Ups and downs of Halong Bay

Halong Bay is a UNESCO World heritage Site. The bay features thousands of limestone karsts and isles in various sizes and shapes. Local legend has it that long ago, when the Vietnamese were fighting Chinese invaders, the gods sent a family of dragons to help defend the land. This family of dragons began spitting out jewels and jade. These jewels turned into the islands and islets dotting the bay, linking together to form a great wall against the invaders.

Halong bay boat tours are undoubtedly one of the most popular activities in North Vietnam. Most of the tours range between one night or two night tours staying on an old wooden junk or one night on the junk and one night on Cat Ba island which is located in the bay.

We signed up for the latter option at the Whole Earth Cafe in Hanoi and paid about 45 USD which included an AC cabin, all food and activities (kayaking, trekking on Cat Ba island and swimming amidst the massive karsts.) This was one of the biggest activities that we had planned for Vietnam and were so torn of whether or not to go with the more expensive boat tour led out of Kangaroo Cafe.

We figured that, at the very least, we would be surrounded by other backpackers and people our own age if we took the cheaper tour. We were dead wrong about choosing the cheap tour. We boarded the boat which looked nothing like the picture and had lunch which was surprisingly OK.

our first whole fried fish

We thought “This will be just fine.” Nope. The people on board were brilliant and interesting, but the staff were horrific. Our tour leader constantly made a face that could best be described as “someone scared while taking a shit.” He never had any answers to our questions and just made his special face and walked away. His name was Hiep and I hated him. Again though, I could overlook the ugly boat and Hiep. The staff wouldn’t let us in our room and insisted we leave our stuff on board while visiting the caves and while swimming (which we didn’t get to do until sunset). We put our money belt in the computer bag since we were in our swim suits and money belts don’t really look so sexy in a bikini. We came back on board after kayaking around sunset which was gorgeous. We checked on our money which was still there. We then continued to have a pretty huge party with the other 15 backpackers on board. At this point, all of our stuff was locked safely in our cabin. We came downstairs and the door to our room was unlocked. I totally thought maybe I didn’t lock it well.

The next morning, we awoke and Hiep informed us our tour was canceled due to an incoming monsoon. Fine. Better safe than sorry. Also, some girl had had a rat eat through her backpack to get a baguette in her bag. We didn’t really want to stay on the boat any longer. Hiep assured us we could get a refund from the various hotels and organizations we booked with. I didn’t really believe the monsoon story because all of the other backpacker junks were still heading to Cat Ba island. I should have known then that the next day, I would take the money out of the money belt and half of it would be missing with a loss of 180 USD. I should have known then that Hiep said he was going to come to our Cafe with us to get our refund. He said he was parking the bus and then just never came back. The Cafe argued with us for 2 hours before finally giving us only 12 USD back. Hanoi may have cheap beer, good food and lots of good photo opportunities but what it doesn’t have is fair business owners.

Halong Bay is absolutely not to be missed, but you MUST pay more for the experience if you want to go on your tour stress-free. The budget tour would have been fine if we had locked all of our bags, both in our cabin and out of it. Two really good tours that are getting solid praise from travelers are Kangaroo Cafe (the real one) and Hanoi Backpackers. Both tours are Western-run and you get really good food, good sun chairs and fancier cabins. They’ll run you about 115 USD minimum, but it’s worth it because to kayak at sunset amidst these larger than life formations jutting straight out the water, is one of the best experiences on Earth.

In the end, we did get some amazing photos out of the deal. Take a look.

In the caves:

super touristy

They say it is a fertility rock, and you rub it for good luck. It just looks like a giant boob.

Kayaking:

Good Morning, Vietnam!

We had a fairly smooth bus ride border crossing leaving from Nanning, China and arriving in Hanoi, Vietnam. I think our first impression of Vietnam was that it is vastly different from China. In the countryside, you could drive for a long while without seeing many people or buildings. The architecture we did see was odd, in comparison. We kept seeing really tall and extremely skinny, brightly colored houses with balconies, dotted throughout the countryside, along with small bamboo style huts and little shacks. The skinny buildings were sort of a mish-mash compared to the buildings that were next door, but there bright colors were such a change from China. En route, we stopped at a rest stop and got the privilege of eating our first bowl of Vietnamese pho and it didn’t disappoint.
Upon arrival in Hanoi, we got a free ride from a woman who coincidentally was the sister of the guesthouse we had booked before we arrived. It was a coincidence I was wary of, due to hearing about all of the guesthouse scams there are in Hanoi, but it turned out to be a true free ride and the women were actually sisters.
We stayed in Hanoi’s old quarter which is an atmospheric twist and turn of small streets with loads of travel agents, restaurants, bars and weird shops selling fruit, bike parts and every other thing imaginable.

It is also jam-packed of motorbikes. You get over your fear of crossing the street pretty quickly when you realize that because there are no stop signs or stop lights, if you don’t just take the risk and step off the curb, you’ll be standing on that same street until you’re old and gray.

One of the best parts about the old quarter is the Bia Hoi corner. Basically, it’s a corner that has four rival convenience beer shops that are nothing but plastic chairs on a curb and serves homemade keg beer that’s pretty watered down, due to it being cooled by a giant chunk of ice inside the keg, but it’s the cheapest glass of beer on the planet. At 3,000 dong, you’re shelling out a mere 16 cents per glass. Not too shabby. You can buy 6 beers for a dollar. If you ever want to buy a round, take your friends to the bia hoi corner. It’s great because lots of travelers and locals alike hang out at this intersection due to the cheap beer and you can meet loads of people. There was even a very old, yet intelligent prostitute who enjoyed listening to books on tape while wearing a short skirt and sitting with her legs in a butterfly formation.

It was wonderful timing because we arrived on a Friday night, perfect for experiencing Hanoi’s nightlife. We ended up drinking at the corner all night and then got asked to go dancing at Dragonfly, a club down the street. We were out until 2 am, dancing to Rihanna and Beyonce with the Vietnamese locals.
The rest of our time in Hanoi was spent alternating between eating delicious things, getting lost in little alleys and hanging out at the bia hoi corner. We also worked intently on asking around for prices and input on booking a Halong Bay trip (which was all a wasted effort, but that travel disaster comes to you via the next post.)

One touristy thing we did was check out the local water puppet show. Water puppetry is a classical art in Vietnam. The puppeteers are behind a curtain, but actually are in the tank of water with their puppets on a stick. It seems like a pretty challenging art to master and I’ve heard that in history many of the puppeteers got water-borne diseases from spending so much time in the tank perfecting their skills.
The show was pretty clever with dragons that chase birds and swimming Vietnamese puppets. It would have been even better if it was about 40 minutes shorter. It wasn’t a horribly boring show overall, but 75 minutes is too long for water puppets. I think one overcomes the awe and magic of the skill after 20 minutes or so. However, if you have children and are traveling to Vietnam, they would LOVE this.

Overall, I really enjoyed Hanoi and thought it had some delicious Vietnamese cuisine. We loved eating at Little Hanoi restaurant near the Bia Hoi corner where you pay about 2 dollars for massive plate of roll your own fresh spring rolls with fried fish and pineapple and a huge pile of herbs. Also, the Kangaroo café turns out some pretty hearty and fairly cheap Western classics like their massive pumpkin veggie burger made from scratch.

I must say though, that Hanoi’s old quarter is the kind of place that could wear on you, after the magic rubs off, due to the sheer number of rip-off travel agencies and the common confusion with the copycat syndrome that seems to be most at home in Hanoi. Basically, without copyright laws, every business can take each others’ business name. So on one block there’ll be five Kangaroo cafes or Sinh Café’s and you’re left scratching your head, trying to figure out which one is the real one from all of the copycats. It’s a little hard being a tourist and trying to plan your next onward travel step with lots of people quoting you rip-off prices and basically just seeing you as a walking dollar sign. Such a problem doesn’t completely distract from its old town charm, but it does make you worry that Vietnam may be more of a hassle than you anticipated. I think if you can handle Hanoi’s gruff approach at collecting it’s huge share of your tourist dollar than most other places will be a breeze in comparison.
With the negatives being stated, I still really loved the atmosphere of Hanoi and was happy that it was my gateway into Vietnam.

