40. Hong Kong

I don’t think I’ve planned a holiday so far in advance since the 18-months of  preparation/team bonding/ money raising mission that culminated in a fantastic KES expedition to Bolivia. There is a lot to be said about planning trips.

For Hong Kong or Xiang Gang as they call it in mainland China, I impressed myself how organised I was for the four days, having booked tickets and time off work a long way in advance. I was so stress free about the whole venture it came as a shock on my departure date that I would be leaving.

A train journey to HK takes 18 hours and covers over 1000 miles, you have to fill in departure papers and have your passport given the once over before boarding the train. I of course managed to board the train with only 5 minutes to spare. This may seem like a lot back home, but trains journeys here are big deals.

The border line (literal) stress that there was checking on to the train, quickly evaporated when I got into my 4 person dorm. The bed was surprisingly comfy for the price I paid, hence I didn’t really leave my bed for the rest of the journey and slept longer than I had ever before.

I soon reached my destination. Hong Kong has the balance absolutely perfect, it is the Financial Capital of the World but it was more than possible for a touring rugby team to have a good time. It had a magnificent skyline but also a dense greenery up upon the peak. Shanghai is probably the most similar to HK in Mainland China. But Hong Kong honestly felt like another world, and visiting it I felt I saw a completely different side to China.

They say ‘1 country, 2 systems’. On the day of my arrival, an online questionnaire had been published in the paper stating 92% of residents wanted to go back to British rule. Basically, it was a colony of Britain  but we gave it back to China in 1997 on the premise that no rules would be instated for the first fifty years. 2047 is fast approaching for a lot of the residents and some rules have already been on the sly instated for instance the school curriculum now puts a greater influence in learning Mandurin over English (Cantonese being their first language).

In any case, I hope for the children’s sake they don’t change their uniforms. While my students in Shanghai wear tracksuits which are stuck in the 90’s, the HK students were prepping the white shirt, school tie, grey trousers look. You really don’t appreciate our British style sometimes.

A list, a list, a list. I love lists and for Hong Kong it will be the top 5 fun things I did. As after all, it was a fun few days.

5. Raced up the mountain

Freddy Harris of Derwent Rugby fame kindly put me up in his Dad’s slick apartment. It was at the end of a 800 metre long elevator journey that took you from Downtown to what was called the Mid Levels.

At the end of each night, already rather sweaty from the night’s frivolities we would work our way up the hill. It often ended up in a race. Fun, fun, fun for some at least.

4. Gambling in Macau

Saying the country ‘Macau’ in mainland China you almost get a snigger following it. In China’s point of view, this ‘administrative region’ has the sole purpose of acting as a place for Chinese people to gamble AND BOY DO THEY.

A few facts about Macau. Macau smashes Las Vegas incasino revenue. Apparently 5 times more money is passed over the table than in Las Vegas. One of the main casino’s that greets you on the harbour, Sands, recouped its $ 235 million construction costs in only a year.

Every game for me was a high stake game.  Locals who didn’t even look that wealthy were throwing down hundreds like they were pennies.

Macau's famous egg tart

I really didn’t think in my financial state should have played, but in the spirit of Macau I got involved. After winning $100 HKD on roulette, I entered a Blackjack table, won another $400 HKD and pulled out while ahead, pretty happy. Freddy braved it for longer and his successes drew the attention of the old Chinese women slumped around him. As he kept winning the ladies would back him with more and more chips. He came out with a healthy profit. But the curse of the casino is that, you can always win more, and despite our successes we felt that way.

3. Model night in Lan Kwai Fong

Before Macau we had had a few nights in Hong Kong. The first night was a good one. It was the social start of the Rugby 7’s week-end and party people headed to a great little district called Lan Kwai Fong. There was bar after bar with the occasional kebab house. Entrance fees would be introduced the following day, so for this night we browsed lots of different places. From dark dingy local places, to mass singing of Daydream Believer in a Western bar, to bevving up in ‘Club’ 7/11, we eventually found our way to this club down a set of stairs.

