Saturday 21st April

Today I wanted to go shopping before I was supposed to meet a few friends for lunch, but by the time I had woken up and showered it wouldn’t have been worth it so I am going tomorrow. I met Raena and Doreenda at 11am and we shared a taxi to Euro Plaza to go for lunch. While we were there we bumped into someone Raena knew who told us that there was a book fair on nearby so we decided to go there. We got a taxi but when we got there we were told that it was in a different location, 5 minutes drive down the road and the lady drew us a map. We got a different taxi and we followed the map to where this book fair was supposed to be but the building was closed, so we got the taxi driver to drive us round the block to see if there was another entrance, there wasn’t! We drove around for about 20 minutes before we got him to drop us off round the corner from where he picked us up, I think we really confused him!

By this point it was 2pm and Doreenda and I were meeting a few other people at the International school of Beijing which is one of the top private schools in Beijing. The facilities at this school were ridiculous! They have their own theatre, swimming pool, gym and amazing sports facilities. Doreenda and I were walking through the school (we had come through the entrance at the opposite side of the theatre) and kept pointing at things saying “look at that!” it was an amazing school, we were both so jealous that we didn’t work there!

We were at the school to watch “the wiz” a version of the wizard of oz performed by their middle school students. It was free and quite good, although there was a kid that kept kicking my chair the whole way through which was really annoying!

After the Wiz a few of us went to Pinnacle Plaza for a drink and chat, then I got some things for dinner and came home as I still feel really tired.

Friday 20th April

This week has been a bit uneventful. I have been pleased with the progress my grade 2 class have been making, we start a new project next week and we have another observation to look forward to. I changed one of the displays to work of the week and each week I am going to put a copy of each students best work from the week, which may have just created more work for me to do, but I think it would be good for the kids to see their best work on display.

Grade 4 have been doing well as well, they are so well behaved compared to the grade 2 class (who I am constantly telling to stop talking when they are supposed to be working). It is a good balance really, if only I didn’t have 39 books to mark every day!

I have been really tired this week and just gone home and had an early night after school, I just seem to be exhausted every day by lunchtime. Luckily it is only another week until we get 4 days off, and technically it’s only a 4 day week next week as we have sports day on the Friday and can go home at lunchtime, hooray! But the best news is that Matt will be here on Wednesday!

On Thursday we had a real drama getting his visa. I had left school early as I had to wait at home for maintenance to come and fix my toilet which was leaking into the apartment downstairs. They came, flushed my toilet and then told me that they had “fixed” the problem. Maintenance really is a joke here, I bet they have to come out again soon to actually fix it. Anyway, I was at home and I got a phone call from Matt (which never happens to my mobile, it’s just far to expensive so I knew something was wrong) Matt was at the visa office and they wouldn’t accept the letter of invitation that my colleague had sent without a residence permit. Now at this point it was 4.30pm, teachers are usually at the gate waiting for this time as that is when we can clock out, so I knew there wouldn’t be many teachers left at the school. To add to this, we were under a time limit as to get the same day visa we only had an hour to get it sorted. My friend didn’t have her passport on her so I had to phone round to see if anyone else was left at the school that could help and luckily one of my friends was still there and went looking for a Chinese teacher that we could ask to send a new letter of invitation and a photocopy of their residents permit. There was one Chinese teacher left but she didn’t have her card with her and couldn’t remember her number so my friend had to go looking for someone else. The vice principal was still at the school and gave permission for us to get a photocopy of the residents permit from my friend who had written the letter of invitation, but then when I spoke to Matt I was told that the letter needed to be signed, which of course it wasn’t as it had been emailed to me. We were back to square one! My friend couldn’t do it as her passport, like mine, was at the visa office getting extended. The vice principal said we could use her info so she wrote and signed a new letter of invitation and we got a copy of her details. I spoke to Matt again for the visa office’s fax number, turns out the visa office don’t have a fax! They asked if we could scan the documents and send it to them, but we only have one scanner in the school which was currently not working! the odds were really stacked against us and by this point we only had 20 minutes left before the deadline. I was then told that we could take a photo of the letter of invitation, the vice principals passport and visa and send it to them and that would be accepted. Luckily, my friend had her phone that she could take a photo of these documents and then send it by email to me and I could then email it to the visa office. I did this and Matt said that it had been accepted, but after the same day visa deadline, so his passport was going to be posted back to him instead. Pretty stressful hour to be honest! It was so frustrating because if I had only been at the school, I could have sorted it, but as I was at home I had my friend on the end of my Chinese phone talking her through what needed doing and Matt on the end of my English phone talking me through what he needed and I am emailing invitation letters as well. I was so grateful for my friend, who had stayed an hour after school to help, that I bought her a bottle of wine today as a thank you.

It seems that quite a few of the teachers had had a rough week so after school we went out for dinner and a few drinks and to chill out after a long week at work. Hooray for the weekend!

