A new year in Nepal

After an uncomfortable and sleepless overnight layover in Delhi International Airport, we arrived bright and early in Kathmandu. Because the capital city of Nepal is at an altitude of 1,400m and is also in a bowl-shaped valley, flights often have to circle a while before landing, and others are often delayed or cancelled due to low clouds and bad weather. Thankfully we had no such problems and were able to land without a hitch.

Kathmandu is kind of like a little version of India - hectic, dusty, noisy, with all sorts of sights and smells assailing the senses - just all on a smaller scale. We headed into Thamel which is the main tourist area where most accommodation, bars, restaurants and shops are located. Nepal has become a massive tourist destination over the years so Kathmandu was pretty busy, despite the fact it was the middle of winter. This doesn't mean it was freezing cold in the city though - it was actually quite warm during the day but pretty chilly at night. We only stayed a few days in Kathmandu, including New Year's Eve which was a very well-behaved night. We didn't want to spend too long in the capital though, so a couple of days later we got a bus to Pokhara.

Despite being only 200kms from Kathmandu, the bus journey to Pokhara takes a good 7 hours. This should give you an indication of how appalling the roads are, which meant we could travel at a maximum speed of about 50km/h. Thankfully there were a few stops to stretch the legs and ease the discomfort from the bumpy ride, but we were glad to finally arrive in Pokhara.

The tourist area of this city is all concentrated in the lakeside area, which stretches along one side of Lake Phewa. However, Pokhara itself is actually a pretty massive and densely populated city, but is mostly spread out beyond the lakeside area. Because it's so close to the Himalayas and the Annapurna mountain range, Pokhara is used as a base for anyone about to trek these areas and is therefore the most popular tourist destination in the country. There's plenty of other things to see and do in the area to take up several days, but it's also a great place to just chill out and enjoy the amazing scenery of the lake and the towering mountains all around. There was also some surprisingly good food to be found, and of course it didn't take us long to find the best place for breakfast which we went to every morning without fail. When a tasty feed of two eggs on toast, a pile of sauteed potatoes, capsicum, tomato, onion and garlic and a glass of deliciously spiced masala tea costs only $1.30, you can't go wrong.

The adorable but bitey puppy at our hotel

We ended up spending nine days here while we waited for Cliff and Joyce to arrive, as the four of us were going to tackle the Annapurna Circuit trek. Of course we had very little appropriate gear for trekking in sub-zero temperatures, so we had to do the rounds of all the trekking stores (of which there are a bazillion) to get prices for renting equipment. When the others arrived we were able to arm ourselves with everything we needed: down sleeping bags and jackets (North Face knock-offs of course), trekking poles, gloves, full thermals, mufflers (vital to protect neck and face in snowstorms) and all other food and supplies we thought we'd need. Together we discussed whether to hire a guide or not, but after much consideration we decided we'd be able to manage ourselves and would get so much more satisfaction out of doing it solo. With that final decision made and with all the necessary permits, map and gear, we set off to conquer the Annapurna Circuit.

A very Merry Christmas in Hong Kong

Crossing over the border into Hong Kong was kind of similar to arriving in Taiwan - it's cleaner than China, there's no spitting and the people are polite, although a bit reserved. I think it's all for the same reasons as Taiwan too - the locals want to be viewed as a separate entity from China, which is fair considering they were a British colony for over 100 years. Since 1997 however, Hong Kong has been a Special Administrative Region of China, but they have a different political system and independence in other areas.

My cousin Michelle met us at the metro station and took us back to her flat in the New Territories area, where they were kindly letting us stay for a few days over Christmas. As it was Christmas Eve, we just had time to stock up on supplies (booze) for Christmas Day which seemed to have rolled around bloody quickly again. 

Michelle's husband Jacky had to work until the evening on Christmas Day, but Michelle made us the perfect Christmas breakfast - bagels with scrambled eggs and bacon, fruit, champagne and orange juice. It had been a long time since we'd had a traditional Christmas so we'd both been really looking forward to it. That, and being able to spend it with family. After going out to get some chores done, we spent the rest of the afternoon chilling out with Michelle and her son Jackson (JJ). Not surprisingly it took a little bit to get used to two strangers in his house, but he soon warmed up to us and kept us entertained over the few days we were with them. He is the cutest and coolest little kid, and he ended up taking quite a liking to Kurt (who's just a big kid anyway). Christmas night Jacky was home and some of his family came over for a veritable feast of a huge roast turkey with gravy and sauces and veges galore. We gorged and it was awesome. Then it was time to engage the second stomach's for dessert - strawberries, raspberries, marshmallows and ice-cream balls with chocolate fondue. Enough said. Then it was present time, which JJ absolutely loved as he was inundated. We'd got him a couple of presents, one more annoying than the other in that it plays an annoying song (Gangnam Style) while spinning around with flashing lights. Of course JJ soon figured out how to turn it on and off himself, so I'm pretty sure all the adults were hoping the batteries weren't long life! He loved it though, and it always makes Christmas more fun having kids around to share in their joy and excitement. 