Overall: China (Culture Shock)

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The Food: The food in China is phenomenal, especially compared to Chinese food back home. It’s gorgeous and a lot less heavy than when you order your favorite Chinese take-away. While it can be difficult to choose your food (because almost all of the menus are only in Mandarin!) whatever we ended up with was always amazing. And there are tons of Buddhist restaurants that serve veggie food. We’ve had some really great dishes. Lots of restaurants in big cities do some fabulous mock-meat dishes. For example, we had amazing BBQ spare ribs in Shanghai and a really authentic tasting Peking duck in Beijing. We especially enjoyed all the different types of dumplings in Beijing, but our most favorite dish of all was the Chinese cabbage. It was a simple dish of cabbage, garlic, chili peppers, and soy sauce; and it was available at almost every restaurant, if you could convey what you wanted to the non-english speaking staff.

The People: Chinese people are more interested in traveling foreigners than any other group of people I’ve ever met. They are so curious about everything you’re doing, where you’re going and your personal life that sometimes you are grateful they’re English skills aren’t that wonderful or you’d be talking all night instead of sleeping on the train. On a good day, you love the people with their curious stares and lack of common communication skills and when they take your book from you and laugh in surprise when they realize it’s in English. But on a bad day, when you’ve been walking for a mile with your 20 kg backpack and it’s almost dark and you can’t find your hostel, and they are staring and pointing and speaking loudly about you and you get to your hostel and no one understands that you need toilet paper, then not so much. But saying that, we really did generally like the people. They were friendly, eager to meet you, interested in where you were from, and quick to tell you “Obama and Michael Jackson!” (thumbs up) when you declare that you are megwuo, American.

The West: The West of China is really gorgeous and completely different from the East of China which is just huge Chinese city after huge Chinese city, all full with well over a five million people a piece. The west is slow and mountainous. There are places that can actually be considered “towns” and you don’t need a map. It’s home to really nice natural attractions like Tiger Leaping Gorge and can really see the land begin to spread out before you as it is in Tibet.

The Hostels: Chinese hostels are brilliant. They have been well-decorated and are smooth operations that are well-run. They almost always have air-condition and hot water and are almost always under 5 USD a bed. A lot of times, they have bars and pool tables attached and even offer cool activities like dumpling making classes for free.

Pandas: Come on, who doesn’t like pandas?

Beer Street: The beer on beer street in Qingdao is brilliant. There are actually a variety, such as a wheat, a stout and a lager, which is pretty unheard of in Asia. You can get pitchers for really cheap and the whole street has a crazy beer theme, even the benches are shaped like beer bottles.

Massages: Probably the most painful massage I have ever had, but Chinese massage parlors will leave you feeling ninety times better the next morning. They’re open all night and for 3 dollars, it’s a fun activity to do with friends after the bars close.

Sleeper trains: Aside from a couple of bad experiences with dirty sheets on the sleeper trains, they are generally a blessing. They’re air-conditioned, fast and efficient for covering the huge distances of a country as big as China. You get on, eat your dinner, play some cards, go to bed by 8 and wake up at your destination. It doesn’t get easier than that.

Lack of Touts: China has no touts. Not like in Southeast Asia. Nobody stands at the train or bus station waiting for foreigners to get off so they can harass them into taking their tuk-tuk or going to their hotel. It’s very peaceful actually.

Ability to Travel Anywhere: Now after visiting China, I could honestly travel anywhere now. The language barrier is vast, the lack of English signs or menus huge and the city lay-outs are often confusing with old businesses and restaurants closing and opening faster than any guidebook can keep up. You have to have everything written in Mandarin to show any cab driver or train station attendant. People have walked into poles on the street because they were staring at us hard. It’s hot. It’s dirty. There are more people than you can even imagine, but we breezed right into Vietnam and every other country in SE Asia without a single shred of culture shock after China. It feels good to be able to think outside the box and communicate non-verbally to get what you need.

Dislikes:

Food: You know we loved the food, but we did run into a few hiccups. As mentioned before, we came across very few English menus. We tried our best (with our small dog-eared Mandarin phrasebook) to order veggies, but sometimes got eggplant smothered in pork. Also, while there were many regional specialties, we did get tired of some of the staple dishes we relied on, like egg fried rice and cucumbers covered in vinegar. But, we never got sick of the fried cabbage! There wasn’t a lot of Western food done well, aside from the horrific fast-food chains on every corner.

The Toilets: Our first encounter with squat toilets. If you’ve never experienced them, you are in luck. They are nothing more than a porcelain hole in the ground (if you are in the city), or even worse a small trough that you squat over with 2 feet high patricians separating you from the squatting lady next to you. And then it gets better, like at rest stops where there is in fact no toilet, but just a dirt hole under someone’s house/roadside shack. It’s not pretty or fun.

Communications: It felt like NO ONE spoke English, and it drove us crazy! Not only could we not communicate with them verbally, it was also difficult to get the point across using body language as well. Like the universal signs for “menu” and “check please”. They just don’t seem to get it.

Government Censorship: We had heard bad things about the communist government in China blocking sites like MSNBC, pornsites, youtube, and blogging sites like wordpress, but were shocked when a few days after we arrived, they decided to block Facebook as well. We’re never for censorship, and it was annoying that they made it so hard for us to keep in touch with our friends and keep up with our blog.

Train Stations: In China, the train stations are manic and dirty. Buying a ticket is confusing, once again with no English signage or ticket sellers. We usually had to get some one from our hostel to write down the date, time, and destination in Mandarin characters, so we could just show some one at the station who would eventually figure out that we needed a ticket.

Chinese Cities: They all kind of started running together. Yes, of course, Shanghai and Beijing have their own shining moments, but in general Chinese cities were not that impressive. Even small cities (population: one million or under) looked the same: big concrete buildings, lots of concrete, a park, a Mao statue, KFC and McDonalds.

The cleanliness factor: China is hands-down the absolute filthiest place I have ever been. There is spit on the street, in the subway cars and on buses. People literally spit right next to your foot while making a sound that can only be described as a whir of an espresso machine as your only warning. We tried swimming in Qingdao, what Lonely Planet humourously calls “The Chinese Riviera” and came up with nothing but plastic bags, coke bottles, and other debris. People throw their napkins and shrimp shells on the ground, even if we’re eating outdoors. Chopsticks wrappers? Just chuck ‘em over your shoulder. Babies are pooing on the street, people are eating up endangered species and you couldn’t pay me enough money to put my backpack down on the train station floor. That last example is when you know just how dirty it is, because I look for any excuse to take my 30 pound bag off.

China’s constant construction: If I had to think of one noise to describe China, it wouldn’t be chanting monks or the sizzle of the street vendors on the corner, it would be more like a jackhammer or chainsaw. China is constantly re-vamping its cities, in its effort to become more “Western” and present itself as a world power contender. What does this mean for the traveler aside from a lot of noise? Your guidebook, unless published the month you visit, is wrong. Not just a little wrong, but horribly wrong. A business had changed hands 3 times by the time we tried to find that little gem of a veggie restaurant in Shanghai. Streets have changed names or in the case of hutongs, have disappeared altogether. It is confusing to say the least.

Weird but fun facts:

After Childbirth Rule: People in China generally tend to be pretty superstitious, but this one takes the cake in this modern era. After a woman has a baby, she is expected to have a resting period of 30 days. Sounds great, right? Well, it’s not so great because she is not allowed to get out of bed for anything except to use the bathroom. That means no bathing, no reading, no TV, no internet, no taking care of your new baby (the grandma is supposed to do that) Almost every Chinese family we met says it is an important part of chidbirth still. All we can think, is that it probably helps with the one child per family rule: Women don’t want to have to go through that again, and their spouses don’t want to have to sleep near someone who hasn’t bathed in 30 days again.

