Hong Kong to Yangzhou, & the ancient city of Xing Ping

Time to relax and time to blog from a rooftop bar in Yangshao at Monkey Jane’s. This week has been nothing short of eventful from the terrible flight to Kuala Lumpur to an over night bus trip through China.

Hong Kong was wonderful, while we only spent two nights, we packed in as much a possible with a trip to the night markets and some sexy cocktails at a bar in Soho (not that cheap!) The following day we went on a cable car ride with the most spectacular views of the city as we made our way to the big Buddah. It was a pretty special experience. We then shared a ‘blooming tea’ at a cute tea house at the foot of the mountain, served by a lovely Helen Wong. Dumplings for lunch before we headed back, fitting in some shopping then home to get ready for a night out in Lung Kaw Fu. We met up with some friends of a friend who were only too happy to shout us some local beers and start a game of buffalo, which Chloe and I inevitably lost and found ourselves in a taxi to a bar that sold cheap red vodka drinks… The rest is history… Let’s just say there was dancing on bars and boys involved. 

Waking up with massive hang overs, packing was a stressful blur before we caught a train to the border where we were led by a policemen to a dingy little bus station and waited four hours not knowing what to expect from an overnight bus ride to hopefully the right destination! At one point we thought we were doomed to a 12 hour journey in a mini van but thankfully it was just a transfer to a coach filled with little bunk beds, fluffy blankets and pillows. But it was weird. 

At 5am we arrived in Yangshou, half asleep in the pitch black to completely deserted stone streets. It was very eerie as we could make out the surrounding mountain tops. With good intentions (I hope) a Canadian man who was also on our bus led us to where he thought our hostel was. But it wasn’t and we were left on our own to treck down the empty, dark streets busting to go to the toilet. After a frustrating call to the hostel that got us no where, we bizarrely met a gorgeous young Chinese girl in her pajamas who went Out of her way to find our hostel. Eventually a man led us to the right place which is fabulous and so much fun. Our first day here we relaxed a little bit looking at the shops before doing a Chinese cooking class. It was so interesting. Panda, our teacher took us to the local market where we saw fresh produce from veggies to meat… Including dog :/ We are now masters in exquisite Chinese cuisine learning how to make pork dumplings, an egg plant stir fry and sweet and sour pork. We also had massages and facials before heading to the roof top bar of our hostel where we met some other lovely backpackers. 

After a pretty late night last night at Monkey Jane’s roof top bar with two for one cocktails and Swedish company who drunkenly shotted the traditional snake wine (a Chinese tradition where they behead the snake and drain the blood to drink, then eating the remains including the beating heart)… We retired from the lightning cracking over the mountains at about 2am… One man down? This morning not feeling all that energized we dragged our sorry selves out of bed to meet our new friend Anastasia for breakfast and the plan today’s activities. Following Anastasia’s initial plans we joined her in hiring some bikes and a Italian guide (Che Che) to go check out dragon bridge…a 400 yr old bridge just out side of Yangzhou. What we thought was going to be an easy 15km round trip leisurely stroll up the river turned into a near 30km painful but very rewarding adventure. My newly purchased platform joggers were put to work and my body is now left even More bruised then before!! However I can’t quite top dearest Chloe, in a trance from the beautiful scenery she obviously forgot to turn at the corner and ran straight off route into a grave! Bruised battered but still smiling we finally arrived home to wash the dirt away and feed ourselves some delicious soup that cost nothing more than an Aussie dollar! 

After sore swollen biker bums, ginger tea and a heavy sleep we find ourselves agreeing to a mountain walk with Anastasia. The walk up to moon hill, involved over 800 marble stairs to one of the most spectacular views of the karst landscape across greater Guilin. Sweaty Betty, peeling off layers of clothes, hair pulled back, dripping mustache, so worth it. The view at the top was beyond rewarding and warranted a sneaky roadside strawberry feast from the stall on route back to pack. 

The four of us then took the last bus at 6:50pm to Xing Ping, a small quaint village just up the Li River. After checking into “this old place youth hostel” (lovely old heritage looking style) we found ourselves stalking empty streets looking for dinner! Warm cafe gave a warming welcome and we were served several tasty treats. The egg plant specialty is our best meal in china to date… Wrapped in garlic and peppers, the tempura crisp had us going back for a lunch feast! The morning started with an early wake but a two hour wait for banana pancakes and coffee-less coffee. We followed the hostels advice in rafting up the river on bamboo boats and attempted to walk the four hour journey back! Unaccomplished due to the hostile people of the township which was to be our turning point, we all climbed back into a raft to return ripped off but still smiling in our flower crowns. The ride on the river is breathtaking, being surrounded by huge green gauges and banks of bamboo spilling over.

Bussing back to Yangshou for our last night, we spent it at the roof top bar with the wild monkey Jane playing beer pong! The next morning We said our sincere goodbyes to our dearest Anastasia who had become family in just a few short days, we climbed into our airport transfer to guilin airport… Not long into the journey our eyes surface to the front of the vehicle where we were sounding our horn as a man on a scooter veered in front…there was a thump. The man disappeared and we all gasped. Screaming as we swerved, the brakes were slammed on. No one moved. We yelled “do something?” running out of the mini bus to find a china man sitting behind it with a bone surfacing through his skin, cars just continued and beeped for him to move, his scooter was no where to be seen. Two of us helped the man to the side of the road and grabbed him a stool, whilst the Chinese simply watched. It was awful. But he was ok, he was alive, and we can only thank our lucky stars it wasn’t worse. Road rules simply don’t apply in china. In a rush to catch our flight we were picked up by another mini van to complete the journey… Wide eyed and nervous it was a long hour.