Into the mountains of Lijiang 2014 (moved from old blog)

Crossing the mountains of Lijiang, (part one)

Back story: The school I work for is involved in a charity organisation that supports several rural mountain schools in northern Yunnan. Our school has been helping them out for about 4 years and this year foreign staff were invited on a trip to met the kids, visit the school and deliver some school supplies and sporting equipment that the school was donating. No-one else in our school was interested so Nat and I jumped at the chance to get another trip and see somewhere we would never have been able to get to otherwise. 


We met at the train station on the Sunday night, already a little shattered after a weekend at work but ready for our 8 hour journey to LiJiang. From the western staff it was just Nat and I from DianChi (our school) and Stefan and Harriet from TaoYuan (the older school) plus about 6 Chinese staff and the big boss Kevin so we made a fair size group. 

I've been to LiJiang before but not in a long time so I couldn't remember much of the place. It turned out we were staying in ShuHu which is about 20 minutes away and coincidentally where we went for my first Christmas away. We were staying in a little hostel somewhere though a  maze of alleyways and fences. The place was really nice and had some comfortable and cosy bed, so we were happy. 


Kevin played tour guide for most of the day and we had a jam packed day. Our first stop was another village called BaiShan (I think) in which we went to meet a local Doctor who has become something of a celebrity. This guy has met hundreds of very important people including Michael Palin, members of European royal families and more. He is a 94 years old and has fantastic self taught English. He made us all take pictures of his advice for a long and healthy life, picture here. Basically don't drink/smoke/stay up late/eat meat or sugar and drink lots of herbal tea, we might have to make a few adjustments to our lives?!

Then we shipped off to meet the woman who live somewhere just outside of Lijiang who organises all of the charity donations and fund raising for most of Yunnan. From her we picked up all of the stuff were taking to the kids the following day. 
Our final stop was old town LiJiang where we were set free to wander about and explore. Kevin had taken us for a huge meal so Nat and I were walkign very slowly and slightly uncomfortably, also by this time we were completely shattered and as it was nearly the evening we didn't spend much time there. Nat and I got very lost and had to stop in a tourist information and look at at map, we were only about a 40 minute walk from where we wanted to be. The lesson here, Nat's directional instincts are not as great as first though, always consult a map! We were basically in the old town long enough to wander about and buy some yac steak pieces.

We headed back to the hostel and decided on an early night as we had to leave at about 4am the following morning. 

AnShun October 2014 (moved from old blog)

 Caves in AnShun Day 2

After getting back to AnShun town and having a speedy shower we went to investigate the food market street we had been told about. It was about half a mile of market stalls selling some of the best food i have had in Southern China. Everything was really cheap so we just bought loads of stuff to try and if it as no good we went and got something else. We found a place that sold ribs and they were amazing. So good in fact that we went back the next day and got some more.

We had an early night and a chilled Tuesday morning before heading out to the Dragon Pool Caves. We used public buses so it took hours but was amazingly cheap. Somehow I ended sitting in the front seat of the mini bus so I had an unobstructed view of the terrifying road with drop we were hurtling down. If we ignore the break neck speed we were travelling at, it was actually beautiful and impressive scenery. 

The Cave itself is in a smaller scenic area with a waterfall and another trail to follow. There were no signs in English or Chinese so we got lost constantly and found no-one but grumpy and unhelpful staff. The trail to the cave took about an hour on which there were several other little scenic attractions as they were called. One area was called "fun with stones" which was most certainly a lie. there were stones but there was nothing fun at all about them. 

We jumped into a little boat to go into the cave and were sped into the middle and back out again all in about 5 minutes. The cave was fairly impressive but not as good as the Internet or the tourist board had made us believe. We headed back to AnShun feeling a little cheated and deflated. 

 Karen had heard of a temple in town that she wanted to see and as we had plenty of time to kill we went in search of it. Many misdirections and wrong buses later we found it and discovered that it was at the end of the food market we had dinner at the previous night. On the bright side that was dinner for the Tuesday sorted. The temple was small and deserted so we sat and watched the sun set and then went and gorged on ribs for the second night running. Our train was supposed to leave at about half nine but was delayed a few hours. By the time it turned up we were both freezing and shattered and very eager to get to bed. Unfortunately the train had started in Shanghai 30 hours previously so it was in a disgusting state. No bathrooms were working, there was rubbish and half eaten food everywhere not to mention smoking people in the beds. Thankfully we were only on the train for 8 hours so it could have been a lot worse. 
It was a speedy trip but definitely worth seeing. 

AnShun: October 2014 (moved from old blog)

Waterfalls in AnShun. Day 1

I am hugely behind on my travel updates, I went to AnShun back in October but have been alarmingly busy but that's for later.


