Guangzhou, China

Geoff and have had a really nice time in Guangzhou, China for the last 3 days...

We went to an amazing fabric area where there were about 8 levels taking up a few blocks, just of fabric shops. Quite overwhelming! We picked out some nice fabric to have some pants (we brought along) copied & Geoff is having some shirts made. We will get them in a few hours - its very exciting! :)

We went to a really nice book shop yesterday that has a level of amazing stationery... I did some shopping & we found a really nice book on cherry blossom painting by a local artist which we will be bringing home with us.

We have been staying with friends of friends, Joan & Garrick at their flat. They have been so amazing > we've explored some of their favorite restaurants (& pubs) with them in the evenings. Last night we went to a Thai restaurant that has crazy musicians from the Philippines who evidently perform there every night. The food was really great.

The night before, we went to a park where the local people go to dance in the evenings for fitness. There were so many different dance styles! There were also people relaxing in the beautiful park under trees with pretty lights. It was quite amazing to see!

Geoff had a mild ankle sprain (he twisted his ankle on a hole in the road whist trying to get a taxi) which we were quite worried about....Joan recommended the massage place around the corner from the flat for a relaxation massage > the lady working on Geoff really knew what she was doing: his ankle seems to have healed really well post massage! What a relief! I had an oil massage....I had to keep telling the masseuse to work softer (TONG! TONG! "sore, sore!"). I bruise very easily > especially from a hard massage, so I'm feeling rather tender today!

Geoff has gone off to have the oil massage - I think he will really enjoy it as he likes powerful massages!

Today we are heading off to Yangshou which seems, from all the pictures we've seen, to be one one of the most beautiful places in the world. We will be there for 4 nights before heading to Beijing. Here is a picture sent to us by our hotel:


I have had some serious excitement butterflies for the last 2 days as I'm going to be an auntie again today!! ...Stan & Karen's little boy, Joshua arrives today (round about the time we arrive in Yangshou I'd imagine) & I'm really feeling the distance between us & my family today...!

We have a week and a day left of our wonderful adventure...

Some news from Hong Kong

We are in Hong Kong....we have extended our time here by a night as Geoff has not been to HK before & we were enjoying it too much after the 3rd world-ness of Lombok, Java etc

We went across to the Kowloon side yesterday...walked around a lot..went to the Temple Street night market. We met up with Geoff's friend, John Stevenson (who lives in Hong Kong) for a friend of his' exhibition on shark-finning called Man & Shark.

Afterward, we went on the tram up Victoria Peak to look at the city from above. It was spectacular!

*It had been so smoggy all day that we thought we wouldn't see anything from the top.. but it started raining really hard just before we went & everything cleared up beautifully so we had a brilliant view :)

Geoff and I grabbed some food at a Chinese restaurant at 11pm & headed off to our little haven for a great night's rest.

It is raining today > we are quite pleased as it makes it a bit cooler. We will probably just mooch around today... go see some galleries & take things easy, and then meet up with John again this evening for some dinner.

We cross into China tomorrow...We will be spending the night in Dongguan for the 3F (Famous Furniture Fair) and then heading to Guangzhou on Sunday to stay with Joan & Garrick for a few days before moving on.

Hong Kong

We arrived in Hong Kong yesterday afternoon...caught the bus in from the airport & our silly bus driver skipped our stop (we're sure on purpose) and we had to walk for ages in the crowd & in the heat to find our hotel. We are staying in a fantastic boutique hotel called the Hotel Bonaparte by Rhombus in Wan Chai.

This is a pic of the outside

This is what the rooms look like > ours looks like this but with 2 beds...It is REALLY small but so beautifully designed that its not too bothersome! Luckily there's space under the bed for the surfboard! :)

This is the hotel's restaurant & internet zone down stairs.

Here are some more pics.

