Thursday, November 18, 2004
censored no more
yes, the news we've - at least the 2 of us anyway - have all been waiting for. today we reached Macau. despite being part of China these days, it seems they haven't the energy to ban us from our own site anymore. we can also get access to those vital bbc sport golf reports again as well. all is saved.
anyhow, more of the detail later, but thanks to nick for all his great work in keeping the site up and running. now he can go back to looking after wife, kid and kid to be.
a quick happy birthday to grandma c (courtney's) who looks not a day over 90.... and also to barbara and lloyd for later this month. and of course, the newly married mr etchell who turns the ripe old age of 33 sometime around now.
anyhow, more of the detail later, but thanks to nick for all his great work in keeping the site up and running. now he can go back to looking after wife, kid and kid to be.
a quick happy birthday to grandma c (courtney's) who looks not a day over 90.... and also to barbara and lloyd for later this month. and of course, the newly married mr etchell who turns the ripe old age of 33 sometime around now.
Wednesday, November 17, 2004
vote tampering and hanging chads
thank you all for participating in our first ever interactive feature...
voting on paintings of bamboo. here's hoping that these features get more
interesting in the future! the voting is still on, so excercise your
democratic rights. auntie sharon - as a result of your pete-favouritism i
have had to invoke the 'grandma said she would vote for me over the phone
chad' and pete has become insufferable (or at least more so).
anyway, enough of that... amazingly after 5 days on the move we have stayed
put in yangshuo long enough to take a cooking class, a painting class, do 2
bike rides, 2 river cruises, make 3 chinese friends and fine tune our modes
of transportation vs journey time vs cost spreadsheet. Obviously the first
2 activities were entirely my idea and pete tagged along 'just to keep me
company' - at least that's what he says... the bikes were (also obviously
to those who know me - i prefer activities i can do sitting down) pete's
idea...
you may be wondering why we have the opportunity for the first time in china
to do so many activities (or maybe you're not - but go with me on this one
ok)? basically yangshuo is the closest thing to a western backpacker town
that china has got - filed with lots of things to do and surrounded by lots
of stunning scenery (karst mountains apparently - I had to look up what that
meant in google). in our guidebook it is billed as a 'welcome break from
china'; in the chinese guidebook translation we got our hands on it is
billed as 'the famous town where even the peasants speak english'...
apart from backpackers YS seems to attract chinese students of english who
basically cruise the streets at night looking for foreigners to target for
'conversations' - no, not prostitution - english homework.
by the end of our second night (while pete did the internet and I sat on my
own - an inanely grinning western lady, an obvious target) i had made 2 new
friends (Jessica and Johnson, 20). By the end of our 3rd night we had added
Lily (19) and a load of 14 year olds to our gang. By the end of the fourth
night we learned to eat on the balcony of restaurants rather than at street
level. Although frankly a wee bit annoying these encounters were for the
most part sweet. when we met her the next day, Jessica even admitted that
she had laid awake all night thinking how excited she was to talk with an
english person for over an hour.
our boat trips (the original activity that put YS on the tourist map) were
slightly less successful. The first one we attempted comprised about 30 min
on the boat and 2.5 hours wandering around on shore trying to humour our
chinese speaking guide by taking photos of ALL the scenic spots - yes even
the crappy ones (later deleted). the second boat trip (bamboo raft photos)
was much more successful, complete with pete almost falling in, silly hats,
a bamboo watergun and 2 waterfalls. luckily i got to sit down the whole
time, so was happy.
finally - we are leaving yangshuo this evening on the one mode of transport
not yet tried and classified... sleeper bus (full of bunkbeds apparently).
We are off to Macau (the Portuguese Hong Kong) just in time for the Formula
3 Grand Prix and then from there Hong Kong (the real one this time) for the
horse races. Seeing as the promised luxury hotel was booked solid the
nights we wanted we have decided to redirect the funds yet again - this time
to gambling on both events.
until next time.
voting on paintings of bamboo. here's hoping that these features get more
interesting in the future! the voting is still on, so excercise your
democratic rights. auntie sharon - as a result of your pete-favouritism i
have had to invoke the 'grandma said she would vote for me over the phone
chad' and pete has become insufferable (or at least more so).
anyway, enough of that... amazingly after 5 days on the move we have stayed
put in yangshuo long enough to take a cooking class, a painting class, do 2
bike rides, 2 river cruises, make 3 chinese friends and fine tune our modes
of transportation vs journey time vs cost spreadsheet. Obviously the first
2 activities were entirely my idea and pete tagged along 'just to keep me
company' - at least that's what he says... the bikes were (also obviously
to those who know me - i prefer activities i can do sitting down) pete's
idea...
you may be wondering why we have the opportunity for the first time in china
to do so many activities (or maybe you're not - but go with me on this one
ok)? basically yangshuo is the closest thing to a western backpacker town
that china has got - filed with lots of things to do and surrounded by lots
of stunning scenery (karst mountains apparently - I had to look up what that
meant in google). in our guidebook it is billed as a 'welcome break from
china'; in the chinese guidebook translation we got our hands on it is
billed as 'the famous town where even the peasants speak english'...
apart from backpackers YS seems to attract chinese students of english who
basically cruise the streets at night looking for foreigners to target for
'conversations' - no, not prostitution - english homework.
by the end of our second night (while pete did the internet and I sat on my
own - an inanely grinning western lady, an obvious target) i had made 2 new
friends (Jessica and Johnson, 20). By the end of our 3rd night we had added
Lily (19) and a load of 14 year olds to our gang. By the end of the fourth
night we learned to eat on the balcony of restaurants rather than at street
level. Although frankly a wee bit annoying these encounters were for the
most part sweet. when we met her the next day, Jessica even admitted that
she had laid awake all night thinking how excited she was to talk with an
english person for over an hour.
our boat trips (the original activity that put YS on the tourist map) were
slightly less successful. The first one we attempted comprised about 30 min
on the boat and 2.5 hours wandering around on shore trying to humour our
chinese speaking guide by taking photos of ALL the scenic spots - yes even
the crappy ones (later deleted). the second boat trip (bamboo raft photos)
was much more successful, complete with pete almost falling in, silly hats,
a bamboo watergun and 2 waterfalls. luckily i got to sit down the whole
time, so was happy.
finally - we are leaving yangshuo this evening on the one mode of transport
not yet tried and classified... sleeper bus (full of bunkbeds apparently).
We are off to Macau (the Portuguese Hong Kong) just in time for the Formula
3 Grand Prix and then from there Hong Kong (the real one this time) for the
horse races. Seeing as the promised luxury hotel was booked solid the
nights we wanted we have decided to redirect the funds yet again - this time
to gambling on both events.
until next time.
Tuesday, November 16, 2004
roll up, roll up, voting required...
interaction comes to rough guides, jumpers and outer mongolia.
anyone that thinks backpackers are freeloaders and don't ever do anything constructive, will be heartened to hear that we spent yesterday morning learning how to paint a bamboo stick - complete with branches and leaves. judge for yourself who was the best pupil as we invite you to vote on which painting is best. just add your comment to the photo of whichever painting you think is best. anonymous voting allowed but no multiple voting please...
what fun.
anyone that thinks backpackers are freeloaders and don't ever do anything constructive, will be heartened to hear that we spent yesterday morning learning how to paint a bamboo stick - complete with branches and leaves. judge for yourself who was the best pupil as we invite you to vote on which painting is best. just add your comment to the photo of whichever painting you think is best. anonymous voting allowed but no multiple voting please...
what fun.
