China-Yangshuo-Work day (Day 70)

Since in a 10 days we would be headed to Nepal and would trekking for three weeks Anja was working hard to clear out her backlog of work.  So we spent the previous evening talking to about 15 different hotels about rates and internet.  We found that almost all the beds in Yangshuo are uncomfortable and it was important to differentiate between internet and wifi.

We ended up at the Jia Yuu Hotel for 168 Yuen ($28) a night.  They had a nice room for Anja to setup in but the internet was only Ethernet.  For some reason the Ethernet seemed temperamental with Anja laptop so things were not ideal but Anja worked most of the day away and I spent time trying to make out the rest of our travels through Nepal, Turkey, and to Greece.

The views walking around Yangshuo are great.

And walking the streets at night is really pleasant too.

One funny thing they do is light up some of the formations above town which makes walking around at night more dramatic too.  With the temperamental internet Anja wanted to move so we would go the next day to checkout Rock Abond Inn, a climber hotel run by climbers who say they have the fastest wifi in town.

China-Yangshuo-Wine Bottle Cliff (Day 69)

The weather was cold but looked climbable.  We’d picked up the guidebook the night before and the Wine Bottle seemed one of the closest and easiest spots to climb so we rented two bikes from our hotel and headed over there.  We had heard something about locals charging to climb but were not sure what the deal was there, plus paying didn’t seem like a big deal to us, especially after Vietnam.  The directions said watch for the gaudy concrete butterfly directly across from the cliff. 

Well I didn’t quite expect this but we were sure we were in the right spot.

At the base of the cliff there were weird sign and spray paint.  Who knows what all this means?  No one else was there so we just decided to climb.

The left side of the wine bottle.

We started on Miracle of Lankou, The 5.9 and then headed up Shu Ba Jie 5.10a to the left of it.  The climbs were tough and technical and we were suddenly very gun shy.  No more climbing 6c for us.

We got on Slack 5.10b which was great but still hard.

Then we did a climb without a name that I call tuffa seat.  Name? (Tuffa Seat) 5.10b

I thought it was an awesome climb as you grab this rail of tuffa flow stone and pitched to gain a rest against a tuffa.  Way cool!

To wrap up the day we top roped Happy Ending 5.10d.  It was wicked hard at 5.10d more like 5.11b.  I could barely hall myself up the climb on top rope.  We headed home after that and happy we had not gotten bothered to pay.

China-Yangshuo-Flight (Day 68)

We grabbed a taxi to the airport and caught the one hour flight to Guilin.  In Guilin we caught a shuttle bus for 20 Yuen each ($3 each) which took us into town.  No real English speakers here so we ended up jumping off at a hotel and caught a cab from there to the bus station in front of the train station for 20 Yuen ($3) it was only about 6 blocks away.  At the bus station we were seen a mile away and everyone pointed the white folks to the “bus to Yangshuo”.  We jumped on and were off, it was 30 Yuen each.  It was a busy bus stopping and pick and dropping people off all the time.

On the bus.  When we got to Yangshuo bus station we got off and people were trying to help us speaking good English immediately. 

We had booked at River View Hotel and found someone who could take us there on a motorize rickshaw for 20 Yuen.  It was only about 6 blocks but he dropped us right there.  We were in 140 Yuen ($23) for our transportation from airport to our hotel.  It took us almost 3 hors but not bad.  Of note: a fair taxi price is 250 Yuen and will take about an hour from the airport.  We know how we’ll be leaving.

For dinner I finally found some noodles and for only 15 Yuen ($2.5)

A beer, cocnut juice, and wine to whined up dinner.

China-Xi’an-Biking the City Wall (Day 66)

Sadly, it was even colder so I pulled the plug on trying to go out to Mt Hua Shan as I figured it would be snowing there with no views and too dangerous to be on the fun route up too the top.  Anja worked a little in the morning and I found another recommended Xi’an activity was to bike the city wall.  Our hotel was inside the city wall and it was only about a 1 km walk to the south entrance.  We found our way over there and paid the entrance fee.

We got on top of the wall and rented a tandem bike for a few hours.  It is about a 16 km ride around.

Our stead for the day.

On the wall, I had to run back to get our water bottle when it ejected.

From the north side of the wall looking at the train station.

Inside the wall from the train station.

It was rain now and we were bundled up in our get but our legs were getting wet and cold.

We stopped and posed with a couple fake terracotta warriors.

Done with the ride wet and cold.  It was a nice ride around and good to be active and it was great to go back to the room and crank up the heat.

