[Barts trip of a lifetime!] Living the Dream in China
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Bart
Oct 20, 2010, 6:23:04 AM10/20/10
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Ladies and gents,
It has been a long time since my last update. This is because of inregular (or very slow) Internet access, lack of time, but most important, my laptop broke down, so I'm very dependent on pc's in hostels etc. Anyway, tomorrow I will be leaving China already, after spending nearly 4 weeks here. And it has been absolutely amazing! Soooo, I will try to keep it short this time and to fill you in with the major things that happened during my stay here in China. The pics will follow later!
BEIJING!
In the train from Mongolia to Beijing I met 2 dutch girls. Two awesome chicks, Hanneke and Tamara. Up to this moment we are still traveling together. We're a match made in heaven the 3 of us! And the way it looks now, we will keep continuing traveling for the next few weeks as well!
In Beijing I spent 10 awesome days. I can not even describe how it was! But I will try nevertheless. It was my very first experience with China. The minute I walked off the train platform and set foot on the streets of Beijing, I walked into a whole new world! Unbelieveble busy, crowded and completely confusing. Nothing made any sense to me. Every sign, shop, advertisement etc. was written in Chinese. From that minute I realized I would be completely dependent of others helping me out. I mean, I couldnt even order a coke in a simple polite way! Luckily for me, I stayed with a dutch dude who has been living here for quite some years now. He picked me up from the trainstation (although it was already an adventure to meet him in the insane crowd). The first couple of days he was able to help me out perfectly! I stayed in his kickass apartment, 30 minutes outside of the 'centre', where I quickly met some other dudes who were staying there as well. All dutchies, all entrepeneurs and they were all awesome! Some legendary clubnights were held with these fella's I can tell!
The first night in town I met a girl in a bar named Gauri. She was from India. We hitted it off quite well and she told me she stayed with a classmate and friend (also a dutch dude) somewhere in Beijing. We decided to hang out together that week. With these people and also the dutch girls, I did the most awesome things in Beijing. Highlight was - of course - the Chinese Wall. An experience of a lifetime. It was so amazing. Especially since we ignored the 'forbidden for tourist' signs along the wall, and kept on walking. This way, we came on the 'non touristic' area of the wall, which basicly meant, only ruins, no people and lot of nature and stunning views! Take a look at the pics and you'll understand what I mean. The last few days of my visit in Beijing I stayed in a hostel, where the girls where staying as well. The hostel kicked ass. Amazingly cheap beers, clean dorms and great service! From there we booked our trip by train to the next major city! Shanghai!
Shanghai
The most 'futuristic' city I've ever seen. The skyline near 'the Bunt' could easily fit in a sci-fi movie. It's like alien architecture! Incredible but stunning. Shanghai was extreme expensive however. The girls and me stayed in a hostel for 2 days. However, I already contacted a girl through couchsurfing, back in Beijing. It turned out she was able to host me and the girls in her beautiful apartment in city centre Shanghai! Damn her apartment was huge!! Plenty of room for the 3 of us. We stayed at her place for another 2 days. She was awesome! Meg... Thanx again for the best time! Of course we visited the World Expo during our 4 day stay in Shanghai! We were prepared for insane crowds, longs ques and lots of waiting. But we had luck... it turned out, we visited the expo on the LEAST BUSY DAY SO FAR. How cool... hardly no ques, and we were able to visit the Holland Stand without any waiting! Awesome. Funny thing, we ate kroketten en friet there :D. Other than that, Shanghai has little to offer to tourists, so we already planned the next move upon arrival at the city!!! NEXT STOP WOULD BE
Yangshuo - BACKPACKERS HEAVEN
Tears in my eye (figure of speech ofcourse) while writing about this place. It was amaaaaazing. Very small town up in the west of China (30 hours of travel from Shanghai) but man was it worth it. The town was very cosy and small. LOTS AND LOTS of hostels, bars, clubs and shops, but the best part, it was in the middle of the Pointy LIME MOUNTAINS. The view we had from our roof-terrace in the hostel was breathtaking! Check the pics for that! This place kept us busy for almost a week. Were it not for the insane alcohol consumption (happy hour 24/7 - 1,5L beer for 1,5 euro, double whiskey, Jameson, 2,5 euro) we did the most adventurous things so far!
The list!
- Biking through the nature
- Caving, including mudbaths (girls in bikini and mud - muhahahaha), hot springs and cave swimming pools (froze my ass off)
- Rock climbing!!!!!!