Baby Butts: Most, if not all the Chinese babies we saw (under the age of 4) were wearing “split pants”. We’ve shown pictures of this before, but it is basically a regular pair of paints with a slit from the front of the crotch to the back, so the baby can squat and pee or poo anywhere. We were constantly afraid of sitting down, even in the subway. One time we saw a baby pee right in a seat in the train station. The parents took the baby when their train was called, then another woman came and set her shopping bag right in it. Gross!

Armpits: It seems the ladies of China are not too fond of the razor. Or maybe, armpit hair is sexy. Whatever the reason, most (no need to generalize, these are just our experiences) girls we saw sporting the sleeveless look (it was August and super hot, so a lot of them) had never shaved their armpits. It was a little shocking at first, because the women dress so girly with lots of bows, ruffles, and lace, and then they reach up to put the luggage in the overhead, and wow, there is a lot of hair.

Swimming: we rarely saw people swimming, even in towns with beaches. As it turns out, since most of the country is inland, no one ever learns to swim. It’s just not an important skill.

Rubber Gloves: People don’t like to get their hands dirty when eating. So instead of turning to knife and fork to eat their pizza and chicken wings like the Europeans do, they like to eat it the American way, but with rubber gloves. They have boxes of them handy at KFC and Pizza Hut. It makes the whole process look a little sterile.

Keeping Cool: On a hot day, you’ll see a lot of skin, but not from the ladies. The men in China like to roll their shirts up to just below the nipple (sometimes not quite so high) We don’t know why they don this midriff look, but it seems to be a national way to stay cool on hot summer days. Maybe it makes them look cool too.

Budget: China

Since many people often wonder how we pay for our extensive travels and for those who are about to take a RTW trip of their own, we have decided to start talking about how much travelers should expect to spend on certain things in each country so they can plan their own budgets.

We don’t keep an incredibly detailed budget or log of our spending, but we know when something is too much money and we have no problem seeking out a better deal. We are actually trying to learn to track our expenses better so as time goes on, this portion of the blog may get more technical. I would say that we fall into a category of “budget travel” but we also didn’t travel halfway around the world to sit in our hostel room eating instant noodles. We make some sacrifices here and there, allowing ourselves to enjoy a luxurious meal or an expensive activity that is specific to the area, once in a while.

China uses Chinese Renminbi (RMB) or commonly called Yuan (Y). They are different names for the same thing (think: British Pound/quid and US Dollar/buck)

6.83 RMB = 1 USD
4 Weeks in China = $1,478.00 USD for two people/$739.00 each
Average cost per day (per person): $24.60 or about 170 RMB

Note: The above figure doesn’t include the following provisions:
1. Our first week in China (Beijing and Qingdao). When we first arrived, we hadn’t really worked out a budgeting system yet. It’s just not clearly accounted for, but we spent about the same as the rest of the time in China so it doesn’t really affect our average costs.
2. Our transportation from Berlin via air to Beijing ($480.00 per person) or from Japan to Shanghai via ferry ($173.00 per person), because I thought it was helpful to see how much we actually spent while in China and will talk about transportation below.
3. It also doesn’t include our (expensive) Chinese visa, which we had to apply and send away for, months prior to our trip, while still in the US ($270.00).

Accommodation in China

We stayed mostly in hostels around China. They are almost always clean, well-equipped, and overstaffed (even if all 15 girls in the restaurant don’t speak English.) Most of the hostels had a good common area for socializing with their own bar, restaurant, and tour services, which are all debatably more expensive than venturing out on your own.
Private rooms run from 90-160 RMB ($12-22.00) but we mostly tried to stay in the cheapest room, usually no air con co-ed dorm rooms. These ran from as little as $3.00 in the west of China to $7.00 in Beijing. In each city we were spoiled for choice when it came to hostels. There were usually at least 3 or 4 well-recommended hostels with varying locations and amenities.
The only city we stayed in that didn’t have a hostel was Kaifeng. We booked a 3 star hotel room (which is lush by Chinese standards, but maybe comparable to a Super 8 or Motel 6 in the states) for about $20.
We only couchsurfed once while in China and that was in Shanghai.  We were actually quite lucky, because once we got there we realized that Shanghai is considerably more expensive than Beijing (or anywhere else in China) and couchsurfing afforded us to live a little more luxuriously while in the high-priced city.

Transportation in China

While getting to China can cost you, traveling around this massive country is actually quite reasonable considering how much ground your covering and the quality of the transportation.

Long Distance:
We took sleeper trains everywhere, unless our destination was only accessible by bus. Beijing and Shanghai have most expensive routes, but for the most part your journey cost is dependent on how far you are going and the type of seat you want.
There are four options:
1. The cheapest and most crowded: Hard-seat, which is a regular train seat, that can sometimes be unreserved or standing room only, rarely air conditioned, smoking permitted. Not somewhere you want to spend the night if you are planning on sleeping at all.
2. Soft-seat, which is slightly more expensive but you get a little more breathing room and usually A/C. We never actually chose this option.
3. Hard-sleeper, which is what we always went with, is a cabin with about 20 columns of three levels of bunk beds. Usually, you have A/C and you get your own bed with a pillow and blanket. The top bunk is the cheapest and they raise in price about 10-20 RMB for second and bottom bunk, respectively.
4. Soft-sleeper. Apparently, you get your own 4-person cabin with a “softer” bed and a door that slides closed for privacy, but we never shelled out the extra RMB to find out the differences.
We paid anywhere from 150 RMB to 300 RMB for a hard sleeper, usually top bunk. And while $22-44.00 might seem like a lot for one journey, remember that it includes one night of accommodation and we were usually cutting across hundreds of miles at once.

The few long-distance buses we took ranged widely from an excruciatingly uncomfortable 10-hour bus ride that cost about 80 yuan to a 2-hour plush minibus ride that cost 15 yuan (less than $3.00).

Local Transport:
Public transportation and taxis are considerably cheaper in China than most countries we have visited before, making traveling around China’s massive cities easier than expected.

Subways: Beijing’s recently Olympics-inspired upgraded underground system was amazing. At only 2 yuan per ride to anywhere in the city, English signage and 8 lines recently added, it was a great way to get around the capital.
Shanghai’s subway was also easy, but the prices varied depending on how many stops you were going. Our couchsurfing hosts let us use their topped-up metro cards, so we wouldn’t have to bother buying tickets each time. I think it was about 2-6 yuan each ride.
Buses: All of the cities in China have public buses. Some are easier to navigate than others. It was usually 1 or 2 yuan per ride, but unless you knew exactly where you were going and which stop to get off at (since you can’t exactly ask anyone for help unless you speak Mandarin) it can be a risky move.
Taxi: Being from a western country, and after coming from Japan, where the starting fare in Tokyo was $8.00, I am able to truly appreciate Chinese taxis.  They range depending on the city, but generally they start at around 7 RMB (Xi’an and Chengdu) to 11-12 RMB (Shanghai or Beijing) for the first two kilometers and then about 2RMB for every km after that. When splitting that among 2 or 4 people, it’s practically free.

