Sarf Coast

Like many seaside towns, Worthing sports a pier, and on the end of that pier sports a nightclub. Having been a regular for years, I haven't been know for at least a year and half. Obviously that's partially due to having spent a significant portion of that time in Asia, but what really vexed me last time I went here was, when we stepped outside to get some air and have a chat, as we'd been doing for about nine years, we were corralled into a tiny roped off area along this window. Once we's wedged ourselves into the crowd, we had to dodge cigarette's being waved around with drunken abandon and were jostled and foot trodden on more than we had been inside. That was the point were I thought 'I am too old for this'.

This reflection of the suburban south coast in the blacked out windows caught my eye, even if I did have to stand an extreme angle to get it 'just right', which annoyingly means that I get stuck with underside of the balcony in one corner.

By the way, this photo looks much better enlarged!

Skywatch Friday

Hong Kong

Statues outside the Art Museum

I spent much of the ferry trip from Macau to Hong Kong feeling slightly apprehensive about what our accommodation would be like, as we were staying in Chungking Mansions. This is a chaotic and (in)famous building in Kowloon, full of cheap hotels, Indian restaurants, money changers and tailors. K and W had moved out of their Chungking Mansions hostel in horror at the squalor, and I was hoping we would not have to do the same.

We didn’t: there was a very good reason that the Guangdong Hostel has one of the best ratings on hostelbookers.com. Our room, although tiny, was immaculate. The floor was probably cleaner than most of the tables I eat from in Shijiazhuang. We were provided with all sorts of creature comforts, including a fridge, tv and dvd player. The proprietor, Simon, gave us with tourist maps, let us borrow his laptop for free to use the internet, helped us find our way about and, as A’s parents had to go home a day earlier than they had planned, let us change to a cheaper, smaller room for the second night.

Peace bears, Avenue of the Stars

On the way out to explore the Kowloon peninsula I purchased on of the best garlic naans I had ever had in my life. Soft, fluffy yet slightly chewy and fantastically garlicky – let’s just say I was a repeat customer for the duration of my stay.

It is free to visit museums in Hong Kong on Wednesdays, so we took the opportunity to look around the Art and Space Museums. The Art Museum had a variety of very interesting and well curated exhibitions. My favourite was ‘The Art of Ding Yangyong’. I especially liked his cat pictures, which were playful, captured the cat-ness of cats very well, and never lapsed into sentimentality. I also enjoyed ‘Looking for Antonio Mak’, which had a thought provoking section of contemporary artists on this theme, and ‘The Story of the Horse’, which contained some beautiful antique scroll paintings.

Painting in painting, Ding Yangyong

The Space Museum was disappointing: it was shabby, many of the interactive exhibits were broken and there were huge queues to use any of the apparatus, so we didn’t spend very long there before walking down the Avenue of Stars. This affords stunning views over to Hong Kong Island, and I particularly liked watching the intriguing array of boats that went past. It is also home to a statue of Bruce Lee. There was a large crowd seething around the statue, most of them in the process of snapping pictures of themselves with Brucie.

Bruce Lee statue

I found Maltesers, which are totally unavailable in mainland China, and joyously bought two bags. The first one I devoured as if I hadn’t eaten for several hours, the second I had for breakfast the next day.

On our way down to the waterfront we had spotted an Irish bar, and we decided to pay a visit at happy hour. It was probably the strangest Irish bar I’ve ever been in. The Oirish memorabilia was overwhelming – I have never seen so many Guinness toucans in one place, although I did manage to find my surname on a map of Irish names. The traditional wooden bar divisions were decorated with Chinese New Year decorations, and the remarkably sullen staff waited on tables. We met a crazy Pakistani businessman, who was a complete bs merchant, but who very obliging bought us a drinks whilst he spun his yarns.

Good Morning II 1993, Antonio Mak

We wanted to sample some Cantonese food, and asked Simon about where would be good to eat. He offered to guide us to his favourite restaurant. We exited the back of Chungking Mansions, and in a trice had gone from the Westernised, modern clamour of Nathan Road to dank, dark back alleys, running with water whose origin I preferred not to speculate upon, filled with Indian and African men chatting and smoking, and men of various ethnicities pushing huge carts through the narrow passageways.