Monday 16th April

Today is the day that my visa expires so at 8.30am I went to the visa office to extend it. Now I am a little anxious that by leaving it until the day my visa expires, there may be a fine or I might get into trouble for overstaying my visa. I did voice these concerns but I was told that the office staff were too busy to take me any sooner. I was back at the school by 10.30am and had more report cards to proof read and a few lessons as well.

After school I had to wait at my apartment for a maintenance person to come and fix my toilet (apparently it is leaking through the ceiling of my downstairs neighbours) then I had arranged to go swimming with my friend Amanda.

First we had to decide which swimming pool to go to as there are two nearby. The pool closer to Amanda is supposedly cheaper but is crawling with children. The pool closer to me is at the “Airport Hotel” basement and is known for being an all around better experience, although both are within a five minute walk.

We went to the Airport Hotel pool because of the good reviews. It ended up being £4 per person which seems quite expensive for China. We also had to give them a £2 deposit for the locker key per person. This was all spoken in Chinese and we struggled to understand but could sort of figure out the gist of what she wanted but we weren’t quite sure about the deposit. We tried calling our friend to translate, but she couldn’t understand either. We were about to call one of the office staff from school when a girl came out of the locker area and translated for us which was a relief.

We changed and put our things into the lockers, walked through a little foot pool which was freezing and went into the pool area and it was actually an ok pool. In all honesty, I was expecting worse! We set down our towels and went to get into the pool when one of the lifeguards walked towards us with a stern look on his face. He pointed to his head and then to all of the other people in the swimming pool and we realised that we needed to wear swimming caps! I had to get out of the cold pool and walk all the way back to the reception to go and buy a swimming cap, which they only had hideous designs and looked way to small. As it turned out, mine was better than Amanda’s (she was prepared and had bought one from decathlon, but hers kept falling off).

We had been told by one of the guys at the school that if you want to swim in the deep end you have to get a little card made with your picture on it after passing a swim test. He said that you need to be able to swim 400 meters to swim in the deep end. I don’t know if the part of the pool that we were in just didn’t qualify as the deep end or if they didn’t want to bother after the language barrier and swim cap fiasco, but we didn’t take any swim test. Which is probably a good thing as one of the reasons we were there was so that I could teach Amanda how to swim properly. Amanda did 10 lengths and said that that was the most that she had ever swam before.

We were in the pool (and Amanda in the sauna) for about 40 minutes, then decided that that was enough for our first visit. We made plans to check out the other pool to see if the cheaper price is worth it. We normally eat dinner right after school at about 5 PM. By the time we had put our clothes on and returned the keys it was nearly 7PM and we were really hungry. Luckily the dumpling place we like to eat at sometimes was just next door so we ate there then went our separate ways. I had really wanted to go swimming every morning before school but seeing as the pool doesn't open until 10am that’s not going to happen. I hope I have the energy to go more often after school.

Sunday 15th April

This week I have mainly been so tired from rushing round at school and trying to get back into the routine, I was exhausted Monday and Tuesday and I was even in bed and fast asleep by 7pm Wednesday!

I had an observation for grade 2 on Tuesday which went well, only minor things to improve on which I am really pleased about. The class seems to be getting better everyday and I am really pleased with them. I was marking their books one day from a piece of writing that they had done about what they wanted to be when they grew up. One of the kids (these kids are 7-8 years old) had written:

“When I grow up I want to be 009 so I can kill people if the government want me to. I heard about 007 and I think that he was silly because he liked girls”

This had me in fits of laughter, some days these kids really make me laugh with what they come out with. For the rest of the week I was proof reading all of the elementary school report cards and we have also been preparing for the school sports day in two weeks. I have probably done more interesting things than that but this week i’ve been so tired the days have just blurred into one. The best thing about this week has been the weather, it’s been between 20-30 degrees all week and lovely blue skys.

On Friday I went out with everyone as one of the old teachers came back to visit so it was a bit of a reunion. I’d never met her before but she was really fun and we had a great night out. On Saturday I went round to my friend Raena’s house as her sister was coming to cut everyone’s hair (a much safer option than going to a Chinese salon when I don’t speak Chinese) there were 7 of us there all day just chatting and having a girlie day together which was really nice.

Today I had organised for me, Doreenda, Raena and Raena’s sister to go to a part of the great wall where none of us had been before. It took us about two hours to get there in a taxi, have the taxi driver wait for us for 3 hours then drive the two hours back to Beijing for only £40! I am going to really miss how cheap China is!

We got to the great wall and there is a lake at the bottom of it that we had to walk round but it was a gorgeous day and the scenery was beautiful. We got to a part where there was a sign saying no admittance (my guide book said to ignore this sign) so we went past it and we had to clamber down to where the great wall started where there was pretty much just a drop into the lake as it had crumbled away. There were no safety hand rails as this part of the wall hadn’t been restored at all. We were at Huanghua great wall which is a genuine wild part of the great wall. It is believed that the renowned general Cai Kai masterminded the construction of this section of the great wall and was extremely strict on quality control. Apparently each inch of the great wall represented one labourers whole day of work! According to my guide book, when the ministry of war got wind of the extravagance, Cai was beheaded for his efforts. Years later, his work was judged to be exemplary and he was posthumously pardoned by the emperor.