Food and Drinks in China

In China, there is a hierarchy of restaurants, a type for every budget; BBQ Street food being at the bottom, and western/international food or gourmet/specialty Chinese being at the top. At a street-side BBQ, you can pick all kinds of meats or veggies (and tofu!) on skewers, and at 1 or 2 yuan each, they will throw them on a grill and you sit on a tiny plastic chair and enjoy your feast. After about $2.00 worth, you are more than full. Local Chinese restaurants aren’t too much more expensive (especially when you aren’t getting meat, as most of the veggie meals are comprised of cheaper side dishes). Chinese meals are meant to be shared, so the larger the group, the cheaper the meal ends up being. Think 20-30 RMB (3-4 USD) per person for four people sharing 5 or 6 dishes. Also, McDonalds and KFC are in this bottom category. They have actually some of the only western food that is cheap. I have to admit that we splurged on a McFish Fillet Combo once or twice when our veggie options were dwindling in places like Kaifeng and Qingdao. A combo meal ran about 16 RMB (2.20 USD), so we didn’t feel too guilty.
The quality of atmosphere and service seems to skyrocket, while the quality of food and price get a little higher in the next category. These are regular Chinese restaurants that sometimes could be in a hotel, or somewhere businessmen bring clients to impress them with nice lacquered chopsticks, white linen napkins and garish gold tablecloths. I don’t think many backpackers choose to eat at these types of places, because from the outside, they seem far out of our price range. But we found them good for two reasons. One being something highly coveted: ENGLISH MENUS. And being vegetarian, we were lucky enough to be able to eat at some of these fancier Chinese restaurants because some of our favorite veggie dishes were practically the same price as the street corner. We could get two or three side dishes, enjoy the air conditioning and free filtered water for a few extra yuan. We ended up eating at these types of places pretty frequently, spending about 60 to 80 RMB (8 – 11 USD total) on a nice dinner.
At the top tier of the food chain, sits Western food, so desirable after weeks of fried rice, and stir-fry noodles with assorted veggies, but hardly ever worth the expense. We tried a Mexican restaurant in Beijing; for 150 RMB (21 USD), we split two starters and a beer and walked away hungry. Other times, we would crave things like bruschetta or spaghetti and get so excited to see it on a menu at a backpackers style restaurant and think “We can splash out on a much needed $10 comfort meal” just to get small portions of water-logged noodles and stale bread with runny tomatoes on top. Rarely worth it, and almost always disappointing.
On the other end, we’ve had some amazing meals in China that have been a little pricey, but totally worth it. High-end specialty restaurants like “Vegetarian Lifestyle” in Shanghai and Chengdu (yes, it has two locations, and yes, we went to both of them) have culinary delights like mango sushi and vegetarian BBQ spare ribs that actually taste like delicious pork. Here, we spent 60-100 RMB per person! That’s more than double what we pay any other time, but I’d pay it again in a heartbeat.

Drinks:
We usually drank one of the following while in China: water, hot tea, or beer.
Bottled water cost 4-6 yuan for 1.5 L and beer cost anywhere from 2 to 5 yuan for a big 600+ mL bottle at a mini-market. At a restaurant, it would be from 5 to 10 yuan. Sometimes, the heat would cause us to break down and get a can of coke for 3 or 4 yuan.
While in China, we barely ever drank liquor, so I don’t really know how much it costs. Beer was so cheap; we considered it pretty much the only option, oh and water sometimes too.
But the best deal was to become a local and buy a little plastic tea mug with an anti-spill Tupperware style lid and then fill it with loose-leaf tea and hot water. Loose-leaf tea is really cheap in the supermarkets and water coolers with hot water are everywhere. You see almost everyone in China carrying around their own flavor of tea and watch them refill it through out the day.

Sights/ Activities/ Side Trips

There are tons of must-see attractions in China. One of the most important tips I can give to travelers is bring your student ID. It doesn’t matter if you haven’t been a student in over 5 years, it’s worth a shot. Most of the attractions and sights are up to half off with a “valid” student ID. Because of the variety, it’s hard to sum up all of the costs of assorted sights and day trips into an average. Plus, sometimes the cost of transportation to get to some of the more remote sights can be just as expensive if not more than the cost of the attraction. But here’s an overview of how much some of the entrance fees cost us (per person):
Forbidden City: 60 RMB
The Great Wall (Mutianyu section): 40 RMB
Terra-Cotta Warriors: 90 RMB
Leshan Grand Buddha: 50 RMB
Giant Panda Breeding Research Center: 30 RMB
Bamboo Rafting in Yangshuo: 60 RMB
“Illuminations” water and light show: 150 RMB
Most non-famous temples cost around 5 RMB

So, Is China a budget destination for Americans?

I would say that China is definitely a budget destination for Americans. With that being said, I would also like to state that if you don’t keep track of your finances while in China or if you don’t prefer budget sleeping conditions such as hostels or private rooms in very basic hotels, you can spend a considerable amount. If you require a soft sleeper on the train and want to enjoy some shopping, you can spend even more. The more West you go, the cheaper China becomes. If you want to spend all of your time in Beijing and Shanghai, you could very well end up spending as much as you would back in the US. Shanghai’s accommodation is expensive, food is double of anywhere else in China and the sights and nights out add up quickly. We averaged about 25.00 USD a day while in China and didn’t feel like we lived too luxuriously, considering we always took the dorm bed with the most people and without AC and the cheapest option on the train. We could afford taxis around the cities and some decent restaurant meals, but we did no major clubbing, shopping or drinking in bars. Add some Western comfort food to the mix and forget it. Everything is cheaper in China than back home, but I think that by adding on the amenities, you can quickly add on the RMB.

Backpackerville: Yangshuo

By: Kelly

On our way back towards Eastern China, we had to make a one night stop over in Kunming, the capital of the Yunnan province. It’s a rather nondescript, fairly clean metropolis. We were able to get some snacks for our long bus journey, and see a few sights around our hostel (which was in a prime location for snapping a few pretty photos) before moving on the next day.

Ellie and I were really excited about our visit to karst-filled Yangshuo. We had heard so many wonderful things about it from other travelers and thought for sure it would be a highlight of our China extravaganza. We thought wrong. The problem with Yangshuo is the same problem as Bodrum, Turkey. Too many tourists on one tacky strip that’s chock-full of over-priced, poor quality pizza and burgers, tacky nightclubs and annoying touts selling souvenirs all on a street conveniently named West Street. People I would never anticipate to even own a passport had suddenly shown up on the streets of Yangshuo. American families eating at Mcdonalds, of which they have two right in the middle of this tiny town, British couples that look hung-over, overheated and completely agitated with the Chinese, Germans who are drinking their weight in beer and trying to chat up the Chinese girls who work in front of the nightclubs. It all seems sleazy, especially if you think about it in context with the gorgeous scenery that is the Yangshuo countryside.

Full of karsts that extend as far as the eye can see along the Li River, Yangshuo is easily pleasurable to the eyes once you get off of West St. We rented a bike from our hotel and headed out, looking to beat the heat and take a very touristy adventure on the bamboo rafts that ply up and down the Li. The countryside was breathtaking. I think we only got about 10 meters before stopping for photos of the water buffalo, farmers and idyllic quiet of the local manual laborers, slumbering under trees.

We got to the river and took a completely relaxing bamboo raft down where they loaded our bikes on the back of our own personal raft. We had a guy whose sole job was to row us back to town. It was pretty fantastic. We drank beer from women in other rowboats who sold it. We hopped in for a swim every time the raft had to go over a hill. It was a really nice day.

all the bamboo boats waiting to take us down river

The funniest thing was on the bike ride home. There was a woman with a two basket shoulder strap contraption that is ever so popular with vendors in Asia. She had a child in it and she kept telling me 5 yuan. I was silly enough to believe that she was trying to sell me a little Chinese child. Ellie later explained to me that she was only trying to sell me the right to take a picture of the kid in the basket.

Ellie took one anyway and quickly rode off when the woman demanded such extortionate payment.
That night, we met up with Annika and Lars in Yangshuo. We had some dumplings and some beer next to the river and then proceeded to walk up and down West St. to find something to do with our night.

All around us, bars were blasting bad Chinese pop music and sunburned tourists were cranky, spending their yuan on crappy plastic souvenirs. We gave up finally. They left for Xingping in the morning and we promised to meet them there in two days time.
We hated to stay in Yangshuo another day since we had already gotten out into the countryside but we had already tickets for the Impressions show by Zhang Jigang (the guy that choreographed the opening ceremony for the Beijing Olympics). “This is the world largest natural theater which utilizes the waters of the Li River as its stage, with twelve mist shrouded hills and the heavens as its backdrop. Mist, rain, moonlight, the hills and their inverted reflections in the river all become the ever-changing natural background. Its auditorium is housed on the natural islands of the river with the audience standing on the designed terraces, surrounded by green plants. The sound equipment here cannot be seen because it is in harmony with the natural environment. The valleys, the hills, the cool breeze and the gurgling streams are all elements contributing to the three-dimensional sound effect. Day by day, different weather offers different sceneries with the four seasons refreshing the performance as well, so you will have unique experience every time you watch it. This is really a new concept opera using nature as an integral part of its performers; hence its name – ‘Human’s Masterpiece Cooperated with the God’.”