- DRIFTING - which i thought was something like 'rafting'. But I couldnt be more wrong. Instead you got yourself a small rubber boat and you were trown off an insane fierce river! The pics will say enough!
- Renting scooters for an awesome trip through the mountain area with peepz from the hostel. Highlight was the 'dragon bridge'. I jumped from it, 10 meters high!!! WHAT A KICK!
- Hiking up to moon Hill, for amazing viewpoints!
- EATING SNAKE. We got ourselves a living snake for dinner. After playing with it first, a lady came and cut off the head with a pair of siccors. I was the 'lucky' one to eat the snake's heart (still beating in your hand) and drink some of the blood! The rest of the snake went into the kitchen for some 'bone soup' and 'snake meat with rice'! NICE!
The best part however, is the fact that I met 2 awesome scottish dudes there. They will go to vietnam the same date as I was planning to. We have decided to get ourselves some motorbikes and drive along the coast for 2 weeks from Hanoi to Saigon. The girls will join too... I CANT WAIT FOR THIS.
And now here I am. The last place in China, before we're heading to LAOS! It's called Lijiang. Very touristic, but incredible pitoresque. From here we did the famous TIGER LEAPING GORGE. A hike which is described as 'the mother of all hikes'. It even claimed a few deaths in the past. (google on tiger leaping gorge). THIS WAS A WORKOUT like I had never experienced before, but man was it worth it. 2 days hiking through the mountains, litteraly with my head in the clouds, and descents of 100's of meters with no fences around to protect you! The girls and I took the hike in the 'worst case scenario'. Lots of rain and on our sneakers! BUT WE MADE IT. It was incredible! It was almost unbearable on some times (soaking wet of the rain, covered in mud, swearing my ass of) but in the end, it was all worht it!
Alright, this was a brief update of my adventures so far. Tomorrow we'll heading for Laos. First thing on the to-do list is the famous 'Gibbon Experience'. Which means we will live in the rain forest in treehouses for a few days, finding our way from treetop to treetop by ziplines! We are warned tho! Some peepz who we met in the hostel here, told us there will be spiders larger than your hand in Laos! And the best part is! There are hardly any hospitals nor doctors in Laos! SWEEET! LOOKING FORWARD TO IT!
PEACE OUT Bert
click here for pics < coming soon >
--
Geplaatst door Bart op Barts trip of a lifetime! op 10/20/2010 12:23:00 PM
It has been a long time since my last update. This is because of inregular (or very slow) Internet access, lack of time, but most important, my laptop broke down, so I'm very dependent on pc's in hostels etc. Anyway, tomorrow I will be leaving China already, after spending nearly 4 weeks here. And it has been absolutely amazing! Soooo, I will try to keep it short this time and to fill you in with the major things that happened during my stay here in China. The pics will follow later!
BEIJING!
In the train from Mongolia to Beijing I met 2 dutch girls. Two awesome chicks, Hanneke and Tamara. Up to this moment we are still traveling together. We're a match made in heaven the 3 of us! And the way it looks now, we will keep continuing traveling for the next few weeks as well!
In Beijing I spent 10 awesome days. I can not even describe how it was! But I will try nevertheless. It was my very first experience with China. The minute I walked off the train platform and set foot on the streets of Beijing, I walked into a whole new world! Unbelieveble busy, crowded and completely confusing. Nothing made any sense to me. Every sign, shop, advertisement etc. was written in Chinese. From that minute I realized I would be completely dependent of others helping me out. I mean, I couldnt even order a coke in a simple polite way! Luckily for me, I stayed with a dutch dude who has been living here for quite some years now. He picked me up from the trainstation (although it was already an adventure to meet him in the insane crowd). The first couple of days he was able to help me out perfectly! I stayed in his kickass apartment, 30 minutes outside of the 'centre', where I quickly met some other dudes who were staying there as well. All dutchies, all entrepeneurs and they were all awesome! Some legendary clubnights were held with these fella's I can tell!
The first night in town I met a girl in a bar named Gauri. She was from India. We hitted it off quite well and she told me she stayed with a classmate and friend (also a dutch dude) somewhere in Beijing. We decided to hang out together that week. With these people and also the dutch girls, I did the most awesome things in Beijing. Highlight was - of course - the Chinese Wall. An experience of a lifetime. It was so amazing. Especially since we ignored the 'forbidden for tourist' signs along the wall, and kept on walking. This way, we came on the 'non touristic' area of the wall, which basicly meant, only ruins, no people and lot of nature and stunning views! Take a look at the pics and you'll understand what I mean. The last few days of my visit in Beijing I stayed in a hostel, where the girls where staying as well. The hostel kicked ass. Amazingly cheap beers, clean dorms and great service! From there we booked our trip by train to the next major city! Shanghai!