At the very start of the great wall you had a choice of going west which if you travelled for a few days would lead you to Badaling (the part of the wall that I did during my induction) or you could go East which after a few day’s would lead you to Mutian yu (the bit I went to with Matt last year). We chose to go East as it didn’t look as steep, which I dread to think how bad the west was because the East was pretty hard going. We had to stop for a rest quite a few times and only made it as far as the first watch tower. The views were amazing though and we had a really good day. By this point we had been there for 3 hours so we decided to turn back. It was a lot easier going down, but still really steep! Instead of walking round the lake, we got a speedboat across it and we were all really tired by then. We left at 9am and it was now 3pm and our feet were hurting from the hike, it had been 28 degrees so we were all hot and tired from that too.

When we got back to Houshayu we went for a late lunch and then called it a day. On my way home I passed my friends house and they were having a BBQ so I popped in to say hello to everyone, then went back to my apartment to chill out. I really loved today and I am looking forward to exploring more now that the weather is nice again.

All the photos are here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/78649657@N03/sets/72157629823274203/

Sunday 8th April

I was up at 5am as I had an 8am flight back to Beijing which I pretty much slept the whole way there. I landed and was in a taxi and back to my apartment by 11.30am. Two of my friends were having a BBQ at their house at 1pm so I had a shower and unpacked then went round to their house which if I lean out of my kitchen window I can see their garden on the next street, they are that close. I was the first one there and helped blow up balloons because it was also their oldest daughters birthday. It was a lovely hot sunny day and I wore my black maxi dress and one of the kids said to me “have you been to a funeral?” I don’t think I will be wearing that dress again in a hurry! I had a lovely afternoon catching up with all my friends (some had been to the Gobi desert, others to Xi’an and one had been to Thailand) so that was really nice. It’s weird that in the week we were all away Beijing seems to have transformed as all the trees were green again and blossoms were sprouting up everywhere! It wasn’t a late one as we all were back at school the next day, but it feels good to be back in Beijing!

Saturday 7th April

I was woken up again in the night by thunderstorms and it was still going strong when my alarm went off at 8am. I got showered and ready and went to meet the guide I had arranged for the day, hoping that it would stop raining by the time we got to our destination. It took 45 minutes to get to the Guilin Botanical gardens and the whole way there the guide was telling me all about the countryside. I had hired this man (I don’t even know his name, if this was England alarm bells would be ringing!) for £20 for the day to drive me to the botanical gardens, wait for me then drive me to Yao mountain and wait for me again and then to drive me back to Guilin.

We got to the botanical gardens and it was still raining, although not as heavily as before and the driver gave me a raincoat that he had in the boot of his car, you know those thin plastic poncho things they have at theme parks for the water rides? It was a pink one of those. So I set off round the botanical gardens looking like a giant candyfloss, in the rain and I’m starting to think that this was not one of my better ideas. Even though it was in the rain, the gardens were still lovely and peaceful. I didn’t see a single person (probably because everyone else has sense and stays indoors when it’s raining) but the gardens were like a big park with lots of ponds and bridges and stepping stones over them. I quickly realised that the stepping stones were to be avoided after nearly falling in one particular pond as the path and stones were very wet and slippy. In fact I nearly slipped over a few times. I walked round the park in about an hour and headed back to the car where the driver was waiting for me, he began telling me all about all of the rare and endangered plants in the gardens and did I see them all? I didn’t have the heart to tell him that I couldn’t give two hoots about the plants, I just liked the water features and scenery, but went along with it instead. Apparently there is a rare plant in the gardens that is only found in one other place in China he tells me proudly. Err great, I’m silently hoping that he talks about something else soon because it’s a long way to Yao mountain and I’m sick of this plant talk already. Luckily I find inspiration in one of the deserted villages and ask him about it, I have seen a lot of really old villages in ruin here in Guilin and Yangshuo and I am actually interested as to why they are left to crumble. I am told that there are still old people living in these buildings (I can’t see how as many have half a wall or no roof, but we pass one where I can clearly see inside and he’s right, there’s an old woman sitting in there with a load of vegetables and a pot) he say’s that the young people all move to the city leaving many buildings empty and then they just collapse as they are not looked after.

As we are driving through the countryside the scenery is just beautiful, even though it has started pouring with rain again. There are swirls of mist around the mountains that really does make it look like a mysterious place. We turn a corner and then I can see the whole mountainside is covered in tombs on either side of the road with colourful flowers on each one. My guide tells me that in the city when someone dies they are burnt and their ashes scattered over water, parks or gardens, but here in the countryside they are buried in a tomb which is taking up so much of the land. He is worried about what will happen in the future as there will not be enough land for burials. I asked why it was only on this area that the tombs were and apparently it’s because the area has good fengshuai.