After settling in last night, we walked down the road to find some dinner. Geoff had a beef rice sort of dish & I had tempura vegetables & a side order of steamed rice. It was all really delicious! :)
 
We've been walking around shops for most of today & have visited the Man Mo Temple in the antiques district.... We will meet up with our Cape Town friend, John Stevenson this evening for dinner...
 
One more full day in Hong Kong & then its off to China......

Jakarta, Java, Indonesia

Geoff and I traveled by air to Jakarta on Saturday (today is Monday) and have enjoyed the wonderful luxury (certainly: compared with some previous hotels!) of the Ibis Arcadia. We stayed in an Ibis Hotel as recommended by our Brazil guide 4 years ago...and then again in Barcelona last year. It feels like a little slice of familiarity which is very welcome at this point in our trip!

It has been great having aircon & hot (fresh) water shower & some movie channels -- we watched 'The Yes Man' & the Michael Jackson movie 'This Is It' ... the Biggest Loser & other lose weight programs. Different and relaxing to have telly as we don't watch it at home (only movies)

During our time in Yogyakarta, we went to the Ramayana ballet which was in the most amazing location > the Prambanan open air theatre. To give an idea of how spectacular it is, I found this site & this pic on it:
It was really really amazing. We ate a lot at ViaVia (As recommended by Lonely Planet - THANK YOU!) as it was the MOST amazing wonderful tasty homely designer food delights!! (no, we didn't have the Nasi Goreng or the Cap Cay!! -- although I'm sure ViaVia's version would have been delicious as everything we did try was great). We met some lovely Dutch people in Mataram (at a cowboy themed bakery - yes: cowboy themed bakery) who we bumped into on our last night in Yogya > at ViaVia & had a lovely time chatting with them.

We did a bit of stock hunting for Geoff's shop....bought 2 oil paintings (unusual as we don't normally buy paintings!) which we had removed from their frames & have rolled up & padded into our luggage.

3 weeks down & just under 3 to go:
Hong Kong & China.

Geoff has been reading our China guidebook & is a little concerned that we will hate it & that we will have to escape to Thailand... I am feeling quite optimistic about the time we will have there...we're just going to have to take it easy and do lots of site seeing & relaxing along the way. I am hoping that Hong Kong will be a nice buffer for the complete culture shock & foreign-ness of actual China. Not being able to speak with most people is part of the fun of going to China!!

I am feeling very happy :) It has been great to spend so much time with my Love...there is sometimes a bit of minor problem solving and decision making to be done (where to eat / where to go next / how to get there), but we have had a very happy trip & been so in sync with each other.

Jakarta is an amazing city > the guidebook warns that it is mostly a city for business with clubs, bars, restaurants & malls as the main attraction. We went to an historical building in the old town called Cafe Batavia yesterday for a drink (*everything was hideously overpriced & the place was a little tired, but had great photographs up everywhere which were amazing to look at).

We decided to walk ourselves over to the shopping centre / waterfront side & ended up getting really lost & passing through rather dodgy areas... got stuck & unable to cross a section in the road as it was flooded(!) & in taking a short-cut, I stepped into the blackest, gooeyest mud & got it all over my foot & shoe. We managed to get a taxi out of there & to a mall: I've never been more grateful for the Asian 'hole in the floor' toilet with the bum sprayer hose thing.

Cleaned up, we decided to head back to the Ibis to cool off from the mid-day sun & only re-surfaced after dark. We found a really nice local restaurant with surprisingly good Asian food. It was so full that we invited a couple from Paris to join us at our table & had a lovely chat with them. (on our way there after log-off!)

Today we went to the Kepang area & found some interesting design shops...lots of ideas!

We fly to Hong Kong tomorrow morning at 10am & then travel into China on the 3rd of September.

Yogyakarta, Central Java

Wow. Lots of traveling has happened in the last 2 days. We flew from Mataram to Surabaya to Semarang where we were met by a guy who's factory we went to look at. He drove like a maniac. Geoff and I were wondering whether to tell each other we love the other in case we didn't make it.
I'm not exaggerating.

