Lauren left Bangkok

So Lauren has left Bangkok...
Its was horrible saying goodbye and to think that the next time will be in 5 months in South Africa. But then its been so much fun travelling with her that I cant wait until South Africa.

To keep my mind off it I am going up to Chiang Mai and see whats going on up there. Apparently there are plenty of treks and stuff to do and it will be from there that I get into Laos. Looking forward to the next chapter in the travelling....

Evil Samsong and Nice Saffas

Disclaimer: the events mentioned in this article may not have happened, however I was too drunk to remember, so I reckon it didnt happen....... (Simon)

Wandering round Railey we came across a little bar whose main attraction was various sorts of Rum.

We stopped here late in the afternoon and started chatting to the owners.Max and Joy are two great guys.... Anyone off to Railey needs to go to the East side and tell them we sent you.

They have just finished building (themselves) their little Pub. I do not think they have a name yet but it is just next to the CoCo Bar. Two real old Rustafarians I think - they have just put all the money they have into setting up this little bar and it is a really nice atmosphere.

Max is a funny guy - he told us how he was in London for a while 'walking on the wild side'. And while we listened to his stories he started pouring us Samsong and Coke. 3/4 Samsong and 1/4 Coke. And silly us just kept drinking them.

A bit later we were quite drunk and decided that everyone should come to the bar - so we went and fetched some other guys. Two South Africans. We then returned and carried on drinking!

By this stage I think Max was as drunk as we were - so he was letting us pour our own drinks - and in our state I think we were drinking just Samsong.

The next thing I remember is Simon waking me up at 4am to tell me that he did not rememeber getting home - in a very loud and animated way - shouting in fact to the whole world that he did not remember getting home and ending this tirade by pouring a bottle of water over the bed and then passing out (see disclaimer)

Needless to say we did not make it out of the room till 2 the next day - and had a very lazy day at the beach!

My last few memories of the evening are the following -
1. Simon telling the South Africans to take him to see Carolines boobs (no idea - no idea either!)
2. Simon telling the South Africans and all who could hear that I had grat boobs
3. Simon sticking his head between my breasts and inviting others to do the same
4. Me insisting we go home
5. Simon trying to unlock the door of the wrong bungalow

(Lauren: I hope Simon puts this on the blog)

Krabi + Railey Bay

We got chatting to a couple Anthony and Elisha about our plans to get South and they mentioned going on the train. The train is overnight and is about a tenth of the price of the plane tickets.

We took a bus from Kanatuburi to Namtok Tomson and then a sleeper train down to Trang.

The train was really good, comfortable (2nd class with a/c) and I slept like a baby. Lauren didnt fair quite so well as she didnt have a watch but still got plenty of sleep.

We arrived in Trang and planned to get to Krabi via bus. Both of us were starving and told that the bus left for Phukey (via Krabi) at 10:00 so we had 40mins to get some food. Took a tuk-tuk to the bus station and then took the cheap bus to Krabi.

The best way to get to get to Railey Bay is via boat, the only problem is that you have to wait until there are enough people to split the fair. Because we were wanting to go in the early afternoon there werent too many other passengers.
Eventually a Swedish couple arrived and I went to persuade them to come with us.... fortunately my charm prevailed and we were 4. A bit of haggling and we got the boat for 600 instead of 800.

We jumped in this crazy long tail boat, the boat is basically pretty normal except that a car engine has been strapped to the back of it..... they are pretty fast and in 20mins we had arrived in Railey East Bay.... amazed by the scenary.

Booked ourselves into a bungalow at Diamond Cave and went for a wander in this amazing bay.

We ended up the first night hanging out at Max and Joys bar - I'll let Lauren tell you about that...

Motorbikes and Erawan Waterfalls

In Kanchanaburi we were staying at Apples Guesthouse, which was great really friendly people and guests though we were introduced to fan rooms which have a fan and no a/c. Something that had to happen at sometime.