It was easily one of the most impressive shows I have ever seen. The backdrop for the show is stunning in a natural lagoon amongst the karsts. The idea of using nature as a backdrop was genius. The videos we shot didn’t do it justice, but it was really wonderful o see live. I don’t recommend Yangshuo, but I do recommend just camping out their one night to see this performance and do a little countryside biking.
The next day, we went to Xingping, which is a tiny little town outside of Yangshuo by about 45 minutes. We met up with Lars and Annika, rented bikes and then took a bamboo raft back down the river. It was our last night with them and we had a good veggie dinner and some beer before wishing them good-bye the next morning. We’re hopeful to visit them in Hamburg sometime!

Lijiang v. Dali

What makes a backpacker town or backpacker ghetto? I would have to say cheap international food, internet cafes, cheap hostels or hotels and loads of young things with big bags that are gone for over a month at a time. Often places turn into backpacker spots before they build themselves up for older foreign tourists until the backpackers can’t afford them any longer. Yunnan province in China supposedly has two backpacker towns and apparently you’re either a Dali person or a Lijiang person, in the same vain of being a dog person or cat person. We visited both places to see what the differences were and what the big fuss was about.
First we headed to Lijiang from Chengdu, but to get there was quite a journey. It was actually the worst bus ride I have ever been on in my entire life. Although, it first started out as a train journey which was uneventful except for the fact that it arrived in some small provincial border town at 3 am and buses to the bus station don’t start running until 5 am. With two hours to kill in the middle of the night, we have to sit and wait. It would have been fine except that in China, you can’t enter a train station unless you have a valid ticket, which is how they keep homeless people from sleeping in the station. Since our ticket was no longer valid, we were forced to sit outside with the hooligans who sit outside train stations at 3 am on a weekday. Nobody really bothered us except for when Ellie was writing in her book and a group of men gathered to watch the precious art of writing the English language. Awkward, but not uncomfortable. We were waiting on Lars and Annika to arrive from a different train, but they never came and with no mobiles, we just got on a bus heading to Lijiang. We unfortunately bought the last two tickets on the bus which delegated us the seats in the middle backrow. The middle backrow has 5 seats when it should only comfortably have 4. There are no arm rests and nothing dividing the seats so the entire ten hour journey was full of me shoving the man next to me as he took up his whole seat and half of mine. For being small, he sure could spread out. Since Ellie and I had nothing to do while riding for 10 hours, we instead counted how many times he spit on the floor nest to my foot. It was exactly 37 times which means we could count on a giant ball of mucus spit rocketing at my toes at nearly every 16 minutes. Yum. The other best part of this all was that the roads are unpaved for the entire journey and we have no AC so are bouncing up and down in the heat for 10 hours on mountain roads. This is bound to make someone sick. In fact, it made not someone sick, but EVERYONE sick aside from us and the spit man. Therefore, everyone was vomiting in tiny blue bags which the bus so generously gives out. Instead of tying their puke bags and holding them in their seat with them, or throwing them out the window as the Chinese tend to do with everything else but their children, people were throwing them in the aisle. So puke + bouncing mountain roads+ thin plastic bags = vomit explosions everywhere. Double Yum. The last straw was when we pulled over to use the toilet. I have been in China at this point for over a month. I have seen every kind of toilet ever. I use squat toilets all the time. I have used sheds. I have gone on the side of the road. I have gone with no doors on the stalls. I have gone in a trough. I have never gone in a slatted room in someone backyard where the poop has been piling up under their house for millions of years. I have also never gone in a place where the two people using the bathroom have to face each other. There are no seats. Just me and this woman, facing each other with our knees practically touching over stilted slats and she is taking a crap. I am watching poop exit a grown strange womans body in great detail. I wanted to cry.

DP: a rare and much deserved treat after our horrific bus journey

We finally did make it Lijiang though. Lars and Annika’s train had been canceled so we made plans to hike Tiger Leaping Gorge the next day. Tiger Leaping Gorge is believed to be the deepest gorge in the world. Legend says that in order to escape from a hunter, a tiger jumped across the river at the narrowest point (still 25 metres wide), hence the name.

Tiger Leaping Gorge

We woke up early and got driven nearly two hours out the to the Gorge. Instead of doing the two day, one night trek like everyone else, we just wanted to do a day trip. We got dropped off halfway through the trek at the low road. It was really annoying though because it was near noon and we had to walk up these massive switchbacks on blinding white concrete asphalt.

The first and the worst part of the hike.

To get an idea of the size look for the little blue dot near on of the first curves, that's a large pick-up truck!

It was so hot and exhausting. We finally got to the best part of the trail and it was really gorgeous and totally worth it the ascent. We got to climb over waterfalls on tiny narrow paths where we swore the waterfall was going to push off to our death miles below, but we made it. Here are our pictures to prove it:

This is our starting point ( those are people down below us)

Kelly found a cool stream and was overjoyed. Like we said, it was very, very hot!

we crossed right through the middle of that waterfall

our path, with white water rushing directly through it.

We crossed over the waterfall without slipping, and were swiftly followed by a pack of goats.

At the end of the trail, Ellie started to feel really ill as we made our descent to the guesthouse where we were being picked up. While I drank beer, Ellie got sick in the bathroom. We were hoping it was just the heat, but she was ill for 24 hours unfortunately which we think was due to bad tofu at the rest stop on that horrible bus ride the day before.

When we got back, we met up with Lars and Annika. The next couple of days were spent enjoying Lijiang’s gorgeous old architecture. Lijiang is almost like the Disneyworld of China. It’s exactly what you picture old China to look like before mass consumerism took over every Chinese city. It’s stunning with red lanterns lit at night and children floating burning luminaries down the many canals and rivers, full of goldfish. It has atmospheric bars and art galleries that made you want to spend time in them, unlike some of the stark restaurants in the rest of the country. It was very touristy though. Many of the shops were for souvenirs and weird crafts, but the beauty of the place was worth braving the hordes of tour buses.

The Hutong leading to our hostel

We met a nice Irish couple who rode the bus back from Tiger Leaping Gorge with us, and we invited them to join us on a day of sightseeing. The more the merrier!

In front of the most photographed site in Yunnan

Brady Bunch?

Lijiang's famous (slightly disappointing) waterwheel

One other brilliant thing about Lijiang was a family of Mexicans who lived there. They opened up a restaurant called Frosty Morning Mexican and it was amazing. Mexican is very seldom done correctly outside of North America, but to find it in this tiny town in Western China was incredible. We ate there two days in a row, saddened only by the fact that there was no sour cream to be had.

Lars and Annika

Frosty Beer Mugs!

and... Queso!!!

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After Lijiang, we headed south for Dali. Dali was immediately not as pretty as Lijiang. It did seem a little more real though. It actually felt like people lived there, it wasn’t as nice to the tourist eye. It did have lots of Western restaurants and a healthy ex-pat community.

We stayed in a really nice hostel called the Jade Emu, which was owned by the weirdest man ever, but at least he ran a good place. He was only annoying on Ellie’s birthday when he kept telling us we had to be more quiet, but everyone in the hostel was drinking with us.
Clearly, Ellie’s birthday was spent in Dali. It was pretty nice. We woke up after a raucous drinking evening the night prior at the hostel where Ellie got sung an international Happy birthday at midnight, 5 different languages. The four of us traveled to Xiaguan where we found the lake and went swimming among many Chinese men in small white underpants. For dinner, we had the best pizza I’ve had in Asia. It was wood-oven with awesome toppings like local goat cheese and pears.

Wood Fired Pizzas for Ellie's Birthday!

Speaking of good food, we had a really brilliant traditional hotpot one night with Lars and Annika where you choose any vegetables or meats you want and cook them yourself in a boiling pot of spicy spices. Amazing and dirt cheap!. It was so much food and beer and it only cost us 3 USD each.

