Random Notes 2

Posted by : foongpc | Friday, October 30, 2009 | Published in

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I am just so busy this week! Hardly have the time to blog, but no matter what, I got to blog! So it'll be a short post today, I hope.

I know some of you are waiting for Part 2 of my Lost In Xingping post - sorry about that! I shall post that once I'm free to do so. Thanks for your patience!

Today's post shall be another Random Notes so I'm calling it Random Notes 2 : )

1. I am planning to go for a 6-day holiday to Siem Reap, Cambodia with Jam and his friend next year from 29th July 2010 - 3rd August 2010. I am looking for a travel partner to share a room with me. Anyone interested?

Conditions as my travel partner are as follows:
  • No pictures of me and Jam and his friend to be posted on blogs or anywhere online.
  • Bring your own camera - no sharing of photos are allowed.
  • I may snore, so if you can't stand my snoring, bring a ear plug! No complaints on my snoring allowed.
  • Male preferably below 40 years old. Female below 35 years old and don't mind sharing same bed with me.
OK, just kidding on that last one. Haha!

Honestly, females are welcome! Just that I will book a room with twin beds instead of a double bed. But if you insist on a double bed, then please send me your latest photo and I shall decide. LOL!

Of course, if you don't feel comfortable to be sleeping in the same room with me, then I am afraid you can't be my travel partner!

Now I'm not being ageist (as in sexist) when I limit the age. It's just that this is not going to be some relaxing, luxury holiday. We are going for some sort of backpacking travel just like what we did in Guilin, China. So you must be reasonably fit and not get tired easily.

Of course if you are over 50 but is still fit and can go backpacking and not let us wait for you every time, then you are most welcomed to join us!

2. Jam and his friend will be going straight to Redang Island after returning from Cambodia. They will stay for 3-4 days in Redang. I am not sure if I would be joining them. I will decide on this later.

3. I just signed up for Facebook. Yeah, you better believe it! I know I have said that I don't do Facebook, but I do sometimes contradict what I said! Of course, don't expect to see my photos on Facebook! Well, if you want to add me as a Friend, please do so here. But do let me know that you read about it here as I don't simply add anyone!

4. What? We Malaysians have to pay RM50 credit card tax every year? Even though I only have one card, I am so unwilling to pay this unnecessary tax! I call this daylight robbery! I hope the banks will absorb the RM50 tax!

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Lost In Xingping (Part 1)

Posted by : foongpc | Tuesday, October 27, 2009 | Published in

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The day after my Yulong River rafting adventure, we checked out of Xi Jie Youth Hostel in the early morning. We were planning to visit Xingping and stay there overnight before returning to Xi Jie the following day.

Xingping is a small town located about 25km northeast of Yangshuo. We took a bus from Yangshuo after our breakfast. The ride took about 45 minutes and it cost us 5.50 yuan per person.

On reaching Xingping, we had to walk quite a distance to Xingping This Old Place International Youth Hostel where we were going to stay for the night. I noticed something wrong with both Jam and his friend. They were not their usual selves. Jam was complaining that he was tired and not feeling well. I hoped it was nothing serious!

This is the entrance to the hostel.

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This is the lobby. I do not know why I didn't take more photos of the lobby - maybe I was not in the mood!

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As it was early, my room was not ready yet. However, Jam and his friend could check into their room so I decided to place my luggage in their room first.

It was then I learnt that Jam was having fever and diarrhea! He had to go to the toilet every half an hour! Jam's friend also had diarrhea but he was not as severe as Jam. Surprisingly, I did not have any diarrhea although I did suffer from stomach discomfort the next day. Could it be that I have been taking my probiotics supplements almost daily since my first day in China?

Anyway, we believed the source of this food poisoning was the lunch we had at Yulong River the day before. Jam recalled that there was no tap water there so the people there must have relied on the river for their source of water. Well, with people washing clothes and maybe children shitting in the river upstream, you can imagine how clean the river water must be!

Jam's room was on the 2nd floor. This is the balcony outside his room.

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I sat on that "cradle" or rocking chair and enjoyed the views from the balcony. I could see my next door balcony. They had a rocking chair too.

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Facing the opposite side, I looked through the "grill". Do you see that building in the distance straight ahead with its unique looking roof?

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The streets below the hostel.