AnShun is about 8 hours away from Kunming by train so a weekend was plenty. It was just me and Karen who planned ever minute of our trip. For once all I had to do was turn up and do as I was told. 
It was the usual weekend away routine, Sunday over night train and back again on the Wednesday morning. 
We arrived into AnShun early on the Monday morning and jumped into a mini van with a bunch of strangers who were also going to the waterfall scenic area. It was only about an hours drive but it was an hour spent talking to people who just had the stupidest foreigner related questions. "Do all foreigners eat lots of pizza?" "Is there Chinese food in England?" and so on.....


HuangGuoShu wa is actually split into three areas which are about 25Kilometers apart. Our driver had a special licence so he could drive between the areas inside of the park. everyone else jumped on the public buses that run all the time. The first one was a small-ish waterfall and a short walk along a  river. 

The second area was similar looking to the Stone Forest and had a fairly large cave also along the river. The cave was full of stalagmite and tites which had all been lit up bright colours so it had a Disney feel to it. Regardless it was impressive and Karen and I spent ages playing with cameras and phones trying to get one to work in the dark. 

Second area waterfall

The final area was HuangGuoShu waterfall itself. reports varied but the best we could work out it's the tallest waterfall in China and the widest in Asia. Again we still aren't completely sure on the exact record as even in the park the signs didn't all agree. 
There was a purpose built trail that followed one side of the river, went behind the waterfall and then down the other side of the river and finally crossing the river back to the beginning. We climbed hundreds of steps up to the top of the trail (stopping occasionally for a rest and photographs). The whole trail took just under an hour and we were shattered at the end, annoyingly we then had to walk back up to the car park which was a further couple of hundred steps. A very good work out for the legs but which nearly killed Karen.
We stayed in this nasty little hotel by the train station and the phrase "you get what you pay for" definitely applied. We payed £4 each for the night so I am sure the state of the room can be imagined. 

Vietnam: Tam Coc National Day 2014 (moved from old blog)

 Boating in Tam Coc

Another of the day trips I managed to go on was to a scenic area called Tam Coc. It's about a three hour drive from Hanoi and could not be more different. I get the impression that the area doesn't see a load of international tourists as no-one and nothing was in English, generally the signs are in English even is the people don't speak it. However they clearly get lots of people going there as there were hundreds of the little boats that we hired and miles of parked bicycles for hire. 

As I was on an organised tour I was expecting a certain amount of shopping stops and people trying to sell us stuff, however it was clear that the guide had deals with particular shops as he would march us past many that were identical to get to one he approved of. 

We first stopped at the ancient Capital of Vietnam which was a time filler as otherwise the day would have been a little empty, there was nothing there just a car park which apparently was the spot the old palace was on. A little disappointing and very little time was spent here.

Next we went for lunch and then to the boats. The boats were rowed by locals who were keen to make some extra money in tips. They fussed about us in the sun, if our seats were comfy enough and panicked if they thought we were thirsty. 
The trip took about an hour and a half in which we travelled down a little river, thought some caves then turned back. The area is famous for its Karsk mountain formations which seem to be all over the place in Vietnam and South West China. The stone forest is very similar and (for avid readers of Claire vs China) the GuiZhou scenic areas in visited a few months back.

After the boat trip we were given bikes, pointed in a vague direction down a dirt road and told to be back in 40 minutes. Our guide was very little above useless, he didn't want to know and later confessed to it being his last day. However without supervision we managed to cycle through some much nicer 'off-the-beaten-track' walkways around some rice field. We were very lucky to be going past them as the sun was setting making it really rather pretty. Myself and a few others from the tour were lucky enough to get half decent bikes so the uphill part of the journey was easy, some others were not so lucky and ended up pushing their one speed death traps back to the meeting point. 

All in all the place was beautiful but the tour was terrible, if I can help it I don't use organised day tours but this place would have been impossible to get to without speaking the language. Never mind it can't be helped. 

Vietnam: Mai Chau: National Day 2014 (moved from old blog)

 Motorbiking round Mai Chau

I left Sapa and made my way back to Lao Cai to get the overnight train to Hanoi. Somehow I managed to pay for a hard sleeper bunk (cheapest) but got given a ticket for a soft sleeper which was a nice little bonus. The train takes about 10 hours and gets into Hanoi at 6 in the morning. I was lucky and bumped into some fellow Kunming holiday goers who knew the way from the train station to the old quarter so I didn't have to fight with taxi drivers telling me my hostel didn't exist (the current scam sweeping Asia).

Regular readers (always wanted to say that) will know that I have already been to Hanoi so I should still vaguely remember where the hostel was and managed to get there with only one slight mess up in directions. Hanoi Backpackers, cheap and chaotic, has become known for its tours and so most people seem to be staying there just for those. consequently the people in my room changed every night and no-one seemed to stick around for more than a day or two. I however was there for 5 days as I was based in Hanoi and just did one night or day trips out of the city. 

