Feb 2009

Today we reached country number three on our travels, Vietnam (I’m classing Hong Kong as a separate country as we surrendered our Chinese visas in Shanghai!). As we flew into Ho Chi Minh City aka Saigon, the clouds cleared and we could see the miles and miles of jungle beneath us. It was just like every Vietnam film there’s ever been.

We had arranged to pick our entry visa up in the airport, rather than sort it in the UK. This meant that on leaving the plane, it took an hour before we were even ready to go through passport control. It was made worse by the heat and humidity in the airport, the knowledge that our packs were either travelling around the carousel by themselves or had found new owners, and that we had a pre-arranged taxi waiting for us outside! Luckily, the visas were issued, the packs were waiting, and the taxi driver got a couple of dollars tip and a bit more of a tan!

Our first impression of Vietnam was the complete manicness of the road system. There are thousands of motorbikes and scooters flying around. It’s hard to even tell which side of the road they are driving on, as the general rule seems to be drive where you want, when you want, in any direction!

We felt complete and utter disorientation on entering the hotel room. We could see we were in Vietnam through the window, and feel we were in Vietnam through the heat and humidity. To add to the experience, we turned on the TV to check out Vietnamese television and were confronted by……….. Rotherham! Not only Rotherham, but just down the road from where we used to live in Rotherham! It was the Jamie Oliver “Northerners are thick and I can make money off them” programme that was being shown, and was quite a surreal moment.

We popped to a local bar/ restaurant and the feeling of disorientation was completed by finding “chip butty” on the menu. So again, we were sat watching the local Vietnamese go by, sheltering from the sun

(and then an almighty deluge which dropped over ten mm of rain in five minutes and then just as abruptly stopped!)

whilst having a beer and a chip butty!

Bizarre.

We then went back to the hotel, and spent the rest of the day catching up on essentials such as writing the blog and trying to catch up on lost sleep from Hong Kong.

Still hoping for a good view of the city, the fog had cleared by the time we woke up but was still very hazy. Hoping that the sun would burn the haze up, we took the MTR to Tung Shung station on Lantau Island to visit the Big Buddha statue.

To reach the Buddha statue, we took the cable car.

The cable car took around fifteen minutes from the station to the village at the base of the statue, and the views were simply breathtaking.

During the cable car ride, the sun had come into full effect and burned the last of the mist away, so when we arrived at the other end the temperature had reached 26 degrees. In order to reach the Buddha statue, we then had 200 steep stairs to navigate in burning heat!

The effort was worth it, as the Buddha statue itself and the surrounding statues set against the hills were extremely photogenic.

We did, however, decide against a can of the local beverage!

From the Buddha statue, we descended the stairs and visited a nearby Buddhist Monastery.

Tourists were not allowed inside the monastery building but were permitted to view from the doorway. This struck me as odd for a couple of reasons. Firstly, how do they deal with Buddhist tourists? Secondly, why were they trying to sell named bricks in a new extension to the monastery to the very same tourists they were preventing access to?

We then headed back by cable car to the station, by now completely sunburnt (we had started our anti-malarial tablets in preparation for Cambodia which we are now stuck with for the next 32 days – a lovely side effect is photosensitivity which is extremely helpful in hot countries!).

Reaching Central Station, we crossed to Kowloon using the Star Ferry before sunset.

We spent the next hour waiting for the sun to go down, and were rewarded with an amazing sunset and finally the view of Hong Kong Harbour we had been waiting for.

Phew!!!

We then set off back to the hotel to pack for our flight to Vietnam tomorrow.

We thought Hong Kong was a great place, but we had too little time here to do it full justice. It was also quite an expensive place to do on a budget. We think it would be a great place to go on a normal holiday, where cash and luggage restraints are not as much a priority as on a round the world trip, and the harbour is one of the best we’ve seen.

And the final word goes to Mr Li Wai Kong – what are you doing in England when you could be living here!!!!

The sunny weather of yesterday was a distant memory as we woke to a day of fog. Undeterred by this and the major effect it had on the visibility of the skyline, we headed down to the ferry docks to check out the harbour.

From here, we went up the mid-level escalator. This, as the name suggests, is a series of escalators running from the waterfront to mid-way up the hills on Hong Kong Island.

The street life as we continued up the escalator was both manic and interesting to see.

We even found a “taste of home” at the top of one of the escalator sections!

Tempting though it was to eat here, we already had plans to eat in Bubba Gump’s (a shrimp and steak restaurant we’ve eaten at in Santa Monica a couple of years ago) at the top of Victoria’s Peak, and it was to here we now continued. Leaving the escalator at the top, we headed towards the Peak Tram, a funicular which runs up to Victoria’s Peak.

