Five Star Luxury in Borneo

Countries Visited : 7 (Turkey, India, Nepal, Thailand, China, Singapore, Malaysia)
Flights Taken : 14
Hotel Rooms stayed in since 1st Sept : 29 

We had a very long day starting at 4am to catch the flight to to Singapore. We then had to wait round there for 5 hours, we checked out the famous cactus garden and also fell like people possessed into the Burger King (proper Western Food  - yum yum!!). It was then onto Kota Kinabulu in Borneo (Malaysia) where we arrived at the hotel at 9pm.

We are making no excuses for this part but we don't intend to do much for the next 3 weeks apart from chill out around the pool and beach. After a month of 6am alarm calls and slightly dodgy food we really need to relax. Thanks to a great deal Helen got we are certainly at the place to do it. We are staying at the five star Shangri La Tanjung Aru resort which is beautiful. On arrival we enquired about upgrading to breakfast and got a reasonable price for the special club here. This means breakfast served to us in a beautiful setting overlooking the sea and more importantly included alcohlic drinks from 5 to 7pm every evening. They are very liberal with the drinks (Chris managed to get 5 whiskey and cokes in the time last night!!). They also serve lovely food with the drinks (its supposed to be a pre dinner snack but it definately sufices as dinner).

So dont expect to see many blog enteries in the next few weeks. We are definately going to go and see the orangutans and maybe some other trips but we have 3 weeks so we are in no rush to do anything.


View from my pool lounger as I uploaded all the Chinese part of the blog!!



Suzhou and Hangzhou (11th – 13th Nov)

 We once again boarded the happy bus to travel from Shanghai to Suzhou. We had one stop en route to the obligatory selling place - this time a silk factory. Ruth rather fancied some silk pyjamas but resisted after seeing the price (£86) and had a reality check about what else could be purchased for the same amount.

We went to acouple of famous gardens (‘Master of the Nets’ garden and the 'Humble Administrators Garden'). The first was a small place with a massive pond in the middle and very manicured. The second had nothing humble about it and was on a very large scale with lots of water.

We also took a trip along the Grand Canal and finally became aware why Suzhou is know as the “Venice of the East”, a couple of streets really were like Venice but with the Chinese lanterns hanging up. It was a really pretty place.

The next day we drove on to Hangzhou which again turned out to be a pretty town with tree lined streets and a massive lake in the middle. Hangzhou has a very large temple with stone Buddha carvings set into rocks which were quite impressive. We also went out to a tea plantation.

The next day we drove back to Shanghai and looked around a market. Our plane for Singapore (catching a connecting flight to Borneo) left at 8am so it was a very early start the next day.

So there we have it. 4 weeks of touring in China over and done with. We did enjoy it and we saw many wonderful things but we just found the constant on and off the coach difficult plus the mealtimes. Lunch and dinner (and there were over 50 of them) were spent around a communal table with communal dishes put in the middle of a lazy susan. We got really really fed up of this. Some meals were of a much better standard than others. However we craved some simple "un messed with" food like a cheese sandwich or a baked potato. Unlike the Indian tour in China it was very regimented as to when you had to do things i.e.  eat now, you have 45 mins here, on the coach etc - there was no flexibility to make our own choices (but this is the nature of a tour like this).

Anyway some statistics

Number of hotel rooms stayed in in China : 13 (includes 1 overnight train and a 3 night cruise)
Internal Flights Caught : 4
Ruth Fav bits : Great wall, Terracotta Warriers, Lights in Shanghai at night
Ruth worst bits : The weather (was perpetually cold), the Fog/smog, people smoking everywhere and blowing it in your face, Chinese men yakking up flem all over the place.
Chris Fav bits : Three Gorges Cruise and along the tributeries, Great Wall
Chris worst bits : Hard Beds and 6 o'clock wake ups, disapointing food sometimes

Travelling on the Fastest Train on Earth Shanghai (8th – 9th Nov)

 We flew into Shanghai and were disappointed to note that the grey smog and cold seemed to be present. However we soon cheered up after having an evening cruise down the Huangpu River to admire all the lights and sky scrappers (the guide said we were seeing the ‘highlights’ of Shanghai). We found this really spectacular. In a country which we have found drab, bleak and grey (apart from a few exceptions) the bright lights and the amazing skyscrapers were honestly breathtaking and really grabbed our attention. It happened to be Chris’s birthday that evening and it was a wonderful way to spend a birthday evening. At one point some fireworks went off also (well done to Ruth for arranging this!).

