Vietnam: Sapa (Part 1) - Train Ride to Lao Cai

I walk to Hanoi train station (the northbound side) to meet my friends to catch the overnight train to Lao Cai.  We've glitzed it up by booking seats in a "soft seat" cabin.

Balla.

ProTip:  The northbound trains leave from the western side of the station on Trần Quý Cáp (you have to travel around the block to get there) and the southbound trains leave from the east side of the station on Lê Duẩn.


My friends bring out the entertainment for the night - a pack of cards - and procede to play vietnamese poker.  I watch and try and learn how to play but it makes no sense to me and I don't quite fancy the idea of being completely covered in makeup at the end of it as punishment for losing.

I see your ox and raise you three chickens

Eventually in the wee hours of the morning we attempt to go to sleep.

Damn it's hot in here.

It just keeps getting hotter and hotter - almost impossible to sleep.  The air-con doesn't seem to be working.

Not sleeping.  Not sleeping.

A strong, weird metallic smell wafts through the cabin.  Half of the cabin gets up and runs down to the next caboose.  It turns out the air-con has crapped it's pants so I go and hang out in the next car for a while - it's the hard seat cabin.  Funnily enough - the cabin literally has hard seats made of wood.

Recommended by your local chiropractor.

It may be the cheap seats, but it's oh so heavenly in here with air-con cranking.  After a lengthy stop at a train platform, word gets through the Vietnamese ranks that the air-con has been fixed so we all head back to our seats and set off again.  It's still rather warm though and lack of sleep ensues.  It's becoming apparent that the air-con is still not working, and eventually another waft of metallic scent combined with a cloud of odd looking smoke comes barreling down the cabin.

It wasn't me.

"Everybody to the next cabin!" one of the uniformed staff shouts (in Vietnamese of course - I am fluent don't you know...) and everybody hurriedly grabs their bags and rushes into the hard seat cabin to find a seat for the rest of the journey.   I sit next to two old men and we exchange nods and smiles.

A middle-aged woman gets on at one of the train stations and starts selling corn to passengers.  She stops and starts selling some cobs to a couple directly opposite me when somebody further  down the carriage yells out.  The woman looks down the corridor past my head, quickly shoves her basket of goods under the table and then proceeds to half run, half trot the other way down the train - chased by a uniformed guard.  I guess he didn't catch her because in 5 minutes she's back to pick up her basket and continue selling her wares.

Quick!! Catch her!!!               Nap.

To be continued...

Vietnam: Hot Pot and Karaoke

Another night out in Hanoi - out for dinner with the girls again.  This time we have street Vietnamese hot pot and are joined by one of their workmates.

Pot is Vietnamese for James

Naturally we start drinking rice wine (shots) which I must say goes down rather nicely.  Soon another friend turns up with a bottle of Vietnamese tequila with two large scorpions in it.

Because killing animals for garnish is FUN.

More shots.  More rice wine.

Yo!!!!

When you're Vietnamese and you're drunk the only logical thing to do is go motorbike riding to find karaoke!  The first venue is full.

Damn.  

Back down the other end of town again - this time on the back of a different bike.

 I wish I didn't have a girl's helmet on.

Karaoke is open for business!  Sadly, we are terrible singers so we have to drink more beer to take the pain away.

And a lot of beer was needed that night.

Vietnam: Bia Hoi Hanoi

Back in Hanoi again, my current travel buddy has left for London, and I have struck up a conversation with some hotel staff at breakfast time.  Next thing you know it's 3pm and we're having Bia Hoi at a local establishment.


Drink


Plastic chairs.

Drink


Low tables.

Me and 4 girls from the hotel.

Corn snacks


Drink


Mmmm.

Drinksh


Pork rubs

7000VD for a beaar. Food is a bit moore expunsive than the beeeer but what do I care.

Drinkssssssssssss

Rinse and repaet.

It wash a good nihgt.

Needless to say I won the drinking competition.  Pussy.

ProTip:  Look for Bia Hoi further away from the backpacker centre of town.  Food and beer is cheaper there, and you'll likely meet some friendly locals to have a toast or two with.

Vietnam: Perfume Pagoda (Part 2) and an Accident

Although I am a Manly Man, I had already been convinced by the tour guide to purchase a one-way ticket on the cable-car so I caught it back down the mountain instead of walking.