We spent the night in a really nice hotel...got dropped at the bus that goes to Yogyakarta...spent 3.5 hours on the bus (rather harrowing as well) which dropped us so far from where we should have been dropped that we had to catch a taxi to our hotel which took ages.

We have managed to eat well though & will hopefully be able to rest for a few days before moving on to Jakarta. We have a nice pool at our hotel. We jumped straight in about 10 mins after arriving!

Tired & ready for a cup of 'kopi'

Mataram for a night...

We had a lovely time in Bali - with Geoff getting a reasonable amount of surf & we both did a bit of snorkeling. It was unexpectedly really beautiful. I even saw a black and white stripy sea snake dig itself into the sand and disappear!!

We stayed at Susie & Made's Warung at the top of the hill above Bingin and Impossibles (where Geoff surfed). It was really really beautiful. Susie & them's place is right next to the very upmarket Temple Lodge where Geoff's acquaintance from his shop has set up his accommodation. We had the use of their facilities which was great - they have a really beautiful pool & a lovely restaurant.

I just LOVE banana pancakes. I tried to make them once at home but just couldn't get it right like the Thai & now the Indonesians.

Geoff and I arrived in Mataram, Lombok (Indonesia) this morning after a rather disturbing debacle over a horse cart driver that stole our bus ticket.... we fought it and managed not to have to pay for another ticket...went to the airport...couldn't change our ticket for today so we're leaving for Java tomorrow morning at 6am (got to be up at 4)

We have just spent 3 rather blissful days on the tropical island of Gili Meno - snorkeling with sea turtles & countless tropical fish and coral species. We met a man called Morris who runs a cafe 'on' the beach where we spent most of our time chilling... reading... relaxing... snorkeling... drinking Bintang and generally lazing the days away. Our accommodation was really nice > we stayed at Ko-Uchi's bungalows which are set back in a field of coconut trees & complete with cows and chickens (roosters have been driving me CRAZY waking me up at 4am since we arrived in Indo!)

We ended up having to spend a night in Gili Trawangan. Officially one of the most Cuckoo places I have ever experienced. The highlight was open air video spots right off the beach where you can lie, order food & drink & watch one of the 300+ options of DVD's they have available!! The atmosphere was amazing. Unfortunately we felt a bit ripped on accommodation.

We spoke with some unfortunate South Africans (brother and sister) who had their credit card stolen & then returned to them (after having been cancelled) in Kuta, Bali...The credit card company let them draw loads of Rupiah cash but would not switch their credit card back on.... and then their boat sank between Padang Bai and Gili Meno - Cameras, Ipod, Cell phones and a laptop don't work any more and the brother's bag was still to be recovered from the bottom of the sea. There were only a few life jackets on the boat & the emergency inflatable boat did not want to inflate so they had to tread water for 15+mins before the next boat came past & offered them help. At least the waters aren't shark infested!! The sister told me that all their Rupiah was littered all over their room like a money launderer to dry.

We fly to Surabaya, Java tomorrow...followed by a flight to Semarang later in the morning. We will hopefully be able to go and visit people that Geoff has imported products from (during the course of tomorrow / the next day) and then head to Yogyakarta for a few days whereafter we will travel to Jakarta.

Many mozzie bites & a fair amount of sunburn, but we're fit and fighting & enjoying researching China in preparation for getting there (1 September)

Being here is quite interesting cos Bali is Hindu and here its Muslim... and its Ramadan so one can't find a restaurant open during daylight hours!(people look at you funny when you eat during the day!) We did manage to find a nice bakery type restaurant open. Great coffee :)

For now, over and out!

Kuta, Bali

Geoff and I arrived in Bali 5 days ago (although we couldn't see much on arrival as it was already dark). It is nothing short of paradise. We're staying on the Bukit in Suzie's Warung and it is right near the path down to Bingin. The views are spectacular.