Christmas breakfast

Playtime

Christmas turkey feast

JJ playing with our annoying present

Mmm... ice-cream and chocolate fondue

There is some amazing food in Hong Kong, so on Boxing Day we all went out for yum cha where we left it up to Jacky and Michelle to order us dish after dish of delicious dim sum. There were steamed dumplings of varying kinds, some of the best barbecued pork buns ever, chicken feet, tripe, sweet custard buns...the list goes on. It's a quintessential experience not to be missed if you're ever in Hong Kong.

Another experience we couldn't miss, and which Kurt had been waiting for, was going to the Boxing Day night races at Happy Valley Racecourse. It's a big drawcard for tourists so we weren't at all surprised to see a shitload of westerners there for the occasion. After paying the HK$10 entrance fee we had just enough time for Kurt to place a bet for the first race, then we settled in with beers to watch. It's quite an impressive racecourse, made even more so by the view of the Hong Kong cityscape towering above. It was a great night, and many beers and many bets (quite a few wins too) later, we managed to find our way back across the city, even squeezing in a ride on a double decker tram.

We had planned to get the very steep tram up to the top of Victoria Peak for uninterrupted views out over the city, but unfortunately the weather was too hazy the whole time we were there so we didn't think it was worth wasting the money for a pointless trip. Instead, we got the iconic Star Ferry across to Hong Kong Island, which offers some pretty great views. And it's cheap as chips. We spent the rest of the day wandering around Central, and because we knew it would be a long time between drinks, we had to have a decent burger and thickshake. Happy bellies = happy people.

Getting out to sample more of Hong Kong's culinary greats, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to eat at the world's cheapest Michelin star restaurant. Tim Ho Wan has a few outlets in the city and is, of course, an extremely popular choice for both locals and tourists alike. We'd read that it fills up fast, so we wisely turned up early enough to get in without having to line up. Being a dim sum restaurant, we chose a variety of dishes, but of course we had to include the favourites - dumplings and barbecued pork buns. These buns rivalled those of the place we went a couple of days earlier with Michelle, Jacky and JJ, but they were quite different - they had a slightly sweet, crispy outer shell instead of the usual steamed bun. All in all we sampled seven different dishes, and along with tea, our bill still only came to HK$145 (a mere AU$21). Now that's what I call fine dining.

Being our last night in Hong Kong, we headed down to watch 'A Symphony of Lights' - the nightly light and laser show (accompanied by music of course) displayed on the buildings in Victoria Harbour. Again, it's a very popular tourist thing to see, so we had to compete with crowds of people to get some photos of the show. It only goes for about 15mins so afterwards we headed to the Temple Street night market to see what was on offer. Nothing that we wanted as it turns out, but it's great if you want to get your shop on.

We only had a few days in this vibrant and bustling city, but we saw, and more importantly, ate, enough to keep us going. It was so good to see some family after so long too, and we have to thank Michelle, Jacky and JJ again for their amazing hospitality and letting us invade their space over Christmas. It was a great way to end the year, and now it was time to head to new pastures - next stop, Nepal.

Our final dose of China

Our very short trip to Taiwan was over all too soon, and it was time to re-enter China for the final month of our visa. We got the ferry back to Xiamen and decided to spend a couple of days there before moving on. It’s actually quite a nice coastal city with some tasty street food, but the main tourist hotspot is Gulangyu, an island just across the harbour. We got the boat across one day and spent a few hours walking around – there are no cars or motorbikes allowed which was a welcome relief from the incessant traffic and resulting fumes in China. It’s a pretty small island so walking isn’t a problem, but it is extremely popular with Chinese tourists which can mean there’s a lot more people than you might expect depending on what time of year you go. It wasn’t too rammed when we were there, but it must have been wedding season as we saw no fewer than five separate wedding photo sessions. We also saw a lot of couples in matching outfits, which is a very disturbing trend in many asian countries.There are a few things to see on the island, such as a big statue, gardens, museums and a cable car ride to a lookout rock, but of course they all cost. We were happy to just walk around and check things out ourselves instead, like some of the huge and impressive buildings built by the Europeans, Japanese and rich overseas Chinese who lived on the island when it was an international foreign settlement back in the early 1900’s. Being such a tourist mecca the food is pretty shit and expensive, so we stayed until our stomach’s told us it was time to leave.

