When Clare and I had been looking at tours for China we very nearly
settled for a shorter options, which excluded the 3 nights in Yangshuo and
Guilin (the more rural areas).
Fortunately Clare had the wisdom to see it would be crazy to miss out on
the chance to see this side of China.
She was totally right!
I’m a city girl, and I love living in Glasgow. But there’s nothing quite like standing on a
mountain taking in beautiful scenery.
Longsheng was one of these moments.
Translated as ‘Dragon’s Backbone’, this area is reached by driving up a
narrow and increasingly twisty road, not designed for people who suffer from
vertigo! The road ends and a path leads
visitors up to the village. Rice
terraces cascade all the way down the hillside into the valley and then back up
the other side. Louise (our guide) said
that we had chosen a good week to visit, as the area was much greener than the
previous week when she had been there. The
rice is planted in such neat rows, and each small field is kept full of water by a
clever irrigation system that trickles and filters down the mountain. We stopped at a restaurant in the village and
had lunch, which included sticky rice, cooked in the middle of a big piece of
bamboo – very tasty. We then wandered
along to the end of the village to a viewing point. Photos just don’t do it justice. I loved being there.
Three days later I found myself on a different terrace, taking in a
very different view – Hong Kong’s skyline! All of China was hot, but Hong Kong was on another level - I started sweating as soon as I stepped out of the air conditioned hotel lobby, and that was only as 9.30am! Living in Scotland does not prepare you for 40 degree heat. I eventually resorted to doing as the locals do and put my umbrella up for some well needed shade. Hong Kong has lots of air conditioned shopping centres, which gave us temporary shelter and a chance to cool off. We also found some shady spots in HK's parks and kept the exotic birds and monkeys company for a few hours during the hottest part of the day.
When we weren't avoiding the sun, we were taking in the sights. The Star Ferry between Hong Kong Island and Kowloon gives a short but good view of both sides of the harbour - not bad for about 20p each way! Skyscrapers of all shapes and sizes line the coast. On Hong Kong Island, this soon gives way as the land rises steeply, culminating at around 522 metres above sea level at Victoria Peak. Other than incoming flights, this has to be one of the best vantage points around, with spectacular views of the harbour, Kowloon, HK Island and other islands. There is a footpath to walk up The Peak, but who in their right mind would walk up in this heat when you can get the tram to the top. On this, you can enjoy watching the unlucky few who didn't get seats try not to fall over as the funicular railway becomes increasingly angled. At the top there is, unsurprisingly, a shopping mall (admittedly a small one by HK standards), visitor centre, viewing platform and a Madame Tussauds...! And apart from a rather dubious looking Brad and Angelina, it was actually pretty good! Where else can you take cheesy, over-posed photos and get away with not feeling embarrassed?! Understandably geared towards a Chinese audience, I didn't recognise many of the figures. But I did have my photo taken with the likes of Audrey Hepburn, Albert Einstein, Tiger Woods, Jonny Depp, Barack Obama and The Hulk. The last is definitely a contender for my next Facebook profile picture.
Post Madame Tussauds we wandered around the mall, had a leisurely dinner, got some ice cream from the Haagen Daaz shop and arrived on the roof in plenty of time to claim the viewing spot which we'd sussed out earlier in the day. It was amazing watching dusk fall over Hong Kong and gradually see the buildings light up. It's definitely not an environmentally friendly skyline, with buildings competing to have the best, brightest light show. Some skyscrapers had multi-coloured lights, some had images and words projected into the side, and there were others with different light sequences. Like a forest of tall, thin Christmas trees, the overall effect was like nothing I've ever seen before and I took dozen of photos of the view to try and capture just how impressive it was.
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