We arrive at Yao Mountain just as the rain gets even heavier and as it is supposed to be a cable car up to the top and then toboggan back down I am told that it is closed because of the rain. I think that this is the first time I have seen anything in China closed for safety reasons, bravo! I can’t help but feel a bit disappointed, even though common sense is telling me that being at the top of a mountain in a cable car is probably not the best place to be during a thunderstorm. My guide is very apologetic and offers to take me somewhere else instead, but it is pouring with rain and according to my guide, everything worth seeing is inside. We drive back to Guilin with my guide giving me bits of information such as passing a field I am told that when it is warmer the people will plough the field by hand. He has lived in Guilin for many years and it is nice to hear it from someone who knows so much about Guilin and his English is very good and he is so friendly, I think this may be one of my favourite tours of Guilin as he is happy to answer any of my questions and offers up any information he think I may be interested in. This has made me want to come back to Guilin and Yangshuo in June when it is warmer and sunnier and I can do all of the sightseeing that I came here to do.

My guide drops me at my hostel door and I go off to find the market that he has told me about which is apparently underneath the main square. I found it easily and had a look round before stopping for a late lunch at a small cafe. After lunch I returned to the hostel as it was still raining and hoped that it would clear up for later this afternoon.

Friday 6th April

I woke up this morning to more thunderstorms and was hoping as I was getting ready that it would have stopped by the time I had had my shower, and it had! There was a tour that I wanted to go on called “two rivers, four lakes” which promised more breathtaking scenery and was described as the oriental Venice. I made my way to the river which was conveniently just around the corner from my hostel and booked a tour which was leaving in 20minutes.

I boarded the boat and people were just sitting anywhere, my allocated seat was at the back of the boat and there was barely any leg room, I had to sit sideways and I am quite short so I would love to see a tall person try and get into that seat! The tour started and I quickly realised that it was all going to be in Chinese (I was the only English person or even white person on the boat) The scenery was nice but I haven’t a clue what any of it was but at one point all of the Chinese ran to the back of the boat with their cameras so I got my picture taken as well. It could be a famous landmark for all I know, but if not then it is still a nice picture of me next to a pagoda. About halfway through the tour it started raining and not just a little bit either, this was like a sheet of torrential rain that was bouncing off the water and was really loud. I thanked my lucky stars that I had decided to play it safe and go for the boat tour rather than venture out to explore Guilin’s botanical gardens as I had considered doing.

By this point I was pretty miserable, I had no idea what was going on as everything was in Chinese, it was pouring with rain and it was cold. Now if I had been with someone I would have been laughing at how miserable this tour had turned out to be and could of at least chatted my way through the tour, but I was on my own and this just made me want to cry. It was another 40 minutes of this and just at the end of the tour I actually recognised something, pulled out my map of Guilin and pointed at elephant trunk hill on my map and then towards a hill and the tour guide started nodding and shouting “dwey, dwey” and a load of other stuff in Chinese. Now I may only be able to speak a tiny bit of Chinese, but I know that dewy means yes so I perked up a bit then that I had actually recognised something. Now Elephant trunk hill is a famous landmark that is supposed to be an elephant drinking from the water, which I can kind of see. I took a few photos and then the tour was finished.

Unfortunately it was still raining and everything that I wanted to do was outside. This is not at all what I was expecting from my holiday in Guilin. After Hong Kong I was expecting it to be hot, sunny and I could actually wear my summer dresses and flip flops. I should be so lucky, the reality is far different. It’s cold, I’m wet and it’s raining and all I want to do is find somewhere that actually does western food so I can drown my sorrows with a mango smoothie and hopefully something I recognise. I find a bar that promises pizza and smoothies, I ordered a mango smoothie and Hawaiian pizza and started to feel a bit better that I was out of the rain. The waitress came back to tell me that they don’t have pineapple, will apple do instead? (apple on a Hawaiian pizza, are you mad?) I ordered a vegetable pizza instead but instead of the mushrooms and peppers I had been looking forward to, a green hot pepper, onion, olive pizza turned up because they were out of mushrooms. It’s at this point that I actually feel like it’s all too much and I want to cry, this trip to Guilin is a perfect example of my love/hate relationship with China. Trying to find a restaurant that I can actually identify the meat is one of my daily struggles and I am sick of ordering food only to have them bring me something else because they didn’t have what I wanted. If that’s the case I wish they would just say so I can either order something else or go somewhere else. It has been a miserable morning and I am feeling very lonely and sad today. With it still raining I headed back to my hostel to see if there was anything in Guilin that was inside.

At about 6pm the rain finally stopped and I headed out to explore a bit, starting with trying to find the night market. As it turns out, the two dozen stalls in the square just round the corner from the hostel IS the night market, a bit disappointing as I had already looked at those. I went in search of somewhere to eat and then it would hopefully be dark and I could take pictures of the sun and moon pagodas on the lake near the hostel all lit up. I had also heard that one of the hotels had a waterfall display at 8.30pm that I wanted to go and see.