The girls in here my goodness me, drink prices my goodness me. Every second girl was Russian and it was here where you saw first hand the spending of the filthy rich as champagne was brought pretty much continuously to this one table laden with beautiful looking women.

We did consider spending our casino winnings on champagne but decided against it.

2. Boat Party

The Shanghai Hairy Crabs for all their silky backs moves and rampaging pack are a social rugby team. This was exemplified by Fridays boat cruise.

The weather was cool and sunny. There were 30-40 guys and some girlfriends who took to the Hong Kong harbour in a boat laden with alcohol and barbequed meat.  The boat took us out next to this beach island in Hong Kong’s surrounding archipelago. This day was never going to be a bad one, dived, drank, ate all day and felt like T-Pain through out.

1. South Stand

The focus point of the whole week-end was the Hong Kong Sevens Rugby tournament, or more specifically the Saturday of it, in the South Stand. It really was the place to be at that moment.  Why? Because it was basically a giant party through out the day.

Rugby tournament, I’m not so sure, it was practically a drinking one from grabbing your seats at 9 am to finally stumbling your way home at around 7.

Everyone dressed up in fancy dress. Lance Armstrong cyclists was a popular theme, but there were flip flops, cavemen, clowns, domino’s, Christ name anything and there was probably one of them.

My lion one-sie that I wore for the occasion ended up drenched, in booze that had amounted from long arming one to many beers, and sweat, as it was a hot work in the sun all day.

My favourite moments were surfing on the chairs as Beach Boys played in the half way interval and then being involved in the largest Harlem shake to date. Serious fun.

I’ve never been anywhere really quite like Hong Kong. The opportunities are endless. It is a pleasant city and the people who live there know it. If you dream of a city, it will be probably quite similar to Hong Kong.

39. A change in season

'Spring is coming.'

The weather fluctuation in this city is simply extraordinary. No more than 10 days ago the temperature was 1-3 degrees in the day and below freezing in the night. It’s now a majestic 18.

I was caught off guard somewhat by the sun on Saturday whilst playing rugby outside. The following day therefore my cheeks were somewhat rosier for my inside classes.

My school on a Monday, YAH, is my favourite I teach at by a country mile. The staff and the students are both great.

I was chatting with the liaison and she uttered the words ‘Spring is here and the students are happy’. Happy students mean easier to control lessons, which means you leave the school feeling good.

The school looked quite magnificent in the late afternoon sun so I took a picture of it.

Yan An Senior School

She’s perfect but…

On my way home I got thinking about games.  The students are good yes but how to get them talking more, or even better, debating!

The idea popped into my head of ‘Would you rather’. How could I incorporate this game into lessons?
I then had virtual divine inspiration. I am the impartial judge. I announce the ‘Would you rather’ question. For example ‘Would you rather have no legs or no arms?’

The students then vote. But anonymously by putting their head on to the desk and raising their arms. Votes are counted by I the impartial judge.

Then without telling anyone who won I ask a few members who chose either option to cite their reasons why they chose that option.

Now in my mind I know which choice was the more popular and the popular choice will always win. But the decision can be overturned if the less popular decision is given a better explanation for by a member from the losing side. This is the debating bit.

The game is played probably on a time limit or students are eliminated if their choice loses.
This then stemmed out. Maybe I could introduce ‘ The compliment game’ famously played on the Doxbridge tour 2010, or the ‘ She’s perfect but….’ Callum Douglas innocuous  drinking game. This could work.

If you know of any other drinking games let me know. I think through this anonymous voting and debating, this system can work for all drinking games.

Human Rivers

I must say the winter season has not been too bad. But for the odd day when the school chose to not put the heating on, its been fine. My jacket has been devoutly worn through out. I’ve got to sleep easily as it hasn’t been too hot. I have barely broken sweat.

Spring's coming means that Summer is  just round the corner and from accounts I've heard it sounds like Shanghai is one big sweat box which I am not looking forward to.

One area that I think will really heat up is the underground. Not necessarily the trains where I’ve heard its kept cool by air conditioners, but the walking in between the platforms. The number of moving bodies is quite extraordinary sometimes.

Someone who studies river will no doubt see certain correlations between them and the Shanghai underground.