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Not exactly a very nice view, but it's not like Jam would be sitting out here looking down at the streets below when he had to be within short distance to the toilet! Haha!

We had actually planned to visit the fishing village here in Xingping. But with Jam and his friend not feeling well, I wondered if we would ever get to go! So while Jam and his friend were resting in the room, I spent some time out here in the balcony thinking what I should do next.

Siting on the comfortable rocking chair, I rocked myself and closed my eyes. When I opened my eyes, I saw this and thought why not snap a photo of it?

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Can you make out what it is? Yes, I was looking up the ceiling and this is the top part of the rocking chair. Haha! I could not believe I was wasting my time like that!

I decided to go downstairs and enquire when my room would be ready. I found the staffs at the lobby to be very responsive and the girls were sweet and smiling all the time! Wow! Such nice people! A direct contrast to the lousy service we had at Backstreet Youth Hostel in Guilin!

Since my room would not be ready until past 1pm, I went out for a walk.

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Xingping to me was like a small town with a few streets lined with shops and stalls. There was nothing really interesting here. I guess Xingping is famous for its beautiful landscape more than anything else.

Do you remember the Nine Painted Horses Hill I saw during my Li River Cruise? That hill is in located in Xingping!

9 horses 6.2

Or the famous scenery depicted in the 20 yuan bill? That is in Xingping too!



This is another part of the street where the buildings looked more modern and new. I guess if you like a quiet and relaxing holiday, Xingping is the place to go.

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When I returned to the hostel, my room was ready. I was given a room on the 3rd floor. When I entered the room, I was delighted to see how clean the place was!

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This must be the cleanest place I have stayed during my entire 10 days in China! I was surprised because this hostel was in a small town and it was cleaner than those in the city like Guilin and Yangshuo.

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The nice wooden carvings on the wall.

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Of course to judge whether a room is really clean, one must check out the bathroom or the toilet! Yes, the toilet is the acid test in determining how clean a hostel is!

Guess what? I was amazed.

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If you notice, this is my first time taking photos of a toilet in China and posting it on my blog. Because this bathroom/toilet simply deserves an A+ from me.

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I can tell you it's cleaner than all the toilets I've been to in China, and it's cleaner than some of the 4 star hotels in Malaysia!

I was really impressed with This Old Place International Youth Hostel. At only 81 yuan (RM40), it was miles better than the lousy Backstreet Youth Hostel we stayed in Guilin which charged 108 yuan (RM54) a night!

Coupled with good service and ever smiling ladies at the counter, this hostel is a winner and I highly recommend it to all who visit Xingping.

Although my room did not have a balcony like Jam and his friend's, I realised that mine had a better view . Looking out my room's window, I was amazed with the scenery outside.

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My room was actually facing the beautiful Xingping port which was just 50 metres from our hostel.

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I like to stand beside the window and look up at the green mountain top!

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The view outside changed as the evening drew closer.

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Of course I did not stay inside my room the whole day and took these shots. I took them after I returned to my room later in the evening having 'survived' an adventure in the mountains of Xingping.

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After checking into my room, I went out for lunch with Jam's friend. He was in a better condition and was able to have lunch with me. Thank goodness!

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But he was not well enough to accompany me to the fishing village which we had planned to go. Besides, somebody was needed to take care of Jam and he might as well be the one.

So, that left me all alone. Well, I was not about to waste my holiday just because both my friends were down with diarrhea. Even though my Mandarin sucks, I was determined to go to the fishing village all by myself.

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That involved trekking up the mountain and the forests to reach the fishing village on the other side. I did not know then that my solo trip would end up in disaster.

For the first time during my China trip, I was all alone and lost in the middle of the forests in Xingping.

To be continued ....

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My Yulong River Rafting Adventure (Part 3)

Posted by : foongpc | Friday, October 23, 2009 | Published in

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Continued from Part 2

I have taken so many photos during my Yulong River rafting that I had a hard time deciding which ones to put up on this post.

The photos I like most are those which show clear reflection of the hills and landscapes.

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I love the sight of green rolling hills reflected on clear water.

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As we continued downstream, I noticed there were rafts heading upstream in the opposite direction.

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I soon realised we were approaching another pier. If I am not mistaken, I think this is the Chaoyang Pier.