I found a restaurant and ordered the fried beef with vegetables, but when it came I knew instantly that it wasn’t beef, but I couldn’t put my finger on what meat it was. I tried to eat it but just the thought that it wasn’t a meat I recognised put me off and I couldn’t finish it. As I was leaving there was a group of German tourists and their tour guide was saying to them “don’t eat here, they only serve dog meat”. And that’s when it happened. The thought that I had just eaten dog was too much for me and I was actually sick, right there, in front of the tour group, the restaurant and everyone else that stopped to watch me, right in front of the restaurant in what I hope was a bin! I think that was one of the most humiliating moments and to make it worse I heard the tour guide say “see the food is bad” oh my god it was horrendous, people were staring at me, the restaurant staff were shouting at me in Chinese, I just had to get out of there! I went round the corner to another cafe and ordered a water and felt a bit better but I was still mortified. By this point it was dark so I went to the lake to take photos of the sun and moon pagodas all lit up and then headed for the hotel for the waterfall display. There was a cafe across the road so I grabbed a table outside and a mango smoothie and waited until 8.30pm when the display started. It was like being back in Vegas, only it was a cheaper version. First of all some traditional Chinese music started and then the fountains started sort of to the music (but nowhere near as good as the Bellagio fountains) then water started pouring down the side of the hotel from the roof and rainbows were appearing all over it and that water started coming down to the music, it was really good to watch and even though I was sat across the road I was still getting hit by the spray. After 10 minutes it was still going on, but I made my way back towards the hostel, stopping to look at the odd stall along the way.

I was almost back to my hostel when I stopped in at the Irish bar across the road as they had a singer and guitarist playing and I booked a tour with them for tomorrow. I’m back in my room at the hostel now and I can still hear the singer so I’m not missing out.

Thursday 5th April

Today has brought me crashing back to reality and the fact that I am back in China, the land of squat toilets, dirty streets and touts that just won’t leave you alone. Hong Kong really was a pleasure to stay in and I miss it already, especially that everyone speaks English. That’s not to say that I haven’t had a good day, I have had an amazing day, I just miss the home comforts of Hong Kong. Is it so much to ask for a proper toilet? Come on China, get it together!

Anyway, back to Guilin and last night at the backstreet youth hostel. I had a pretty bad night’s sleep, the bed was a Chinese mattress (sort of like a roll mat you take when you go camping, but probably thinner) on a wooden frame. It was ok once I had fallen asleep, but it took me ages to get comfy, although it is a massive bed with big fluffy pillows and duvet. I got woken up in the night by the rain hammering on my window, thunder and lightning! This went on all night and I got woken up a few times by the thunder. When my alarm went off at 6am the storm was still going strong and I was beginning to regret booking the Li river cruise tour for today, but hoped that by the time I got downstairs it would have stopped.

I had the best shower I have had since arriving in China, one of those hot power showers. I was dressed and downstairs by 7am for breakfast and luckily the storm had stopped! I was on the tour bus with about 30 other tourists by 8am (although we had to wait until 8.30am for a few late comers, if you can’t be on time, leave them behind was my attitude but obviously not that of the tour guide)and arrived at the Zhujiang pier in Guilin at 9.15am. We all boarded the boat and set off at 9.30am and I headed straight to the top deck to start taking photos. Even though it was misty and overcast (makes the mountains look mysterious according to the tour guide) it was still 22 degrees and quite humid.

I can not put into words just how beautiful the scenery was and the photos just don’t do it justice. The cruise down the Li river from Guilin to Yangshuo was 54 km and it took 4 hours. Everywhere you looked there were stunning views of mountains and the winding river. There were also small boats on the river and little shacks on the banks which were peoples houses. It was an amazing experience, I only wish it had been a sunny day so that the photos would have been better. There is a spot on the Li river which is famous as it is the beautiful scene from the 20 RMB banknote so as we got to that spot everyone got out their banknote for the picture so you could see we were in the same spot. It was a lovely tour with gorgeous views from start to finish and I would happily do it all again (on a sunnier day of course). The only down side was that the toilet went straight into the river and then further down there were people washing their clothes in the river. That and the lunch provided was not very nice but that wasn’t why I was there so it didn’t make much of a difference to me.

At 1.30pm we arrived in Yangshuo with warnings from our tour guide to be extra careful as there is a lot of pick pockets in the area. So with my bag hugged to my chest I went in search of a cafe for a drink and snack. That was the end of the tour and there were three options, you could either get the bus back to Guilin after an hour of shopping and exploring of Yangshuo, you could make your own way back, or the option that I went for, you could pay for the countryside tour which started at 2.30pm.

