It's all Chinese mate

My 5th day in China now. The main trouble I'm having is the language barrier, even all the instructions on this blog site are in Chinese, so had a bit of difficulty finding out how to write an entry. Hopefully this will come out in English and not Chinese!!!!!!!

Well Tuesday night arrived just before midnight in Hong Kong, got accousted by some bloke in the street offering a private room at a reasonable price (10 quid a night) with air con and hot shower. He looked honest and friendly so I thought why not? It saves all the hassles of trying to find a budget place using my guidebook, trouble with directions etc etc. He was true to his word and room was OK.

On Wednesday I booked a flight to Chengdu, Sichuan province, in the Wild West, and flew that evening. Had to get a ferry accross the border into China proper because its cheaper that way. First panick at the airport, couldn't get money out, the cash machine was in Chinese and it kept spitting my card out. Thankfully got some chap to help me out using sign language, otherwise would of been in the shit!!!!

Arrived late that evening in Chengdu, the usual hassle explaining to the taxi driver (remember practically no one I deal with speaks any English except hello) where the hostel was but got their in the end. Checked into a grotty dormitory, where the bed had no mattress!!!!!! Just a wooden bed with a blanket on top. My room mates were two smelly unfriendly American snorers. Hmmm. Went out to a restaurant and had to point at other customers food to order, got some meat fat (yes just meat fat!!!) soup. Sort of felt obliged to eat it - Ugh, as the chef, waitress and half the room were intently staring at me. Then for seconds got some oily meaty very spicy (Sichuan is famous for its spicy food) noodle soup, which was actually OK. After the meal though I didn't really get any sleep so the next day was a bit tired and drained. In the morning thought sod this and checked into my own private room, and although the mattress was shit at least there was a mattress!!!!!

That day I wandered round town tired and alone. It was a serious pea souper that day, probably like London was 200 years ago! Chengdu has a serious smog problem, you couldn't see more than 100 yards and it wasn't fog because it stank of smoke and fumes. I sort of walked aimlessly around, getting totally lost and feeling very alienated. The traffic was mad of course, no one paid any attention to the fact a green man was telling you to walk, they just drove through the red lights. It was noisy, hectic, everything was in Chinese. I went to a restaurant and again had to point and got a greasy fatty meat curry. But no rice!!!! So had to pick bits of fat out with chopsticks. I then went and bought a packet of crisps!!!! Went to a temple and it was nice and they had food stalls so I could choose what to have. And that was lovely, ate a nice variety of tasty food, and chatted to a Taiwanese/Australian family. That evening decided to go on a panda tour in the morning and chilled out on my own.

Panda tour was ace. Only 1000 pandas left in the world!!! And I saw about 40 of them. Our tour guide was this very cute chinese girl who struggled with English but tried very hard. Got very close to the pandas, they are such cute dopey creatures, totally different from other bears because the bamboo they eat basically drugs them and slows them down. Why they evolved to eat bamboo I'll never know! They can't digest it properly so have to eat tons of it for hours on end to get any nutrients, then it just makes them dopey and slow and they spend the rest of the time sleeping. So they basically just eat and sleep.

Then got back around midday and thought sod it I'm gonna head off to Litan tomorrow. This is a remote tibetan place in the far West at an altitude of 4014m (over 14,000 feet). Whilst at the bus station to buy the ticket I thought I've only got today left here so I'll go to Leshan, 200km away to see the biggest buddha in the world, one of the highlights of China apparantly. So got a bus then a taxi to the ferry terminal (as my guidebook said the view from the ferry was the best). But after walking the docks for half an hour and getting barked at in Chinese and people shouting NO NO, I got pissed of and with time running out just got a taxi to the buddha site. Very frustrating as I could see groups on Chinese being allowed on, but they clearly weren't letting a "foreigner" go on!

It was stunning! A huge buddha, hundreds of feet tall, carved into the stone cliff. Absolutely amazing that they created this thousands of years ago. How did they do it. A bit like the pyramids or something. By the time I'd seen it it was 4pm and time to go (last bus being 6-7pm, and I had to meet my German friend who I'd met on the panda tour for a famous Chengdu "boiling pot" dinner at 8pm). But being a stubborn bastard and I bit dizzy I looked at the map and thought I've paid to get in I want to see the temple over the hill and get a ferry back (a ferry terminal also being over the hill). Saw the temple, got to the ferry terminal and it was dead. It was now 5.30pm and there were no roads in sight. Panick set in, I thought shit, I'm not going to make it home for the German girl. Errrr and also I've got a bus early tomorrow morning to Litang that I'll miss. And oh no, realisation hit me I hadn't paid for another night at the hotel (I was already 5 hours late with payment), they might throw my possessions out or something. Thankfully a saviour came along, a family where the teenage girl spoke some English. She was an angel and walked with me for half a mile or so to a bus where she talked with the driver and told me they would drop me off at the long distance bus station. Sweet.

