Asiatic Traverses

Emma and Tom's 10 month travel blog - India, New Zealand, SE Asia and other places on the way. var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-27653954-1']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })(); var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-27653954-1']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })();

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Return to Turtle Island

We decided that after China we would not have time to fit in Laos and do it justice so we decided to catch a cheap domestic flight back to Thailand.  Of course, I would be lying if I was to say that this decision had nothing to do with our new found love of diving, and after a quick stop in Bangkok it was back to Koh Tao to do a (very reasonably priced) week’s fun diving with Master Divers, the excellent dive school we did our certification with.

It was very interesting returning to Koh Tao, otherwise known as Turtle Island, in the middle of May. Compared to our previous visit, the Island seemed a lot quieter with empty restaurants, closed shops and cut price accommodation.   The weather was also very different with the sunshine interspersed with rain, thunder and cloudy skies.  On the catamaran on the way over to the island we were both almost sick the waves were so high.  We could well and truly feel the arrival of low season here. 

However we were not in Koh Tao for the atmosphere and beaches, we were there to dive!  We dived twice a day for a week, in some areas we had dived at before on our courses and some which were new to us, with our favourites being Laem Thian, Hin Wong Pinnacle and White Rock.  The quality of the diving remained high and we saw all the usual marine animals and some new ones including a sea snake and sweet lips.  What really made our time worthwhile here was that we got to see a turtle, which, despite the name of the island, is apparently an uncommon experience.  We also went on an amazing night dive where we saw three octopuses, a barracuda eating a fish and another turtle(!) having a nap. Of course this trip didn’t sate our diving appetite and we left Koh Tao wanting more...  

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Farewell to Yuangshuo, and the homeward journey

After wondering what we'd do with all our time in Yuangshuo we were soon making preparations to head back to Thailand. We had a cheap Air Asia flight booked from Shenzen to Bangkok, having decided to skip a fleeting visit to Laos in favour of more diving in Ko Tao.

Fortunately we managed to get a bus direct from Yuangshuo, and even more lucky was the fact that we shared the journey with a Chinese man who was catching the same flight as us. Needless to say this proved most helpful when we arrived in Shenzen with no idea where the airport was; he helped direct us to a local bus and we arrived in plenty of time and shared a final Chinese meal with him before our flight. 

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The only way to travel in China? Our bus from Yuangshuo to Shenzen was a comfortable trip.

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Easy Rider? I think not...

As with the food, it would be difficult to leave out a mention of traffic and driving in China. Having travelled around India, Nepal and various other locations in SE Asia I would have expected little to surprise me as we arrived in China. The roads seemed well maintained and our journey across the border from Vietnam had been largely uneventful. However the 3 weeks in Yuangshuo where we escaped the comforts of large buses and hit the roads ourselves on bikes and motos would change my mind swiftly!

The most striking observation was the 'rules' on pulling out into oncoming traffic. Whereas you expect people to look before pulling out , in China this was largely disregarded, with most people pulling out without the least sideways glance! Within a few days we'd already seen one bike crash, caused by someone riding the wrong way down the road - which was ludicrous seeing as it was an almost empty hill road! Most people seemed to drive really slowly (we frequently overtook motorbikes on our push bikes), presumably for fear of an accident. It was relatively common for a single car to pull up and block everyone's way, just so he could stop and talk to someone he passed by.

After a few weeks where we traveled by road each day I soon found myself cursing under my breath on most journeys, always keeping a watchful eye out - a far cry from the cruising style of New Zealand!

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Gan Master Flash and his furious wok - some of the best Chinese food we had in Yuangshuo.

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Asian Cuisine...part 2

So did we eat any of this 'exotic' food? We did attempt to go to an expensive restaurant, but were so baffled by the pictures on the menu - and slightly put off by the turtel dish - that we left. Neither Tom or myself are hugely fussy, but even I couldn't stomach a noodle soup dish we ordered which looked liked it had pig rectum floating about in it,. Similarly Tom could only manage a few mouthfuls of the chicken foot he accepted (to be polite) off a kind stranger at Shenzen airport.  However this is not to sidestep the fact that in over 3 weeks we of course ate  plenty of really palatable Chinese food, which didn't have random animal parts in (that we know of anyway) and steamed dumplings became a daily staple. In some ways you have to admire the Chinese for not letting any part of the animal go to waste (a throwback to the early communist drive to be fully self sufficient). After witnessing first hand the over-fishing in Cambodia and then the moral questions about meat presented in China, Tom and I made a pact to try and eat only the most ethical and sustainable meat and fish on our return. We want to see meat as a treat, rather than something taken for granted.

