Made in China

We were very excited when we first walked over the border to China and purchased a little notebook with a cartoon picture of Pinocchio. We weren't excited because this little book got us out of many pickles when trying to communicate in our non-existent Mandarin, but because on the back it had the words 'Made in China'. Finally we had reached the country where everything was seemingly made. What would we discover? (Not having our Lonely Planet confiscated at the border was also good!).

First stop was the border town of Hekou and a brief stay in a classic business hotel, (Scott found it hilarious they sold condoms "shaped for the male oriental"). A walk around town eating mysterious dishes from street vendors and 'melon' ice cream and we were already getting the feeling we were going to like this place.

 

Delicious Dim Sum
 

Our first real stop was Kunming the capital of the Yunnan province which borders the north of Vietnam. For us it was very exciting to be back in another big city, but by the time our visa expired this was a tiny puff of smoke. In Kunming we got used to the Chinese way of life and went to the park to experience the Tia Chi meets Zumba meets Line Dancing craze that has swept this country by storm. Groups practiced and performed and we were mesmerized by their swinging hips and delicate hand movements. Followed up with a meal swarming with Sichuan Peppers (they produce a strange tingling, buzzing, numbing sensation that is something like touching the terminals of a nine-volt battery to the tongue) we were beginning to question the sanity of the Chinese Population... The evening meal was the famous Across the Bridge Noodles, which Scott was ashamed not to conquer, but the bowl was just too big!!!

 

Dancing in the park

Our daily breakfast

From Kunming we traveled west to Dali, more specifically the Dali Old Town, which turned out to be a beautiful little town, with some classic old walls and a good vibe. The towns guttering system set us up for some epic leaf races (which Sara won!) and we enjoyed the evening sweating over our meal as we discovered that the Chinese down south like their dishes HOT! The next morning Sara was in her element at our own Chinese Cooking Class, which involved a trip around the market and an introduction to a whole new world of vegetables, which we have never seen (including some crazy, crazy mushrooms). We learnt some crucial tips (especially about the Sichuan Peppers) and how to whip up a delicious tofu salad, fish-flavored eggplant and Kungbao chicken. Another stroll around town to work off the food preceded a bus trip that evening up to the town of Lijiang (which involved the compulsory screening of a Jackie Chan action movie). 

 

Scott learning to cook

Sara shopping at the market

Dali Old Town

It was from Lijiang that we began our first epic trek in China, in the magnificent Tiger Leaping Gorge. After a late departure we began this trek and as the landscape unveiled (or uncorked) it became more beautiful and we were constantly standing still trying to soak up the awe inspiring surroundings. By evening very foot sore, but extremely happy we arrived at Halfway House, our stop for the evening, which has one of the best views we have come across. The night was spent sipping on drinks, watching the sunset over the mountains and trading trekking tales, perfect way to finish a great day. We spent a lazy morning still soaking up the view before continuing on the next leg down the mountain, before heading down into the gorge itself. A powerful part of the Yangze river we enjoyed the view and the thunderous flow before beginning a tortuous climb back up to civilization in a race against the sun and dehydration. After two days of climbing our legs were burning walking up any kind of incline and we vowed no more epic climbs.... 

 No need for comments as we think the photos say it all

  

Once we were back in Lijiang we enjoyed a comfy bed and a hot shower, before setting out to discover this bustling touristy town. We continued to enjoy the Chinese food with many dishes of spicy tofu, pork in numerous ways, variety of noodle dishes, spicy beef hotpots, and of course rice. We had heard mixed reports about Lijiang and it was crawling with Chinese tourists, but we quite liked this town. It had a cool busy atmosphere and a very genuine old town feel if you ventured slightly off the beaten path. It wasn't long before we discovered the towns obsession with Yak and Scott started enjoying Yak skewers with each meal. Feeling adventurous at a local market we also delved into the weird and wonderful world of insects with some delicious cricket and grasshopper and the 'interesting' larvae. Despite a 5 hour delay on our flight out of Lijiang we left happy.

Scott pulling one of the most popular local poses 

Will this be tasty???

No!