Annika and Ellie

Overall, which is better Dali or Lijiang? I think I’m a Lijiang person because of the beautiful landscape and the idyllic canals and alleyways that ring the small town. Dali had better nightlife, great food and was a little less commercial, but really didn’t have many sights or much atmosphere.

Pandas and XXL Buddhas

Sichuan province has some of the best scenery in China and was a huge relief coming from the crowded overpopulated cities of China’s East. We could easily have filled a week or two in Sichuan alone visiting the multi-colored lakes at Jiuzhaigou, climbing the spiritual retreat of Emeishan mountain or trekking Hailuogou glacier. Since we didn’t have a few weeks, we limited ourselves to two day trips near Chengdu. We decided to visit the Giant Panda Research Base, just a few kilometers outside of Chengdu and the Giant Buddha of Leshan.

We headed to the Panda Research Base on our own with a taxi very early before the group tour departed from our hostel. We wanted to be the first ones in the park because we heard that after 10 am, the base becomes a nightmare of tourists. We got our wish and were the first in the park and had some alone time with the pandas and baby pandas before the tour groups rolled in. I can’t describe how cute the pandas are in words so here are some photos and videos of our day there.

Kelly's Panda-eating-bamboo impression

Red Pandas!

The funniest thing that happened was when I was trying to enquire what time the Giant panda feedings were. I asked a ranger using hand motions which seemed to make sense to me, but Ellie quickly informed me that my motions made no sense not even to her. I first pointed to the pandas then made a fat stomach motion. Then I made a motion like I was feeding myself. I thought that it made perfect sense. What time are the “fat pandas” going to “eat?” Ellie thought the ranger who was looking incredibly puzzled, thought I was saying that I wanted to get fat by eating the pandas or that the pandas eat a lot and are very fat. One of which is very scary, even for China and one of which is very daft. Hmm. I need to work on my hand movements.

Come on, China... this doesn't exactly seem to be your motto.

BABY PANDAS in an incubator. So cute!

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The next day, we went to Leshan to see the Giant Buddha that has been carved into the side of the cliff. The Giant Buddha is the largest carved stone Buddha in the world at 233 feet and it faces Mount Emei. The toenail is said to be the size of an average human. We took a minibus trip from our hostel with a bunch of really funny English teachers, two Australian guys in their mid-30’s, one Canadian girl about our age and a Canadian woman in her 60’s. They were really great company and had a lot of interesting insight about Chinese culture after living in China for a year.

the lovely restaurant we dined in, before heading to the giant Buddha

a random cave Buddha

Buddha's head

The view from the top of Buddha's head

There were some really strange poses at the foot of the statue. Kelly did her best to imitate a few…

cooling off after a really steep climb. No, we don't know that boy...

The giant Buddha was pretty amazing, but the best part of our visit was when we watched a monk steal money of the collection box in the side of the mountain. He was caught red-handed and the officials were shouting, clearly upset with him for stealing. We thought he was going to jail, but then they just let him go back to his position SELLING incense to religious tourists to put at the Buddha’s feet. Hmm. I wouldn’t let him deal with money but apparently, none of the officials could be bothered to really deal with the appalling behavior of the monk. It was hysterical to watch the shouting though.

monk getting caught

BAD monk!

I highly recommend a visit to the Sichuan province when in China. So much to see and do and the food is deliciously spicy and unique. It was one of the highlights of our visit to China.

Chengdu!

By: Ellie

We’ve been really excited about moving on to the Sichuan province in China. They’ve got spicier food in Sichuan, and Chengdu is surrounded by tons of things to see, but we were most excited that Chengdu is the home of the giant panda!

After yet another night train, (the blankets were used again, but no cotton buds this time) we were whisked away in a taxi that the hostel arranged for us. It was nice to not have to search for the right bus or have to explain to the driver where we were going.
The Mix hostel was cute with a nice courtyard and plenty of space to socialize. We chose the cheapest option once again, which meant no air conditioner in a four-bed dorm. Luckily, the other two beds had some quiet and clean Chinese tourists, so it was not nearly as stinky as the last time.

Once we got settled in, we decided to check out the neighborhood and a nearby Buddhist temple that boasted a tea garden and mock meat style vegetarian restaurant. The temple was really more of a complex of beautiful buildings, courtyards, and gardens.

outside the temple

We hadn’t eaten since the day before, so we went straight for the restaurant. A hostess stopped us and told us we had to wait until 5pm until we could come in and eat. That gave us over an hour to gnaw our arms off. We decided to check out one of the tea houses that Chengdu is famous for. We ordered a cup of flowering tea and peopled watched while we waited.  There are men whose occupation is cleaning people’s ears with all kinds of strange tools while the customers drink flower tea and old ladies gossip and play mahjong.

ear cleaning

At exactly five, we marched right back into the restaurant and ordered a few local dishes. We had our requisite cabbage with garlic and peppers, some delicious spicy Mapo Tofu, which is a famous regional specialty, and some strange gelatinous “pork”. We skipped out on dishes such as faux-“Monkey Brains” and “Pig Ear” soup. Everything was delicious aside from the weird stuffed “pork” dish, which was sweet and more dessert-like than meat-like. Some temples just don’t get the faux meat right.

Back at the Mix hostel, we were excited to find that we showed up on just the right day for their free dumpling-making lesson. It was extra special because, while most hostels do a dumpling night once a week, this one was free and they offered a vegetarian option, the first one of it’s kind that we’ve encountered. We were pretty full when we got back, but the lessons were about to start, so we had to attend to find out the secret to Chinese dumpling making.

our dumpling crime scene

our finished products

and spring rolls too!

It was so much fun. Almost everyone staying at the hostel crammed into the dining room and almost half of us were vegetarian. After we rolled, filled, and shaped our dumplings, we got to eat everything we made. There were probably over 200 dumplings for 15 or 20 people. The dipping sauce was the most unique part. They used soy sauce and garlic and Sichuan peppers which have a numbing effect, so much so that Eastern medicine dentists use it as an anesthetic. Of course we had to have tons of beer to wash it all down. The hostel also brought out some Bijao, which is a potent homemade liquor. It was a great way to meet other travelers. In fact, this is where we met Annika and Lars from Hamburg, Germany. After wrongly assuming they were a couple instead of siblings, we got along great. They were traveling along a very similar route through China. We spent the remainder of the evening drinking 45 cent beers from the convenience shop next door.
Over the next few days we basically repeated a similar pattern. We’d do a day trip (more on those in the next post) to see sights or explore the city a little in the morning and afternoon, and then spend time drinking and eating with our new friends from the hostel. We were all backpacking for an extended amount of time, so were happy to go on the hunt for the cheapest hot pot or Chinese BBQ. Several of the nights were spent on street corners, outside of a restaurant/food stall, six or seven of us on tiny plastic chairs, around a table overflowing with dishes and empty bottles. Since Lars is also a vegetarian, we ordered plenty of veggies to share. I think his sister, Annika, was thankful that she got a break from sharing with some one who doesn’t eat meat, as she finally got to share with the rest of the carnivores at the table.

On our way home from our first night out, we discovered a massage parlor across the street from our hostel. After a few beers, we were brave enough to enquire about prices, hoping it wasn’t one of the happy-ending style parlors. It ended up being 20 yuan for an hour-long full body message. That translates into less than 3 US dollars! Who could resist? Even if it was after midnight.

As for exploring Chengdu, it actually was much more difficult than we anticipated. It is a sprawling city of 10.4 million people, and over 3 million of them live in the downtown area.  The city has recently begun work on adding an underground. This will be a brilliant  addition once it is in place, but for now it actually caused us a lot more headache. Bus stops were moved and some routes were changed all together, sending us miles in the wrong direction. We tried walking places, but quickly retreated to taxis once we realized that an inch on the map was like 2 km in real life.

baby butt caught in the act of popping a squat or dumpster diving?

