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Shanghai - Guilin - Yangshou - Hanoi

23rd October 2006

I'm sitting writing this diary entry whilst on a sleeper train to Hanoi, Vietnam.

It's been two hours since I boarded and I've only got another 13 hrs to go – ahhhh! I can imagine what you're thinking, but it's honestly not that bad – it's actually rather enjoyable!

There are four of us in the one compartment – my Mum, two Aussie’s called Marcus and Olivia - and myself. The bottom two beds act as a place to sit during the day and I've been assigned to the top bunk for sleeping. It's a bit of a scramble up there, but it's cozy enough.

Now that I am cozy, it gives me time to reflect on my time in China so far, which has only been two weeks to the day, but feels like forever. It's weird how that happens isn't it? When you're on holiday, just a couple of weeks can feel like a lifetime and that's how it feels for me!

The day my Mum and I arrived in Shanghai, the heavens had opened up and it poured with rain all day. I didn't mind about this though, as it gave me time to play with my cousins - oh and what cuties they are.

William is five and Thomas is three – both are bilingual in Chinese and English and then there is the new little nipper Jonathon who's only two months old. It was great being with them, as I don't get to see them and my Auntie and Uncle very much.

The first thing that hits you when you get to China is the incredible volume of people – there is no doubt about it being the most highly populated country in the world.

If you're a fan of Chinese food then get on over here. The most I've paid for a dish has been the equivalent of £1.50 – what a bargain.

The best places I reckon are where you get to pick and choose what you want to eat from a fresh food counter, comprising of every vegetable under the sun and ditto for fish.

Most of the fish are still alive swimming around in fish tanks – you just point at which one you'd like and they pluck it out for you – it couldn't be any fresher.

My time in Shanghai has been spent mainly with my family doing 'everyday duties' such as food shopping – which is an experience and a half. The local supermarket 'Carrefour' is unlike any other. What makes it so different are the 'fresh produce' aisles – that’s when you eyes begin to widen.

The fish for example – instead of being dead and lying behind the glass screen, here in China it's like being at an aquarium. Here they give it to you alive in a bag and then you pop it in your trolley and carry on with your weekly shopping. A shopping trip not for the faint hearted!

After Shanghai, out next port of call was Guilin. Originally we were going to take a 27 hour train ride to here, but opted for the two-hour flight instead. As soon as we arrived here we hopped into a taxi to Yangshou – a place recommended to us by one of my Uncle's friends.

It was dark by the time we arrived at the airport and I was rather sleepy and kept dosing off in the taxi. But when I was awake I peered through the windows and strained my eyes to see what was before me. It was hard to make out at first, but as my eyes adjusted to the night sky I was able to see the outlines of huge limestone pinnacles thrusting from the ground. As they weren't really clear, I couldn't wait to awake the next morning to see them clearly – and I wasn't disappointed.

When I woke up and looked out of our hostel window, there was a huge one towering above us - directly behind out hostel. These pinnacles surround the town of Yangshou and it was actually slightly surreal at first, when I kept seeing them out of the corner of my eye. However, it made a fantastic change from seeing the gigantic 'high-rises' in Shanghai though.

Yangshou itself is an odd place, a bit like a 'Newquay' of China. It has all the usual tourist shops, loads of restaurants - as well as all the tourists to go with it - the bulk of them being Chinese.

If you didn't know this already, the majority of the Chinese don't have passports as they are so expensive and only the rich can afford them – so they all take vacations in their own country. This is fine really, as China is just huge.

For two of our days here, we hired bikes and a guide and went off to explore the countryside - now that's an experience I'll never forget! Our guide was called Fengjing and if it hadn't been for her we would never have gone down all the little paths that we did. As I slowly peddled along (and I mean slowly, as it was so hot), I watched as farmers tended their crops and their water buffalo and witnessed how the local villagers got on with their daily chores.

Their lives are so simple there, yet so hard. They wake early in the morning, tend to their crops, cook their crops to feed themselves, do more work, rest - and then do it all over again the next day. Many of the Chinese lifestyles are so hard and it has made me realize just how lucky I am to have born in the UK.

On our first day with Fengjing she cooked us lunch at her family home in a small village near Yangshou. Her house was very basic, with no carpets or painted walls – just somewhere to sit and eat. She cooked us our lunch in a mud brick building behind her house (the kitchen) and it was so tasty.

Apart from the biking, we went on a lovely boat ride up the Li River. We managed to get a local boat for the Chinese price, which was half of what the tourists pay. This was because I got talking to a Chinese girl just before we boarded and she told me that they were only paying 25 Y. So to the annoyance of the boat owner, I managed to get us a bargain trip by saying I knew what the others were paying!

Rachael at work at ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Cornwall
The scenery here was amazing – seeing the outcrops so close up was fantastic – they were even bigger when they were towering hundreds of feet directly above you. That bought us to the end of our stay here and next it was onto Guilin for two days, before catching our train to Hanoi, which is were I started writing this entry.

Now I am sat in Hanoi railway station, after a hectic day in this crazy but beautiful city. But that will be saved for the next entry of my travel diary.

Before I sign off I will tell you a little bit more about our stay in Guilin. A big, noisy, busy, hot city - with endless shops and restaurants. If you want bargains – then Guilin is for you. As I'm away for so long though, I have been ever so good and only bought a couple of pairs of earrings – which I am addicted to – you should see my collection at home.

Well folks, that's all I have to report from China – I shouldn't really use the words 'that’s all', as I seem to have written a short book here instead of a diary entry. Oh well, I did apologise at the beginning didn't I...

I am now finishing this entry off whilst sat in a hotel called 'Mountain View Hotel' in Northwest Vietnam, in a place called Sapa. It is truly beautiful here – but more on that and the rest of travels in my next entry.

See you later, Rachael x