Arriving in Chengdu, the capital of the Sichuan province, at midnight because of the aforementioned delay, we checked into probably the coolest hostel of our Asia leg so far. The Loft was a transformed printing factory and a very cool base for our time in Chendgu. Our first morning we made a bee line to Chengdu's main attraction, the Chengdu Research Base for Giant Panda Breeding. Arriving early we managed to beat the crowds and enjoy the wonderful sight of Panda's of all ages waking up and feeding in the morning. We were amazed by the sheer scale of the park and how many pandas there were. We were even lucky enough to be there at the time of year when the park had some baby pandas (even Scott was making cutesy noises). Next Sara got to do something truly unique and cuddled a REAL panda!!! Check out the pics of her just chillin with her panda friend on their wooden sofa... A very rad experience and a real highlight of the trip so far.

 

 Typical spicy Sichuan dish

 

Panda's just chillin

 

Sara cuddling her new friend

Being in Sichuan the home of spice and hotpots, we went out to take on the challenge of the infamous so spicy Sichuan hotpot. After choosing our restaurant we were confronted by the fact that the menu was all Mandarin, there were no pictures and no staff spoke a word of English. Luckily the restaurant does only one thing and one thing extremely well, a delicious bubbling all too spicy and yet addictive hot(and I mean HOT)pot. By sheer luck we got a split pot one side spice (covered in chillies and Sichuan Peppers) and the other a tasty mushroom broth, so we managed to have some relief between spicy mouthfuls. We stumbled out of the restaurant bloated on the liters of oil we just devoured with the taste of almond flavored milk (helps tackle the spice) in our mouths that had been rendered completely numb by the Sichuan Peppers and a stomach that was promising a burning ring of fire in the coming days and yet discussing if we have time to squeeze in another one before we leave.

 Scott looking very scared

The next morning we jumped on a bus and began a short adventure south with first stop the town of Leshan. Leshan is on the map for one thing and that is it's 71m tall Buddha. One of the biggest in the world this thing was carved into a cliff face and has toenails the size of a person, so of course it was something we just had to see! Once again with crowds of local tourists surrounding us we scrambled for photo taking vantage points and after an hour in line managed to get down to the river to enjoy the truly impressive view of the Buddha from below. The real reason, however, we journeyed south was to tackle one of China's sacred mountains, Emei Shan.   

 
 Top view of the Buddha

 View from the river (they are massive toes!)

A formidable mountain we spent hours the night before departure discussing routes and paths to take and after an early start and confronted with a ridiculous expensive bus ride to get up the mountain we threw all plans aside and decided just to start climbing. Emei is known for having some foggy days and this first day was one of them. For most of the day we could only see about 25m in front of us, which wasn't great for guidance, but added a real mystical element to the whole experience. Walking from the base also meant we avoided the lazy local tourists catching bus rides up the mountain and for the first few hours of the morning had many fog covered temples just to ourselves. Eventually we did catch up to the gaggle of locals in their numbered tour groups just in time to be entertained by their interactions with the local monkeys. Known for their cheeky and light handedness these monkeys knew what they wanted (food!) and we saw numerous people get their pockets swindled, bags stolen and torn open. One even got bitten by two monkeys after handing them a pack of cigarettes as a joke and the monkey's not appreciating it so much. We continued to climb and once again found solitude and more remote and (apart from the occasional monk) empty temples. A lunch stop staring into whiteness that we know would otherwise have been a spectacular view we began the decline and found our way to Wannian Temple, which was our home on the mountain for the evening. One of the most popular and busiest temples on the mountain it was great to stay for the night and slowly watch the crowds disappear and see how peaceful it can be... That evening we wandered around soaking up the peacefulness that resonates so strongly in these Buddhist temples. One more early morning (this trip is very hard work) and we began the trek back down to the base and the bus back to Chengdu. On the ride home as our legs started getting pins and needles we vowed no more epic climbs...

 

 Come on baby light my fire

 Temple shrouded in mist

 

Clear morning and the temple to ourselves

From Chengdu we jumped on another plane north and traveled to Xian. One of the ancient capitals of China, Xian, offered another large and impressive wall and also our first glimpse of a main stream foreign tourist attraction in China. A meander around town brought us to First Noodle Under the Sun and a tasty 3.8 meter long noodle (6cm wide) and the best sweet an sour pork we have ever tasted!!! Seriously it was sticky, sweet goodness on a plate. We also wondered to the cities famous Muslim Quarter and it was fascinating to see the Muslim religion mixed with the Chinese culture. The next day we set out for what Xian is famous for, the terra-cotta warriors. Too cheap to pay the exorbitant tour prices we joined the locals and jumped on a local bus out to the site. For all the hype they are quite cool and once inside the main hanger you do start to glimpse the gargantuan project it must have been to create an 8,000 strong (completely useless, but quite spectacular) army.

