We're back....

All good things come to an end and this holiday proved to be no exception. Our apologies for not posting enough blogs - we were just having too much fun to be worried about such trivialities!

Anyway we have sifted through 3000 photos to bring you our favourite 100!

http://picasaweb.google.com/SinoScribbles/ChinaTrip

Enjoy!

Ping'an & the Dragon's Backbone Rice Terraces

No it's not the name of a 70's band - it's where we stayed about a million years ago after Shanghai. The truth is we're not very good bloggers as it's been over 2 weeks since our last post! We just don't have the time or inclination to spend time on a computer when there so much to see, do & eat! After Shanghai we went to Guilin where we played ping-pong with the locals (they were OK - but I think the good ones are training in Beijing. Guilin is a very scenic place where these tall mountain pillars are dotted around the city.

After Guilin we went to Ping'an on an overnight stop, taking only the bare essentials as it's a long trek up a steep mountain, the top of which is dotted with guest-houses - we went to one of the more expensive ones costing us about 100 Yuan ($17AUD). The view from there was fantastic and I'll definitely come back again to see the terraces when water or snow covered. You could get guys to carry you up there on sedan chairs but that'd be cheating. However If I were the size of this woman I might think about too! Those porters sure earned their money on this trip!

One of the amusing things up this mountain is the plethora of local "Long Haired Women" who are in actual fact a sophisticated syndicate out to fleece the western tourist of their hard-earned yuan. telecommunication systems such as radio, mobile and the chinese version of yodelling are all used to set up roadblocks at strategic photo points along the path. Although unconfirmed I am sure they have an elaborate network of underground tunnels as I'm positive the same woman hassled us repeatedly along the same path.

After Ping'an we went to Yangshou was even more scenic than Guilin. I went fishing here but the bait I was sold just wouldn't attract the fish. Some of the highlights of Yangshuo were a 600-person theatrical performance that we didn't understand a word of, bamboo rafting & Miriam and I getting taxied around on the back of a single motor-bike.

I'm a bit ethically challenged currently about giving to the many beggars on the street - I have a pocket of 1-Yuan notes that I give out to anyone who asks (1Y = <20c)

That's enough for now - We're currently in Tibet which you'll here about in about 3 blogs time.

Shanghai....very hai.....

Hi All here's the next episode in our travelling adventure...sorry about the weirdness of our blog header - I think the "Great Firewall of China" has blocked access to our blog - so we can't actually see what we've posted - Jeremy, feel free to tidy up areas that need it. I'm working on an area to post all our photos for those who have nothing better to do at work - you know who you are!

Guangzhou was great - the city is very modern and the people very polite. We had a banquet for my uncle's last day lecturing and I managed to put a death curse on everyone there by sticking the chopsticks into the rice once I was done....a big no-no as I later found out as that's what they do at funerals! So after that cultural debacle we managed to wade through the myriad of shopping malls and Miriam found a cool satchel/handbag that means I don't have to lug the backpack around everywhere we go - a very smart purchase....

The best thing about Guangzhou was on our last night when we went to some island where the locals were out in force and had public singing (chinese choir) and dancing (tango/waltz etc..) along the river-front - Both us and the locals had a ball and it made me think that it might not be a bad idea for us westerners to get out once in a while at night and do communal stuff like this. I even played badminton with one of the kids there (about 10) and I'm sure we'll see him on tv in Beijing next year.....

Shanghai is big, we met the rest of our "group" - two of my cousins and 2 friends of my uncle and we set off discovering the sights and sounds of Shanghai, one of the biggest cities in China. We went through a touristy but interesting part of Shanghai which showed traditional life and then went down a busy and packed shopping mall that made Rundle mall look insignificant.

One thing I've constantly noticed about China is the two differing parts of China - the old and the new. You'll probably see in any of our photos where we've taken a shot of some traditional building that in the background there's a gleaming sky-scraper or TV billboard. I hope in their drive for "modernising" China they don't lose the historic aspect of their culture...

We're staying on the 25th floor of a hotel in Shanghai - we've posted a photo to give you some idea of what it's like - we're in the heart of the city but there's less noise in our room than back in adelaide - I'm guessing it's the fact that we're so high up! Here's a photo from our bedroom window.