The real whirlpool is Peoples Square station. Below is a picture which can possibly go some way to enforcing the fact that you do not swim/walk against a current! 

Human Whirlpool

Receiving letters

Is great.

Thank-you to Grandpa, Granny and a certain Aussie!

38. The Two Festivals

Great Migration

As before mentioned I got a visit from my sister over the Chinese New Year break. It was quite symbolic given the celebration being about business being dropped and family time happening.

I also had the week off. Travelling and seeing the most we possibly could was the agenda.

The problem is that China experiences the largest human migration over this period. Approximately 11 million people leave Shanghai to travel back home to their families.

The festival starts at the start of the lunar month, so the exodus happened over along period but the main concentration was a few days at the start and end of the week.

This ruled out doing anything in the way of X’ian and Beijing as coming back to catch Jessica’s flight would have coincided with the rest of the Chinese countryside.

In the end we ended up getting tickets to nearby Suzhou and Nanjing which worked out fine.

 

Chinese New Year

We were in Shanghai for the actual date of the New Year, and as advised to us, it was dead.

A place that was still buzzing was the Western bars on the Bund and us with other Western clientele paid our way into the snobbish feeling Bar Rouge.

The party was good. It had snowed but we both fought our way out on their terrace to over look the famous Pudong skyline.

Their terrace was weirdly cordoned off halfway. This made sense when they brought out their own fireworks to set off  before the real show began across the HuangPu river.

Fireworks were going off literally 10 minutes from where we standing I think even someone in the crowd got hit by a stray spark. We got some good footage off the 10 minutes show and then waited for Pudong to erupt.

The clock struck midnight. People were piling out on the Bund. Faces facing one way only, people on rooftops, breaths were baited all watching from the Bund and possibly all around the city in view. We were all waiting for the show to start. However,

Nothing.

I stood out in the cold as people trickled back in. Surely there must be a show. Maybe its Chinese tradition to do these kind of things late. But no, it wasn’t to be.

Pudong skyline New Years Eve 12pm.

There has been a mini hiatus for fireworks this year as China realizes its pollution problem. The Pudong inactivity might have been the political statement of 'holding back till we sort this shit out' kind of thing.

In any case not everyone was holding back. Fireworks did go off all week just no big pretty ones. The one night where, it felt like you were in Baghdad the noise was so bad, was the Wednesday night 4 days later.

Most fireworks set off during the week were meant to celebrate wading away the devil from your family. I later found out that the fireworks set of on that Wednesday night were to bring you prosperity and wealth for the year. A little obvious of course!

---
 The last night Jessica was here she to my satisfaction really felt the city come alive again as people returned to the city. It was quite a nourishing feeling and the buzz was palpable as we walked down Nanjing Lu.


Shanghai was almost a reluctant New Years celebrator. You know the stiff business wearing man in the corner of a party who doesn’t talk just gives a nod to the passes by. He's alive in the business room though.

The endearing image I remember of Shanghai Chinese New Year was of seeing our first dragon not parading itself down the street but heading into a Costa coffee.
 

Lantern Festival

Jessica left and my life was back to normal for a while. However, Shanghai the old sleezy dog had one last trick up its sleeves.

This was the Lantern Festival a week long thing. I’m not sure what it celebrates but there was a huge mass of people out for it on Sunday night in Yu Yuan gardens.

It was a party and I loved it. Traditional music pumping, the lanterns were out and the place looked stunning. It went some way to appeasing the New Year No Show and I got some good pictures.

My Chinese teacher told me of stories where Chinese New Year was once the party in the street all night long thing. But its now a more relaxed take a break with the family holiday.

Shanghai more than any other city is one that can earn this temporary rest.

37. Dating 2: KTV

RUGBY TOUR TO NANJING

It was a week-end for firsts. Good firsts.

Yes first tour of the year to the city of Nanjing. First time I’d travelled over 600 km in one day to play a game of rugby. But well worth it!

Our Freshers team is just that fresh faced but raw talented newbies in Shanghai. The game in Nanjing was schelduled as a warm up game for a 10’s tournament next week-end of which we are reigning champs,  so we better start bonding quick!