 

 There are thousands...

 

 ...and each one is unique

That evening we boarded our first overnight train in China heading north to the town of Pingyao. Despite sleeping on a hard triple bunk we actually got a reasonable nights sleep. Pingyao is a beautiful quaint and unfortunately quite touristy preserved old town. Wandering around the streets you get a real sense of how life would have been like centuries ago. It was also here that we started to feel the real chill of a Chinese winter. The beanies came out and we found many excuses to wonder into shops to enjoy the warmth and occasional cup of hot tea.

 Food that warms the belly

 Temples of Pingyao

 Sara the wicked photographer

It was from Pingyao that we began our journey with one of Scott's friends, Kerno. Currently living in China studying Mandarin we relished the opportunity to have someone with us to decipher and explain all manner of things about China (it also helped when we got ridiculously lost). With our posse of 3 we jumped on the first bus up to Wutai Shan, another of China's sacred mountains. Upon arriving in town we discovered a place that actually does center around it's many surrounding temples. Walking down the main streets with monks and spying temples of all sizes scattered around town we really enjoyed the authentic feeling Wutai had. The fact that we were now in the north of the country also meant we had entered dumpling territory and with an extra mouth we quite literally began ordering them by the kilo (and yes we did gain some weight whilst in China). The perfect warm snack for the cold weather we visited a few of the Tibetian orientated temples around town and tried to decide which local map was least inaccurate for the next days hike. The next morning bright and chirpy we took at least 10 wrong turns (turns out all the maps were complete rubbish!) before finding our way up into the surrounding hillside. With a few stumbles along animal tracks we made it to the central peak which had a lovely dusting of snow! At the top (just below 3,000m) we were far from any other tourists and got lungfuls of clean air, which is very rare in China. It was magical and worth the treacherous terrain. Have we turned into the outdoor trekking type? Definitely not as the next day there was a serious vow of no more inclines!

 Spectacular setting

 

 Tibetan worship

 

Cuddling for body warmth

Tibetan spinning prayer wheels

Driving into the Beijing Bus Station we both looked at each other confused if this was the big smoke city. It was so underwhelming on first glance. Still with our quasi tour guide, Kerno, reassured us we had arrived so with hungry bellies the first stop in Bejing had to be for the famous Beijing Peking Duck experience. Between the 3 of us we easily inhaled 2 whole deliciously plump and juicy ducks - oh dear is that another notch along your belt? We said a tearful farewell to Kerno and were left to discover the rest of the city for ourselves.

 

How much is too much duck?

Beijing turned out to be a much bigger smoke than we originally thought. Firstly, there are firm restrictions on building heights so the skyline is relatively flat but nothing is stopping the huge expansion on the ground level and below. It wasn't unusual to be weaving through people even on a quiet street. Secondly, whilst we were in town there was a thick smog covering this city which meant you couldn't see more than 50m in front of you, even with the powerful spotlights of Tiennamem Square. After a few days our chests felt the burden and it started to make sense why everyone hocks here (although Sara still scrunched her face at the sound). We went to all the compulsory sights like the Forbidden City, escaped to the Hutongs, saw Mao at the Mausoleum and spun the pray wheels at the Lama Temple but the Great-est (it's a clue!!) sight was outside of the city, The Great Wall of China! We made the journey from Jinshanling to Simatai. The weather was a little miserable with low fog and drizzle, but for us it only added an element of mystery and antiquity. This section of The Wall isn't shining new and restored so it was quite cool seeing parts of the trail uprooted by stubborn shrubbery. Back in Beijing our culinary expedition hadn't yet finished with a feeding at the night markets. China definitely delivers the surprises, and we secretly think the vendors try to shock you as much as possible by selling everything on a stick from your regulars to dog, snake skin, sheep penis and balls (separate skewers!), seahorse, baby shark, sea urchin to a whole starfish! Before we knew it we were on a train almost flying down to Shanghai at +300km/hr.