After we had dried out from Songkram we decided to rent a motorbike and head up to Erawan Waterfalls. Not exactly looking forward we walked around with Charlie and Patrick who we'd met at Apples... we found 2 bikes, next we had to learn how to ride them. To be fair they are not to difficult to ride, just the brakes seem unbalanced and changing gears takes some getting used to. Patrick however had not ridden a motorbike and didn't know how to drive a car either.

Though fairplay he got hang of it quickly and we set off for our 70km journey to Erawan. Keeping an eye on Patrick and Charlie we cruised down the really good roads.... only had a couple of incidents on the way:-

1. When a big lizard decided to run out in front of me - it had to be squashed and then covered me in lizard bits.. nice!

2. Waiting at traffic lights is an ordeal with a billion bikes all around you - its a bit scary.

Eventually we arrived at the falls, I stupidly tried to lock the back wheel and burnt my arm on the (surprisingly hot) exhaust.

Erawan Waterfalls is a tiered waterfall, (dont worry I had no idea what they meant until I arrived) which basically means that its made up of lots of smaller waterfalls, 7 in fact.

We wandered up (I was moaning about my burnt arm) and got to the first pool. Of course Lauren immediately wanted to go swimming so off she went with Charlie, me and Patrick hung back and then went in a few mins later. The funniest thing is that there are loads of fish in the pools and they bite....

Lauren was pretty sure that one tried to bite her toe off but I think they just suck instead. The scenary is beautiful and the further we went up the waterfall the quieter it became.

On the way up there was a lot of wildlife about, including a giant lizard which I didnt see (probably the brother of the one that I killed accidently looking for me.) also fresh water crab and even more fish, butterflies ...

The journey was pretty rushed and we didnt have as much time as we hoped...

On the way back we stopped off to check out a Buddha temple and also the Dam.
The scenary around here is just beautiful.

Songkram #3 (Kanchanaburi)

Editors Note:
With Lauren (my g/f) arriving in Thailand she wanted to write some articles for the blog... apologises if they arent up to the normal standard *lol*

Songkran is the Thai New Year - celebrated in a big way. The main event in the 3 - 4 day program is the water drenching. This involves anyone and everyone going out into the streets and drenching all passers by with water. They also have a white paste which they put on your face to wish you good luck for the following year.

Simon and I experienced some of this in Bangkok when trying to walk around. Every now and again you would wander past some kids and they would pour a bucket of water (sometimes ice water) over your head, or shoot at you etc etc. It was quite funny.

But when we got to Kanchanaburi I think we experienced the real Songkran. The streets were choc-a-block with people. Most teenagers, and about 70% of them were completely smashed. There was very loud music, people dancing in the streets, and all sorts of crazy stuff going on.

Rather than being like most other westerners who were hiding in the hostels for fear of getting wet - Simon and I embraced the New Year. We grabbed some beers, bought some chicken on a stick and watched the parade.

After drinking enough beer and getting brave - we ran and joined some locals on the back of their bakkie (utility vehicle for those non-Saffas). This is the best vantage point as you are higher up - and there was a large barrel of water with some spare buckets.Needless to say we joined in and managed to soak a lot of locals. The guys in the car were thrilled to have the Pharang (foreigners) in their car - and we created quite a spectacle. We stayed on here for about half an hour before we were dropped off right by our hostel. After a bit more dancing in the streets we hid for the rest of the afternoon.

The best spectacle I thought was the poor police man. They were in the roads trying to organise all the traffic - and everyone was just running up to them and pouring water over them - and they were sitting ducks. Really funny.

We got some great photos when it was safe to ake out the camera. We also managed to destroy Simons wallet, loads of postcards that we were meaning to send and various other items that should of been safely at the hostel and not in our wet pockets. And as you can see I was a great favourite with the local boys!

Lauren in Thailand

Its funny I have now been travelling for nearly 6 months and when I left Lauren at home it was such an emotional time... something that I regretted. Its seemed such a long time before we were gonna see each other again ... it seemed too long. Now she is here!

Sure you can chat and all but its not quite the same as when you see someone everyday and share the little details about your days.

