It's a beautiful day in Hong Kong. Actually it's been a gorgeous week. Somewhat blue skies...sun shining. And what have I been doing? Staying at home recuperating from my travels. It's hard work I tell ya. I can't even keep my blog updated. It's like homework. Since I've been back from China, I've been watching the dvds I bought, catching up on emails, uploading/editing photos, dragging myself to yoga, and semi-cleaning my brother's apartment. My stuff has exploded into the 3rd room, the living room, the bathroom, and the kitchen. I don't know how i have so much stuff.
So it's been gorgeous out and I haven't stepped out of the apartment until 5-8 pm. Of course. It's typical. It's like Mother Nature knows when I'll be sightseeing and when I'll be home. I seem to be bringing the clouds and smog with me everywhere I go. When I actually did some sightseeing in Hong Kong...all three times with visitors, it was hazy and smoggy. In Korea, when we went to the Seoul Tower to see the city from up top, it was smoggy and hazy. The Great Wall in China it was overcast. And in Hangzhou, a very nice place (compared to the dump, Suzhou) it was pouring. And each time I left a city...skies were blue with a few clouds to give it texture. I feel like Pig Pen from Charlie Brown...a cloud of dust just follows me around. Oh well, I guess I have to get use to it. I just hope Southeast Asia's weather will be cooperative!
Saturday, November 24, 2007
China
11/4 - 11/8 - Beijing
11/9 - 11/11 - Xian
Work in progress...
11/11 - 11/14 - Guilin and Yangshuo
Party of One - Good thing or Bad?
I lost my travel partner. I am traveling on my own now. There's a sense of freedom about it but also a sense of instability. I have gotten accustomed to being on my own after living in LA. It was a tough time when I went through it but now I don't mind it as much. But in these two cities, I was reminded SEVERAL times that I was alone. Why is that? It's like a Seinfeld episode or something...except in Chinese. I flew into Guilin on my own. The cab driver asked why I was on my own. I explained my situation: My friend didn't want to travel this leg of the trip and I'll be meeting her in Shanghai. I checked in and talked to the tour receptionist and explained my situaion again. The next day I took a boat ride and befriended a college student from china and explained to her the same thing. The following day I took a 6 hour cruise down to Yangshuo and had to recite my monologue to 5 other people...and so on and so on. I had a good time going to these places but it seemed like it was taboo to travel on your own here. Maybe it's just the story people want to hear. Because I'm sure if I was traveling with someone I will be repeating another story over and over again. It just seemed like people were shocked that I was traveling alone.
Scenery - As I have been told, Guilin is nice but Yangshuo is even more breath-taking. And they were right. If it were not for the weather, the scenery of Yangshuo and the Li River would've knocked me off my feet. But because there was a haze covering the peaks like a silk blanket it wasn't as powerful. I saw the sights in Guilin, many of the names I have forgotten. It's worth seeing but since I only had one day it was blurred all together. I would need to go back to the "video tape"... It was the ride on the Li River that I was anxiously anticipating. It was a quaint and scenic ride. we passed pen-holder peak, the horse peak, 5 finger peak, etc. But the most interesting was the people that I met. I met the talkative old white mid-western guy with his "girlfriend" from China who he met on Match.com. She barely knew English, he didn't know a lick of Chinese...I asked him how do you two communicate, he said we don't. And she is pushing him to get married. Crazy. Then there's the boy from Holland, who was normal. And a couple/brother sister from Taiwan who shared the same sentiments I have on people from the mainland. Others whom I did not meet but observed...a cute british lad married to a chinese girl traveling with his old school British parents. He spoke chinese which was shocking...albeit not perfect, but enough to talk to the waitresses. The young wife spoke to him in Chinese and he seemed to understand what she was saying. they were around 23 I would say. Other white men with their Chinese "girlfriend/wife". I know this particular pair is stereo-typical but i still find it interestingly weird.
Yangshuo is a lovely town. Very westernized now. There are a lot of tourists and all the shops and restaurants cater to them. I was silly and asked my hotel in Guilin to book a room in Yangshuo and pre-paid for it. The hotel ended up to be really far from the main street, West Street. I was annoyed as I also had my 2 enormous suitcases with me. I ended up getting set up in a Guesthouse by the taxi driver that helped me talk to my original hotel. It was a quaint guesthouse and much better than the one in Seoul but I still wonder if there were better places I could've stayed at (refer to ring blog above). It was for only one night so i left it alone. I went to a traditional performance that night which was set on the Li river. It was a spectacular production on the lake. I was thrilled since the night before I saw a horrible show in Guilin that was similar to a junior high school play. The guy sitting next to me started to talk to me in the middle of the show. Guess why? Because I was by myself. I wanted him to leave me alone as I was enthralled with the performance and busy recording parts of the show. He kept on asking the typical questions. I had to be nice because I am a tourist right? Anyway, he ended up to be nice and from SF. I thought he was just a dirty chinamen. we ended up going out for a drink on west street. i wanted to stroll that street anyway so I thought why not. better to have a drink with someone than alone. uh...i take that back...it depends. anyway, one drink than turned in for my early morning bike ride around town.