The view from our hotel room.  On to Guilin and Yangshuo.

China-Xi’an-Terracotta Warriors (Day 65)

We had come to Xi’an to see the Terracotta Warriors and only had a couple days there and the weather was horrible.  It was in the low 40’s and raining.  Anja worked a little in the morning and we grabbed a cab out to the there and back for 400 Yuen.  This was a rip off and should have been more like 200 Yuen but I’d lost the will to fight over $30 so we agreed and headed out.  The cab ride was slow and I don’t think the most direct but we got there and rushed in.

Outside the ticket booths of the entrance.  We’d made it there and were short on time so headed straight to Pit 1.  We didn’t get a guide as I had read there were signs in English you and read and that Pit 1 is the largest, Pit 2 has some in glass for up close viewing, and Pit 3 is the smallest. 

Outside Pit 1.

Pit 1 a massive hanger building with most of the nice viewable figures at the front.

We walked around Pit 1 and got good views as it wasn’t that packed.  Again I can’t imagine what this is like on a busy day.  Yes, I was wearing a long sleeve shirt, fleece, down jacket, wind breaker, and hat and was just comfortable.

Pit 2 didn’t have much to see in the pit but it was cool to get an up close view of some of the best figures.

Archer.

Calvary

High ranking officer.

Mid ranking officer

Sitting archer

Pit 3 is the smallest.

Outside headed out.  Luckily it was not that busy and we were able to see all three pits in about 1.5 hours but would have liked to spend a little more time there.

China-Beijing-Beijing to Xi’an Train (Day 65)

We both were excited about the idea of taking a train but knew it would be crazy.  Over the past year I’d asked everyone we meet who had been to China about the trains.  One kind sole had said “The deluxe soft sleeper is totally worth it but it is hard to get as it is often reserved for dignitaries and what not.”  Well I’d found a booking service online for train tickets (http://www.chinatripadvisor.com) and figured out they charged about $40 to buy a pair of tickets for the train and deliver them to your hotel.  They had three choices: Deluxe Soft sleeper $298, Soft sleeper $176, and Hard Sleeper $120.  The Deluxe is 2 berth with bathroom and the others are 4 berth and a shared train bathroom.  The website also said tickets go on sale 10 days before the date of departure.  In 1994 while traveling in Europe I’d had sunglasses stolen on a train so I knew I would not sleep if our luggage wasn’t secure so I went big spender on the deluxe soft sleeper.

The ticket company had delivered the tickets to our hotel the day before and there we stood in the Beijing train station with our large amount of luggage and train tickets in hand which were mostly in Chinese.    

We found our train on the board and went to the boarding area.  It was insane!  I felt we were in over our heads here given the volume of luggage we had.  Since we are traveling for so long to climb, trek, and Anja working we have lots of luggage about (80 kg in total).  Pretty much it felt like we were in a crowd at a major sporting event about to head into a stadium only we were pulling luggage getting bummed around with everyone pushing.  My stomach was churning; how did this work?  Did we have assigned seats?  At this point we were feeling lucky if we just got on the right train.  We were quickly preparing mentally for a long night.  We surfed through the crowd with our luggage like fish to the train and took our best hope that 11 08 and 11 07 on our tickets were a car and seat number.  We found car 11 and someone was guarding the entrance.  She had just turned someone away; good signs for the high rollers.  I showed her our ticket and she took us on and unlocked a door.  I don’t know that I have ever been so excited about the extra expenditure of $122.  We had a private room with two beds, a chair, a kettle of hot water, a private bathroom, and a door that LOCKS!

Anja sitting in the chair holding the airplane style bathroom open.

Our bunk beds for the night.  Figuring out where to get off the train was a little nerve racking as I did not remember the exact time the train arrived or if we would still be in the same time zone.  Luckily, had the right idea and was ready when we got there Anja was of course passed out a sleep pretty hard on the bed.  We got off the train and were definitely out of western pockets but had made it to Xi’an.  Lots of people trying to target us to make a buck; guess that is what happens when you step off the high roller car.  We got out of the train station and had no idea where we were and nor where our hotel was; a feeling I hate.  After a little wondering around the outside the huge train station we concluded the best idea was to walk to a large hotel and catch a cab from there.  We grabbed a green and brown cab and got to the hotel.  Our hotel was definitely out of typical pockets but was very nice and big.

We headed out to dinner and ended up at a Korean BBQ place that spoke no English and no English menu.  Things were clearly going to be tougher in Xi’an.

On an up note I finally found some dark beer although it was a little strange but still nice.