The next day was spent walking round the museum  (apologies to anyone cultured but we found this a bit boring we really were not interested in collections of ancient Chinese coins, sculptures, pots, paintings ... in fact 4 floors of it (the ancient Chinese costumes were quite interesting as they looked like Star Trek costumes)). Anyway we managed to get a pass out so Chris could have a fag!.

After this we went down to the Bund (financial district opposite all the sky scrappers) and watched a Chinese commercial being filmed during which the actors were clearly freezing (it passed the time!).

We then took a ride on the fastest train on earth the Maglev train reaching a speed of 431 km per hour (thats 270 miles per hour to any maths teachers reading). It was a strange feeling especially when it tilted and when another train came past in the opposite direction - several swear words were heard in the cabin.

In the evening we went out for a “hot pot”. No nothing like Betty in Coronation Street. The guide had been raving about this for weeks. Basically it was like a fondue where everyone got an individual cooking pot (half spicy, half coconut milk) and you had to cook stuff in it. It was not a great success, they made us wear frilly aprons (we noted that none of the Chinese were wearing these!!), we were concerned about how long to cook the raw pork and chicken for so ended up overdoing it. Plus boiled lettuce is not really a good taste. Still it was an experience!!

We are now beginning to flag on the tour. It has been nearly 4 weeks and we are getting a bit sick of getting on and off a coach and being told where and when to eat. Plus its all Chinese – we don’t want any more sweet and soar food for a considerable amount of time after this. Also one particular person on the tour is really beginning to grate on the old nerves. In fact although India and Nepal were very hard work and sweaty we did actually really enjoy it compared to this tour. India was a real shock to every sense. China is not, its so Westernised (in many respects they have overtaken us). We are definitely not taken by China. Still not long to go now and we will be relaxing on that Borneo beach!!.

Karst Admiring - Guilin and Yangshou (5th – 7th Nov)

 We took a flight to Guilin and when we arrived the temperature was really warm (about 25) which certainly made a difference to shivering for the majority of the rest of the time. There was also no fog or smog which was great.

We admired the lime stone karsts around the area (just like Krabi but with no sea!). First up was a 5 hour boat trip along the Li River to admire the scenery. It was very interesting but 5 hours didn’t half drag. There were no seats upstairs outside so if you wanted to sit down you had to sit in the cramped and very hot downstairs cabin. However the scenery was amazing. We went through the 7 horses rocks (you are supposed to be able to visualise horses in the rocks), Chris could make out 1 (Ruth none despite it being pointed out extensively). We were also able to admire the fishing villages en route and see lots of cormorant fishermen. The whole trip was a bit of a tourist trap with a convoy of 8 boats following each other, (they do like a group tour in China!)

We arrived at the pretty town of Yangshou and stayed the night. In the evening we went out on the town and visited a German Beer Pub (!!), it was really nice to sit outside in the evening in the warm temperature. The next morning we drove back to Guilin and did the tourist sights of the town. These included the obligatory gift shop of the “famous” pearl factory (we managed to resist), the really famous Reed Flute Cave (which was spectacular) and climbed 400 steps to admire the view from the top of Mount Deicai.

In the evening we went to see a cormorant fishing show. Unfortunately the Chinese weather had reverted to type and it was raining heavily. However we were able to clearly see the birds (with their throats tied) swimming alongside the bamboo raft and diving down for the fish and bringing them back to the fishermen.

Stone Forests and Temples - Kunming and Dali (31st Oct – 4th Nov)

Arriving in Kunming we realised we had arrived at a different temperature zone compared to everywhere else we had been in China. On stepping off the plane it was bright sunshine and about 20 degrees which was a welcome relief. Kunming is known as the city of “eternal spring” because that describes its climate. Temperatures range from about 10 at night to 21 in the day the whole year round. It means that flowers are always blooming and they have 2 harvests a year.

Anyway first stop was the Stone Forest, a geological phenomenon. Basically thousands of limestone pinnacles that have been eroded over the years (if you're reading this Dad you would have loved it!). Some of the pinnacles are supposed to look like things such as an elephant. We had a lovely walk through some of the narrow passages and steep inclines up to the top of the forest where we had a great view. It was really nice to be in a natural setting rather than the bleak high rises which is what we have seen for the rest of the trip in China (even on the boat trip there were lots of high rises to house the displaced people after the dam project).