En-route to the tram terminal, we passed through the Hong Kong Botanical Gardens. It was quite peaceful in contrast to the streets of Hong Kong, and even had a few monkeys in one of the sections.

We reached the Peak Tram terminal, and set off on the ten minutes journey to the top.

The higher we got, the worse the fog increased. By the time we reached the Peak, visibility was down to a few metres.

So, what should have been a fantastic view of the whole island turned out to be just a blanket of white! The meal though was amazing, and well worth blowing over a full days budget on!

From Victoria’s Peak we headed down to the Star Ferry Terminal, passing the now lit skyscrapers on the way.

We took the ferry across to Kowloon to watch the light show; every night there is a light, sound and laser show with buildings on both sides of the harbour lit up in time to music. Unfortunately, the weather got the better of us again, and the tops of the skyscrapers were hidden under a veil of fog.

By this stage we were pretty exhausted, so headed back to the hotel!

We arrived in Hong Kong after a tiring journey from Shanghai to a complete change in the weather. From 4 degrees and raining in Shanghai, to 24 degrees and sunny in Hong Kong was very strange!

So we were finally in the place that Mr Li Wai Kong, aka Jimmy Lee, aka the guy in the Village People Cop outfit above, had been selling to me for years.

After checking into our hotel, we set off to Happy Valley Racecourse. Whilst on one of the “rainy days” in Shanghai, we’d discovered that there was a floodlit horse race meeting happening on our first night in Hong Kong. We’d been aware of these race meetings for years, but never thought we’d get the chance to go ourselves, so grasped the opportunity with both hands.

It was very cheap to get in, being 10 HK$ each (less than £1), and was a good experience to do.

I’d also love to report that we made a fortune on the bets we placed.

I’d love to do this, but unfortunately we lost on every race we placed a bet on! Oh well!

Our final day in Shanghai and mainland China. With a favourable weather forecast for today we woke up, bright eyed and bushy tailed, at the prospect of finally getting to explore Shanghai a bit more.

We set off first to Renmin Park.

The promised sunshine had not materialised, and it was still cold, but we walked through the park to Peoples Square. Walking under the subway across a busy road, we were greeted on the other side by…..

You’ve guessed it……..

RAIN!!! AGAIN!!!!!!!!!

Luckily, we sheltered under a tree for the initial deluge, and then launched ourselves into the Shanghai Museum. We had no intention of going in this, but it had two main things going for it at the time. Firstly it was free. Secondly it was dry!

Shanghai Museum was a prime example of a modern-ish building that they obviously didn’t have a clue what to do with. After walking around the scintillating displays of coins and jade, we felt like going to the front desk and demanding money for having been there! If we’d paid to get in, I think I’d have started a riot! Irredeemably crap beyond belief!

We left this bastion of mediocrity and headed to Nanjing Road. And yet again the heavens opened up. Luckily we were near to a “tourist train”, which for 2RMB ferried us from one end of the road to the other. Getting off at East Nanjing Road subway station, we walked down to the Bund to wait for sunset and to get our first view of the skyline at night since our first day in Shanghai.

At first the buildings were shrouded in mist/fog. Just as the sun started to set though, the bad weather disappeared and we were treated to an excellent last view of the Pearl Tower and the other skyscrapers.

To sum up Shanghai; we did everything we intended to do, but the weather seriously prevented us doing additional activities and really getting a feel for the city. We’ll be leaving it with a sense of not having scratched its surface, which at least gives us something to do when we eventually go back in the future.

To sum up China; it really has been a wonderful experience. We’ve had no difficulties with anything, it’s been so easy to get around and understand what things are with the English translations, and the 24 days we’ve had here have passed in the blink of an eye. We’d definitely recommend coming here to anyone.

After the rain came down on the previous night, it didn't stop.

For the past two days.

So ..........

No new pictures

No new stories

No witty comments

Nada

We've done nothing but watch DVD's and plan Hong Kong, Vietnam and Cambodia.

We were going to put a picture up of us doing nothing but watching DVD's and planning Hong Kong, Vietnam and Cambodia but we've been too busy doing nothing but watching DVD's and planning Hong Kong, Vietnam and Cambodia.

So there.

Thats your lot.

Go away.

We woke up this morning to glorious sunshine and, for the first time in Shanghai, it was warm! The weather forecast website we had been using had indicated cool temperatures with heavy rain all day, so we finally stopped using that and switched to another site which had seemed accurate in the past. This stated we would have a sunny day but that there would be a massive 55mm downpour at night. So, having an unexpected sunny day, we decided to go to the Yuyuan Garden.

To get to Yuyuan Garden, we walked for around a mile on the dubiously named Fang Bang Road. This was a busy street, nearly untouched by the westernisation of much of the rest of Shanghai, and it is the sort of place we have become fascinated with.