It's quite possibly the most exciting cable-car I have ever been in.  To picture what it was like, combine the following ingredients:

1.  Vietnam safety standards
2.  Cable-car speed set to Turbo
3.  4 large wasps buzzing around in the cab
4.  Tiny openable windows that aren't big enough for the wasps to find and escape

Ha ha the joke is on you!  There are no safety standards.

Needless to say - I didn't have too much time to relax and enjoy the view but it was actually better than walking as you can see quite far across the mountain range on the way down,  and you get to see the pagoda trail from above snaking it's way upward.

The view only makes them angrier -
wasps are afraid of heights because they have small wings.  

Once back at the bottom, we take a quick peek at the nifty old temple there complete with badass warrior statues before hopping back on the boat for a leisurely ride back to the minivan.

They burn one incense stick for every wasp victim of the month.

Partway along the trip back to Hanoi, we come to a sudden halt.  One car ahead of us there is a crowd of motorcyclists blocking the road in the middle of the village we are passing through.  It seems like we won't be moving for a while so we get out to investigate.

In the middle of the road lie two motorbikes, and two bodies.  A middle aged and an elderly woman have had a collision.  One of them seems to be alive but bloody and somebody is watching over them intently - the other one is motionless and drenched in blood, and nobody seems to be giving them any attention.  After a couple of minutes an arm moves so they're both still alive for now.

Nobody is allowed to move the accident victims until the police arrive to see what happened.  Eventually some policemen arrive, and the women are hastily lifted onto the back of motorbikes, perched between two people and whisked off to what I hope will be a hospital.  Hopefully they didn't have any spinal or neck injuries or it could be permanent the way they were handled like that.

Kind of like Tom Green - Not funny.

ProTip:  Don't get involved in an accident in Vietnam - it could take a quite while to get medical attention, and they won't touch you until the police arrive.





More photos can be viewed here on Flickr

Vietnam: Perfume Pagoda (Part 1)

Another day, another tour - this time I'm off to see the Perfume Pagoda - a mountainous area covered in Buddhist temples and shrines that the tour guide tells us is only accesible by river.

I guess the Jeeps just float around on their tyres...

After arriving by minibus and buying some sexy vietnamese hats to save us from the scorching sun we prepare to pile onto long metal rowboats that are waiting to take punters down the river.  In wonderfully typical Vietnamese fashion, as we are waiting for our turn to hop aboard, a huge argument breaks out (presumably over who gets take people next), and more and more rowers drift across the river to come and join in the fun.

Uh uh - Don't go there sister.

Interestingly, the job of rowing tourists down the river seems to be exclusively reserved for women.  There are also many more women who need work in the area than there are boats and so each boat lady only gets about two rides per year.  This means that they rely on tips from tourists for their income so don't be stingy.


ProTip: Don't ride the boat with no pants on - the seats are metal and get very very hot.




This time of year in September the river is very quiet and serene and there are hardly any tourists here.  The ride takes about an hour and our boat is powered solely by Woman.

And Woman is powered by Talking On Phone

The boat ride is peppered with fishermen, tombs on the water, and boatmen rowing past using their feet to push the oars.  Only men row using their feet here - apparently it's not ladylike for a woman to do it that way.

During the peak time between January and March when the country's largest festival is on around 1.5 Million Vietnamese people come from all over the country to visit the area - that would be quite a sight to see!

I had to settle for this...

As is the law in asia, since this is a tourist spot which involves a hill or mountain, there is also a cable-car to take you to the top.  I could easily catch the cable-car up and down but no - I am a hard man made of steel and pheromones.  I begin the long climb up the mountain along a cobblestone path - past the gateway to a temple, and continue beyond the cable-car entrance.  Walling the stone path are rows and rows of empty store-fronts as it snakes it's way up the hill.  The entire 4 kilometer uphill hike is flanked by these stalls - it's hard to believe that they stretch the entire way up the mountain - it must be absolutely mad during festival season.  Occasionally along the way I come across a stall that is actually occupied by an old lady or young girl and they are selling some fruit, water, plastic toy guns or other miscellaneous trinkets.

and small snacks.

The only time you get reprieve from the store-fronts is when you take a detour off of the main path to one of the many pagodas strewn about the mountains.

The stairs won't give you any sympathy though...

Finally at the sweaty top of the mountain I'm greeted with some picturesque stone steps leading down into a jungly cave.

Caution: Large Boulders

It's nice and cool in there and a good end to the trip.  The misty cave entrance is definitely worth the hike - even though it's a fraction of the size of the Surprising Cave in Ha Long Bay, I think it's more spectacular.    Maybe it's the reward after the sweaty trek up the hill in the heat or the Indiana Jones feel to it - but it's great.

