Another cup of (Jasmine) tea, vicar?

That's mo-li-hua cha if you ever need to ask for it in Mandarin. We have a big bag of it which is quite a life saver when we're tired. Mmm, the tea. I'm loving it.

China is a bit mad but we're getting by OK. The people take a bit of getting used to, but a lot of it is the language barrier. If you smile you usually get a smile back. But some things about the culture are just a bit of an affront for us - the fact that they think blowing your nose is rude, so they prefer to noisily hack up their phlegm and spit it out on the floor pretty much wherever they are. And they smoke everywhere. Ugh. Sometimes when we're fed up we just blow our noses loudly for the shock value. And being in a crowd of people waiting for a train is a bit of an experience - where is the crowd control? Everyone just pushes, it was quite scary. No surprise that the Chinese are being taught how to queue (no joke) in the run up to the Olympics so people get a better impression of the country!

But for every shocking thing there's a good thing. Like the 12 year old girl who came to talk to us on the overnight train so that she could practise her English (which was very good). She was so sweet and has already emailed me twice. And the people who have offered us some of their food on journeys. And all the smiling gap-toothed women who saved us from getting lost on our cycle journey yesterday. And the woman who helped us get the right noodles today.

We've not come across many westerners to make friends with (quite a few that we have met have been of the "we only like to travel places where there are only Chinese people and I can learn how to tend a paddy field msyelf so I can set up a self-sufficient commune when I get home" persuasion, so you yearn to escape them once you've managed to get them to talk to you. But we have met a couple of nice people.

The last couple of days have been spent exploring a really pretty part of China called the Li River, centred around a town called Yangshuo. The area is full of limestone karsts, lush rivers and paddy fields. We spent yesterday cycling around little villages that seemed to have nothing (but then you peek through a door and they have a TV blaring). It was great to get out and escape the noisy Chinese tourists (who film EVERYTHING). Although at one point we thought we were very lost, but we managed to ask the way by pointing and repeating our destination over and over with a smile!

Today we're back in a big town where the weather is pants and preventing us from doing anything worthwhile so short-attention-span Faye is bored bored bored. So we went out for 30p noodles squatting on tiny stools with a gang of locals. The noodle soup was simple but the chilli was lip-smackingly heart warming. It's the little things that make trips like this.

We're now trying to work out how to get our smalls washed in time for moving on from here as the next couple of days may be in the middle of nowhere. Whiffy!

Ni Hao!

That's Mandarin for hello - although we're still in the south so we should still be speaking Cantonese, but here in Guangzhou we're getting confused as we've tried the little Cantonese we've learnt and we get Mandarin back. Ah well, it should all become easier.

I write this from Guangzhou - a large city in Southern China, 2 hours north from Hong Kong by train. Yes, we've made it. We arrived on Tuesday on the train and succesfully made it into the People's Republic quite smoothly. Our stay in Hong Kong was a good one - we ended up staying put in one place as we had to hand over our passports to the visa agency so we couldn't check into any other hostel without them. It was worth it though - we are now in possession of 6 month multi-entry China visas which will allow us to se China at leisure and hop into Japan and Mongolia along the way.

I really liked Hong Kong. It's such an international vibrant city and we were well looked after by our friends there. We were honoured with an invite to a family dinner with Steven and two families that they are friends with where we were treated to traditional Cantonese fare. Some dishes we managed better then others - the crispy roast chicken was lovely, the stewed goose feet defeated us - although I'm proud to say we did try them! Not a dish I'd choose, but it was great to get the chance to try them.

