'Road to Yangshou'

Fenghuang was really quite nice. It was really old; buildings on stilts on the river side, all the guesthouses are all wooden. There were loads of old tiny, cobbled lanes like in Brighton and that was really nice for a mooch. Got lost sooo many times though. Some things there looked so traditional. More often than not we'd see a man on a tiny wooden raft fishing wearing one of those hats that looks like the lid off ya duck pancakes pot. The people were much more friendly there. It had a bit of everything really. It was lovely to walk around in the day and it seemed to have a good nightlife too.

We stayed in Fenghuang for four nights, our next scheduled stop was Yangshou, but it would seem that it is virtually impossible to get to. You have to get a 1 hour bus to Tongren, 12 hour train to Guilin, then another 2 hour bus to Yangshou. We thought fuck that for a game of soldiers, so we stopped over at each segment of the journey.

Tongren was a bit of a shit heap to be fair, but we had to get a room as our train left from there at 4.46am. We were just going to sleep rough in the station but it stunk off piss and vinegar, so we got a hotel across the road from the station. We paid over the odds (£14.80) but we had to be close by as we're not sure what the taxi situation is like after hours. Anyway, the hotel was LUSH. So lush infact that it had a plaque in the room with a picture of a girl with her tits practically out and a number underneath to dial. Oh and a pack of prophylactics with Sarah Michelle Gellar's face on some one elses body. Poor girl, bet she hasn't got a clue.

The train to Guilin wasn't as good as our other sleeper train. First of all there wasn't a ladder to get up to the top bunk were we were. There was a teeny fold away step on the inside part of the lower and middle bunks, so you couldn't even use them really without poking someone in the eye with your big toe. You had to do some Spider Man shit to get up and down, which left you sweating. That brings me to my next point: there was no air conditioning. And to add insult to injury there was a fan in each of the cabins, but ours didn't work. I was hotter than the sun. Oh and the beds hadn't been changed from each person to the next. When we got on I thought a section of my pillow felt wet. I sniffed it and it smelt like sweaty, greasy barnet, ew!

We've been stopped for photo's countless times now. Really don't get it. I know they're very blocked off from the rest of the world and on TV and on billboards it's only Chinese people, but they see honkies in films and stuff so why the fascination? One lad the other day, must have been about 18, 19, after he took the photo he walked away and actually shouted out "YES!!!", (well the Chinese equivalent), and punched the air. Really though???! We don't mind at all but we just can't fathom it.

We're in Guilin at the mo, leaving tomorrow for the bus to Yangshou. Oh that rhymes. It's okay here but not much to do really. It's got hotter as we doth venture south. Yesterday we just walked into a big hotel, asked at reception where the pool was and spent the day there. We tried the same again today but we got caught. They wanted to charge us 8 squid each just to use the pool!! Erm jog!.. So we walked about a half hour to the next hotel instead and they only charged us £3 and we got towels too. Good times.

Arr I am going to miss the kitten at this hostel, he's sooo cute. He's the smallest kitten I've ever seen. I've named him Barry. Don't know what his proper name is but I think he'd prefer Barry given the choice. Shit, think I've burnt me face again. Will I ever learn?