At the restaurant Simon procured us some English language menus. As we perused them I experienced a terrible fear that Simon would stay to eat with us, obliging us from politeness to try and force down the restaurant’s fare. It seemed to specialise in serving tendons of various different animals: in soup, braised, fried, and the place itself had a less than savoury air. Fortunately Simon had to go back to check in another guest, so we waiting for a few minutes and made our way to a Spaghetti House, where we happily chowed down on some delicious pasta.

Victoria Peak tram

After dinner we took the subway over to Hong Kong Island, rode the Victoria Peak Tram and observed the city at night, whilst trying not to get elbowed by some of the obnoxious mainland Chinese tourists. Very annoyingly my camera is rubbish at night shots, so I have a series of gloomy and blurry snaps to show for my diligence in fighting my way to the best photography spots.

Yangshuo - Part One

The first time that I walked down the main street in Yangshuo I was in continual danger of bumping into someone or getting run over as I was so busy staring at the truly stunning karst mountains to pay attention to anything else. Normally, the idea of somewhere being a ‘backpacker’ town would be enough to fill me will horror, but Yangshuo completely won be over with its pretty, bunting decorated streets, relaxed pace, friendly people and startling beauty.

Having only previously visited the metropolises of Beijing and Shanghai, it was a surprise to see people walking about carrying the traditional shoulder yoke with two baskets, normally filled with farm produce to sell on the street – which in rural China includes live chickens. Despite obviously relying on tourism for much of its income, and being stuffed full of hostels, hotels, eateries and souvenir shops, I was pleased to see that it was also still a functioning rural Chinese market town.

On our first night we were lucky enough to stumble across the excellent Seventh Heaven Café. We made the mistake of straying a couple of times during our stay, but never found anywhere else in its league. My favourite dish was their hummus and pitta bread, which was made entirely from scratch when you ordered, and was easily better than anything I ever ate in Greece.

We were equally fortunate in our hotel, West Lily, run by an extremely helpful couple called Lily and Steven. They also have an adorable little girl, just over a year old, who knew full well that she was far more interesting than the postcards I was writing.

The first thing we wanted to do was take a boat trip down the river Li, and after being quoted a ludicrous price of 2000rmb in Guilin, found that we could do a river trip from Yangshuo for under 100rmb per person. The boats leave from Xingping, so we took a local minibus there from Yangshuo, giving us the opportunity to check out the lush local countryside, filled with orange groves and vegetable fields.

To get to the boat landing point in Xingping, we walked through a street of old style Chinese houses, complete with old men playing a mahjong outside and dogs snoozing on doorsteps. If it wasn’t for the glow of televisions seen through open doors, it felt like it could have been the China of a hundred years ago.

The river cruise itself induces me to a frenzy of superlatives: if I was actually paying for my airfare, that trip alone would be worth the cost. The scenery is so amazing, that, if one was a theist in a playful mood, one might think that God had got bored with sensible, everyday landscapes and allowed himself the luxury of indulging his powers to the full and doing whatever he wanted. I have no doubt that a geologist would have an alternative, but no less astounding, explanation.

It was probably also the most tranquil experience I’ve had in China, and after four months of the hustle and bustle of Shijiazhuang, cruising on the clear river, contemplating the astounding natural beauty and animals quietly grazing on the shore was a tonic to the soul.

Other tonics were provided at Monkey Jane’s, a hostel whose rooftop bar is an almost obligatory stop off point for visitors to Yangshuo. We chose not to sample the snake shooters, but instead headed for the 2-for-1 cocktail menu, and although service can be a little tardy, they certainly mix a great mojito. As well as the snake liquor and enviable views over the town to the river, the bar boasts possibly the most ragged pool table I have ever seen. This however was not much of an issue for me, as my pool skills are so bad there is little that can make them worse. We did however enjoy playing several cocktail fuelled games, and met an impressively varied medley of travellers.