We hired a car yesterday & drove to Ulu Watu. We had a good look at the surf from different angles and also went to the temple. We saw lots of monkeys & one that stole a lady's sunglasses! Naughty thing!

We booked into a Kechuk show at the temple which was really amazing...Its a Balinese ritual with song & dance which has men singing rhythms & assisting playing out a story. Really beautiful.

Geoff had a lovely surf this morning (will be repeated tomorrow I'm sure).
Food has generally been really nice > lots of banana pancake breakfast opportunities! They do have some really strange vegetables though!

We have come out to Kuta for the afternoon..serious amount of people!

Will write more when there is more time to get into the details...

For now, warm greetings from Kuta

xx

Singapore Airport

Our Singapore stopover has been really fantastic.
We arrived really really exhausted & had a good sleep...followed by a walk around the city centre > ending up at the Singapore Flyer which we rode. The view was spectacular (will post pics when I have access to uploading)

It was Singapore's 45th birthday on Monday (day of arrival) so the city was beautifully buzzing.

Yesterday, we went to the Singapore Zoo and to the Orchid Garden. Both were really amazing, particularly the orangutans (sp??) which we watched for a long while.

We have been walking a lot & generally just enjoying the warmth (heat) and the being away!

As we left our hotel, it started pouring with rain...thank heavens we weren't at the zoo! :)

I've been struck by how much detail and attention has gone into doing up bathrooms in shopping centres! One bathroom had the choice between 3 different types of loos in the girl's bathroom: a hole in the ground, a regular 'western' loo and ...wait for it... a urinal (for kids to use!). There was another bathroom that had loos with different post use washing options - wash, dry etc - You could even set the pressure of the water jets (I didn't use it). Another loo had heated seats with instruction on how to clean the seat (not with dry toilet paper as it may scratch the surface).

Generally, the people have been really friendly & the balance of urban & green space is lovely. The only thing we really noted was that there is a lack of a recycling system - which is odd as the city has the appearance of a place that would have that sorted.

Bye for now! Its off to Bali we fly!

The day has finally arrived! We leave today for Singapore.
Robyn brought us dinner last night & took a farewell snap:

(how cool is our clock?!?!)

Travel Planning...ASIA

One of my most favorite things in the whole world is...the whole world! I am so excited: Geoff and I have booked our flights for our trip in August/September! Pouring over the atlas...a most fantastic book that Robyn gave to us as a wedding gift: "MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR TIME ON EARTH" > worth a look inside! ...Guide books "Southeast Asia on a Shoestring" by Lonely Planet..."Rough Guide to Hong Kong & Macau" and the Rough Guides and Lonely Planet guide for China.

We have spent a few hours with both the China guides & its not easy to decide which to buy - The Lonely Planet (LP) one has all the Chinese characters next to the English names of things....but the Rough Guides (RG) seems to have much more amazing info than LP.  Plus, one of the reviews I read said that once people start going to all the places in LP, they end up becoming really touristy & that RG has more 'off the beaten track' info. Oh what to do... at least we've got until we leave to return the one that we decide not to keep. They're so heavy and (not to mention expensive)...or I'd say lets keep both! :)

(If anybody knows anything about these books & which one is best, please comment & let me know!!)

Our route looks as though its going to be:

• 
  
  SINGAPORE:Cape Town to Singapore
  2 night in Singapore

• 
  
  INDONESIA:Singapore to Bali
  From Bali we will make our way over 3 weeks to Jakarta
  
  Jakarta to Hong Kong
  2 nights in Hong Kong
• 
  
  CHINA: Hong Kong to Donggong
  Donggong to Guangzhou
  Guangzhou to Shanghai
  Shanghai to Shijiazhuang
  Shijiazhuang to Beijing
• 
  
  Beijing back to Cape Town.

China & South East Asia

Our plans are coming together slowly....travel plans for August/September 2010...
Watch this blog! :)

Places I've been..

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