One of the things we have noticed is that it has been hard to get a sense of being in China at times, as everything looks so western and most of the writing is in English. When you’re in the midst of places like Fang Bang Road though, there’s no mistaking where you are. The sounds and smells, the constantly dodging bikes and scooters, and the general hustle and bustle of such places are completely unlike anything at home, and this is exactly what we wanted to experience before setting off three weeks ago.

We finally arrived at Yuyuan Gardens. It took a while to reach the main entrance, as you had to walk through a series of other buildings first.

On the way, we spotted a massive queue at a particular food stall. This is what they were selling!!

Probably the most vomit inducing item we’ve seen for sale yet!!

We got to the main entrance, paid our fee, and went in.

We spent hours in here, every turn bringing something new to see. The best way of describing it is a series of Chinese buildings, bridges and rockeries built around pools of fish, but this doesn’t do it justice.

It was very peaceful, not too busy, and the warm weather made it a really good experience.

Having left the Yuyuan Garden, we decided to carry on walking down Fang Bang Road towards the Bund. We wisely picked a route which took us right through a building site, but eventually got there.

We got back to the hostel, still not having had the promised downpour. No sooner had I mentioned this to Mandy, there was an almighty crack of thunder and it started. We went onto the hostel roof to have a look and it was some of the heaviest rain we’d ever seen. And it didn’t stop all night!

Our must do item in Shanghai was to go up the Pearl Tower. Finally having a break in the bad weather (and from the forecast potentially our only days break from the bad weather) we caught the subway and arrived at the tower.

The only problem with having “must do” items in places is that is means you “must do” them, irrespective of how unbelievably expensive they are. Pearl Tower was the worst example of this we’d seen so far, costing an extortionate 150 RMB (£16.30) each, which blew our entire budget for the day immediately.

Still, we paid for our ticket and went up. Starting on the middle level, we were greeted with a view of the city which was somewhat ruined by the poor visibility.

We then went to the very top level, where the visibility still was poor.

We then went down to the lower level, where I met a robot called Charlie.

And that was the Pearl Tower! Our ticket also got us into a small museum on the ground level, which went some way to compensating us for the cost.

So in summary; maybe having “must do” items is something you “shouldn’t do”. We also realised that the main view in Shanghai was to actually see the Pearl Tower across the water from ground level, and that it didn’t enhance our experience going up it.

One of the plans on this trip was to acclimatise to the hot weather gradually. The idea was to start at Beijing, where the weather was similar to Manchester, and then build up so that the 33 degree plus weather in Cambodia wouldn’t knock us out.

The plan was going so well, until we hit Shanghai. For the past two days it has done nothing but rain, and with the wind chill it’s been close to freezing on both days.

Having made the decision that if we wanted to get wet and cold, we’d have stayed at home, we made a conscious decision to stay in the hostel and just be lazy.

Which is exactly what we did. Except for going for food provisions, we have played pool, table tennis and watched DVDs and done nothing else for the past two days.

Sheer lazy I know, when we have a whole new city outside to explore, but a perfect response to the bad weather!

Waking up at the, quite frankly, irresponsible time of 5 am, we prepared for our trip to Shanghai. After a brief panic after checking out, when I couldn’t find my wallet (luckily resolved when it appeared in my pack) we set off for the 40km taxi ride to the airport. The taxi was the biggest wreck we’ve ever been in and we were both pleasantly surprised when it got to the airport in time!

Our flight to Shanghai had been changed during the week. Possessing, as I do, a “rain man” like ability to recount obscure facts and trivia, I was less than happy with the change of airline we were now facing. I was probably the most apprehensive of any flight I’ve ever been on, but luckily it passed without incident (although I physically paled at each bit of turbulence). We even got an edible “burger” as the snack (again: meat source unknown!).

From Shanghai Pudong Airport, we caught the Maglev train. This is an extremely high speed train which travels the thirty odd miles between the airport and the city centre. It travelled at a top speed whilst we were on it of 301 km per hour (when the line is fully upgraded it will be capable of over 450 km per hour) and did the journey in less than 10 minutes.

The hostel we are staying in is superb. As well as having a vastly superior internet connection to the previous “top name” chain hotel we stayed at in Xi’an, it has a pool table, table tennis table, and hundreds of DVD’s to watch if we get too tired (or CBA) to do anything).

After a brief rest from the journey, we took the subway to East Nanjing Road and walked the half mile to the Bund. This is the main harbour area of the city, which we’d seen developing on a couple of Michael Palin series, and it totally blew us away.

We couldn’t stop looking at the view, especially of the Pearl Tower. Even as we were walking away to head back to the subway, we kept looking back at it. It’s a view we have wanted to see for years now, and there was such a sense of disbelief that we were finally here.

If Shanghai lives up to our initial impressions, it is going to be one hell of a place!