Being in Hong Kong for New Year was great. We went to a traditional Lunar Fair where people go to buy beautiful flowers for their houses (and also any manner of crap inflatable things ranging from pigs (it's the year of the pig) to traffic cones and dog poos. Who needs an inflatable dog poo?). It was just great to wander round with the massive crowds and soak up the atmosphere. We tried to see the parade, but visibility was difficult so we much preferred the following evening's fireworks spectacular - especially as it was followed by another dinner with Steven and his family which was absolutely gorgeous - roast goose and huge prawns. We were also given the traditional red envelopes of lucky money from Monica and their friend Albert - which we're carrying with us for luck. I was really sad to say goodbye, they really made our stay in Hong Kong as we saw a side of it that we would not have experienced on our own - and that first trip to a dim sum restaurant has set us up ever since - we've ordered pretty much the same thing every time as they were lush - pork and prawn dumplings with chilli sauce; spring rolls; BBQ pork dumplings. Mmmmmmmmm. I love dim sum! Whilst in Hong Kong we also met up with Martin, who I hadn't seen since he used to stay with us during the holidays whilst he was at boarding school in the UK. All in all we had a marvellous time and the hospitality of all our friends was much appreciated.
So now we're in China and pretty much on our own. I thought we'd easily make friends staying in a hostel, but our double hostel room was actually a pretty swish hotel room (a steal at around 12 quid between us) and as there were no common areas so we've not really seen anyone else to talk to. And we've not seen many people in the restaurants and stuff - maybe we're spending a little more than your average backpacker? We may be in a YHA tomorrow night so we may try a dorm just to stalk some new friends. The difference with backpacker trail in Oz and NZ is stark. We hardly see any Western faces. Funny, you spend all your time in Oz bemoaning the fact that it's just like UK but the other side of the world, then you get somewhere more exotic and you spend a lot of time trying to catch the eye of the one Westerner you see all day just so you have someone other than your beloved to converse with.
Anyway, we're OK. We head off on our first overnight train journey tonight. Hopefully we'll get to our destination (we bought the tickets at the station after I had transcribed our destination and seat class and date in Mandarin using the Rough Guide so hopefully I did it correctly!) Guangzhou has been good - we've eaten lots as usual and have just enjoyed wandering the warren of streets people-watching and looking at the mad things on sale. Maddest have definitely been the baskets of scorpions and toads. Apparently boiled scorpions in oil is a northern speciality. I've tried goose feet so I'm sure you won't begrudge me declining an offer of a boiled scorpion?!
Photos may be few and far between on my blog now (although if you check out Pete's Asia blog - link on the right - he has some photos of Hong Kong uploaded, including the infamous goose feet). It's hard enough finding somewhere to go on the internet, never mind finding a place that we can upload pictures in!
Bye bye for now, wish me luck!

Farewell to the Southern Cross...

And all the other friends we made Down Under.

Photos to follow.
I write this entry from an internet cafe in Hong Kong after a crazy week or so. The goodbyes that started on my final day at work continued through the next week or so... bye bye to Abs who helped me so much whilst I was there, bye bye to Jane who I was chuffed to get back in touch with, an extended bye-bye to Hayley and Meg via Longrain, the open air cinema and a crazy drunken Irish pub and then finally bye-bye to our chums Matt and Elena at the infamous Hurricane's in Bondi.
During all that we also managed to fit in a trip to Ayers Rock/Olgas/Kings Canyon which was fab - hello to the gang from there! Uluru itself was not as mind-blowing as I thought - it was so hot (43 degrees) when we were walking round it and we had to wear fly nets as the little blighters were driving us mad. But it was well worth the trip. We camped for 2 nights in swags, which are like a cross between a sleeping bag, a mattress and a tent. You sleep out in the open in real comfort under the stars - once I woke up in the middle of the night one night with the Southern Cross twinkling down at me. The first night we drank champers whilst watching sunset over Uluru (but it was cloudy so it didn't turn red for us). Next morning we were up at 4am to reach the viewing area for sunrise before skipping off to the Olgas for a brisk 7.5km walk in the baking heat. It was lovely but I was soooooo glad to reach the loos after the amount we'd been drinking (it's a sacred site so they ask you not to pee but it was a 3 hour walk and you were advised to drink 1L of water per hour to combat dehydration!) Camp that evening was fab - really remote with a loo with no door so you could look at the stars. Pete volunteered to eat a witchety grub that our guide had dug up earlier - I would have but there wasn't enough to go round (that's my story and I'm sticking to it). Apparently it tasted like nutty scrambled eggs. Another 4am start enabled us to hike in Kings Canyon when it was still cool enought to do it. We finished up in Alice Springs where we were going to grab an early night but that idea was thwarted as we were having too much fun in the pub with the guys we'd met on the trip.
Needless to say we were exhausted when we got back to Sydney but still ended up going out as we couldn't leave without saying goodbye to our Sydney chums.

