmosphere. Each evening there is also a street market selling all kinds of clothes, art, food, souvenirs and many more such things which I wandered around before searching out a bar in which to have a couple of new year drinks. Pubs/bars are not common place in Chinese cities, but luckily Guilin, due to its touristic nature has a couple and I spent this new year's evening in one with a singer/guitarist playing some decent music.

Guilin's popularity is due to its location on the Li river, among many limestone peaks, that are familiar to many worldwide from Chinese scroll paintings or photos that are often seen depicting this strange scenery. It was interesting to see these peaks on the roadside travelling through Guanxi towards Guilin for the first time with my own eyes. The town has many peaks, which you can climb for views of the city and surrounding countryside. One of the more famous peaks is called 'elephant trunk hill' which remarkably, does in a way resemble a crouched elephant with its trunk drinking from the river, this has given rise to an elephant theme across the city, with 'golden elephant', 'elephant trunk', 'elephant hill' hotels, restaurants and shops all over. One peak within the grounds of the palace is less imaginatively called 'Scenic View Peak'.

Left: Guilin and surrounding limestone peak landscape
Right: Elephant trunk hill (just the front bit)

Karaoke, Chili Picking and Jiangtang

One day from Nanning, Jane arranged a trip to the countryside, to a country home run by her sister's husband's family, where you can walk in the forest along a river, lunch, pick chilies and play mah jong in a lovely relaxed atmosphere away from everything. It was a lovely warm sunny day - which is great when it's just a few days to Christmas - and nice walking along the river lined with bamboo and other trees. After lunch, we were sent to work in the fields and had to pick chilies (to pay for the lunch I guess !!). After collecting a few bags full, it was back to the house and a bit of mah jong, which I kind of remember from playing at home as a child. However the Chinese play it a little differently, there are less tiles and some that are different or have different functions, you also have to play very quickly, a one or two second delay on my turn and everyone is looking at me wondering what's wrong ;) It's not a game for a learner/amateur in China.


Left: Jane2, Jane1's brother in law's mother, Jane1 and Liu in the countryside.
Right: Women at work in the fields, that's what I like to see ;)

Have also been playing a few sports during the stay in Nanning, a few games of 10-pin bowling, pool, and one day a badminton game and a 7-a-side football match on sand.

One day in particular stands out, where my sporting abilities were clearly on top form, first bowling with Jeff, Jane, Jane & Liu, I scored a 178 which has to be my best ever, including 6 strikes and 1 spare in the game, not bad for me ! Then just a short while later during a 6-0 demolition at pool I even cleared up one frame from the break, poor Jeff didn't even get a shot. Badminton was fun, such a log time since I played that and quite pleased that I could almost hold my own in a friendly knock around with 2 chinese, the football was the first time I played on a hard sand surface, kept misjudging the ball at first, quite fast and slipped a few times, was good game, but my lack of fitness showed and was out-run by the regulars.

One thing I'm definitely not so good at though is singing and on Dec 26 I went to a birthday night out for Ming. After dinner we went to a Karaoke bar, my first karaoke since Atyrau in Kazakhstan. You get your private karaoke room and system and waiters/waitresses bringing food and drink as you please, all very cosy and people just sing. It's not such a spectator sport as it is in Europe where everyone watches and listens, here, while someone sings, everyone else just chats, drinks, eats and then when they want a go, they sing and the rest chat, drink, eat, everyone just gets on with it with no great fuss, and if you're crap nobody cares. This though was already apparent to me from the screeching and squealing you regularly hear from KTV bars around town, those which have public karaoke sometimes have speakers on the outside of the building too, so everyone knows and can hear what's going on inside and sometimes it sounds pretty bad. Fortunately on this night, we had some good singers in the group.



Left: A bagful of chilies
Right: Ming singing at her birthday karaoke night.

Discos / nightclubs are different here, from about 11pm to 1pm there is usually a show of some kind, dancing, comedy sketch, acrobats etc, only after all this does anyone get on the dance floor and dance. You also get big dishes of nice fresh fruit delivered to the table, I'm not sure if someone keeps ordering this every time or if it's just a nice touch, but every table seems to have them.
My food and diet has changed a lot here, but generally I like Chinese food anyway, so that's been little problem, though it is of course at times quite different and certainly more varied than the Chinese cuisine in European Chinese restaurants. All those Chinese dishes I have tried before are available somewhere, but these and their variants are usually a small percentage of what's on a Chinese menu in China. There's plenty of meat dishes I haven't tried before, some camel's hump was put on my plate before I knew what it was, so I thought I'd give it a go, it tastes OK, but nothing special and a bit too chewy, frog is tasty but too many little bits of bone, paddy field fish is a tasty, small fish found only in rice paddy fields, not in rivers or seas. Pig's stomach and intestines seem popular, but I haven't tried any, though beer fish is a speciality around Guanxi which I must try sooner or later. I have avoided dog and snake so far and also did not go for the pangolins in a cage outside a cafe in Xingping, eating chicken's feet still makes me laugh for some reason. Taro, lotus root, rice porridge and a warm blended drink made from corn on the cob kernels are now regular in my eating, also frequent are roasted horse chestnuts, fire dragon fruit and my new favourite thing ever!! jiangtang, a stick of chewy sweetened ginger.