And bond we did!

Nanjing were extraordinarily good hosts but the pitch they provided us was by far the worst pitch I’ve ever played on. There were dug in bricks in some parts so we had to cordon part of this run down football turf.

The 10's game was a little one sided, 16 tries to 1. They’re quite a new team as well with less big people.

Incidentally as I’d missed training recently due to work, I’d been moved into the pack. But consequentially loved it. I ended up at prop when we transferred to a sevens game. Prop! First time I’ve played there. Unfortunately I didn’t notch my first try, which was particularly fine worthy given that the whole team got about 30 (including  the sevens game). Rob Johnson, prop and Derwent top try scorer would be shaking in disbelief at my try negligence.

Anyway tour finished with us losing half of our French contingent to an early train so the seven of us left went to socialize in the bar.

Nanjing’s great hosts tag was deserved here. 8 large pizzas they provided and beer on tap. It was a heavy four or so hours, which included numerous boat races where I chugged for my life and numerous fines which were diligently honoured

I love Rugby. The people who follow it are generally wealthy but also love drink. So naturally our parting gift received was 2 thirty packs of Tsingtao. I asked the stupid question ‘Shall we save these for the party* later?’. *We were attending a leaving do later.

Needless to say, the train ride home was how can we put it nicely, very English.

New Class

I woke the next morning. I was still drunk. But good drunk. No headache just a fantastic sensation to carry on singing.

And I can safely say my classes in school benefited. Being a little under the influence is without a doubt not in the contract but the classes were great and that I swear it wasn’t blurred vision!

Yes I have a new class. This is my PET examination class. However me taking this class caused quite a stir namely as it involved me dropping out from my Kindergarten class from which a parent had taken me out for a drink (buttered up, I like to call it).

An argument followed. Thankfully it didn’t trouble my new class, which went well. Essentially it’s teaching the best 5 students in the school for an exam they are going to take, the motivation in there is palpable.

Changning staff were in good form though. I think the parents argument brought us all closer and good banter was had.

KTV

This very vaguely brings me to the date. I hope I haven’t lost any of you readers out there. Its just I thought I'd get some more of my life in after enticing you in with the juicy headline. Thanks for hanging on in there. 

Yes KTV the other option of a first date it seems for Chinese girls. Other being of course skating. KTV, ‘a way to relax’, is glorified karaoke. Cracking stuff, where's the alcohol.

Yes, Luo Wenjuan, a new girl who I met serendipitously at last weeks Lantern Festival brought with her hope that Chinese girls could be dated. She’d bought me dinner despite my cries on the first date and I was fairly pumped to try my hand today at KTV.

Things you should know. She doesn’t speak a word of English. Not a word. This is a check in my books. I need to learn. My google translate has been used a lot recently.

However for this date the sister was coming along, who spoke perfect English because of her job.

Ok so the date went ok. Here are the reasons.

A work colleague of the sister came along too. Thank god because three is a crowd.

Chinese girls are more generous than I gave them credit for. They bought me a drink.

I had my first cider in China. A rather nice one too.

Singing is fun. The Chinese girls take it very serious which is funny to watch.

They named the Chinese song which has been in my head since Suzhou with Darren. Youtube : zui xuan ming zu feng. As Toon champion Greg Robson would say an absolute TUNE.

My song choice was good. Stumbled a bit with One Love-Blue, but brought it back with Mariah Carey- When you Believe, an absolute belter and when it was Gotye’s classic I brought it home with my own Walk off the Earth version.

Luo Wenjuan had actually an English name. Cherry. It’s a fruit and means lovely I was reassuringly told.

I suppose after a host of special dates you have to kind of cherry pick when in China.

I'll get my coat.

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Right well that’s all folks. Thanks for reading and maybe one day I’ll write about the New Year celebrations or something.

36. When Jessica came to stay..

I’ve been quite bad recently with writing posts about my time here in Shanghai. I put it down to a busy schedule, my new TV addiction: The Wire and generally feeling more settled in this crazy city. 

One person who went some way to making me feel more settled was my sister, Jessica!