Anyway I was pretty excited and got to the airport a bit early after bargaining the taxi driver from 500 baht to 200. It took a while after the plane landed, when your waiting for someone you always think. Have I missed them? Maybe they didnt see me?

When Lauren walked out of the customs area, I couldnt see her too well but knew from her walk that it was her, 5 months had gone so quickly.

So we booked into the hotel, called The Davis... a great hotel well priced and beautifully laid out.

Lauren also wants to write some articles for the blog - so you will see of her work soon.

Songkram #1 (Bangkok)

I started getting up early in Bangkok, by this point I had been in Bangkok for a week and although Bangkok is ok it gets a bit much and can be difficult to get about in the heat.

Taking the riverboats down the (yep you guess it) river .. I then went into the heart of Bangkok. It was pretty early most people not around yet and so I got to walk around unscathed.

Songkram is basically where the Thais have a big party to celebrate Thai new year. As its so damn hot they use water to cool everyone and everything down..... it lasts 3 days in Bangkok and as we find out later 5 days outside of Bangkok.

On my way back from my wandering about I still wasnt wet but things were escalating. I ended up watching these great waterfights in Siam - it was spectacular. People wandering along minding their own business... bam! .... soaked. The best thing was that everyone was enjoying themselves (some of the westerners looked a little pi**ed) it should be brought to the rest of the world, though only done in the UK in August.

I watched the show for about 2 hours with a Thai fella who was a retired teacher - the whole thing was great and here are some pics to show you...

If you get the chance you have to come to Thailand Mid April...

V is for Vendetta

Sorry being a bit lame at the moment with the blog, there are some articles coming up.. just taking me a while to get around to them.

Anyway watched V is for Vendetta the other day and have to say its a fantastic film and definately worth a watch if you havent seen it yet. (Joe you'll love it!)

It stars Natalie Portman (helps on the sidb score, Stephen Fry and numerous other quality artists... great story kinda of a 1984 meets Fight Club ish.

Go and see it!

Bangkok (first night)

Arriving in Bangkok was a bit of experience, going from Xian (10 degrees) to Bangkok (37 degress) kinda took it out of me.
Further to that I had been drinking with a few American guys and girls and a Welsh guy (hello all!) till 2:30am.. probably not the smartest thing as I then missed my 2 alarms and got woken up an hour late by one of the staff (I was leaving at 6:00am for a flight at 7:30am) - so lucky! I hastely threw some clothes on annoyed with myself that I hadnt completed all my packing before going to bed and ran to the tax.... fortunately I arrived with 5mins to spare...

Further to that I must have looked stressed as I was upgraded to 1st class on Bangkok Airways had helped relax me and allow me to prepare for the heat before I became a sweaty mess.

Getting from the airport is pretty easy, avoid all touts, grab the Airport Express choose your route and pay 100 baht. I was staying at the Discovery Lodge which I had instructions on how to get there written down so off the bus I got with all my stuff and I just started to melt. Managed to navigate my way from Victory Monument to Asoke on the Sky train, thank goodness the trains were air-con. Grabbed the underground to Sutthisan... all very smooth. Walked 5 minutes to the Lodge and arrived dripping wet..

I was greeted by the friendly staff and shown my dorm room.

Getting changed I decided to join a group who I passed on my way to the room. Chatting to Scott, Stefan and Stanley was interesting, all of them had been living in Bangkok for a few months (Stefan for 2 years) and they persuaded me that I should go out with them... I thought why not?!

We went out down to Sukhumvit and to the Beer Garden, a funny bar. I had been told about the ladies but not experienced it yet.... I ordered some food as I was starving and Stanley who is 64 patted the chair next to him and before you knew a lady was sat there. It was all very surreal and we all chatted to her and I ate my food.

Such a bizarre situation, you dont know where to look, you catch a girls eye and she smiles and then you look away with an awkward embarrassment (well I do!). Anyway after a few beers it was became more chilled out and we went on to this place called the Nana Hotel Plaza, apparently the place to pick up...

