To imagine what Halong Bay looks like you basically have to take YangShuo (which I visited even twice) and just replace all rice paddies with open water…et voilà: It’s limestone karst peaks peeking out of the water. Despite the similarity I was still overwhelmed by the scenery. The fact that I took no less than 130 pictures in 2,5 days is a sure indication for it. I am usually not so quick in taking picture, although it’s all digital nowadays and could be just deleted. But I still don’t fancy the work of sorting out picture. I’d rather avoid a bad picture right away. But on Halong Bay you could essentially point your camera anywhere and just press the button…you’d still have a stunning picture. Continue reading Halong Bay – YangShuo on the Water
Tag Archives: Asia
Sapa – Rice Paddies and Minorities
Am I glad that I did the trip! Remember? Many people told me I had to go there, but I had considered skipping it as I thought I had seen enough mountains and rice paddies already. Seeing then that tours to Sapa can be easily booked as group tours through basically any agency and guest house here in Hanoi I opted for a two day/three night version: First night on the night train to Sapa, then one day of hiking there with a tour guide, doing “homestay” for the second night (which means to stay with a local farmer in one of the minority villages), another shorter day of hiking, and the third night back on the night train to Hanoi.
Rice paddies here look like rice paddies in China, no news. But the muddy walking trails were an entirely new experience as was the encounter with the minority people. Not because of their appearance or traditions, but because of their insisting way of persuing their “business”. We’ll come back to that… Continue reading Sapa – Rice Paddies and Minorities
Hanoi (III) Temple of Literature
Let’s start with a small story, which actually dates back as far as to LiJiang: Our group came back from BaiSha, split up after returning. I went with two of the ladies through LiJiang back to the hostel, on the way asking “What’s about a coffee?”, completely taken by surprise that Jennifer, a US University Professor, studying cultural influences on language (I hope you forgive my extremely short-cut description?), could not follow my intention. I had to learn that “What’s about…” requires a context and I should have asked a bit more elaborated like “Would you like to have a coffee?” or “What do you think of having a coffee now?” After such introduction a follow-up like “What’s about tea instead?” would be OK. Well…she’s the native speaker…I just take the point. Continue reading Hanoi (III) Temple of Literature
Hanoi (II) By Night / Museums
Hanoi yesterday night Continue reading Hanoi (II) By Night / Museums
Kunming Stone Forest / Last Day in China
KunMing (昆明)
…all I remember from my Lonely Planet about it is something to the line of “there’s nothing to see in KunMing proper”. Well, I sent my LP home already in the package from YangShuo, so I don’t have it anyway. And all I wanted to do in KunMing was to see the Stone Forest, which got quite some praise from various people, last from Rita and James. Continue reading Kunming Stone Forest / Last Day in China
YangShuo (III) Moon Hill
Alone again…I bid farewell to Rita and James this morning after breakfast as they are heading back to Canada by way of their Chinese ‘home’ and Shanghai. I’ll miss their company: Riding the bicycle alone through the YangShuo scenery might be faster, but also more quiet. Yesterday, we had spent a relaxing day ‘hanging out’ at YangShuo, not doing anything. Rita was still a bit handicapped, and so we stayed for 3 hours at the breakfast cafe, separated for a few hours (they shopping, me organizing a parcel back to German and a fax to the US), and staying from 5pm til midnight in another cafe, emptying various coffees and no less than 13 bottles of beer (for James and me) on the occasion. Life can be so simple and wonderful… Continue reading YangShuo (III) Moon Hill
YangShuo (II) Bamboo Rafting on YuLong River
Oh…YangShuo is so great a place to just hang out… I had always wanted to spend a day on the bamboo rafts crossing up and down the rivers. As Rita was a bit handicapped anyway and the weather was great again it was the perfect day to get driven out to YuLong River, hop onto the bamboo rafts, and get slowly moved down-river through stunning scenery. Views are comparable to Li River, if not even better. And no annoying loudspeaker announcement or engine sounds around. Just silence. Or water fights… 😉 Continue reading YangShuo (II) Bamboo Rafting on YuLong River
GuiLin (III) Li River
Li River (漓江)
Despite the money it costs and the bad weather forcast I had opted for accompanying Rita and James on the Li River cruise once again. A great decision! The weather forecast proved completely wrong and it was a nice sunny day with very good views on all the limestone hills along the river. Not that we could identify much more of the rocks named by the Chinese, but just the scenery as such, without names, was great enough. Compare these pics with my first tour here in February! (Organization was similar this time, but the bus not full, and I had an iPod to block out the unavoidable guide’s talking 😉 Most surprising: No bamboo rafts selling souvenirs on the river!)
GuiLin (II) LongJi Rice Terraces
You likely have seen cool pictures of the LongJi Rice Terraces, like in the rising morning sun, or in moon light, or even covered by snow. Well…we weren’t there at a time you could shoot any of such pictures. Maybe that is why the expectation was higher than what we eventually saw.
GuiLin (I) Arrived
Nothing interesting happened today. And there is likely not anything interesting to be happening tomorrow. Let me just give a brief note that I am still alive and well. I spent a lot of time waiting at airports today. Continue reading GuiLin (I) Arrived