Once you get out of Yangshuo the atmosphere just changes. The hustle and bustle dissipates and the noise subsides. You're left with the majestic, groteque peaks and locals calling out to sell tickets. I took way too long at Moon Peak because I decided to hike up to the top. Not a smart idea because i ran out of time in the water cave. the cave was beautiful. it was discovered hundreds of years ago and is basically the inside (or the stomach) of one of the peaks. Inside are natural rock formations which the locals have named to give it a sense of meaning. But the most fun thing in the cave are the pools, a mud one and a water one. I didn't get to the water one becuase I had to return to Guilin to catch my flight to Shanghai. But I was able to go into the mud pool which was fun and gross at the same time. Definitely need to visit again to see all the sites missed.
11/14 - Shanghai
11/15 - 11/16 - Hangzhou via Suzhou
11/16 - 11/19 - Shanghai
 |
| Beijing |
11/9 - 11/11 - Xian
Work in progress...
 |
| Xian |
11/11 - 11/14 - Guilin and Yangshuo
Party of One - Good thing or Bad?
I lost my travel partner. I am traveling on my own now. There's a sense of freedom about it but also a sense of instability. I have gotten accustomed to being on my own after living in LA. It was a tough time when I went through it but now I don't mind it as much. But in these two cities, I was reminded SEVERAL times that I was alone. Why is that? It's like a Seinfeld episode or something...except in Chinese. I flew into Guilin on my own. The cab driver asked why I was on my own. I explained my situation: My friend didn't want to travel this leg of the trip and I'll be meeting her in Shanghai. I checked in and talked to the tour receptionist and explained my situaion again. The next day I took a boat ride and befriended a college student from china and explained to her the same thing. The following day I took a 6 hour cruise down to Yangshuo and had to recite my monologue to 5 other people...and so on and so on. I had a good time going to these places but it seemed like it was taboo to travel on your own here. Maybe it's just the story people want to hear. Because I'm sure if I was traveling with someone I will be repeating another story over and over again. It just seemed like people were shocked that I was traveling alone.
Scenery - As I have been told, Guilin is nice but Yangshuo is even more breath-taking. And they were right. If it were not for the weather, the scenery of Yangshuo and the Li River would've knocked me off my feet. But because there was a haze covering the peaks like a silk blanket it wasn't as powerful. I saw the sights in Guilin, many of the names I have forgotten. It's worth seeing but since I only had one day it was blurred all together. I would need to go back to the "video tape"... It was the ride on the Li River that I was anxiously anticipating. It was a quaint and scenic ride. we passed pen-holder peak, the horse peak, 5 finger peak, etc. But the most interesting was the people that I met. I met the talkative old white mid-western guy with his "girlfriend" from China who he met on Match.com. She barely knew English, he didn't know a lick of Chinese...I asked him how do you two communicate, he said we don't. And she is pushing him to get married. Crazy. Then there's the boy from Holland, who was normal. And a couple/brother sister from Taiwan who shared the same sentiments I have on people from the mainland. Others whom I did not meet but observed...a cute british lad married to a chinese girl traveling with his old school British parents. He spoke chinese which was shocking...albeit not perfect, but enough to talk to the waitresses. The young wife spoke to him in Chinese and he seemed to understand what she was saying. they were around 23 I would say. Other white men with their Chinese "girlfriend/wife". I know this particular pair is stereo-typical but i still find it interestingly weird.
Yangshuo is a lovely town. Very westernized now. There are a lot of tourists and all the shops and restaurants cater to them. I was silly and asked my hotel in Guilin to book a room in Yangshuo and pre-paid for it. The hotel ended up to be really far from the main street, West Street. I was annoyed as I also had my 2 enormous suitcases with me. I ended up getting set up in a Guesthouse by the taxi driver that helped me talk to my original hotel. It was a quaint guesthouse and much better than the one in Seoul but I still wonder if there were better places I could've stayed at (refer to ring blog above). It was for only one night so i left it alone. I went to a traditional performance that night which was set on the Li river. It was a spectacular production on the lake. I was thrilled since the night before I saw a horrible show in Guilin that was similar to a junior high school play. The guy sitting next to me started to talk to me in the middle of the show. Guess why? Because I was by myself. I wanted him to leave me alone as I was enthralled with the performance and busy recording parts of the show. He kept on asking the typical questions. I had to be nice because I am a tourist right? Anyway, he ended up to be nice and from SF. I thought he was just a dirty chinamen. we ended up going out for a drink on west street. i wanted to stroll that street anyway so I thought why not. better to have a drink with someone than alone. uh...i take that back...it depends. anyway, one drink than turned in for my early morning bike ride around town.
Once you get out of Yangshuo the atmosphere just changes. The hustle and bustle dissipates and the noise subsides. You're left with the majestic, groteque peaks and locals calling out to sell tickets. I took way too long at Moon Peak because I decided to hike up to the top. Not a smart idea because i ran out of time in the water cave. the cave was beautiful. it was discovered hundreds of years ago and is basically the inside (or the stomach) of one of the peaks. Inside are natural rock formations which the locals have named to give it a sense of meaning. But the most fun thing in the cave are the pools, a mud one and a water one. I didn't get to the water one becuase I had to return to Guilin to catch my flight to Shanghai. But I was able to go into the mud pool which was fun and gross at the same time. Definitely need to visit again to see all the sites missed.
11/14 - Shanghai
11/15 - 11/16 - Hangzhou via Suzhou
11/16 - 11/19 - Shanghai
 |
| Shanghai |
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