We were sat there for about 5mins and this stick thin woman came up to us asking for a cigarette, she was really fidgety which is due to Yabba (slang for diet pills which are a little bit like Speed) anyway she was completely mental and we started chatting to ourselves.

At the bar was this large lad with a Thai girl and she and him seemed to be having a bit of an argument... she went off and he asked if he could join us. A Geordie, he ended up buying us a drink and proceeded to tell us how much money he was making.... bless him.... anyway I felt a little sorry for him to be honest he was in Thailand on his own - buying people drinks....

Anyway the Thai girl came back with another girl and thus his plan was starting to come together... the first thai girl was a nightmare.... really full of bull**it but the other girl seemed pretty normal. I asked why she did this and she said cause she enjoyed it and it made her money.... fair enough I thought and we left the Geordie with 9000 baht (140 pound) bar bill.

Terracota Warriors

The Terracota Warriors are about 40km out of Xian. Grabbing the local bus number 306 for the bargain price of 8 yuan I was on my way.

After an hour and a half we arrived at the Warriors, I met a lad called Jeff when we got off the bus and we went in search of the entrance. After a few touts and a few wrong turns we finally made it to the Warriors.

I decided not to buy anything from the touts on the way in but said that I would get something on the way out... a decision I would later regret.

Anyway we paid our fees and wandered in ...after a bit of deliberation we went off to the museum to try and learn a bit more about it.... to be honest this wasn't too exciting. Ok there were pots and stuff which we found at the sametime as the warriors but they werent that amazing. We wander over to the cinema and watched a great movie in 360 degree TV about the making of the tomb and I have to say that it was very well made and obviously had quite a bit of money thrown at it.

Finally we decided to go and see the main event, walking into Hall 1 we were met with a sign telling us all about the hall and how it was discovered in 1976. It still didnt prepare you for the sight of this army of clay warriors... truely fantastic.

I will leave you with the photos ...

We went to the other 2 halls which were really impressive, but didnt quite live to hall number 1.

On the way out I decided that I was going to buy some ornaments.... we exited the gates and were hounded by 5 women.

The women were selling these clay and bronze figures for 20 yuan... we got them down to 10 and then Jeff managed to get one of the woman down to 5 ... I bought mine for 10 and then all hell broke loose as I heard Jeff say 5. My rip off woman started ranting at the other and it was all great fun.... I ended up paying 10.

On the way down we were hounded into buying some more tourist cr*p, but by this point we were sick of it and their pulling you this way and that and hanging on to your arms...

It must have been 20mins until we got rid of them... both of us thinking we had a bargain, well Jeff jibbing me about me paying 10 yuan.. but hey thats fine.

When we got back to Xian and saw the exact same figures in the local tourist shop for 3 yuan we both laughed and actually I threw mine away.

Xi'an

I arrived in Xi'an via Train and was met by the lovely people who run the Bell Tower Youth Hostel. Its situated right in the centre of Xi'an, next to the Bell Tower.

Its a pretty impressive place with plenty of communial area and a great restaurant.

Xi'an was really hot, the sun was blazing and so I decided to take a wander about. Funnily enough I met up with some of the local Chinese skaters and had a bit of a skate and chat with them. There were pretty sound people and pointed me in the direction of the skateshop though I never actually found the place....

The people in the hostel were pretty friendly and I shared the dorm room with 3 others, an aussie lad, french girl and welsh fella.

On the first night we all went out for food. There is a big Muslim population in Xi'an and therefore some great food too, including these amazing salted meat on sticks. The food was tasted really good though the morning after 3 of us were frequent visitors to the porcelain throne.

The second night after finishing a journey to the Terracota Warriors we persuaded a group of American teachers to join us for some food. Not being able to find the place we went for meat on a stick again - it was pretty good. Though I dont think some of the teachers were too impressed and later went off for Pizza Hut!

The night finished off with a fair few drinks with the crew and me and my new bud Jeff finally called it a night at about 3:30 - bad idea as I was getting picked up the next day at 5:30... but hey ho it was a great night.