Yes, the big sister (Chinese: jiejie) came over for the Chinese New Year bonanza and her enthusiasm in her week’s stay with me rubbed off somewhat.

She wouldn’t leave a corner of this city untouched in what was from her arrival on 8^th February to her far too swift departure on the 16th a hugely productive holiday.

I've compiled a list of the places gone which for me made the trip most memorable.

There are a few notable absentees like the Bund, Yu Yuan Gardens, the Maglev, Grandma’s restaurant kitchen, Qibao ancient town, the hotel we stayed at in Suzhou, Tiger Hill, the giant PADOGA, Bonsei tree formations, the Shanghai Museum, Bar Rouge NYE party, trying Stinky Tofu, Purple Mountain and even drinking cocktails on the 88^th floor of Jin Mao tower at sunset on NYE!

Here are the 5 top things were discovered in Jessica's time here.

5. TIANZIFANG

 

Marked by just a door symbol on the map. It is actually a really small district territory near Dapuqiao on Line 9 woven with intimate streets that have appealing shops waiting to be perused.

The district fits into like a New York style block and there are entrances in and out. You can get lost in there, and you would not mind it.

It is a great place for a lazy afternoon. We visited it on New Years day having visited the Ancient towns of Sijing and Qibao in the morning.

I bought some great postcards and a leather bound book.

4. WEST NANJING FAKE MARKET

Admittedly I’d been to a fake market before in Pudong, but the quality products in this particular one would take some beating from any fake market in the world.

I don’t think I should say what Jessica bought as no doubt they were given as presents upon her arrival back in the UK however what I can say is that the recipients would not have been able to tell the difference such was the quality.

A bit of haggling is also a lot of fun, especially now I know a few words.

 

3. NANJING MASSACRE MUSEUM

I remember the Natural History Museum as a child in London. The dinosaurs displayed outside would rev you up for what you were about to see.

This museum likewise had statues, the most emotionally provocative statues I have ever experienced. It set the tone for the museum that was expertly done. Simply shocking and insightful in equal measure, but you left with a feeling of hope in peace for the future. It was really good and free also.

2. AJISEN RAMEN

Yes. Food was one of the main focus points of the trips. This restaurant for me took the bacon by a mile. Hungry, we’d been searching for one for a while in Nanjing when I noticed the trademark girl. We went inside and I was blown away. Japanese food rocks!

It was essentially bowls of beautiful soup with meat, eggs in. You had a big wooden spoon to eat from and cheap Japanese beer to wash it down. Thankfully it’s a chain and there are 132 restaurants of the same kind in Shanghai.

1. SHANGHAI CIRCUS WORLD (ERA)

Wow. I’ll ever think of the circus in the same light again. Managed to get two tickets to this daily show and it was incredible. Acrobatics of the highest order. The performance was clean, hugely impressive but also quite beautiful. The colours, music and the routine all worked amazingly together to elevate it even further above any circus production. Truly extraordinary and by far the best thing I’ve seen in China.

35. Top 10 Worst Things about the Shanghai Subway

Shanghai’s subway consists of 14(correct of writing) different lines operating approximately between 6 in the morning to 11 at night.

The Subway is the most common method of travel, as it is in most major cities. The price of the ticket is 3RMB –7RMB depending on how far you travel which is incredibly cheap.

The subway is the heartbeat of the city. The planners have obviously seen this and since my arrival 4 months ago, we’ve seen the introduction of lines 12, 13 and 16. These additions make me feel weathered and old in the city.

Trains may arrive when they say they will, conditions may be clean, their convenience may be unparalleled yet this is a list about things that can tick you off on Shanghai’s subway.

10. The Subway map mentality

As mentioned the Subway is a cheap and convenient way to travel which correspondingly leads you to use it on countless occasions. In turn you develop the subway map of Shanghai in your mind. Evaluating how far something is by the number of stops which pretty much always makes you think that walking a whole stop is far too far when in reality it is 10 minutes tops.

9. The river

I’ve experienced this a few times. If you are standing by the doors of a busy exiting stop, you get hit by an river of people leaving the train. Naturally you are taken with them and dumped down stream outside the train. Its quite extroadinary.