I met the guide back at 2.30pm with 9 other tourists that had also signed up for the countryside tour. We took the mini bus to the Yulong village, about 15 minutes away from the touristy town Yangshuo and deep into the real countryside. We took a bamboo raft along the yulong river (literally 5 pieces of bamboo tied together with string but with two deck chairs to sit on) water was coming up through the bamboo, there were no sides to hold on to and I spent most of it looking into the murky waters and desperately trying to remember what that programme about river creatures had said lived in the rivers of China, because if anything had bumped into our raft we would be tipped into that river straight away. Luckily we stopped at a marshy field not long after getting onto the bamboo raft and were introduced to a herd of water buffalo. I made a bee line for the baby ones with a handful of some sort of green leaf we had been given to feed them with only to be told that they were still drinking their mothers milk so I had to feed one of the bigger ones. We were even told that we could kiss the water buffalo if we wanted to (you must be joking). After a few photos and after I had used about a quarter of my anti-bacterial gel after stroking and feeding the water buffalo, it was back onto the bamboo rafts. It was all very scenic and lovely until I became aware of a noise which gradually got louder until I realised what it was, the sound of a waterfall! I could see the rafts in front of us were just going off it and although it was a very small waterfall, I had inspected the bit of string holding the bamboo together and I really wasn’t convinced it was going to end well. Contrary to my growing paranoia (there’s just something about sitting on a bit of wood tied together with string, floating over what ever river monsters are lurking beneath waiting to strike that just doesn’t sit well with me), we were fine. To my relief we got off the bamboo rafts and went for a walk through the countryside along the river. It was nice, but i’m glad I didn’t wear my flip flops like I had considered doing as at one point I was in a field of mud. Then we were back on the bamboo rafts and off to see a “Cormorant fishing show” which involved a man standing on a raft with 3 big black birds which had a piece of string tied around their necks and he put into the water. They each dived down and came up with a fish, which he took off them and put into a bucket. We were told that the string around their necks is to stop them from swallowing the fish. I wasn’t really sure what to think about the fishing show, but before I had a chance to dwell on it we were on the move again to our final destination, Dragon bridge. We had a few photos and then it was back onto the mini bus as it was 5pm and we had to drive back to Guilin.

We arrived back in Guilin at 6.30pm and after dropping my things I went in search of somewhere to eat and to have a mooch around the night market. After dinner I came back to the hostel and to the communal area to skype (there is no internet in the rooms which is slightly annoying) the internet connection is quite slow and I have loads of photos so I will upload them when I get back to Beijing.

Wednesday 4th April

Today was a lot cooler at 25 degrees C and it was very overcast. I left early as I wanted to go to the waterfall park before I left for the airport but as I got in a taxi and said where I wanted to go the taxi driver said it would take 45 minutes to get there and cost 300 Hong Kong dollars! I opted for the jade market instead which was only 5 minutes away. I bought a few souvenirs and then wandered round the streets just taking it all in and then recognised one of the streets and could find my way back to near the hotel. I stopped for lunch at a small bakery and then discovered a short cut back to my hostel so I could check out.

I got the shuttle bus to the airport and my flight was on time and 90 minutes later I landed in Guilin at 8.15pm. I had arranged for an airport pick up and because of heavy traffic it took 40 minutes to get to the hostel. The backstreet youth hostel of Guilin was a big step up from the hostel in Hong Kong, for starters there is a cafe and communal area to chat to other tourists and the room is much nicer. The bed is massive and I can actually move around in the bathroom! I’m very excited about my adventures in Guilin, but I must get some sleep as it’s an early start tomorrow!

Tuesday 3rd April

Today was a scorcher! I left at 9am and it was 29 degrees already! I knew as soon as I left the hostel (I have put up a picture of the entrance to the hostel, that’s a security guard there and I am stood on the street taking the photo) that I had made a mistake and should have put shorts on, but didn’t want to waste any more time. I got the star ferry to Hong Kong Island and then the tour bus to Ocean Park which is supposed to be the best theme park in Hong Kong. Now my tour bus ticket that I bought on Saturday was for 48 hours which should have expired on Monday at 10am. My argument is, until they start checking the tickets, I’m going to keep using the tour bus!

Now I was a bit dubious about going to the theme park on my own as I was worried I would feel awkward and like the kid with no friends who has no one to share the excitement with. I was even having second thoughts walking to the ferry, but I told myself I would give it a go and if I feel weird about it I can always go somewhere else for the day.

I got to Ocean park which is in the south of Hong Kong island at 10.30am and was in the queue to get into the park for an hour! It was a lot like how I expect Alton towers is during the Easter holidays, absolutely packed! The park is separated into two sections, the waterfront which is as you enter the park with the rides for very little children and the aquarium, then there is the summit, which is at the top of the mountain. There are two ways to get to the summit, by the ocean express which is a train that goes through the mountain, or by cable car over the top. Now my trusty lonely planet guide has the cable cars in the list of top things to do in Hong Kong so I opted for that and was rewarded with some amazing views of the park and across Deep water bay. I nearly didn’t make it that far as at the start of the queue for the cable car there was a security guard telling people the queue was 1 hour 30 minutes- 2 hours long! I was very tempted to just forget the whole thing and leave but I thought I might as well stay and I am glad I did because I was only queuing for 15 minutes! Although it seemed a lot longer as there was a Chinese woman pushing into the back of me the whole time, I wanted to shout at her but that’s a big no in Chinese culture, avoid confrontation at all costs! I just mentally cursed at her and that made me feel a bit better, along with blocking her way with my body everytime she tried to push her little boy past me. Is it really just westerners that understand how queuing works?