 Beijing night market

 

 Sara showing off her Kungfu at the Forbidden City

 

 Chairman Mao

 

 Crumbling wall

It never ends

 Sara showing off her photography skills again

Posing like a local

 

We put the 'hai' in Shanghai by making the most of our last destination in China. Being Australians we called this sky scrapping city Shangaz, tried to fit into the high end fashion shopping street looking like complete dags (our clothing is seriously starting to feel the brunt of this year with Sara's jeans wearing down to nothing and every possible stain splattered on Scott's) and dining at some favorite expat hotspots for a necessary fix of fresh salads and smoothies. We were really excited that we ended in Shangaz as it was the perfect combination of where China had been and where it was going, with the contrasting local suburban French Concession and eccentric jagged architecture of the financial district. We indulged in the local specialty of xiao long bao (pronounced shh-ow long bow as in 'bow before your queen'), which are piping hot dumplings filled with pork mince which is half fried half steamed creating a tasty combination of crunchy dough and soupy pork broth. OK we'll admit we may have indulged in a few too many, but when will we be back? On our last night we just couldn't resist sharing a few cocktails at Cloud 9 (one of the tallest bars in the world on the 87th floor) as the sun set behind the city.

 Cocktails with a view

Xiao long bao!

 

Scott loved them!

And that was the end of China and another step closer to the end of this rad journey. A big thanks needs to go to Kerno who provided us with a lot of advice and useful tips for many of these destinations, which helped make this a very radtastical (a combo of rad and fantastical) adventure. When we first planned the trip China didn't even make the cut, but looking back Asia wouldn't have been the same without it.

See you soon kids - including the newborns Zyanya and Neko!!
Scotty and Sara

Good Morning Vietnam!

Good Morning Vietnam! Despite what many of you may think traveling can be hard work – planes to catch, photos to take, a bed to find, blogs to write etc. It’s a tough life on the road! It can be quite tiring especially when you get up at dawns crack and walk for hours and hours. In Vietnam we had lots of early mornings and as those who are close to us know, neither of us are morning people but we still ended the day and in fact this leg of the trip with big smiles on our faces and fond memories.  

Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), or Saigon, was our first stop and it surprised us in many ways and gave us a good idea of what was to come in Vietnam. The biggest challenge was crossing the road. There is absolute chaos but some how it is completely systematic to the locals. Picture this – an intersection fed by 6 roads all with two way traffic, now remove the traffic lights you automatically added, then the pedestrian crossings and cars, and now add in as many motorbikes as you can fit in your picture and now double that. With the fear of being run over Scott held Sara’s hand to cross the road just to ensure she wasn’t left on the other side (such a gentleman!). As always one of our first stops was to one of the biggest markets in the city, Ben Thanh Market. We pulled up a pew and dug our chopsticks into fresh and fragrant phos, buns and fresh spring rolls. This was Vietnam food at its fresh, fragrant best! (it was un-pho-gettable, haha get it? A Sara joke!) A must do for anyone in HCMC is the War Museum which had many displays on the American-Vietnam War with some heart wrenching photograph exhibits. We followed this up to a visit to the Chu Chi Tunnels where we crouched/walked through some modified western sized tunneling used in the war. With our battered bodies a little tight and sore we decided that a $7 hour and half full body massage was required. What an experience! Maybe we should have known better but you are literally straddling a very thin line to more than a massage ;-)  

 Yummy food at the markets

 

 A conical hat in progress

The biggest highlight of Vietnam for us was most definitely a 3 day bike tour around the Mekong Delta. We were joined on the trip by a family of four from Portland in Victoria. Sara’s biking skills have dramatically increased this year with not a single fall off the narrow path; in fact it was the mother of the family that fell 1 meter into a barbed wire ditch. This trip got us into the thick of the local community and for the first 2 days we didn't see another tourist. As part of our biking adventure we rode through durian and rambutan fruit orchards, purchasing the odd kilogram for cents. As we cycled along the river we were assailed by local children screaming “hello” “hello” “how are you?” without any expectations. Needing a sugar hit we stopped in at a local coconut candy and pop-rice factory and also saw a dozen or so women making rice paper over burning woks. We were also fortunate enough to enjoy a meal with a local family in their home. By home it was a very small wooden framed house with a mud floor with no sign of running water or an operational bathroom. It is moments like these that give you a real appreciation of the great life we live back home. Our local interaction didn’t stop there, with the local snake man befriending Scott and feeding him snake rice wine while showing him pictures of their hero Ho Chi Minh. The last day was a trip to the Cai-Rang floating markets where the locals boats are close to sinking with kilos and kilos of produce piled on. With our legs burning and a 100km of cycling under our belts we went back to HCMC before moving on.  
 