The next morning we had a 5 hour bus journey further East to the ancient town of Dali. This is a beautiful town set in front of a lake with mountains (the start of the Himalayas) behind. First stop was to explore a temple complex which spread up the hillside. There were 3 ancient Pagodas and behind them leading up the mountain different temples leading to a massive one with a ginormous Buddha  inside. It was really nice to be able to explore around the complex ourselves, however we did not always understand what we were seeing as all explanations were in Chinese.

Next morning we went out to one of the surrounding villages. This area is populated by ethnic groups. Most people young and old were wearing their traditional clothes. We went inside a local courtyard and market.

In the afternoon we went out on a boat on the lake (the 7’th largest in China) we went over to a traditional island and walked round the village on the island.

 

Cruising the Three Gorges (27th to 30th Oct)

Flights taken : 9       Number of times its not been a foggy/smoggy day in China so far : 2

We took a very early fight from Xian to Wuhan which was very pleasant (we were even given a Chinese type sandwich). We then drove for about 4 hours to Yichang which is where we could pick up our cruise from. We visited the museum in Yichang and saw lots of stuff they had managed to excavate before a lot of the area flooded due to the Three Gorges Dam project.

We boarded our cruise a 6 decker called “Presidents Cruise Number 2”. We upgraded to a balcony room (mainly so Chris could smoke on it!!). The cruise is Chinese 5 star luxury (so really for us that is 3 stars) it is comfortable and we have a bathroom in our cabin and the most comfortable bed we have slept in so far (the Chinese like very hard beds). The only problem with the boat was when it docked other ships would tie up along side us which rather negated the balcony view (unless you want to have 23 Chinese people waving and pointing at you). It was also noisy with the engine from the other boat and this made it difficult to sleep.

Anyway we spent 4 nights on the boat; they had a fab laundry service so we were able to get everything washed. We learnt how to play Majong one evening and though complicated with some difficult Chinese characters to recognise was a really interesting game. The food (3 meals a day) was also great. Every morning they would play music into our cabin to tell us to wake up and get down to breakfast. There would also be lots of announcements telling us when we had to go on trips and eat dinner. We even got a phone call when we did not turn up to one of the evening functions. We came to dread the tannoy greeting of “hello dear guests this is your river guide Ruby speaking ..”

It was really nice to relax on the boat and admire the scenery of the Three Gorges as we sailed past. Certainly some dramatic landscape with amazing cliffs rising out of the river.

We took 3 trips of the boat during the cruise. The first one was to see the famous dam.  It definitely was a feat of engineering but again the weather was doing its Chinese thing and was foggy and rainy. However we did admire the locks we would be passing through later.

The second trip we went on was down the Shennong Stream in which we sat in a traditional sampan and were paddled along the river (along with 100s of Chinese tourists). They also demonstrated how they used to pull the boat along with bamboo ropes (this was before the dam and the rising of the river level). The guide we had was really nice and sang traditional songs to us on the boat on the way back.

The final trip was to the ghost mountain in Fengdu. This was a kind of ancient tourist place which was supposed to be haunted and had all sorts of superstitions attached to it. There were also Buddhist and Taoist temples on the mountain. The main temple at the top of the mountain has lot of models supposedly depicting hell. However there was a bridge that if you managed to step over in 9 steps you would not go to hell and you were a good person so we felt OK.

We disembarked from the cruise at Chongqing which we had never heard of but turned out to be a major city of 33 million people. It is in Sichuan province which we had only heard of because of the spicy food. However Sichuan is also famous for its Pandas. We were taken to the zoo in Chongqing and managed to see about 5 different pandas that looked really well cared for. It was really nice to see them so close up; they seemed more interested in eating their bamboo rather than us. The zoo was in the middle of the city so was surrounded by the traditional Chinese high rises which was pretty weird – the occupants of the flats must have got a great view over the giraffes.

We then went to Erlin Park in the city; this is supposed to provide panoramic views. Unfortunately like most days (apparently normal in the autumn and winter) it was foggy/smoggy. However we met an artist who for a small fee wrote our names out in Chinese type writing and then laminated them (we were very impressed with his entrepreneurial skills).

We then went to the airport to catch a flight to Kunming (population only 8 million!).