Just Great.

More photos can be viewed here on Flickr

Vietnam: Ha Long Bay

Ha Long Bay is one of those places that's on everybody's itinerary who visits Hanoi.  The area has also experienced a boom in popularity since it had wide exposure in the "Vietnam Special" Top Gear episode a few years ago.  I opt to go on a two day tour arranged by the front desk of my hotel, and am picked up early in the morning for the long drive.  Along the way I get my first taste of country traffic where the general rules of thumb are:


1. Honk your horn if you are going to do anything at all 
2. Who Is Bigger Wins.

I call it a draw.

When we arrive at Ha Long Bay after the obligatory rest stop in a large nick-nack store we land in tourist hell.  There is a metaphorical ocean of tourists here at the boat dock, and the literal ocean is full of identical tourist boats.  So many new tourism operators have set up shop here over the last couple of years that the government had to step in and cap the total number of tourist boats operating in the area.

This is behind the photographer in every Ha Long Bay pic

Our boat is actually quite nice - and since it was a mid-price range tour (about $100) the meals are good and the staff are friendly and helpful enough.  We set off into the bay and get in amongst the rock formations jutting out of the water.

It's like Guilin but more wet.

In the afternoon our activities include going into the Surprising Cave (which was given it's name because it has a rock formation in it that surprisingly looks like a penis), kayaking around the boat people's houses, and jumping off of the top of the boat into the water.  Jumping off of the boat was my favorite bit until someone's evening garbage floated by.  If only it had been jellyfish....

The boat people are quite fascinating - many people grow up on the water in boat houses and live their whole lives there - only making weekly trips to the mainland to buy supplies such as car batteries to power their night lights and televisions.

The lights are to scare away the Boat Ninjas...

They even have a floating school where sometimes kids have to swim to class if their father is using the boat that morning for fishing.


Later that evening we go fishing for squid off the back of the boat.  I don't think there are any squid here.  A fellow kiwi managed to catch a hat with a crab on it though which was quite exciting.
Anyway, I don't care that there's no squid to catch - it's relaxing, peaceful and quiet - having a beer on the back of the boat exchanging stories about monkey attacks and the like.  Peaceful until the night is rounded off with a bout of karaoke.

I apologize profusely to the other people sleeping on the boat.

Vietnam: Hoan Kiem Lake

Hoan Kiem Lake in the old heart of Hanoi has to be one of the most romantic spots I've ever been to.  As luck would have it a long public holiday celebrating Uncle Ho was looming and so there were colorful lanterns all around the perimeter of the lake.  A couple of weeks later I found out that this is not always the case - most of the time you only get boring white lights around the lake.

Thanks Uncle Ho

It's no wonder that local couples flock here to sit on the edge of the lake among the willows and lanterns - escaping the motorcycle madness, hustle and bustle of the surrounding streets.

And lonely old men.

ProTip: You can see the colorful lanterns surrounding the lake in early August.

Woman Exercising by Hoan Kiem Lake

Vietnam: Crisis

After cocktails at the lake, I'm back at the backpackers and browsing the net in bed (not what you're thinking).  I notice an extra large tub of protein powder lying at the foot of one of the beds.  It seems to me to be an unusual thing to take on holiday with you backpacking.  Sure, a small keg of the stuff could be reasonable, but do you really want to lug around a novelty oversized one?

Weirdo.

At around 11pm my first roommate comes in half naked and lays down in the bed next to me.  Not in the same bed as me you filthy minded creature - I mean the bed that was next to my bed.

He's obviously completely drunk, and strikes up a conversation.  He's a proud Canadian eh, boasts about how much rum he has drunk tonight, and how he punched some holes in a wall at a bar.

What a guy!


He then proceeds to vomit in the bed and then go to sleep which makes me rather uncomfortable and more than slightly pissed off as the pool of spew is down the end of the bed closest to my head and the room fan is blowing in my general direction.

Around 30 minutes later and Protein Powder Man comes home, finds it amusing that his friend has vomited in the bed, and then decides that I would be interested in how he has been "banging chicks at the gym".  Needless to say I'm not interested, but he doesn't seem to mind and keeps on talking before finally going to sleep.

Some time later and I'm woken again by another roommate coming home.  This guy is also drunk, and also rather pissed off that the Canadian chap has vomited and fallen asleep in his bed, and so attempts to have an argument with him which is futile as Vomit Boy is comatose.