My first trip was to Mai Chau valley where I stayed in a "home stay" which turned out to be a dormitory style room on top of a local families house. they cooked for us and took us out on tours, and we all chipped in with the chores so all in all it worked pretty well. The first day was a bicycle tour around the farms and local villages in the area. Again it was a painfully hot day and I was constantly adding suncream desperate not to burn more than I had managed on the bike in Sapa. the family and the hostel have a stock of mix matched bikes that they lent us for the tour, mine was a bright pink think that had no breaks, instead you had to pedal backwards to slow down. we cycled for about 2 hours in a huge circle and by the end of it I still wasn't used to the breaks. 

The evening was spent having terrifying motor bike lessons (in Vietnamese) and eating the evening meal. Our lessons were basically a introduction to the bike and a drive down a straight bit of road and back again. As this was my first time on a motorbike driving for myself I was a little nervous and all over the place. I went to bed repeating what to do in my head not feeling very confident at all. 
There was literally nothing for about half a mile so we were attacked by every bug and ended up in the mosquito nets upstairs still drinking and talking in the dark. 

The second day consisted of a 40km motorbike ride to a lake and a well needed refreshing swim. we had to take the ride pretty slowly as we were all still getting used to the bikes and changing gears. I had taken to practising going up and down gears on the flat main roads, until I got told off of course. We went past a waterfall and stopped for a break and some pictures before carrying on to the lake. 
We all piled into a very small fishing boat that had been hired for the hot and tired foreigners to take a swim and did just that. The water was beautifully warm if an odd colour and we spent nearly half an hour just clinging to the side of the boat and chilling out. 

Sadly this was the end of our mini adventure in Mai Chau as we had to get back to the room, grab our stuff and pile back into a bus heading for Hanoi. The bus journey back was not at all relaxing as the driver seemed to be in a very bad mood and a hurry. We zipped around the side of mountains and flew down teh main highways all the tiem with huim shouting out of the window at the poor people he had just forsed off the road. Needless to say we were all very glad to get back and out of his bus!

Vietnam: Sapa National Day 2014 (moved from old blog)

 October Holidays; SAPA!

October rolled round again which is only important for one reason. National Day Holiday! A whole week of; no kids, no lesson planning, no alarms, no classes and no grown up behaviour of any kind. A week to look forward to!!!!

This year things were a little more last minute than I normally like, my passport was again in the VISA office and there were no guarantees that I would get it back before the holiday started so I couldn't book anything just in case. My plan was to go and visit Tom and Karina in Cambodia but by the time I did get my passport back prices for flights were stupidly high (I could almost get home for the same price) so plan B it was. Back to Vietnam but this time by bus.
From Kunming it only take 7 hours to get to HeKou (which is the China side town on the border) and from there you just walk across a bridge into Vietnam. Passport checks took forever on both sides so the whole process took close to an hour. 

Once in Lao Cai (Vietnam side of the border) I headed for Sapa. After a lot of walking about aimlessly I spotted a bus with Sapa written on the back. Fairly certain that was the bus I wanted I ran for it but missed it by only a few seconds. A little post van pulled up and said he was going to the same place and he could give me a ride. 10,000 dong later (about £1.50) and an hours terrifying roller coaster ride of a journey I was in Sapa. 
Sapa has become a popular place for tourists who want to experience rural Vietnam and see some very impressive rice paddy scenery. Most hotels offer guided treks and motor bike tours for rock bottom prices, huge competition has kept the prices low. Sadly the town itself is just one huge tourist trap; every restaurant sells western food and street sellers swarm all over the roads trying to get you to buy little "handmade" bags and wallets. I got out of the town as fast as I could and went down into the valley to recommended Cat Cat village. Its only a 3km walk but the roads and steep and hard going, half way down I stopped for breakfast and a photo break. 

The village itself is (as I soon found out) a purpose built "rural experience" at the beginning of a trail through the bottom of the valley. Its 40,000 dong entry (about £1.20) and takes close to two hours at a slow and chilled pace. The trail starts by going though a little shopping area and then calms down to a steep path heading for a river and waterfall area. I blasted past the shops not really interested in filling my bag so early in my trip and went straight to the waterfall. I have a real soft spot for rivers, lakes waterfalls anything with water really and so sat there perfectly content, with a beer naturally, for close to half an hour. I had been told the remainder of the trail was a little uneventful so I didn't really see much need to rush. 

Having finished my drink I carried on. The rest of the trail followed a small river and was a little uneventful. The bridges were impressive, especially given how old they were but other than that not loads to do or see so I made my way back up the now horribly steep valley side back to Sapa. The walk nearly killed my in the heat and I managed (despite wearing factor 50) to burn my shoulders. Nearly on my hands and knees I crawled back to the main square of Sapa, I must have looked as knackered as i felt because motorbike drivers from all over the square ran to offer me a lift. Annoyingly at the bottom of the hill these smug looking gits were nowhere to be seen! 
I hired one to drive me out to the silver waterfall I had been told about that was close to 12km away and off we set.