Sunday, 20 May 2007

Cooking, Cycling and Farewells!

Hi everyone, we don't have too much to update you on today and it might be pretty brief as it's so expensive to access the internet in Hong Kong (slightly regretting deciding to stay for a whole extra 3 days, as it's wrecking our budget)!

THURSDAY 17th May

We started off the day with a refreshing bicycle ride - we had some rather ancient mountain bikes, but luckily they weren't uncomfortable ones, so we set off on our merry way to see the limestone karst, countryside scenery around Yangshou. We did quite a lot of off-roading which was very bumpy work when you don't have the best gears or suspension systems in the world! But we got along well and made quite a few stops to take photos of the scenery and men ploughing the rice paddies with their ox etc. We went to a rice-wine distillery on our cycle - we think it was actually someones home as well and it seemed to be a bit of a bath-tub operation in a way, but Lucy, our local guide, explained how the rice was fermented before being cooked and distilled. At the end of the explanation, we were allowed to try some of the rice-wine, although Steve tried some, I gave it a miss, as it doesn't really agree with me! We stopped off at the Moon Hill Cafe, a few people decided to go and climb the hill to get some photos (including Steve of course, but I was too lazy to go), most of us waited for them at the Cafe and treated ourselves to some nice cold drinks instead! Moon Hill is an arch perched on top of a hill - so it looks like the moon rising over the hill, it's pretty cool and the view of the mountainous scenery was spectacular from the top. Once people were back from their walk, we all cycled to a nearby farmers house to have some lunch. We were allowed to have a look around the farmers house, it was very basic and simple and certainly makes you appreciate all of the luxuries we have at home! It was soon time to make our way back to the hotel and so we all set off down the road back into Yangshou town.
In the afternoon we had optional activities to take part in and Steve and I each had a class to go to - Steve did water colour painting. He only actually used black ink and learnt how to paint bamboo, he says he was really awful at it, but I thought it looked really good (we have the proof to show you when we get home)! I did a calligraphy class and learnt how to hold the brush, write Chinese numbers from 1 to 10, learnt how to write 'person', 'wood', 'tree' and 'forest', as well as my name in Chinese characters. Katherine in Chinese means beauty and success, whilst Stephen means King and wisdom! After our classes we made a couple of purchases - Steve got a 'chop' (a type of Chinese stamp, or seal), with his name carved into it in Chinese characters and I got a silk-lined, rice-paper scroll with my name written on it in Chinese characters!

FRIDAY 18th May

This morning we started off by going to a cooking class with a few other people from the tour. We got picked up in the morning at our hotel and started off at the fresh produce market, where we were introduced to lots of traditional Chinese ingredients, as well as fresh meats (including food dog) and tonnes of other food products! We then got taken to our class just outside of Yangshou. We made 4 dishes - an 'eggplant' (or aubergine) dish with garlic, ginger and chili paste etc, Beer Fish, Chicken and Cashew nut, and steamed vegetables stuffed with pork meat. It was all pretty good and it was great to learn how to use a wok properly (as well as clean it) - we've been doing it so wrong! But poor old Steve was very ill whilst we were there and so didn't sample very much of his own cooking!
After cooking we had a free afternoon to ourselves before having to get ready for the overnight train. Steve and I didn't do too much, as he wasn't feeling well, but we did manage to go out for dinner with everyone in the early evening and Steve even ate dinner! At 19.00 we were packing our bags onto the bus to take us to the train station in Guilin. The train was really nice and very similar to the ones we went on before, but we experienced the hard sleeper carriage this time around and so had 6 people in a carriage, which was open to the corridor. We managed to sleep well though and so now feel complete having experienced all of the sleeper styles on offer to us on overnight trains in China!

SATURDAY 19th May

We arrived at Shenzen this morning and had the task of crossing into the administrative region that is Hong Kong. We got a couple more stamps in our passports and we were then piling onto the KCR (Kowloon-Canton Railway), which took us into Kowloon. We made it to the hotel, which was pretty posh and dumped our bags and headed straight for the shower to freshen up! Unfortunately, since arriving it was chucking it down, but we decided to go for a wander anyway! We ended up looking in camera shops for a lens for Steve, but they're all lots more expensive than in Bangkok (despite being second hand), so we'll probably get one when we go back to Thailand. After getting thoroughly soaked through, we decided to head back to the hotel to get dried off before dinner - thank goodness they provided hair-driers in the hotel rooms! After dinner we ended up having a bit of a party, as Chris's birthday is on the 20th, so we all stayed up until midnight, having a few drinks and a giggle together, it was great fun, although tiring!

SUNDAY 20th May

We had to get packed up and checked out of the hotel today. We made our farewells to everyone on the tour, as it's the end of the tour today. It's sad having to say goodbye to everyone, as we've made some great friends, but things have to come to an end. It's just going to feel like such hard work trying to get things sorted for ourselves again! After saying goodbye and getting checked out, we headed over to our next accommodation, a couple of the guys from the tour came with us, as they wanted to see if our hostel had any accommodation for them too, so we all got a taxi together. The hostel is OK, but it's pretty dreary and I can't wait to not have to stay there anymore - it will certainly give us the impetus to get out and do lots, as we don't want to spend too much time in the room (it's certainly the worst place we've stayed so far, 3 nights feels like 3 nights too long to be staying there)! I'm sure we'll survive though! We went out once we'd got our bags into our rooms and went to find some breakfast. We then wandered around, as just like yesterday it was still pouring with rain! We went to a bookshop and Steve bought the Hobbit and then we had some lunch before going to see the new Spider-man movie to kill some time whilst it was still raining.

That's about all that we've done since we last blogged. Hopefully the weather will clear up for at least one of the days that we're here, if not there are a few museums etc we can go to. We're not sure what we'll do for the rest of the afternoon/evening, although we do want to see the light show later on, but it doesn't start until 20.00. Anyway, that's about all for now, hope everyone is doing well, hope you had a good birthday Andie, and hope you're enjoying your resting mum (Pauline) - keep everything stable for the next appointment! Missing you all!

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Hello again!
Must be a bit odd saying goodbye to everyone - maybe thats why Hong Kong is a bit of a disappointment? Spend your money wisely there if its expensive - it doesn't cost anything to walk and look. Isn't it supposed to be good from the top of the hills - if it isn't raining? Shame about not feeling well Steve - you'll have to cook it at home and we can all try!
Dad had a really good go at the decking at the weekend. The frame is complete and he has put down nearly half of the planks. Looks good - all I need now is a sun lounger oh and some sun! We think we are going to keep it light and paint it in a natural stain. By the way, don't think the garden will be done when you come back - it will barely have been started!
I'll send you a text after I have been to the hospital. Bruises are very colourful but at least they are not as painful. Sleeping in bed and not the chair is better although I only sleep for about 1-2 hous at a stretch. Luckily I can doze in the day to catch up.
Enjoy HK as much as you can - let as know about the parcel.
Loads of love and hugs Mum XX

Unknown said...

Thanks for the birthday messages (both text and in the blog), did you get my text okay?

Still enjoying reading your extensive [I'm not going to let it go ;-)] blogs. You're good at giving a real sense of what you're seeing and experiencing, keep it up!

Love,

Andy.