Quite the scrum sometimes.

8. The sing-song

It’s the sound that a beggar/mother and child asking for money is/are approaching. When you hear this noise the whole vibe of the train changes. The music isn’t joyous and with little else to look at or anywhere to go, you are left feeling rather glum if your pockets aren’t deep enough that day.

7. The change

A change of line at a station often involves a small trek as the lines are built so far apart. That’s all.

6. Train termination

This is annoying because most of the time it is unexplainable. It happens sometimes when you are travelling out in the outskirts and then quite suddenly the intercom will go and everyone empties the train. A guard comes on and checks up and down the train. The train has no doors between each carriage so two glances and he can check any length of train. The seemingly fine train moves out from the platform leaving its previous passengers standing out in the cold at this unbeknown station waiting for the next train to come.

*Shanghai Railway station is a bad one for this. Post Rush hour, sometimes up to 2 out of 3 trains will terminate at the station negating the 10 other stops north of it on line 1. The most crammed I’ve ever been on a train has come from these 3 sets of passengers all getting into one train. Thankfully I only had to go one stop further!

5. Bag checkers

At every station before you go through the gates, there are a couple of Station staff employed to check your bag. One urges you to put your bag, which is usually filled with work material, onto a conveyor to have an x-ray. The other employer is there to look at the x-ray screen. To this day I’ve seen no one held up.

I can use the subway up to 5-6 times a day so having to do this for every trip is hugely monotonous. At least half of locals completely ignore the first steward.

I go through stages, the poor lad has an near impossible task of getting the stream of commuters in a rush to get their briefcases checked so I put my bag in out of pity and to obey the rules, but other times, I walk straight on through.

4. Rush hour

The things that above all else make travelling so strenuous on the mind are the people. Between 7:45-9 and 4:30-6:30, the Subway is crammed as a great mass contest their own path through the cities Rush Hour. It is in these moments where you truly feel very small.

3. The plant

I’m a different animal underground. I walk a lot quicker almost like I have a propeller behind me. So it is to my utmost annoyance when I get faced with a plant.

You are chasing a train having power walked the change from Line 1 and half way up or down the elevator when a inconsiderate couple or misplaced body is planted in the walking zone of the elevator. Momentum stops and the propeller comes off me as I’m stuck behind the plant until I reach the bottom/top.

2. The confrontation

The one I’d been warned about and the one where measures have been taken at each station to prevent it but to no avail.

As you pull into your final destination and the doors are about to open to let you off, the confrontation occurs. There opposite you outside the train door window is not a clear pathway to the exit but a group of anxious looking commuters waiting to get on. As the door hutch opens, defying logic both streams will hit each other. Common sense says the outside should stand and wait to free up more room in the carriage as well as showing just a tad bit of courtesy. Alas the benefit of grabbing a train seat often outweighs simple manners thus causing the confrontation. It’s a brutal world sometimes.

Tactical approach. Often ignored!

and finally 1. The push

There are crunch moments in travel, which in an ideal world you will always make. The sliding doors moment. If a train traveller in a queue for a train deems that their journey might be momentarily delayed by the sliding doors they will in survival mode push their fellow traveller in front. A natural response perhaps. But the reality is that the person in front can not go any faster unless he wants to cause some kind of pandemonium so the push that they receive comes as quite an unwelcome surprise.

What makes matters worse is that upon entering the crammed train you then have to get up close and personal with this pusher as they position the back of their head an inch from your face.

It’s this moment where with my superior height I look at myself in the train window, crammed in, 8am in the morning and repeatedly tell yourself that you are lucky to be out here working in China!

34. Small Towns and Cloudy Mountains

This is a post on my travels to Huangshan.

Wednesday 30th January

I'd been talking about visiting the Yellow Mountain for a while now. So last week being one of the few members of staff to get three days of work I made a solo trip to Huangshan.

I chose to go there by train, and 90 Rmb paid for a seat on the 21:24 from the Shanghai Railway Station.
This was the cheapest band but in the spirit of adventure I went for it.
I arrived at my 'seat' it was kind of a PE-mat bench, I sandwiched myself in between two Chinese mid twenties girls and started to offer out some Oreos to them and the family of three sitting opposite.