We're off to Guilin tomorow a small town of about 700,000 people. It's meant to be one of the most beautiful areas in China. It's a pity the Lonely Planet warned us that everyone will try and rip us off! But don't worry we're pretty sharp and no-one can get past our defences.....Stay tuned for our tales of woe and deception. We'll post details of our bank account for the transfer of funds if we lose it all...Jai J'en

Congratulations Steve and Kristy!

Congratulations guys on your engagement!

That's fantastic news, we'd love to hear about how it all happened - email us on brad_crouch@hotmail.com unless you want to tell the whole world about it - if so, just post a comment to this blog!

Wishing you both all the best.

Jai Jien
(Goodbye in Mandarin)

Tale of two cities

We finally made it to a PC after all this time!

We've spent 4 nights in Hong Kong and 2 in Macau. We've walked about a million miles in these two cities and have really packed a lot in to our time here. We're now in mainland China in Guangzhou and taking it a bit easy before our big tour of China.

We got into Hong Kong around 10:30pm so we didn't make it to our accommodation until 12ish. We decided to book cheap accommodation in Hong Kong as it is so expensive - A little too cheap though as we entered this dodgy looking building full of shady characters. After climbing into a small lift, designed for 4 people but capable of accommodating 20 quite easily, going up 14 floors and walking the plank (quite literally) we were into our salubrious accommodation that made our apartment in Adelaide look like the Taj Mahal. a room that fit a double bed (snugly) and a toilet that also doubled as a shower. It was clean and tidy and you don't get anything in Hong Kong for $40 that's any better so we decided this would be our home for our stay in Hong Kong.

For the next 3 days we cruised around Hong Kong and did all the touristy things like the Victoria Peak Tram, World's Longest Travelator, saw the light show, Temple St Night Markets, went to a cool jazz bar called "Ned Kelly's Bar", Ferry to Lamma Island. We also went to church while there and fortunately they spoke english - the pastor was actually Australian!

Then it was off to Macau for a 2-day stopover where we caught public transport (bus) with varying degrees of success but we eventually got where we wanted to go. The touristy stuff was pretty cool in Macau - we went to a Museum (boring and our feet hurt from all the walking we'd done), Senado square (really cool - must see in Macau), Casinos (Lisboa, Wynns, Sands, Venetian). The Venetian is huge and replicates Venice identically (I can't back this up as I've never been to Venice) it even has canals inside the casino! Went to a fishing village for a lazy lunch and finished it off with a superb egg-tart (macanese specialty). To end our time in Macau we both got hair-cuts. It was quite an experience with an extensive shampooing session, head massage and expert job done...all for $10 bucks each, they probably felt I got a poor deal so they threw in a massage for me, Miriam was quite sore about this for some time....


That's all for now on what we've done - there's a bit more on the China side but I'll leave that for another post. It's really hot over here which all of you know suits Miriam perfectly. The food is great and really really cheap. Miriam's been a little bit squeamish with some of the food - especially the "8 sumptuous delights" menu item I ordered in Macau (it wasn't that bad). I haven't been real adventurous yet (waiting for other people to be around for Miriam to go out with while I'm sick) but I did try chicken foot last night (Miriam wouldn't let me order the steamed snake and scorpion dish)


That's all for now - Now that we have the use of a PC (My Uncle's) we'll be able to post more frequent and less wordy blogs.

Proof

For all those people who demand proof of Miriam's feat to pack under 10Kg here is the proof.

(this doesn't include what we're wearing & 1 small backpack with a few books in it)

Well we're packed, bills are paid, house is tidy, study is done and we're absolutely exhausted!

See you in HK!

Our first post!

Ne Hao!

This is it!. The beginning of our adventure to China. You know you're getting close to your holiday when you start thinking about setting up a blog for it.

We head off Saturday morning 25th August and get into Hong Kong at around 11pm. Stay tuned for stacks of photos and hilarious anecdotes.

We've already packed (with 3 days still to go) and I'm very proud that Miriam has managed to get our main luggage down to less than 1 backpack and only weighing 9kg!

We're both looking forward to the trip as we have been working really hard to catch up in work and studies so that we can relax whilst away. Make sure you post comments to our blogs to encourage us to write often - knowing us we'll just get lazy otherwise!

Next blog will be from an internet cafe in Hong Kong