I'm ashamed to say it but I had a crisis and just had to leave the next morning and check into a nice hotel.

It was the right choice.  I had a wonderful time with a nice room, privacy, nice staff, and an excellent breakfast.

And the doorman was most handsome.

Pro Tip:  Avoid hostels with excellent rating by 18-25 year old Australians, English and American males.  Go for hostels where the young uns complain about not meeting chicks or having parties.

Vietnam: I, N00B

I survive the flight from Shanghai - (I can only assume because every passenger was armed with a metal knife instead of the crappy plastic ones so no terrorists dared to try anything) - and arrive at Hanoi International Airport.

After getting some cash out and feeling like a billionaire with my wad of 100,000VD notes I head to the official airport transport counter to find out what my options are for getting in to town.  The friendly lady at the counter says that I need to take a shuttle bus into town, that you pay at the information counter, and that it will cost 650,000VD.

What the hell lady?  Can airports please fix this shit?

Luckily I learned my lesson in Shanghai and just headed out the door to the shuttle bus queue where I am quoted 100,000VD to take me to my hostel.  As I'm not used to haggling yet and feel rather happy that it's not 650,000VD I agree and jump in.  The guy sitting next to me got the ride for about 65,000VD but hey - it's better than paying 650,000VD right?

ProTip 1: Never use an Airport Transport Counter to arrange transportation.  Go out to the taxi / shuttle stand.

Forty five minutes later I am dumped somewhere in the middle of town and am forced to take a taxi the rest of the way.  Prick.  After a confusing winding drive and 120,000VD later I am dropped at my hostel.  Later on I would find out that it was actually pretty close and should have only been around 40,000VD for the taxi ride if he hadn't taken the scenic route.

I showed him.

After checking in and dropping of my bags it's time for some cocktails next to the lovely Hoan Kiem lake.  The cocktails here are very reasonably priced which is nice.

And almost resemble the drink that you ordered.

ProTip 2:  It should cost about 30-5000VD to take you to one of the Hoan Kiem accomodations from where the taxi drops you off.


ProTip 3: Try and take a Mai Linh taxi.  They cost slightly more per km, but the will take you straight to your destination and not rip you off.

China: Coffee and Crashes

On the long drive back to Shanghai from Wuyuan, I am determined to find a Starbucks to get a shot of my own personal crack.

A man has needs

Sure, Starbucks is shit, but in Asia that's quite often the best you're gonna get for a Flat White.

Not only did my rental car come with my own personal driver [I can hear the sound of Facebook unfriending as I write this], but we also paid the small fee for one of these new fangled GPS systems that all the hip kids are raving on about these days.  The GPS has a fancy function in it where it can help you find the nearest Starbucks or KFC, so we head off to find some coffee.  Long story short, we took a three hour detour only to find nothing.

I could swear it's round here somewhere....

James needs crack.

Never one to give up, we set of for the city of Hangzhou to find the next Starbucks in the GPS system. When we get there, we're greeted by an empty river, and even less sign of a Starbucks.

Crack crack crack.

We give up on the GPS (Goddamn Piece of Sh*t) and after hunting through a wealthy looking suburb we eventually find one and I have that caffeine injection I've been yearning for.

From Hangzhou to Shanghai is not too long a drive, but as we get onto the final highway into town we run into a police roadblock which forces us off at the next exit.  Over the loudspeaker they are saying that they've closed the highway due to a traffic jam and so we have to take the long way back into Shanghai.

The next day we hear on the news that the highway was closed down because a tour bus overturned.

Stink.

Wuyuan (China) Road Trip - Part 3 - Jianglin Hills

Early in the morning we set off for another historic village - again it's closed for business and the local police turn us away.

The Sexy Police.

We head off to see Jianglin hills - a famous picture perfect postcard spot in China.  The area has lots of terraced farming here - and is famous in spring for what Wikipedia tells me is officially called Brassica Napus, but which normally goes by the far sexier name of rape.

NSFW

  The problem is the farmers don't want to grow the flowers because they're pretty much useless to them, but the local government want them planted because they bring in the tourists.

Sadly it's the wrong season for rape, so there was only a token field for the tourists, but after a short walk up the hill, the Jianglin hills still put on a spectacular show.

Be honest - what Google search term brought you here?