It soon became obvious that I couldn't play the 'We're all in this together' for the whole night if I was to get any sleep. The bench was kind of part of a compartment of PE-mat benches, two of which were put away to not be used but two lay above us. It was a sleeping compartment without any mattresses or sheets basically.

After initial pleasantries I made a bolt for the top bunk and held it for the whole night. I'm a bad man but hey I did have to stare into the light on the ceiling for the whole night so it wasn't the most pleasant of night sleeps.

'And like a cobra he strikes' Johnny English

Thursday 31st January (HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOM!)

Got into Huangshan. The last hour on the train when the sun rose and shone over the Chinese countryside was quite special, especially when I'd been living in Shanghai.

View from the train

Huangshan City. Immediately hit with hawkers selling me maps, bus tickets, etc. To be fair it was more useful stuff than the plastic goods I see some street sellers trying to get rid off.

Hostel was 30 RMB(£3), right by the station, and later i would find out totally empty. The hostels here remind of Nandos in that the main bit (accomodation/chicken) is fairly cheap, but then its the extras which is where they make the money (breakfast, trips, rental bikes....)

Too late to climb the mountain today I went to a nearby ancient town, called Hongcun. 

The town was lovely. It was a UNESCO Heritage town. It was 104 Rmb to enter the town, but they gave me half price. Extra lovely.

Photo's of the city are below:

Things got interesting when leaving to go back to the hostel. The thing is Huangshan the city is 60 km from the Mt Huangshan. Then I in the fracas of buses outside the towns gate went for a ricksaw back to Huangshan with a guy who I think wanted to share the cost of the ride with me.

The ricksaw was seriously uncomfortable and the guy who'd come along was carrying some weight so the motor powered vehicle was struggling to say the least. We'd agreed a price and all. But the big guy thought I'd wanted to go back to Mt Huangshan base city. So halfway in the journey when we all realized the error, we had to get out of the ricksaw to access the situation. 

I was pretty tired at this point. I really had not slept last night and was considering hitching a ride on this mountain pass road. But the big guy had brains with his brawn as well as quite a kind heart. We carried on to Mt Huangshan he paid for the whole journey then got me on a bus back to the city. Wishing me good luck (nice guy) as I got on the bus and back to the hostel for an evening of snooker and noodles. 

Back of the ricksaw.

Friday 1st February

Today I would climb the mountain and I was mega excited for it. I was picked up by the driver of a small bus at 6:30 am. But it was strange he didn't set off for about 40 minutes and what made it worse was that we had to listen and watch the worst music ever.

Bloody hell it was a weird scenario. 6:30 am. Sitting at the back of the bus watching this small screen at the front of Western going mad for it at outdoor music festivals, but then over the top was like the Basshunter of China, absolutely dreadful. It was strange because the people in the video most of which who looked high were clearly not listening to this Chinese drivel. There I was sitting at the back of the bus with families making the trip as map and mackintosh hawkers knocked on the window to get my attention. Mt Huangshan, Mt Huangshan, Mt Huangshan, I kept thinking.

It was about 10:30 when I was finally at the base of the mountain and of a cable car. The weather was not great but as I got into the cable car to go up the mountain I realized how bad the weather was.

You couldn't see a thing contrary to the intercom. It was ridiculously cloudy.

This unfortunately was going to be the theme of the day, not being able to see more than 20 metres in any direction.

Pictures below...

Cable Car ride

Bridge

Picturesque point

There were many stairs, and the clouds did make these much more awe-like.

I was treated as a celebrity though.

So, yes, arrived back in Huangshan around 5pm. The mountains I will definitely visit again soon. Maybe next week when my sister Jessica comes for a visit! 

There is a Chinese saying that 'Once you have seen Mt Huangshan, it has all the attributes of a mountain should possess, that you do not need to see any other mountains'. I experienced it but didn't really see it so will need a second visit.

Took a proper sleeper compartment back to Shanghai in the evening. After the days trekking I slept like a baby.