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Despite some of the stranger items to be found, Yuangshuo still served up some good food - although with so many restaurants its important to pick carefully

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Chinese Cuisine

We couldn't really visit China and not write anything about the food....We had been warned by various people that the cuisine in China was an interesting palate of flavours. We could only reference our experience of Chinese takeaways back in the UK, which we'd always enjoyed so we wondered what the warnings were about.  

Our first 3 meals in China, mainly due to convenience, were a KFC at Nanning bus station, a McDonalds breakfast (which Damien delivered to us) and a Submarine (Subway rip-off) for lunch. We're not sure what it says about the western world when the only culinary exports seem to be based around fastfood! The first hint that there was something different about Chinese food was a visit to the supermarket on our first day in Yangshuo. Amongst the vegetables and varieties of tea, were vac-packed quails eggs, intestines and chickens feet and many other random bits of animals. The most bizzare thing on sale was definitely a bumper pack of ants, which must be considered a delicacy as they cost over £10 a bag! Food that you normally take for granted, such as breakfast cereals and whole wheat bread was nowhere to be found. The supermarket was a good introduction to Chinese food, but the market was even more of an eye opener. There was a whole section showcasing Chinese fruits and nuts, including many familiar faces such as dragon fruit and lychee as well as other fruit we had never seen before such as tiny oranges with the texture of a peach - yum. There was a section selling cooked meat, with every part of the animal available; later that night we saw several barbecued pig's penis' on offer.  Finally there was the section selling live animals: the usual poultry was on offer such as chicken, quail, and pheasant (although later in the trip we would encounter grilled peacock). However there were also other live animals found caged, such as rabbits, cats and dogs - and these weren't mangy looking things waiting to be put out of their misery, they were fluffy cute looking creatures which would not have looked out of place in many a living room back home. The sound of a dog being killed is something that haunted us as we beat a hasty retreat out of the market enclosure...

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Beautiful Yuangshuo, an idyllic paradise in China!

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More scenes from the outskirts of Yuangshuo, China

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Moon Hill and sunset just outside of Yuangshuo, China

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Yuangshuo

Although climbing dominated many of our days in Yuangshuo, we still had plenty of free time to explore the area, with my old school friend Damien acting as our tour guide and principle means of transport. Although Em and I squeezing onto the back of Damien's bike made for cosy journeys, we generally didn't have too far to travel, and as the days passed we took in scenic lookouts, hidden 'beaches' surrounded by limestone cliffs, and even a remote plateau in the nearby mountains which looked untouched and undisturbed by locals or other tourists. 

Although Yuangshuo can be an overload of human traffic at times, you only have to travel a few km out of town to find somewhere nice and relaxed, which I'm told is rare in the rapidly urbanising and construction-dominated modern China. A lot of the surrounding limestone hills have yet to be fully mapped and we undertook a few cave explorations which were great fun, although a little cramped at certain points. 

In the town itself there are the usual tourist shops closely huddled together down West Street, where we picked up various souvenirs to bring back home. There are also a variety of eateries, including one of our favourite spots 'Kellys'' where they do a mean snickers shake for dessert! Yuangshuo, despite its high tourist populations is a relaxed place and it was easy to see how Damien had decided to make his home here.

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Chinese Pagodas in Guilin.

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Photos from Guilin, China

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Climbing part 2

We climbed with Sky and his colleagues a total of 7 times over our 3 weeks and during that time we learnt all about anchors, bolts and belaying. We even had to practice falling - my screams reverberated around the peaks and it took Tom about 10 minutes to build up the nerve to let go of the rock! My greatest achievement was leading a 25-30m high route. This was considerably higher than anything I had led at my local climbing wall, and included a crux move right at the top that I really had to commit to. We also enjoyed climbing sone more difficult climbs on top-rope. Most of the climbs were very high, which as well as being psychologically more difficult, are a lot more energy sapping as you have further to climb. The course did wonders for our confidence and we now feel ready to take on leading at the climbing wall once when we return!

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Em scaling the heights in Yuangshuo

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Scaling a 6B in Yuangshuo