More pics can be found here here and over here

Wuyuan (China) Road Trip - Part 2.5

I forgot to mention that at the bottom of Dazhang Shan Mountain there was a van parked in the carpark which had what is either a personalized plate or a very very lucky standard issue one.  I had a chuckle.

Wuyuan (China) Road Trip - Part 2

The next stop on the road-trip itinerary is Dazhang Shan Mountain.  An up-and-coming Chinese tourist spot you can see that they are expecting throngs of tourists to come through here at some point with a half finished cable-car that will soon be ready to take all those weary tourists badly in need of a rest from sitting down up the hill.  It's becoming apparent to me that in Asia a tourist spot is not really a tourist spot unless there is a cable-car involved.  They're bloody everywhere.

Walking is tiring

After parking the car, we're told in that friendly I'm-being-shouted-at chinese way by a woman selling food that tickets up up the road that way.  So we head up the road that way and reach the turnstile area with the security guard who tells us that the tickets are down the other way.  Damn you.  So we go back down the other way, purchase some tickets, and proceed that way to the turnstile.  Now to check that people don't use tickets twice (and possibly for other purposes) they have a fingerprint scanner at the entrance gate where you have to get scanned before you enter.  I couldn't get the damn thing to work with my huge caucasian fingerprints (and general caucasian thick-headedness) and eventually frustrated the security guard so much that he just let me through anyway.  
James 1 - China 0.

Dealing with James is tiring.

Walking up the hiking trail is actually rather nice.  It's rather similar to going on a bush walk in New Zealand, only twice as hot, and with lots of paving stones and stone bridges everywhere.

It looks a lot like New Zealand,

but is far more educational.

At this time of year we only see about 20 other people making the journey to the top.  I imagine the mountain will receive a lot more once the dormant cable-car overhead springs into action.


After a grueling slog up the hill in the heat we're nearly at the top and are greeting by a crappy looking 50s era power generator that's still in use, and a swing bridge.  Wen finally succumbs to the heat and I'm forced to trek on by myself while I leave her to die alone.  Further up the hill and I cross a rickety wooden bridge - the first time I've felt unsafe on this hike.  Many of the boards are rotten or missing, and the wood flexes in a disconcerting way as I walk across.


Finally I reach the first of the two great waterfalls at the top that the mountain is famous for - White Dragon Waterfall.

Not bad

Damn it's hot up here and I'm sweating like [removed for reference to your mum].  I have to backtrack down the trail to the fork in the road and go to see the Great Dragon Waterfall which I'm not going to bother uploading a photo for because it was dry and just looked like a large, slightly wet rock-face.


I head back down the hill, pause for a moment of remembrance for Wen, and arrive back near the old power generator.  We find that there's a free bus service going back down the hill which we gladly take as we're still leaking sweat like [removed again].  We have a twenty minute wait for the bus driver to wake up from his nap, and sit on the sweltering bus where the bus driver's daughter and her baby brother are hanging out.


She asked Wen [Yes, I see the plot hole - it's gaping like [removed]] a question in Chinese.  "Is that a westerner?".  
I was her first.  
"He has blue eyes" she says.  
This fascinates me as it indicates that they don't get many westerners round these parts!  I tried to talk in some simple English to her, but she says that she learned some English in school but has forgotten it.


Meanwhile, the thermometer on the bus is oscillating between 39 and 40 degrees Celsius.  That can't be right!  Well maybe it can - that would explain why I'm hotter than I've ever felt in my life, and have sweated more than I've ever sweated in my life.     


Finally the bus driver woke from his slumber, hopped in the bus and proceeded to attempt to win the World Rally Championship for Bus Drivers that was going on in imaginationland in his head.  He careened down the mountain road which is barely wide enough to squeeze two cars past, without slowing down for blind corners.  I felt safe though because he parped his horn when he went round the sharpest of corners.

A gentle portion of the ride

We make it back to the rental car alive, find a large fresh scratch down the side of the car, and drive to Woolong Valley / Hanxu Caves to find accommodation for the night.   It's not quite sundown yet but we are both exhausted and I succumb to the heat myself with a headache after carrying my heavy bags up 3 floors of stairs. Some chinese TV, a nap, and a meal are in order.

And we couldn't have picked a better spot.

Wuyuan (China) Road Trip - Part 1

Sadly, it's difficult for an "out-of-towner" to drive a car in China - you need to obtain a local driver's license which I don't really have the inclination to try and obtain - so I meet up with my buddy Wen who will be my personal chauffeur [aah those were the days] on this tour.  I don't really have much to offer on this trip other than being wonderful company and absolutely hilarious and humble.