We were able to walk to see their main square with a requisite statue of Mao and some beautiful but strange fountains/serpent statues, as well as People’s Park, one of Chengdu’s largest.

random wedding photo shoot in the park

We love Chinese parks because there is always so much going on in them. It seems that parks are a place for two types of people, very young and very old; Kids playing with weird toys and chasing insects, old Chinese people doing any one of their many hobbies. This time was one of the best experiences we’ve had in a park so far. We heard some loud music that could best be classified as a version of Chinese hip-hop. As we neared a clearing, we saw where the music was coming from. A group of about 50 men and women over the age of 70 were doing hip-hop line dancing. We watched from a distance for a while, noticing which ones were more sassy, giving an extra twist of the hips or clapping their hands with more flourish than others. We casually walked around the front of the group, hoping to get a better look without standing out too much from the other onlookers. Some how we caught the attention of one of the sassy 85 year old front-liners. She kept motioning for us to join in, and we would shyly shake our heads and laugh. In between songs, as we were about to move on to another section of the park, she came over and grabbed Kelly’s wrists. “Come, Come!”  Next thing I knew, we were both being dragged into the center of the group as a techno beat started echoing through the trees. They danced circles around us, literally. It was so much fun, even though we had no idea what we were doing. At the end of the song all 50 of the dancers and another 50 onlookers clapped for us, and people ran over to take photos with us. They tried to make us stick around for another song, but we gracefully bowed out and continued our walk. It was probably one of the most surreal and memorable experiences I’ve had so far on this trip.

On our last night, while out to dinner with Lars and Annika, we found a foot massage right next to our restaurant for less than 2 US dollars. Once again, we couldn’t resist. After all, we would be leaving the next day for Yunnan province with Lars and Annika and no one wants to carry a backpack with sore tootsies.

Xi’an

Our second overnight journey to Xi’an was the first time we realized how gross the night train can be, all depending on who slept in your bed before you. We boarded the train and on my bed, I found no less than 17 used Q-tips, 4 gnawed on olive pits and crumbs from something I couldn’t identify. I could deal with the olive pits, the crumbs and the used tissue that I later found crumpled under the pillow, but the Q-tips were too much. I used my rudimentary skill at pronouncing words from my Mandarin phrasebook and convinced them to give me new linens. It was fine, but have you ever tried to change a third story bunk bed while a train was moving? Yikes.

Regardless, we arrived in Xi’an and got a cab to Shuyuan hostel. Shuyuan hostel is a gorgeous traditional style building with three Chinese courtyards throughout.

We booked the room with only fan in the basement and were moved in with 2 guys who literally “live” in the hostel, which sucks because their possessions are everywhere and the room smells like man sweat and moldy towels. We walked to a huge mall we saw around the corner and ate Chinese noodles at the food court, which was dirt cheap and pretty impressive for variety. It was also interesting to see how the Chinese “do” food courts.
After that confusing experience, we strolled around the beautiful Muslim quarter, full of Chinese Muslims, of course. We tried to enter the mosque but couldn’t find the entrance so we admired it from outside. We also checked out the Bell and Drum Towers in the middle of Xi’an. Xi’an is a very modern city that seemed a little less manic than most other Chinese cities. Although is still has big beautiful traditional walls, it has more shopping malls on one block than Florida and big wide sidewalks.

Drum an Bell Tower

Muslim Quarter

BABY BUTT!

The Mosque

The next day, we made our requisite trip, like good tourists, to the Terracotta Warriors. We met Lauren from Long Island who was staying in our hostel and traveling on the city bus with us. We hung out with her for the remainder of the day. She had been teaching in Shanghai and knew a decent amount of Chinese so was a good person to have around.

On the way in. No comment.

The Terracotta Warriors figures were discovered in 1974 by some local farmers. The figures include strong warriors, chariots, horses, officials, acrobats, strongmen, and musicians. Current estimates are that in the three pits containing the Terracotta Army there were over 8,000 soldiers, 100 chariots with 400 horses and 300 cavalry horses, the majority of which are still buried in the pits. It was pretty impressive to see this site especially because it was nothing like I imagined it was going to be. I had this weird picture that they were in a cave, all in one piece, rather than buried and needing renovations and excavations. To see archaeologists working on digging more soldiers in the big pit was really cool because it was seeing history being made before your eyes.

Excavation

That night after the Terracotta Warriors, we headed to the Goose Pagoda in the center of town to see this famed laser light and fountain show. It happens every night at 9 pm, but there were hordes of Chinese tourists there. Everyone was pushing, in true fashion, to get a front spot. Ellie and I had a front spot on the front ledge and were struggling to maintain it, even though a grandmother had pushed her head between my legs so I was essentially sitting on her shoulders. She was content and therefore, I let my annoyance melt a little, even though I was uncomfortable as anything.  Soon after the show began, we realized how silly it was to even want a good spot. It was a pretty bland show. I’ve seen better fountains at the entrance of the Millenia mall in Orlando. The Chinese were loving it though so we let them have their fun and headed back to the hostel.

The next day, we were waiting to leave when one of our roommates, Roy who lives in the hostel, asked if he could make our portraits. Roy is from Hong Kong and is basically a live-in artist who does free portraits for hostel guests. He sleeps with a box set of Friends in his bed and has never heard of Bob Marley. He is a really sweet guy though, who is so curious about our trip and who I have admiration for, because he is going against his parents wishes of him getting a corporate job. He begins drawing me and Ellie is making choking/laughing faces behind him so I can see them. It takes an hour and the portrait is horrible. I look like a wrestler and he made my hair blonde and red. Oh poor Roy, maybe you should have gone for that suit after all.

We carefully rolled our portraits up and headed off for the train station, pretty excited to be heading towards Sichuan province where the food is hot and hopefully no one wants to draw portraits.

Still Kicking.

So, November 4th passed without too much fanfare, in fact, we laid on a hammock on our own little thatched roof bungalow’s porch all day in Southern Laos, only moving when it was time to have a BeerLao and maybe some curry. Regardless of how we celebrated, it was a pretty big milestone for us. Six months of solid traveling, of living out of the same bag and wearing the same often questionably smelling garments, of taking a bus/boat/motorbike/tuk-tuk every few days to a new location, and of learning to say hello and good-bye, thank-you and delicious differently at every border crossing. So what do we make of it? I can only speak for myself, but this six months is without a doubt, the most exciting, awe-inspiring, adventurous and downright challenging 24 weeks I have ever lived.  Here’s some little lessons, anecdotes and amazing experiences that I have acquired on the road.

1.    Patience pays. I can’t count how many times (mostly in Asia) that I’ve been quoted a 5 hour bus ride and been sitting on that same bus 10 hours later. In Asia, especially the local buses of Vietnam and the share taxis of Cambodia, they enjoy riding around, sometimes for hours until they fill the bus up, making it worth their while to make the journey. This means circling the city 27 times while someone shouts “Sapa, Going to Sapa!” or “Heading on the dirt road to Sihanoukville, come along” in local dialect. Often this involves a very systematic order where first they get goods to deliver, such as, but not limited to refrigerators, chickens, breakable pottery, lampshades, bananas, and on one particular bus journey, even a one ton table saw which was nimbly lifted on to the bus roof and tied lightly with a piece of twine. After goods, come any foreigners because we can be overcharged and after that, finally, any locals who need to get anywhere along the stated route. I have grown impatient on so many journeys, only to feel like a jerk when the attendant has to be the one to lift the table saw off the top of the bus at 2pm in the afternoon in 100 degree weather. The same attendant, then climbs back aboard with a piece of cinnamon bark that he’s pulled straight from the tree for me to try as we climb through the gorgeous Northern mountains of Vietnam all while offering me a huge, if not sweaty smile. All I had to do was sit for a long time, no heavy lifting was involved so who am I to complain?.

2.    The sunrise at Angkor Wat and seeing the man-made world wonder for the first time illuminated by the sun behind it.

3.    The sound of children screaming “Hello! Hello!” and then seeing their huge toothy grins and palms waving frantically out of windows or running behind your tuk-tuk in the countryside.

