January 3, 2011 • 10:31 am 1
After much drama in an attempt to get back to Hangzhou in time for my flight today, I found myself tucked into a neat little bed onboard an overnight bus/coach.
(Unfortunately I didn’t take this photo – it was found on google images)
Yes I travelled from Fuzhou to Hangzhou last night on one of these. Such an awesome concept. I boarded a bit before 7pm last night and arrived this morning around 4am.
December 26, 2010 • 7:12 pm 2
December 7, 2010 • 2:27 pm 1
August 21, 2010 • 3:00 am 0
August 21, 2010 • 2:03 am 0
An ad for plastic surgery.
On the subway, Seoul.
(Not a great photo. Caption reads: “CHANGE YOUR EYES”)
Filed under: Spotto., Travels., ad, korea, plastic surgery
August 15, 2010 • 12:24 am 0
August 2, 2010 • 7:15 pm 0
Summing up that India trip:
July 5, 2010 • 4:12 pm 0
So Em Finlay dropped by China (again) last saturday and with barely an itinerary in mind, accommodation booked in some fairly unknown hole and an average temperature of 6000 degrees celcius, we took on the capital of China together.
Day one we made a visit to Tiananmen Square where Em pointed out that there was a very large portrait of some random Chinese man against the wall. Later, when I briefed her on the Forbidden City and explained to her that it was where the Chinese emperors lived, she replied with, “cool so do they still live there?” That night we took on peking duck in some super expensive restaurant (where water came at a price of $20) as well as 白酒 (a poisonous Chinese rice wine), which turned out to be a bad idea even before it was served. It didn’t help that we had planned to visit the night markets afterwards, because under the effect of 白酒, the idea of snacking on bugs, centipedes, sheep penises and everything else on the menu no longer seemed that terrible an idea. Ok we only tried centipedes. More specifically, Richard (an american friend we made) and I tried centipedes. Em watched.
2pm day two we departed on a little van to the Great Wall of China. As part of a tour organised by our hostel, we were to climb a less-visited part of the Great Wall and spend a night in one of the watchtowers. (Let me add here that Em originally had no idea what “climbing” the wall involved as she was under the impression it was simply a brick wall of some sort..)
With slightly more knowledge of the wall than Em, still I was unprepared for this:
It was a slightly unpleasant climb for my havaianas, especially when it began to pour. Surprisingly, they actually lasted, and only faithfully passed away two days after the climb. So now I am able to claim that I climbed the Great Wall in a pair of thongs. Pretty impressive stuff I think…
We camped out at this watchtower for the night with a nice load of beer and a whole lot of meat on skewers:
It was an awesome experience but somehow another failed sunset and sunrise experience. Damn my luck.
Filed under: Travels., baijiu, beijing, centipedes, emily, great wall
June 8, 2010 • 2:10 pm 0
Said to be the main inspiration for the setting of Avatar, Huangshan (黄山) is every bit as beautiful as such a claim makes it out to be. Last Friday, ML and I trekked out to the mountains on a two-day tour and gave my calves the work-out of a lifetime.
Day One: The climb to Bright Summit Peak (光明顶), Huangshan’s second highest peak took approximately 5 hours. The mountainous scenery which seemed absolutely amazing along the way was no longer as spectacular once we reached the top.
Because this:
very soon turned into this:
The higher we climbed, the cloudier and mistier it got, and the more magical and fantasy-like the landscape became. Though we had been blessed with a nice sunny day, the realities of Huangshan’s rainy season eventually kicked in. Approximately 500m away from Bright Summit Peak (around 6pm), it began pouring. Sunset plans went down the drain and so did my socks and shoes after I gave my umbrella to a father and kid. Completely soaked and freezing my ass off, little did I know that the worse part had yet to come.
Our accommodation for the night was a hotel at the top of Bright Summit Peak. (“Hotel” possibly being too generous a description.) Having selected the economy package, I had prepared myself for the bad. However, nowhere near the ‘bad’ we were faced with – five or so bunk beds shoved (because there could not be a better word to describe the arrangement) into an attic with a leaking roof and decaying walls, crammed with an unbelievable number of grandmothers.
Day Two: Our sunrise experience sucked almost as bad as our sunset one. Not only was the peak so packed that our view was entirely blanketed by a sea of heads as opposed to a sea of clouds, the post-rain cloudiness meant we had quite a hesistant sun and subsequently an overall disappointing viewing.
Just of interest, food and general items are sold at ridiculously inflated prices at the top of the mountain as they are carried up by hand. Similarly, due to the short water supply, large items which require washing such as bed sheets from the hotels (obviously not for our room) are also carried down the mountain to be washed. Carried in such a style:
It’s absolutely impressive. We struggled up and down the mountain with simply our backpacks and these guys carry ten bags of rice at a time with total ease.
Filed under: Travels., accommodation, Huangshan, mountain, yellow
April 19, 2010 • 4:21 pm 4
Apparently anyone with the slightest bit of common sense would know that you should carry your passport with you when you travel. HL and I failed to fit in that category. Upon arriving in Shanghai, we were refused accommodation, kidnapped and taken to the police station (though not quite the kidnapped part).
Initially told that we just needed to pay a fine and they will sort out some temporary thing for us, none of this actually happened when we reached the police station. Instead we were provided a lecture about Chinese laws and other stuff we could not quite comprehend, before given the option of going back to Hangzhou or asking our teachers to bring our passports over. After a ridiculous half hour we were finally escorted out, but not before I told them ” 没关系，我告诉我们政府”, which literally translates to “don’t worry, I’ll let our government know”. (WZ I hope you are proud.) This in no way meant that our weekend was over however. Instead it meant we got away from paying for our own room (with MB) and crashed our other friends’ room, which we succeeded in doing so by staying out late and sneaking in at ridiculously early hours.
Shopping was awesome. My bargaining skills have definitely sharpened fantastically and I now have shoes. Shanghai night life is also more exciting than Hangzhou. In fact, Shanghai took my gay-bar virginity. How it manages to stay underground yet so popular in a country like China is beyond me.
The city is so beautiful at night. I took some pretty awesome photos (I like to think so):
Filed under: Life., Travels., gay bar, passport, shanghai, shopping