What a cock.

A couple of hours out of Shanghai and we see a tourist sign pointing off the highway to a place called "Grand Gorge".  That sounds quite impressive - and knowing the way Chinese like to do mountains and rivers I suspect it should be quite a treat.  Turning off of the main highway and handing over some kuai at the obligatory toll-booth we cruise through a small town that is spectacularly one giant roadwork.

Quite possibly the main street of Auckland, NZ.
I think you can see John the blacksmith on the left.

After driving down a bumpy under-construction dirt road for thirty minutes along a river in a ravine, it becomes apparent that this was it, so we make a u-turn, avoiding the gravel trucks and road-workers and head back for the highway.  Perhaps they need to give the Grand Gorge a new name?

Average Gorge, China.

Heading further inland into Jianxi Province (about 6-7 hours from Shanghai) and it becomes apparent that construction is happening everywhere in this part of China. Apartment blocks, factories, shops, bridges, roads - the roadside is peppered with them for the entire journey.  Construction is especially dense anywhere near a major town or city - the local governments are obviously expecting large populations of people to move in soon.

One of the things I find fascinating about rural China is the insistance (perhaps out of necessity) that everything be done via manual labour.  If something needs moving, it's moved by hand.  If a seed needs sowing, it's done by hand.  If a crop needs reaping, it's done by hand.  It's a very common sight to see an old man or woman in their 70s walking down the road with an antique looking hoe slung over their shoulder.  Seemingly the only modern technology around here are the throngs of motorbikes and scooters - driven by old and young alike.  Some of the more pimpin' chaps zip around on their scooters with their ladies perched on the back.

Always remember to bring an umbrella

Arriving at Li Kang late in the afternoon, we find that the village is closed for -- reasons I probably shouldn't say on here - and so we set off to find the next point of interest - Sixi village.  It's getting late and we don't find it until after dark.  And boy is it dark out here in the countryside - the murky black sporadically pierced in the distance by sheet lighting off on the horizon.  Asking a man walking along the side of the road for directions he assures us that we've found it, and insists that we should come stay in his guest house.  We're the only tourists in town tonight so we have a choice of one of two rooms - one with three large black spiders on the wall, and one without.

We'll take the one without thank you.

After a delicious dinner consisting of an egg and tomato dish and beans with miscellaneous, lights go out early so we can get up at sunrise and wander the village.

Good morning Village!

So much for getting up at sunrise - it's 8am by the time we rise from our slumber after a hard day's drive. Breakfast is ready.  Delicious egg and noodles for breakfast.  It's worth noting at this point that all of the food here is "farm food" - fresh off the farm - healthy and delicious!

The head chef/husband/owner of the guest house - hard at work.

Beautiful green fields lie directly out the back door of the guest house.  We wander around the village before the tourists arrive.  It's very hot.  Trays of vegetables and spices are left out in the sun to dry.  The village is quite picturesque - flanked by green fields on either side, old houses squatted next to one another.  Running down one side is a small river - at one end powering a water-wheel - the means to washing clothes at the other, and with a lovely wooden bridge in the middle crossing to a plantation on the other side.  Luckily the only other tourists we run into are a small group of young Chinese.

Flanking Crops

Drying veges and spices

This group of Chinese is so small you can't even see them.

Down at one end of the village, we come across a very old man coming the other way.  He looks about 120 years old - but he's still going - slowly.   Overtaking on the inside, and venturing into an old derelict house, there are random pieces of broken furniture and equipment strewn about as the grass creeps in through a broken door.

Don't look behind you.

I said don't

In the corner of the derelict house is a coffin - under construction.  I can't help but think it's for the old man.


After exploring the first village we head off down the road for ten minutes and arrive at another historic village - Yancun.  This one is just like the first one but different.

As we arrive, a throng of children show up banging on the window shouting.  They want to be our tour guides for the village.  No thank you we keep insisting.  But you will miss out on learning about the 99 different types of door!  No thank you.

Look!  No doors!  I should have payed for the doors.

The village is similar to the last one, but this one has a big old bridge on it.  The locals are sitting on the bridge in the shade away from the heat - chatting loudly.

That's one of the great things about these villages - not only are they a historical tourist attraction - the locals still live, cook, eat, and sleep and whatever country folk do when they get bored after dark in these ancient houses.

More pics of the villages can be found here