I got to the summit and the first ride in front of me was the water rapids and previous experience has taught me to always start with the water rides so that you have the rest of the day to dry off. I queued for an hour in the hot sun and it was a welcome break when I got splashed with cool water and even enjoyed being sprayed with water guns from the people on the bridge as we went past.

After the rapids I lined up for the rollercoaster which you can see from across the bay. Again, I was queuing for an hour and there was the Chinese woman in front of me who kept gasping everytime we saw the rollercoaster go past the line. As we got to the bit where we get on the rollercoaster she starts talking really fast and looking scared and laughing and I realise that I have to sit next to this woman on the ride! As the ride is about to start and we pull out of the station she grabs my hand and is squeezing it and screaming the whole way round and I realise that I am holding hands with a stranger on a rollercoaster, bizarre!

I did a few more rides and then by 4pm I stopped for something to eat. I had been at the park for 5.5 hours and I had only been on 5 rides because the queues were that long which was a bit disheartening. By this point my legs were really aching so I made my way towards the exit and timed it just right for the tour bus to pull up as I got to the bus stop! I took the tour bus to the ferry terminal and then switched to a different bus for the night tour which took you through the tunnel to Kowloon where the night market was.

I got off the tour bus at the night market and had a look round, it wasn’t that big and a bit rubbish really, I bought a keyring (it is a tradition that I buy a key ring from everywhere I go, I have no idea how many I have got now but it’s an awful lot) I got a taxi back towards my hostel and found somewhere to eat but after a few mouthfuls I was full, I think it’s this weather (it was 8.30pm and still 28 degrees) all I want is a salad but everything is fried!

I came back to my hostel and was greeted by one of the cleaners who laughed and pointed to my face (charming!) I got into my room and realised what she was pointing at, I have a bright red face and chest, apart from a white spot where my necklace was and permanent white sunglasses mark. I make this error every year, will I ever learn?

Here are all the pics: http://www.flickr.com/photos/78649657@N03/sets/72157629373373696/

Monday 2nd April

Day 3 in Hong Kong and it has been the warmest yet! It was 25 degrees at 9am this morning and although I had nowhere to check it from I think it was the hottest day so far so it must of been at least 28 degrees by lunch time. It was really cloudy again this morning but there were blue skies by the afternoon, apart from over the harbour where it constantly looks overcast!

This morning I did the Big bus tour round Kowloon which took roughly about an hour. I got off at the promenade and had lunch at one of the restaurants there out on the terrace with the view over the harbour. There is a big strip of restaurants along here so I made a note to come back and try a different one for dinner. After lunch I took a stroll along the promenade and the “avenue of the stars” which is lot’s of star shapes with hand prints in with lot’s of Chinese names of people I have never heard of. I walked all the way to the star ferry and took that over to Hong Kong Island and then jumped onto the big bus tour to take me to the Hong Kong zoological and Botanical gardens.

I got to the gardens which was on a hillside and sort of an island surrounded by a bypass. The map made it look huge but I had walked round a third of it in 10 minutes so I quickly realised this wasn’t going to take that long. The botanical gardens were on one side of the park and as far as I saw the only water there was, was a big fountain in the centre, not really what I was expecting. To be honest it was a lot more like a walk round your local park, there weren’t any flower displays as there were in Beijing and shanghai. On the other side of the park there were the zoological gardens with lot’s of different monkeys, gibbons and even 3 orang-utans! There was a pond filled with lots of frogs and I took a picture then got a bit freaked out that there was nothing stopping the frogs from jumping out of the pond. Now some people may say I have an irrational fear of frogs, but you weren’t there the day my cat brought one into the house and it was jumping towards me and squeaking and well, thats a story for another day. The point is it freaked me out and I had to get away from the pond.

The next attraction was the reptile house, which consisted of two crocodiles and a python so I don’t think you could really class that as a big collection, but then near the visitor centre there were twin baby orang-utans in a nursery and they were adorable! There was also an aviary but my personal opinion on that is that birds are boring so I headed towards the exit.

Now according to my lonely planet guide (which has been like my bible while I have been here) Hong Kong park was just around the corner. Now seen as this was on my list of places I wanted to see I started wandering in that direction. It was a lot further than I was expecting, in the boiling heat! I finally got there and there was a huge fountain in the entrance way to the park so I had my photo taken in there which cooled me down a bit. Hong Kong park is what I was sort of expecting the botanical gardens to be like with gorgeous water features including a waterfall which you could walk behind. After wandering round Hong Kong park for a while, I stopped at the cafe for a drink and to have a look in my guide book for where I wanted to go next as it was only 3.30pm. I remembered I still had a voucher for a boat tour of Victoria harbour so I headed towards central pier to do just that.