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Lots and lots of bamboo rafts here!

Passing this pier, we soon came to another weir dam. After crossing this weir dam, my rafter stopped the raft by the side of the river bank and asked me to get down. He was going to bring me to observe the irrigation system on the farmland.

It was here that I met with an accident. I got down from the raft and stepped onto a huge slab of stone when I suddenly slipped and fell into the water! This is the spot where I slipped.

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It happened so fast I did not know what hit me. The next second, I was in the river with the water reaching my waist level. It was quite a shock as I did not realize the water was that deep.

My rafter quickly helped to pull me out of the river. My first thought was my camera. Oh no! All my photos! All the photos that I've taken during the past 5 days! Would they be destroyed?

I had hanged my camera from my neck using a strap but I was not sure if it was submerged in the water when I fell. I quickly checked my camera to see if it was wet. Thank God it wasn't!

As I continue to check and re-check my camera, Jam and his friend quickly got off their raft and came over. It was then that I realised my right feet was bleeding. I felt a sharp pain there.

Jam's friend pointed out that the back of my left leg was injured too. I bent back to look and sure enough, there was a long cut there.

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The cut from the middle part of my left leg extended up my left thigh.

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My rafter managed to pluck some herbs from the farmland and applied those herbs onto my right toe to stop the bleeding. Thank goodness for the herbs!

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I did not bring any first aid kit with me so I could not apply any bandage over it. My rafter just wrapped my toe with several pieces of tissues and advised me to keep my foot dry.

I could not move around much so I just took a photo of the water pump I saw at the farmland.

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This water pump was used to pump water from the river to irrigate the farmland. There used to be water wheels in the olden days to carry water from the river but they were all replaced with water pumps.

When Jam and his friend had seen enough, we returned to our rafts. My rafter carried me behind his back and took me back to my raft. This must be the first time in my adult life being carried like that! Anyway, thank you to my rafter for his kind gesture!

Back on the raft, I took off the tissue that was wrapped around my toe. The rafter said I had to make sure I prevent my toe from being exposed to water and the hot sun to avoid any serious infection. So he asked me to put my right leg up to rest on the chair beside me, like this.

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My rafter had adjusted the umbrella so that my right leg was constantly under the shade. Also with my leg high up on the chair, the river water would not get to splash onto my toe. Even then, I had to be extra careful and shielded my toe from the water every time we went down a weir dam!

As we moved downstream, there were more and more rafts along the river. It was becoming more touristy. I could see children and adults playing with water guns!

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Hey, how come we did not have those water guns? I would love to shoot some water at Jam and his friend! Haha! But with the condition I was in, I was actually a little worried that these tourists would accidentally splashed my toe with water so I had hoped my rafter would quickly get our raft out of their way!

Soon it was time for us to stop for lunch. Our rafters brought us to Windmill Mountain Villa.

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The name sounds nice doesn't it, but it's just another pier and a stopover for a meal. It was here I saw the only water wheel to be found along Yulong River!

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See how the water wheel transported the water up from the river.

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I did not climb up to take photos of the water wheel from behind. I left Jam and his friend to walk around the place while I rested my legs at the hut where we were going to have our lunch.

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It was actually a nice place to have lunch as the view from here was beautiful!

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The weir dam in front of the hut also make for nice viewing!

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We invited our two rafters to lunch with us. These were what we ate.

Bamboo shoots.

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Beggar duck.

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I have heard of beggar chicken, but beggar duck? They were OK, though.

Eggs.

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And vegetables.

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The lunch was not too bad. However, we would end up regretting eating this lunch a day later. I will let you know why in my future post.

After lunch, we resumed our journey on the rafts.

There were lots more tourists downstream than upstream.

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See this funny shaped hill? Looks like a thumb to me.

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More beautiful scenery along our remaining journey.

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Lots of bamboo trees!

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Finally, after 5 hours of traveling on the Yulong River, we reached Gongnong Bridge, which was the end of our river rafting journey.

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We docked at Gongnong Bridge Pier. There, we could see workers carrying our rafts up to the lorry to be transported back upstream for the benefit of other tourists who planned to go rafting on Yulong River.

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I really enjoyed myself despite that unfortunate accident! I would not mind doing it all over again!

Coming up next : Lost In Xingping

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