Luoyang (home of the b*stards at Mingyuan Youth Hostel)

My introduction to Luoyang began at 2:30am in the morning by train... I was deposited at the station and of course 2:30am no-one will be about will they?!

Walking out of the station I tried to leave in a stealthy Mission Impossible style. Having got 50m away from the station without any hassle .. I thought I'd made it. I looked over my shoulder to see a horde of people running over in my direction. I was the only westerner on the train and therefore they wanted my blood, I mean money!

Hello... hotel, hostel... this way?! Two people try and drag me in different directions.

I will now let you into a little secret, after staying in Pingyao and not through the want of trying I had no money. I had spent 2 hours looking for an ATM in Pingyao with no success. I thought well Luoyang is a pretty big place and there will be loads of ATMs which there were.

After the sixth attempt and no success at any of the ATMs I was starting to get pissed off, plus I still had my friends tagging along with me. They were trying to get my to go and see their place and I was starting to get angry. I looked through my guidebook and found the phrase "I have no money".... spoke those words and they all left me too it... thank goodness!

I thought to myself well I am sure that I can get to the hostel and pay them tomorrow. So off I went found the hostel and walked in, it was 3:30am. The hostel "Mingyuan Youth Hostel", looked ok and I started to book myself in, I said I had a registration, but they didnt have it...

I then told them that I didnt have any money at the moment and needed to go to the Bank of China... they shook their head, told me that the Bank of China was shut and said that I couldnt stay... Unbelievable!!!
They threw someone out on the streets at 3:45am, no idea about the town, with no place to stay, .... just because they didnt have any money until the morning. I was fu**ing pi**ed off....

So I had to go and find the Bank of China....

After 30mins and the help of a taxi driver (who took me 50m down the way I was going) I found the Bank of China and got money out. At that point I thought about going back to the hotel - showing them the money then telling them to stick it and walking out... but then again I didnt have any place to stay... so I thought sod it I will get them back in another way.

The taxi driver took me to the hotel, tried to charge me 500 yuan for the 2 minute journey, followed me into the hotel and then tried to persuade the hotel that I should be charged 200 yuan instead of 50. I told the taxi driver to go away and started to push him (with a smile) out of the hotel... he left!

When I got into the dorm, a very funny sign appeared (see the photo below)... I laughed and went to sleep. The hotel is a International Youth Hostel Associated place and therefore apparently is promoting safe travelling for the youth... my arse!

Datong (Hanging Temples and Yungang Caves)

Catching the train in China is always an experience. With everyone looking at you, some smiling, some looking worried it can be great fun but also nerve racking too. For my trip to Datong I got a hard seat, which is designed to cram as many people in as possible, oh and its also designed for Chinese people. Its not what you would describe as comfort, but then it was fine as I only had 8hours to endure.

When I arrived at Datong, I went for some food with this Army officer, I had a been chatting to and then got bugged by a tout. For those who havent read any of my other writings on this blog, I am not a great fan of the tout, though I do enjoy annoying them. I decided that after this women had followed me around for 30mins trying to get me to see some of her hotels, I would at least take a look.

She took me around a number of hotels, not the nicest and certainly not the cheapest either... after 1 hr she got bored, shouted at me (I dont think we'll be good buddies) and left me on my own. I found a hotel for 120 yuan 80 yuan cheaper than she would give me.

Datong is near the Hanging Temple and the reason for my trip, I had read about them in the Rough Guide and didnt ever think I was going to have the chance to see them. The next few day s were gonna be a bit of a mission as I was basically doing a city a day and then getting a sleeper train to the next place.

I woke up early and met up with the local travel service, who got me my train ticket for that night and also had a tour with 6 others to go and see the sights. The tour was with an Irish couple, 3 german girls and an english fella... all seemed nice people.

The first stop was some caves called Yungang Caves and these were created around 450 and built by one of the earliest monks, Tan Yao, in the Northern Wei Dynasty from Sandstone. There are some 60 caves each built with entrinsic detail depicting stories around the giant statues of Buddha. Unfortunately a lot of the caves have been damaged due to erosion from the rain. Also the area has big coal deposits and Datong produces most of the coal for China. The trucks used to drive past kicking up the coal dust and mixing with the rain, coal dust deposits would destroy the detailed work.

