3pound massages and rice terraces
Trip Start
Dec 29, 2009
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Trip End
Jan 24, 2010
Where I stayed
Guilin, Guangxi Zhuang, China
Monday, January 11, 2010
So we spent 5 days in Xiamen were Rick lived which was great as i got to see where he has been living and meet some of his friends. Also it was dirt cheap! Rick took me to all the great wee local restaurants where you could get a fab meal for 2 for least than 4pound. It kinda let me see what real china is like. We did some of the touristy things like visiting Gulang Yu island, going for tea and visiting the local temple. We also took the "cable car of death" as Rick named it. Basically we were hanging on with just a few small strips of metal. I considered praying!! I had a night out Xiamen style were we went out a load of Rick's expat friends. One of the girls had just left her job and her boss wanted to take her out to a posh club so we all tagged along. He picked up the tab for the whole night(apparently it is the done thing). So for the first time ever i was in a mega posh club (think cafe vaudeville) in my jeans, walking shoes and North face jacket dancing on a podium which looked like a pulpit and drinking some chinese rice wine shot. Random but a huge amount of fun. Lots of cheesy english music from 5 years ago like blue and Nsyc with a bit of lady gaga thrown in.
The next 2 days were devoted to getting rick's art show sorted, washing clothes and scraping paint of the walls of his apartment- the joys of being an artists assistant! The opening night went well and his art is pretty amazing. Will bore you with all the pics when i get back! After the show we when out for a big dinner and the to Thank You bar, Ricks local. It was like cheers, where everyone knows your name!! I Felt kinda bad that we were leaving as he's made some good friends there and who are going to miss him.
Our journey to Guilin was much better than the journey from HK to Xiamen. No buses just taxies and airplane! And we even got a free upgrade. Dont ask me how, but when we go on the plane our seats had a massive amount of leg room and we got free English papers etc. Wasnt until we landed in guilin and looked down the plane to see the cramped seats that we realised!
The hostel in Guilin was really central but oh so cold. Seriously i have never been so cold in my life. We were sleeping in 3 layers of clothes. The heater in the room was broken so the girl guide in me surfaced and the travel hairdryer was put to good use to generate much needed heat!
For the 2 days we were in guilin it rained. We did some of the signs like elephant hill and the pogodas. We went for tea tasting. That night we had the first point and eat dinner which actually turned out preety good. The chef kept going into the kitchen to bring out ingredients so we could work out what the food was!!
I then got the bargin of the trip. A 3 pound foot massage for 1 hour. OMG it was heaven. My feet have never felt so good!!
Next day we took a bus trip to see the rice terraces. They were impressive except the dam fog meant the views werent all that good. Ate some rice and chicken cooked in a bamboo case. After coming back cold and wet we decided to splash out on 3 pound full body massage. I had a really small chinese girl beat the crap out of me for a hour. At the time i was just wanting to get out of there but i felt amazing afterwards.
Comments
enjoying your blog, keep em coming we are hooked!!!!!!!!
looks amazing, giants in wonderland
Sounds amazing Emma, glad to hear you guys are having a blast. Oh boy those little ladies can sure hurt with their massage I though I would wake up with a kidney missing after my massage in Bangkok!! Looking forward to next installment Eastenders is boring at the mo so you are my entertainment! T