Shanghai
The most 'futuristic' city I've ever seen. The skyline near 'the Bunt' could easily fit in a sci-fi movie. It's like alien architecture! Incredible but stunning. Shanghai was extreme expensive however. The girls and me stayed in a hostel for 2 days. However, I already contacted a girl through couchsurfing, back in Beijing. It turned out she was able to host me and the girls in her beautiful apartment in city centre Shanghai! Damn her apartment was huge!! Plenty of room for the 3 of us. We stayed at her place for another 2 days. She was awesome! Meg... Thanx again for the best time! Of course we visited the World Expo during our 4 day stay in Shanghai! We were prepared for insane crowds, longs ques and lots of waiting. But we had luck... it turned out, we visited the expo on the LEAST BUSY DAY SO FAR. How cool... hardly no ques, and we were able to visit the Holland Stand without any waiting! Awesome. Funny thing, we ate kroketten en friet there :D. Other than that, Shanghai has little to offer to tourists, so we already planned the next move upon arrival at the city!!! NEXT STOP WOULD BE
Yangshuo - BACKPACKERS HEAVEN
Tears in my eye (figure of speech ofcourse) while writing about this place. It was amaaaaazing. Very small town up in the west of China (30 hours of travel from Shanghai) but man was it worth it. The town was very cosy and small. LOTS AND LOTS of hostels, bars, clubs and shops, but the best part, it was in the middle of the Pointy LIME MOUNTAINS. The view we had from our roof-terrace in the hostel was breathtaking! Check the pics for that! This place kept us busy for almost a week. Were it not for the insane alcohol consumption (happy hour 24/7 - 1,5L beer for 1,5 euro, double whiskey, Jameson, 2,5 euro) we did the most adventurous things so far!
The list!
- Biking through the nature
- Caving, including mudbaths (girls in bikini and mud - muhahahaha), hot springs and cave swimming pools (froze my ass off)
- Rock climbing!!!!!!
- DRIFTING - which i thought was something like 'rafting'. But I couldnt be more wrong. Instead you got yourself a small rubber boat and you were trown off an insane fierce river! The pics will say enough!
- Renting scooters for an awesome trip through the mountain area with peepz from the hostel. Highlight was the 'dragon bridge'. I jumped from it, 10 meters high!!! WHAT A KICK!
- Hiking up to moon Hill, for amazing viewpoints!
- EATING SNAKE. We got ourselves a living snake for dinner. After playing with it first, a lady came and cut off the head with a pair of siccors. I was the 'lucky' one to eat the snake's heart (still beating in your hand) and drink some of the blood! The rest of the snake went into the kitchen for some 'bone soup' and 'snake meat with rice'! NICE!
The best part however, is the fact that I met 2 awesome scottish dudes there. They will go to vietnam the same date as I was planning to. We have decided to get ourselves some motorbikes and drive along the coast for 2 weeks from Hanoi to Saigon. The girls will join too... I CANT WAIT FOR THIS.
And now here I am. The last place in China, before we're heading to LAOS! It's called Lijiang. Very touristic, but incredible pitoresque. From here we did the famous TIGER LEAPING GORGE. A hike which is described as 'the mother of all hikes'. It even claimed a few deaths in the past. (google on tiger leaping gorge). THIS WAS A WORKOUT like I had never experienced before, but man was it worth it. 2 days hiking through the mountains, litteraly with my head in the clouds, and descents of 100's of meters with no fences around to protect you! The girls and I took the hike in the 'worst case scenario'. Lots of rain and on our sneakers! BUT WE MADE IT. It was incredible! It was almost unbearable on some times (soaking wet of the rain, covered in mud, swearing my ass of) but in the end, it was all worht it!
Alright, this was a brief update of my adventures so far. Tomorrow we'll heading for Laos. First thing on the to-do list is the famous 'Gibbon Experience'. Which means we will live in the rain forest in treehouses for a few days, finding our way from treetop to treetop by ziplines! We are warned tho! Some peepz who we met in the hostel here, told us there will be spiders larger than your hand in Laos! And the best part is! There are hardly any hospitals nor doctors in Laos! SWEEET! LOOKING FORWARD TO IT!
PEACE OUT Bert
click here for pics < coming soon >
--
Geplaatst door Bart op Barts trip of a lifetime! op 10/20/2010 12:23:00 PM
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