Fortunately a lot of the caves have been protected though still a few heads of Buddhas have been lost to thieves!

Each of the Buddhas is actually a representation of the emperor who was ruling at that time as the Emperor was Buddha.
We wandered around the caves, a lot of the stories are really interesting but the one that stuck in my mind was the story of the Buddha wearing a throw with pictures of monks on it. The story goes that one of the to be Emperor was so mad when he found the monks were not following his orders and rules that killed a large number of them. 2 years after the event he died at the age of 23 with a serious illness. The throw with the pictures of the monks represents each of the monks that he killed and the statue has been sunken down a few meters below all the other statues to bring shame on the Emperors soul.

















The Hanging Temple is found near Heng Shan mountain and is an amazing site. I was looking forward to this temple the most and I didnt orginally think I could fit it in to my trip..

The temple is built into the cliff face and attached to rods that have been driven into the mountain face. All the weight of the temple is held by these rods which have their center of gravity far into the rock face.

The reason that the temple was built into the rock face was not because the Chinese were mad but the temple is found next to a river (which has since been dammed) and every few years the river would burst its banks and destroy the temple.
The temple still got washed away 3 times before it was built higher enough to avoid further destruction.

Check the photos out ... I think you will agree, its pretty impressive.

Mao

In Tiananmen Square in the center you can go and see the frozen body of Mao. Yep he was imbalmed and frozen (a little like Sly Stallone in Demolition Man!). Its quite a site apparently and each day (apart from Mon and Fri) you can roll up and see him.

My first attempt was on Monday when the place wasnt open.
I studied the opening times...

Second attempt, I rolled up on Wednesday afternoon, it was closed, only open in the morning on Wednesday.

Third attempt, Thursday afternoon open till 16:30 I arrive at 15:30, see the queue its gonna take 30-60mins I decide I will get up really early next Tuesday and go and see it.

Fourth attempt, I roll up at 8am along with the rest of Beijing the queue is something like 70000+ people (I'm not kidding!) it took me 20 mins to walk along the queue which was 4 people across and they were packed like sardines.....

After that attempt I decided that I wasnt supposed to see Mao and got on the train for Datong.

Apparently Maos body is swapped with a wax body every few days so maybe I wouldnt have seen him anyway.... oh and my last little fact, its rumoured that when they were imbalming him his ear fell off....

Alien Francais (pictures to come)

When I arrived in Beijing, there was this friendly French woman who whilst seemed pretty normal (you knew she was a bit mad too - hey Christina and Silvain). She told me a story about going to the massage palour and being offered a happy ending (I'll leave that to your imagine) and spoke of some times with the special (as she called it). All in all a cool woman, then another french person rolled up in the room, this time a fella.

They spoke French well and surprisingly I could actually understand a lot of what they were saying and also they spoke English pretty good too...

Christina asked if I wanted to come along to Alien Francais (the mention of aliens started to make sense) with her and Silvain. Why not I thought and off we went..

The Alien Francais is funded by the French government and in pretty much all countries, promoting French culture. It was pretty cool, gave free Internet, had amazing coffee and also pain au chocolat (immediately I liked the place).. actually the coffee was so good and probably the best I had in China!

We met some Chinese who were studying and working there and they invited us out for Peking Duck and also then one of them was in a Fleminco band.

The Peking Duck restaurant was pretty plush and our guide got us good seats, we had a beer and sat back and let her order. The duck was good, I have to say not the best but it was pretty good and we ate goose and basically filled our faces.

We then headed over to Lush to see the Fleminco band, after a long trip in taxi (who reckoned he knew where we were going, but needed to chat to a lot of people on the way) we arrived at a very cool bar/club.

I have to say I cant remember any names whilst I write this but everyone was really friendly and the band were amazing, doing some great latino tunes and the spanish were getting their groove on around the bar.