Friends have been a theme for me during my travels Down Under, both making new ones (Matt and El - Sydney just would not have been the same without you, and Rich, Rach and Jon - Team Ernie made the West Coast just so fab it hurts) and being shown by my old ones how much they care (how many presents and cards did I get for my 30th? And the funding from friends back home for meals and trips was so lovely). But getting to talk to some friends who I'd lost touch with was definitely a highlight of my year as it upsets me when someone you've loved so much is no longer a part of your life. I never knew why Jane and I had lost touch but who cares? Meeting up in Sydney was like we never had and I was chuffed with that as she's so much a gem and so much fun. I still think you should not live so far away Jane, as I won't get to make the most of us being mates again! As for Hayley, even when we didn't speak I knew that you were one of the best friends I ever had and getting to spend time with you and Meg and really getting back to how we used to be was worth the trip in itself.

So, enough of the mushy stuff. Apart from the friends theme, what were my highlights for the trip so far? Fiordland in NZ - the walks blew me away. Buying Tinks and driving out of Sydney with Gnarls Barkley playing. Seeing platypus in the wild. Were-cow laughter with Jane in Tinks. Moreton Bay bugs and chips at Swordfish in Cairns. The deckchair cinemas in Darwin and Broome. My 30th birthday with a great group of friends in the outback. The turtle on the snorkle drift at Ningaloo (and all of the rest of Ningaloo). The road trip with Team Ernie. Pizza at Caffe Carlotta in Broome. Christmas Eve at the Stokehouse with Pete's mam and Stewart. Fab Chinese at Billy Kwong. Numerous nights in Trinity with Matt and El plus the brunches in Surry Hills the morning after. Getting the Manly Ferry. Swimming in the Olympic Pool under the Harbour Bridge. Looking up at the stars in the southern night sky from any number of places whilst on the road. And Tinks, Tinks, Tinks.

It's been a good 10 months.

Now we've stepped it up a gear and have started our Asian adventure. Suitably hungover and after hair-drying our clothes that weren't dry from the laundry the night before we flew out of Sydney to Hong Kong. During our 3-hour stop-over in Bangkok we managed to fit in a foot massage for me and a Chang beer for Pete. Then we arrived in Hong Kong late Saturday night tired and looking forward to bed. We arrived at the hostel we had reserved around 1am only to be told in broken English that there was no room and we were to return to the deserted street to await the arrival of a woman from another hostel. The room was OK in the new hostel but when we tried to book it for 3 nights we were told that we would be required to vacate it between 10am and 6pm as it was rented out by the hour during the day. Urgh! It took me quite a while to twig as to why a room would be rented out during the day and not during the night. Needless to say we only stayed one night out of necessity. We went to bed exhausted and stressed and I woke up tired and a little jaded - Hong Kong was supposed to be the soft-entry into China! After a shower, a move to the original hostel and a phonecall from Steven, a family friend who is Chinese and lives here I felt much better. Steven, his wife Moni and their friend Mary picked us up late morning and whisked us off to the New Territories where we were welcomed into Albert's house and spoilt. I tried my hardest to learn how to play mah-jong. Albert treated us to traditional Cantonese dim-sum at a restaurant and then took us to a temple where we span the wheel of fortune for good luck. Then I tried again to learn mah-jong whilst Pete got an ankle massage from the grandma of Albert's family (as he's sprained his ankle and is limping - we're off to Steven's hospital this afternoon to get it checked). By the time we got home we were exhausted again but chuffed that we'd already seen more of real Hong Kong in a day with Steven and Moni than we could ever have done on our own in a week.
Our plans? Well, we were going to head off somewhere in Hong Kong this week and then return for the Chinese New Year festivities at the weekend but as we've just handed over our passport to a visa agency we're going to have to stay put as we won't be able to check into any other hotel without it. So we're going to do some day tours (up the peak, Lantau island etc), spend more time with Steven and the family and enjoy the parades and flower markets next weekend for the New Year. Then we head off into China in search of adventure.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarg! It's going to be mad. But bloody brilliant!