4.    That first motorbike experience with a strange man as a driver. Do you put your arms around him? Do you sit side saddle like the local ladies? What’s the etiquette? Will I fall off? Will he even stop if I do? It’s an amazing feeling zipping through the rice paddies and random temples with the wind whipping through your hair.

5.    I may be the charades master when I come home, because English skills are a bonus. Learning how to communicate in places like China, South Korea and even parts of rural Laos have been challenging, but also hysterical. I knew I was starved for the English language when I got so excited to hear a Southern lady voice on the other end of my long-distance Bank of America call. You take basic communication for granted everyday of your life, until spoken word does you no good.

6.    Seeing the golden ground slowly turn into the fairy chimney landscape of Central Turkey and the sunsets over the valleys while the call to Allah plays in the background.

7.    Toilets. Last night, I was on a night bus and after nearly peeing on my leg 20 different times over the half squat toilet with bucket flusher, I would have given anything for a western toilet with paper. I have mastered flushing anything with a big bucket of water, which direction to face to manage to get my pee in the actual toilet and never blinking an eye upon seeing other women use the toilet, often right next to me. Also, I always carry paper in my purse because even 5 star hotels don’t provide it.

8.    Eating Sushi Breakfast at Tskuiji Fish market in Japan at 6 am. Eating Lobster and scallops for 2 USD on the beach in Nha Trang. Drinking fruit shakes with Jackfruit and mango. Vietnamese fresh spring rolls. Curry Amok in Cambodia. Dumplings in China. I have learned that I will go to great lengths for good food even if it means walking an hour out of my way. I have also learned that my stomach thinks this is annoying trait of mine.

9.    Taking a traditional Japanese onsen with fifty naked women ranging in ages from two to ninety-five.

10.     Reaching the top of both Bokor Hill station in Cambodia and Ulsanbawi in South Korea.

11.     Finding out that for me it’s all about the people of the country. The country can have the best restaurants, coolest bars, most interesting culture, or jaw-dropping scenery, but if they don’t have gracious people who welcome you into their country, my experience is never as good. With that said, the Cambodian people have smiles that make you feel like you’ve won the lottery. After all of the torture and genocide they faced not too long ago, it’s amazing that one group of people can be so kind, accommodating and full of life at the same time.

12.    You are fatter than Asian people and nothing will change that. It’s nothing like a little healthy reminder from the locals by pointing to you and motioning to themselves about how much bigger you are or feeling it a bit odd that the van driver seems to think he can fit 25 people in a 9 person car, but then realize that none of the Asians are complaining. Way to go Big fatty Westerner.

13.     Night trains in China are their own special experience, often resulting in people sharing strange seeds with you, pointing at you while taking a picture of you on their camera phone, stealing your book to confirm in Mandarin that “yes, you do read in English and it looks funny,” and waking up in the middle of the night to find that, yes, people do enjoy watching the “Megwuo (American),” sleep.

14.     Fire red Sunsets over the Mekong river in sleepy towns while drinking local beer.

15.    Having your own small bungalow and your own hammock that costs less than 2 USD and thinking that this relaxation cost me less than an iced tea back home.

16.    The first motorbike you see that has 3 grown-ups, 4 children and the family dog on board in Vietnam.

17.     Plastic Chairs on street corners, eating whatever someone is cooking on their tiny cart or grill.

18.    I have learned to eat spicy food. For real. Now I’m the one reaching for the chili sauce at every meal. I never thought that would be me.

19.     Other backpackers can be small replacements for the best friends that you miss or as annoying as that dreaded co-worker that you felt fortunate to leave behind. The variety of people you get on the road means you’ll love some people and hate others and half the time, you’re first impression about someone will be wrong. With that being said, it’s sometimes incredibly hard to say good-bye to friends you make on the road, never knowing when you’ll see them again, but having shared that weird bus journey, drunken night out and creepy hostel roommate with these people, you feel so connected to them.

20.    Dancing until 4am on the beach with a bunch of Khmer girls to really bad hip-hop songs. Karaoke with South Koreans.

21.    Keeping and updating a blog is a good idea in theory. It’s hard to catch up when we do lots of stuff every day to write about and the internet connections in Asia, specifically SE Asia are hard to come by. We have a hard time just emailing our family much less downloading our photos and organizing the website.

22.    Ellie and I haven’t killed each other yet so it appears true that you can be with the same person nearly 24 hours a day and not go insane ☺ In fact, she’s the best travel partner I could ever ask for.

We have so much amazement left to come in the next 7 months of our journey. The north of Laos with tubing, villages and trekking. Heading for a long 2 month stay in Thailand where my mom will join us for 2 weeks, maybe getting my diving certificate on the Thai islands, a Full-Moon Party on Ko Phangnan for New Years Eve, Real Pad thai. After Thailand, traveling south to Malaysia for more beaches, Kuala Lumpur, and hopefully some orangutuans in Borneo. Work our way down to Indonesia to see the Gili Islands and Komodo dragons and fly over to the Phillipines to swim with the gigantic whale sharks. Over to Oz to explore for a few weeks and reunite with old travel friends before making a long flight home via Hawaii, San Francisco and Mexico City, stopping at all for a last ditch effort to see as much as we can before touching down on May 21st in Miami.

After all of this time, we often get asked by people “Is there anything you miss?” and even though, I feel like I’m living in an alternate dream reality most of the time, there are totally things I miss so now I give you in no random order this list:

1.    Good Tex-mex, big salads from Caroline’s, American-size pizzas (particularly Mr. Z’s after a long night), Ambrosia sushi, any American dessert that has actual chocolate in it, hummus, falafel, conch fritters, spinach dip, omelets from Camille’s, veggie burgers from the café, and sour cream. I add something new just about daily. I told you I like food.

2.    Choosing what I wear everyday. I can’t even remember what it feels like to have a closet with more than one pair of shoes and jewelry and dresses.

3.    Mango Margarita’s, micro-brew beer, and red wine.

4.    Cheese gets its own separate category.

5.    Going to the movies. I have a running list of movies I want to rent when I get back.

6.    Parties. I miss BBQ’s, birthday parties, Thanksgivings, fiestas, dinner parties, game nights, and any good time when I can rustle up a bunch of friends or family, good food and good laughs.

7.    Going to live music shows.

8.    Sometimes the efficiency of the Western world, where it doesn’t take 2 hours to change money at the bank or having someone accountable to complain to when things go wrong on a bus trip or a meal.

9.    Having an income. It’s pretty scary to watch your money dwindle and dwindle.

10.    Having wireless internet at my disposal at all times.

11.    And most importantly, my family and friends. I am shocked to hear my beautiful niece talk to me now on the end of the Skype call. I miss my mom’s cooking and her laugh where once she gets going, she can’t stop. I miss convincing Lauren to dance with strangers at music festivals. I miss the way that Gena and Merlin weave so effortlessly into the grand scheme of my life. I miss Sunday brunches with Natalie. I miss sitting on the front porch with Rachel. I miss sitting on my couch, watching bad reality TV with Cory. I miss meeting my Key West friends at the beach or at Melissa’s for some beers in the back room. I miss Dairy Queen runs with Caitlin. I miss spending time in St. Augustine with Ellie’s family, especially her mom’s bread and orange marmalade and her sister’s crazy high-school dramas. I miss going to brunch with my brother Joe at Goldman’s. I miss all of these people all of the time and there is no substitute for any of them. You never appreciate how nice it is to have people who already know your history and don’t mind when you scratch your butt or wear clothes that don’t match. Meeting new people everyday and having to explain where you come from, why you’re here, what you were like in 5th grade, can get tiring. It’s nice to have people who remember what you were like in 5th grade, for better or worse.

With that said, Thanks for reading this blog thus far and hopefully, it’s been helpful or entertaining or maybe just a time-consuming diversion from work. We’ll try to catch it up in Thailand where we hear internet is everywhere. We’ll work hard, that is, when we’re not eating Thai curry and drinking buckets of Thai alcohols on beautiful beaches ☺