Anyway here are some pictures...

Summer Palace

The Summer Palace is in the North East of Beijing (forgive me if I spell Bangkok instead of Beijing, I am currently writing this from Bangkok).

I decided to rent a bike, it had been really sunny for the past week, so I thought it would be a good way to get around. Anyway as I went outside, it dawned on me that maybe it was gonna be a bit nippy... the cold wind was howling down the side streets of Beijing (the wind by the way comes from Mongolia).

The bike wasnt the best, well it all worked well apart from the brakes which were a little bit hit and miss at times. I guess it just kept me on my toes - ready to jump off if I needed too!

On my way I got chatting to a local who was off to buy some cartoon figures. Its funny chatting on a bike whilst cars scream past you, nice fella and another thing that is good about China, whilst there are lots of people trying to scam you there are also people who are genuinely friendly. He pointed me towards my path and about 1hr later I arrived at the Summer Palace.

Here is an excerpt from the www.chinatourguide.com website about the Palace.

Constructed in the Jin Dynasty (1115-1234), during the succeeding reign of
feudal emperors; it was extended continuously. By the time of the Qing Dynasty
(1644-1911), it had become a luxurious royal garden providing royal families
with rest and entertainment. Originally called "Qingyi Garden" (Garden of Clear
Ripples), it was know as one of the famous "three hills and five gardens"
(Longevity Hill, Jade Spring Mountain, and Fragrant Hill; Garden of Clear
Ripples, Garden of Everlasting Spring, Garden of Perfection and Brightness,
Garden of Tranquility and Brightness, and Garden of Tranquility and Pleasure).
Like most of the gardens of Beijing, it could not elude the rampages of the
Anglo-French allied force and was destroyed by fire. In 1888, Empress
Dowager Cixi embezzled navy funds to reconstruct it for her own benefit,
changing its name to Summer Palace (Yiheyuan). She spent most of her later years
there, dealing with state affairs and entertaining. In 1900, it suffered again,
being ransacked by the Eight-Power Allied Force. After the success of the 1911
Revolution, it was opened to the public.

Unfortunately like every tourist attraction in China, the Peoples Democratic Republic of China was renovating the Palace, so I didn't get to see the main event!

The grounds were really beautiful but the cold and wind did detract from its beauty. One of the highlights is the marble boat which is pretty big and could do with a bit of renovation itself, sure that will be done next year!

Anyway I will leave you with some photos of the palace and the bike!

Kicking ass at the Shaolin Si (Shaolin Temple)

Shaolin Si (Si means Temple) is located about 3 hours from Luoyang and is the home of Wu Shu or Kung fu. Getting there was a bit manic as I had 3 hours sleep and then had to get up, get rail tickets and then organise the trip for the same day, the trips leave at 8:30am too.

Anyway some how I managed it and off we went. Beforehand we saw a load of temple that I wasnt really interested in and finally we made it to the Shaolin Temple. Its pretty touristy but hey ho what you gonna do.. pretty much straight away we find out that a show by the Shaolin Monks was gonna start in 5 mins so we ran to the arena.
You can watch some videos of the action here...
Shaolin Warrior Praying Mantis Style
Shaolin Warrior Monkey Style
Shaolin Warrior Break Metal Plates
Shaolin Warrior - Flexing his style
Shaolin Warrior Spin on Spike
Shaolin Warrior with Long Knife

The temple complex had lots of different temples though a lot of them were written in Chinese... One of the highlights was this tree, supposedly the holes have been created by one inch finger punches (or a blow torch - not that I am senical or anything ;))

There was loads of stuff to see including a statue of all the different shaolin masters including the drunken master...coool!

Finally on the way back I got attacked by this old woman who was trying to sell me this baloon thing which made bird like noises, it was pretty lame and cost 1 yuan but she got really pi**ed off with me because I wouldnt buy it... I tried to explain that I was going to buy it because it was CR*P - she didnt understand and basically hit me on the arm....

Anyway enjoy the videos!