Got to the long distance bus station and..... I'd missed the last bus to Chengdu. Arrggghhhh!!! But she said.... a little later, if I go to another bus station I might be able to get a later bus. It was a long taxi ride away, and spent 30 mins or so praying to the Chinese god, and thankfully there was a bus. A group of very dodgy looking lads outside the bus station said they'd take me to Chengdu in their taxi for 40 Yuan. This is 200km away, the taxi from the airport cost 50 Yuan for 15km. Something wrong there. So I declined their offer. I reckon they would have robbed me and left me in the middle of nowhere, if not worse. Anyway I did get home and straight away paid for another night, apologised to the German girl and went to bed.

Got up in the morning, packed my bags and checked out. Thought I'd better get a weeks worth of money out as they won't be any ATM's where I'm going, and my bank card didn't work!!!!!! Missed my bus, phoned up Barclays and they said they'd cancelled it for security reasons because of irregular withdrawels!!! I'd told them a week ago I'd be going to China so of course they're going to be irregular!!!!! I was furious. But got it sorted and got some money out.

So booked a bus to Kangding, halfway to Litan and as I found out it was a very good thing my card didn't work! It's an 18 hour bus journey to Litan so would have arrived there in the early hours of the morning and that would have been horrible. And its over 4000m, today I've been in Kangding at 2000m and I've struggled with my breathing a little. So good to acclimatise here for a day or else I would have been f*cked.

So yesterday got the bus at 12.00, got in at 8pm. 8 hours and no toilet on the bus and we stopped once. At that stop, once again I pointed to someone's food (well it looked OK from a distance!) and again I got served meat fat with spring onions. hmmmm I ate the spring onions and back on the bus ate my peanuts and biscuits (I've been forced into a shit diet here, if I see a bannana I eat three of them!). Also the bus had been waiting ages for me as I thought everyone in the restaurant were the people on the bus, but they weren't. Well they all looked the same to me to be honest. On the bus it seemed everyone's duty to make loud prolongued hacking noises and then spit out the contents of their throat onto the floor between the seats. It wasn't till halway through my journey that I realised my bags and food were on the floor. Hmmmm.

Arrived, it was dark, had a plan to go to a guesthouse in my book 3km away from the bus station in the hope of meeting some English speaking people. But waited 10 minutes and no taxis passed so again followed this kindly lady to a room, she didn't speak English but I used my phrasebook. It was 40 Yuan (2 pound fifty) a night for my own room, there was a mattress (albiet a poor one) - huray. The only trouble was the room stank of stale urine and it was on a very noisy main road - the Chinese almost constantly honk their horns. Oh well it had to do. Went out and walked round alone, again, and ate meat and veg on a stick, not bad actually. Then went to sleep.

Awoke this morning, found i'd missed the bus to Litang (only one was at 6.45am) so booked one for tomorrow. Its been raining all day but been busy all day regardless. Stocked up on warm clothes, was a bit unprepared for this cold, and Litang at 4000km will be bloody freezing. So bought a big thick puffer jacket for 5 quid and toiletries and other provisions. Then walked round a tibetan area full of massive temples and interesting houses. Went to a public toilet and was a little taken a back by the sight of men shitting into holes in one big room, not partitioned off or anything. Apparantly in China privacy doesn't have the same concept as in the west. Very true. This morning I handed my washing to the lady who owns the "Jinshan Hotle" (thats the name on the card) but just seen it and its 6pm and its still sopping wet, I hope she realises I'm off early tomorrow morning!

To be honest I've seen some amazing sights but I'm not really enjoying myself. I think I'm over the "adventure travelling" - well on my own anyway! It was fun with Kerry. And its fun when you meet up with other people. But I've gone to such a remote place that there are no other western travellers (didn't see a single non chinese person in town today). Its no fun spending days on your own, not being able to talk to anyone. I've got another few towns in the middle of nowhere before I hit (relative) civilisation again. I'll think I'll whizz through them, it'll be amazing scenery and an adventure, but I need to meet people or else I'll come home sooner than the 31st May.

The Chinese like anywhere are very friendly and helpful really, its just the language barrier. i've learnt hello and thankyou and tried to study it but I've got a crap memory. Also had enough of travelling on my own. But hey only a few more days in the wild and then if I'm still now having fun I'll come home. Ta ra for now.