Hanoi
Raindrops keep falling on my head
Still in China.......
Stranded in China
Who'd've thought that the most hated person in the world would get in our way. In absolute fairness, there are one or two positive things to say, but also we've all got a catalogue of reasons to dislike the man - except this time it's personal. George Dubya Bush happens to be visiting Vietnam for the "Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders' Meeting in Vietnam" (whitehouse.gov). The security men have decided that no foreigners from outside the country will be allowed into Hanoi whilst the sainted Dubya is there. The Vietnamese embassy in Nanning have taken this as their cue for a holiday, and are refusing to process any visas until Tuesday.
That's the preamble. We decided that the cheapest place to wait out a week would be back in Yangshuo. After all, in addition to cheap accommodation, there're all the nice cafes there, we can hire bikes to ride around the countryside, and i was secretly hoping there'd be lots of further rock climbing to be enjoyed.
Turns out that the weather had just changed entirely. From being warm and dry, it's suddenly changed to cold and very wet. We're currently experiencing about an inch or so of rain each day. Well, that seems to have put climbing and biking out of the picture - swimming isn't even in contention. So now we're trying to kill time by shuffling from cafe to cafe.
And the rugby hasn't cheered me up either (this last point hasn't bothered Becky as much). Wish i were there.
rgds
//richard
(Yangshuo)
Yangshuo
Back on the road again
...
The countryside around Yangshuo and Guilin has rightfully got a reputation for being one of the best in China. ...
Hong Kong
is definitely not China
Wulingyuan
Zhangjiajie National Park
When you ignore the herds of yakking Chinese tourists, Wulingyuan easily achieves the distinction of being one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. The whole area, hundreds of kilometres square, is decorated with these amazing stone pillars and monoliths.