Roadside cock fight

 

Local fruit vendor selling rambutan

 

Rice paper factory

 

Riding through a banana plantation looking cool
  

 

Local transport in the Mekong

 

Comparing smiles with a local 

(thanks mum and dad for all the dental work!)

Fruit vendor at the floating market

Scott's best mate - the Snake Man

In Hoi An we did the compulsory tourist circuit which is to do a cooking class, eat as much as you can at Cargo Bar and get a few tailor made items. Without going into too much detail both of us left Hoi An with more than a few extra kilograms in our backpacks and an outfit for any occasion. Our cooking class was highly enjoyable and despite our terrible singing voices, our teacher insisted that we sing “sprinkle sprinkle little star” every time we put a dash of sugar into our dishes, which in Vietnamese cuisine is quite often. By the end of it we had very full and satisfied bellies along with a few tasty Vietnamese dishes up our sleeves. A short drive out of town is the My Son Cham Ruins which are compared to the Angkor Wat, so we felt it obligatory to check it out. Slightly disappointed by this day trip and what we saw, we were happy to be back in the charming riverside town and enjoying the French inspired bakery treats from Cargo Bar that night. We haven’t mentioned it yet, but throughout our time in Vietnam we rarely had a sunny day, but very happily missed both the flooding in the Mekong region and typhoon in the North.

 

Hoi An town and river

Crispy Vietnamese pancake

My Son Ruins actually looking pretty impressive

 Cooking up a storm with big smiles 

Next we jumped on a bus to Hue. This cute little town is shadowed by its famous Citadel. Wanting to get the most out of our full single day we jumped on a tour bus with a very enthusiastic guide who told us maybe too much information. As part of the day we also visited three unique tombs in the area (Ming Mang, Khai Dinh and Tuc Duc) and understood why some Emperors were loved and hated, mostly determined by the size and glamour of their tomb. Of course there was a stop at the very grand Citadel. After a ride down the Perfume River on a “dragon” boat, we jumped on a sleeper train to Hanoi.  

 

 A cool dragon at the tombs

Rain rain go away!...

Hanoi was different to HCMC, and possibly more relaxed despite it being the capital. We unfortunately missed out on seeing the body of Ho Chi Minh in the flesh as he was being restored in Russia at the time; but it meant that we got the opportunity to go to the very informative Women’s Museum. We cannot resist a good feed and especially when it’s for a good cause, so we dropped by the KOTO café which educates and employees disadvantaged youths. It is a small world, and you realize how small it is when you can meet friends (Lonie and Pete) by sheer coincidence in another city. We had a lovely catch up and enjoyed a traditional pho together. For anyone travelling to Hanoi, unless you have a night to kill avoid the water puppet show which is not meant to be a comedy but somehow we found it hilarious as the right puppet was continuously out of time and appeared drunk. From Hanoi we took a few long day trips out to spectacular natural sights. The first was Tam Coc, which is known as the Ha Long Bay on land. Our rower managed to get us all the ways down the Ngo Dong River using her feet instead of hands to power the oars. The landscape was magnificent with jagged mountains stretching towards the sky and three long low caves. The second was, of course, Ha Long Bay which was just as spectacular as Tam Coc but instead the limestone karsts were studding the dark green ocean. Finally, you cannot leave Hanoi without a good session of bargaining!  
 

Row row row your boat

Tam Coc vista

Drinks with Lonie and Pete

 

Ha Long Bay 

More smiles at Ha Long Bay

We arrived in the mountain village of Sapa after an extraordinary day. We had woken up before the sun rose to catch a 10 hour train from Hanoi. It was the most disgusting train we have ever been on and there is no exaggeration when we say that the carriage had not been cleaned in years and there was a terrible green brown gray scum built up on every surface. Eager for a shower we arrived at the train station to find that we were at the whim of the local taxi gang who needed to drive us 1 hour up the mountain. We have been lucky to avoid these situations in the past. With not much more than a tiny Lonely Planet map we managed to find our hotel in the dark and heavy fog. After a goodnights sleep and a long hot shower, to rid of all the train germs, we made the most of this little mountain village which has kept so much of the traditional culture. The scenery was nothing short of stunning with the rice terraces framing the lush green mountains. We had picked a beautiful destination to finish our Vietnam leg.  

Sapa rice terraces

And so we are another country down and a little closer to home, but very excited about the Radventures still to come.  

Until next time,
Scotty and Sara