Street food in Xiamen

Gulangyu Island

Kurt was interested in seeing the Three Gorges Dam, the world’s largest power station, so we hopped on an overnight train to Yichang, the closest city to the dam. The most popular way to see the dam is to do a multi-day river cruise, but that was way out of our budget so we did it backpacker style instead – local buses to the nearest point from which to see it and get some zoomed in photos for free. Of course it was hazy so visibility wasn’t great, but we could still clearly see the massive scale of the dam from a distance – it’s almost 200m high and over 2km long. Despite the fact that in building the dam, archaeological and cultural sites were flooded, over 1.3 million people were displaced and it’s increased the risk of landslides (among many other ecological effects), the government of course thinks it was a raging success.

Next up was an escape to another national park about 400kms south. Zhangjiajie National Forest Park is a short drive from Zhangjiajie city, which is where we stayed for a few nights first. The city itself isn’t much to write home about, so once we’d figured out our plan of attack for the national park we headed off there for a night and a couple of days of walking. Zhangjiajie National Forest Park is one of several national parks in the Wulingyuan Scenic Area, and is famous for the pillar-like formations which formed over many years of erosion. These distinctive pillars are also the inspiration for the floating mountains seen in the movie Avatar, and one pillar in particular has been officially re-named ‘Avatar Hallelujah Mountain’. There’s even a figure of the main female Na’vi character on the path overlooking this mountain. 

There are miles and miles of pathways to walk in the park, so it’s a good idea to stay overnight if you can. We stayed at the sister hostel of the place we stayed in Zhangjiajie city (Zhangjiajie Bajie Youth Hostel), but despite having electric blankets (which barely worked) it was bloody freezing. Like, sleep in your thermals, beanie and gloves kind of freezing. However, staying in the park overnight meant we could get up at sparrow’s fart and walk a short distance to watch the sunrise over the valley which was quite beautiful. We could then get in another full day of walking before we left. One thing to be aware of if you’re ever thinking of going there – there are a lot of steps. And I mean thousands upon thousands. Over the course of two days we figured we walked up and down over 15,000 steps. Fuck the Stairmaster. Also, there were a couple of vicious, rabid looking monkeys at one particular lookout point, which made climbing along, up and down the precarious ladders a bit nerve-wracking to say the least. The situation wasn’t helped by the local tourists laughingly taunting the fuckers before we could climb out of the way. Nevertheless, we made it out in one piece, albeit pretty exhausted. On our way out we met and chatted to an English couple, Cliff and Joyce, who were heading in the same direction as us. In the backpacker world this meant we’d more than likely run into them again.

Still heading south, our next stop was Fenghuang, meaning ‘Phoenix’. Nestled in a beautiful mountain setting along the Tuo Jian River, the exceptionally well-preserved ancient town is a peaceful and relaxing place to stay for a few days. We found a nice cheap place right on the river and spent a week just chilling out and doing nothing but wander the streets and eat. Despite being absolutely freezing it was still very picturesque, with many of the riverfront buildings built on rickety old stilts. There is actually a fee for entering the ancient town, but this is easily avoided by simply walking a street or two over and strolling in where there’s no-one checking tickets. We were lucky enough to be shown this trick by two local girls we met at the train station in Zhangjiajie, and who kindly helped us find somewhere to stay the first night and took us to a local noodle joint. During our daily amblings around the town we inevitably ran into Cliff and Joyce. We arranged to meet up one night for drinks and proceeded to get slaughtered on local rice wine which came in a teapot in varying lurid colours. None of us remembers getting home but from what we do remember it was a great night. Unfortunately for Cliff and Joyce, they had to get on a bus the next day. Luckily for us, we didn’t.

After a week in Fenghuang it was time to go and freeze in another town. Yangshuo is a popular tourist spot near Guilin, in the south. As with every other town that’s on the tourist map it’s grown over the years, which isn’t always a good thing, but one thing that hasn’t changed is the beautiful scenery. Yangshuo is surrounded by dramatic karst mountains, winding rivers and lush green surroundings. Again, we found a nice cheap place to stay and we spent our final nine days in China in this town. The most popular things to do are hire a bike and explore the local countryside, go rock climbing and take a bamboo raft down the river. Because it was still freezing cold, the only thing we did was hire bikes and ride around. As has always been the case when we hire bikes, one was fucked, which we only discovered after riding for about 20-30mins. But after returning to get it fixed we made it out for a decent ride around the countryside and the mountains which really were quite stunning.

Our first month in China was spent in the large cities which were dominated by pollution and crowds, and therefore left us less than impressed with this country. But during our second month we went to much smaller, cleaner and prettier places which were so much nicer to be in. We still won’t be rushing back to China though, so we were more than ready to cross the border into Hong Kong where we were spending Christmas with my cousin, her husband and son.