Yangshuo to Hong Kong

Yangshuo
We had a wonderful time in Yangshuo. It was nice to be in a small town (about 600,000 - not small by Canadian standards, but small for China) after so many big cities. We were actually 10km from this town in a small hotel right on the Yulong River. We were active and lazy all at the same time. One day we went for a long walk up the river, then took a bamboo raft ride back to our hotel. The next day our hotel owner (an American motivational speaker named Chris), took us for a hike in the local rice paddies and up one of the limestone carsts (the mountains) you can see in the photos. The carsts are really cool. They are actually hollow! We walked up, through and down one of them. Chris fell once, I fell twice with no harm done. The next day we rented mountain bikes and rode through small villages strung out along the river. For those of you who know my aversion to formal exercise, you would have been impressed. I actually enjoyed exercising in these surroundings! Other than that we ate and read our books. Fantastic!

Our last day we got massages (Paul's third, my second - they really do hurt) and took a cooking class. First we toured the market. For you foodies out there, I bought a bag of star anise for about 12 cents. In New York you can get the same amount at Dean and DeLuca for $12! I am still looking for some contraband Szechuan peppercorns (illegal in the USA). Also at the market were many animals I consider pets. You can buy your turtles and rabbits live and the dogs are already butchered. I saw the live things to my grave disapproval (especially the turtles) but opted out of the dog section of the market. Paul can describe that for you if you are interested. I will not repeat his description. Back to the class! Our classroom was on the third floor of a restaurant, on a large balcony with views of the carsts. Spectacular! We can now make stir fried beef, pork dumplings and braised eggplant. All good, especially the dumplings!

Then we took our last Chinese train ride into Shenzen, Hong Kong's mainland border city. It was so weird. We got off the train in Shenzen and literally followed signs through a mall to exit China and enter Hong Kong. Our guidebook did not describe this process well and we were very confused, but it was actually remarkably easy. (Much better than the 10 hours customs took on the train from Russia to Mongolia or the 5 hours it took from Mongolia into China.)

Hong Kong
After 6 wonderful weeks of language barriers and squatters (I'm talking about "toilets"), Hong Kong is something of a relief. We're paying for it though, with Toronto-like prices. We did the tourist thing this morning. We took the tram to Victoria Peak to see amazing views of the city. Apparently we got lucky and got a pretty clear day. Then we took the world's longest escalator. We got off at one point to get fitted for three custom-made dress shirts each. Great prices for made-to-order shirts and we can pick them up tomorrow! A friend of ours from NYC lived in Hong Kong for many years and gave us a great list of sights to see and things to eat. She recommended dim sum at City Hall which was great! The restaurant had wonderful views of the harbour, great food and really good tea.

This evening we'll meet a family friend, originally from Harrow, who now lives in Hong Kong with her Japanese husband. Meeting someone from Harrow (population 3000) in a huge city around the world always amazes me. It's a small world after all.