It was good timing actually because the tours were every hour and I had made it in time for the next tour with ten minutes to spare. The tour went along Hong Kong island and then across to Kowloon which was where I got off, it was pleasant but a bit windy and still looked really grey across the harbour which was a shame as I wanted to try and get some good pictures. There was a sound system playing a commentary but I couldn’t tell you what it said as a child was shouting over it about not being allowed any more ice cream!

I walked back along the Kowloon promenade and found a few restaurants that looked good, the prices were a bit steep though so I settled for another one that looked just as nice that sold something called the Hong Kong special which was a bit like chili con carne but a bit spicier and left my lips tingling for ages afterwards. I sat outside and just watched the sunset over the harbour which was nice until the people on the table started smoking and the wind made it so I got a face full of smoke so I decided to leave and head back towards the hostel.

Here are the rest of the pics: http://www.flickr.com/photos/78649657@N03/sets/72157629365934676/

Sunday 1st April

Here's the video from the Dolphin Boat Cruise!

Sunday 1st April

Here's the rest of the pics from Sunday: http://www.flickr.com/photos/69851917@N06/sets/72157629358153634/

Videos coming soon!

Sunday 1st April

Day two in Hong Kong and I am loving it! I think what I love most about Hong Kong is that it is nothing like China. Everyone speaks English, it is so much cleaner, only problem is it’s so expensive.

I was up early this morning to get ready and to the Kowloon hotel (a 20 minute walk away) to be picked up to go on a Pearl river dolphin cruise which I was so excited about! We met in the lobby at 8.50am and were picked up and driven to the harbour in Lantau which took 30 minutes. There was a small boat waiting for us and then we were off! It was a cloudy day but on the water it was realy overcast, but still warm. Now the guide had warned us plenty of times that the pink dolphins are wild animals and that there’s no guarantee we would see them and after 40 minutes of no sightings I was beginning to get anxious. There was no need for me to have worried though because in the distance we could see a pod of about 10 dolphins, a few pink adults and about 3 grey calves! It was exciting but I was disappointed that they were so far away and I couldn’t get any good pictures but then, in the other direction we saw 6 more dolphins! These were a bit more active and jumping out of the water and were a bit closer so we followed them for a while. Then to make it even more exciting the dolphins swam right up to the boat and then swam under it and jumped out of the water on the other side and then disappeared. I hadn’t had much luck with the photos so I decided to video as my camera took to long to take the photo. Then the dolphins swam under the boat twice more, each time jumping out of the water! It was brilliant to see and the baby calves were so cute and small! We were watching the dolphins for about an hour before it was time to turn around and head back to the harbour but I really enjoyed it.

I got off at Hong Kong Island and went to Man Mo temple. It was OK, but I got into trouble for taking pictures. Some of it was pretty but they were burning incense everywhere and the smoke was stinging my eyes so I left pretty quickly. I wandered along the road for about 30 minutes before finding a little cafe down a side street that was playing English music from the 90’s so I ate lunch there. After lunch I jumped on the tour bus on the green route that would take me round the south of Hong Kong Island where all the beaches were. This part of Hong Kong reminds me a lot of Ibiza, there are lots of hills and windy roads that one wrong move and you would plummet to your death (made me nervous that I was sat on the top of a double decker bus, dodging low branches) but the views were beautiful and the beaches looked really nice too. I did notice that there was a shark net around the swimming area (not that I have been in the ocean since I saw all of the jaws films!) but still, makes you realise that there is just a flimsy net separating you and whatever sharks are out there.

The tour bus got me back to the star ferry at 5.30pm, it was nice seeing the gorgeous views while the sun was setting, unfortunately I didn’t get many good photos. It seems that to be a tour bus driver you need to have experience as a racing driver as we were going so fast most of my photos came out blurry. I got the star ferry over to Kowloon and found a restaurant that had a roof terrace to eat dinner at as it was still 25 degrees (it had been 29 degrees at lunch time) I timed it just right as when I had finished dinner I just had to wander round the corner to the tour bus stop to do the night tour of Kowloon. On this tour you got amazing views of the promenade and skyline lit up at night, although I didn’t get great photos as I think we had the same racing car driver as earlier in the day. The tour lasted an hour and dropped us off just round the corner from my hostel. I took the walkway over the road instead of the underground tunnel and found a park above the roof of one of the shopping malls which was really pretty, I just wish I had someone here to share it with as the views over the harbour and the lit up skyline were just amazing. I walked back towards my hostel and stopped in an Irish bar for a drink. I was instantly befriended by a gay Chinese couple who wanted to hear everything about America as they had always wanted to go, they quickly lost interest when they found out that I was actually English so I chose this point to make my exit and wander back to my hostel. Another great day in Hong Kong, oh, did I mention I got sunburn?