Zai jian, China

Yes, I know I'm technically back in Perth, but I thought in the interest of being a bit of a completist, I should finish off my travel blog properly :)

I actually thought London's section of the Closing Ceremony was pretty cool and it was entertaining to have a funky piece amongst all the Chinese fanfare. Watching the news, Boris Johnson (Mayor of London) had accidentally been referred to as Boris Yeltsin by a local commentator in one instance, oops... if any Londoners caught that I'm sure they would have smirked at the thought that their current rep for the city looked like a dead white Russian!

Yao Ming, the Team China basketball player towered over everyone at the after party of course, I think he hugged Australia's own amazonian Lauren Jackson at one point and she barely made it to his chin!

Anyway, I left lovely Chengdu and headed to sunny Guilin, flying into the city in the early evening and getting a chance to wander through their downtown markets and pass as a local (yes, it can be handy to blend in, the market sellers here can be mightily persistent when spotting a foreign tourist even glancing at their wares!)

I was after something quick for dinner and decided it would be interesting to see what their McDonald's had on the menu. Now, before you ask why I would even think about walking into the American fast food icon, I counter with the fact that I've noticed that food multinationals in Asia always seem to adapt to regional tastes, and you can sometimes find some appetizing (and amusing) hybrids.

Sure, there were the staples like Big Macs and a chocolate sundaes that you get on menu boards everywhere, but they also had a separate section close to the front door simply for desserts if you just wanted to nip in for a sweet treat. And sundaes were definitely for the local palate with pineapple toppings and sweet corn flavours! It was kinda fun to note the local input into the familiar menu.

It was a relatively early start the next morning on my Li River Cruise to Yangshuo. As it had been raining overnight, the vapour hung in the air and the karst hills wore a translucent shroud, making them look almost mystical and medieval. My guide had never seen them look so photogenic, and she was constantly trying to drag me outside to take yet another picture. I took a fair amount, but I mostly just enjoyed the ever-changing view and imagined sword fights in bamboo groves and mysterious warrior monks on inscrutable quests.

Yangshuo is described as a 'small highway town at the end of the Li River Cruise' and while a large portion of their income is courtesy of tourism (annoyingly so sometimes as a lot of the locals seem intent on selling you something - to the point of chasing you down with a notepad of various prices!); you can escape that a little by hiring a bike and cycling outside the town to a small village on the Jima Road which offers serene views of emerald paddy fields and bucolic buffalos.

A stop close by also had narrow river boats made of large bamboo available to rent, and simple food stalls advertising the speciality of the town, beer battered fish. Very picturesque.

Zhang Yimou, director of House of Flying Daggers and the Beijing Olympic Opening Ceremony, had been very taken by the beauty of the region and created a theatrical performance for the town which utilized the spectacular natural surroundings. It's a must see if you ever go to Yangshou and well worth the ticket price. I'm afraid I have a quibble about the Chinese tourists though, despite the announcement about no flash photography and to respect other patrons, cameras were swarming from the moment the show started and some people even stood up to get better vantage points! But really, a basic camera would get nothing but blurry images, just sit down and watch the show!

This pic is from the online travel guide website by the way.

http://www.yangshuo-travel-guide.com/liu-sanjie-show.html

The next day we drove back to Guilin and stopped off to see a Han and tribal village replica/ theme park, complete with animal skinned warriors and traditional folk craft; the fairy-like Reed Flute Caves; the Guilin City Park, where a decent climb offered gorgeous views of the city within the hills; and the Elephant Truck Hill Park, theme inspired to give its tourist planners the go ahead for Babar craziness in the surrounds of the natural rock formation. Cute, though.

Soon I was off to Shanghai, and looking forward to walking around the cosmopolitan city dubbed 'Paris of the East'. I saw the Oriental Pearl TV Tower on the way to my hotel after the flight, and had earlier read about The Bund, the heart of colonial Shanghai where the current architecture decorating the Huangpu River with hotels, offices and clubs gave the city it's notably spectacular skyline.

Unfortunately, I awoke Friday morning to a heavy downpour, which quelled a little after breakfast, but continued, intermittently, but persistently throughout the rest of the day. I had my trusty (though slightly broken) umbrella though and was determined to find the Bund.

I had been told it was within walking distance, but the map I had in my DK China book was a little vague and the hotel mini map on the back of my check-in card, pretty basic...

I was enjoying my walk around the city, but after a couple of hours of looking like I was heading in the right direction (the Oriental Pearl TV Tower was in sight!), I ended up getting turned around and lost when I caught what I had thought was a mostly above ground subway link (it promised a view of the Bund!), and ended up in an area that had forests of tall apartments... I seemed further away from my goal then ever.

I usually ask for help, but despite Shanghai having hosted the soccer at the Olympics, unlike Beijing, I could see no helpful volunteers in blue and white polo shirts anywhere, and the local subway staff ended up directing me onto a completely different line. (We were talking via sign language though...!:)

A cab ride later, I found the Bund. The walkways were deserted but for a few hardy tourists decked in wet weather gear, keen to try to take photos despite the rain. The Pearl still looked retro futuristic and strangely Bollywoodesque, with it's sparkly pink hues (pretty); but as I don't think my camera could put up with too much of the wet stuff, I walked over to Nanjing Lu, Shanghai's foremost shopping street for some lunch and window shopping.

Later that afternoon I also stumbled across the Yu Gardens Bazaar which totally caters for the tourist trade, having new shops housed in nostalgic winged pagoda buildings. A lot of intriguing items, but only consistent haggling would get you anywhere close to a good price for the vastly inflated merchandise.

I think I ended up walking for about 7+ hours that day. And I almost got my wallet stolen at one point (cue to me yelling at the pint sized perpetrator as she hurried off with her minder? dad? boyfriend?) But thankfully, no other dramas.

So Shanghai? Not as much fun as Beijing. But I got to ride the super fast Maglev train to the Pudong International Airport on my flight out - top speed 430kph!

Then back to Perth via the Singapore (overnight at Changi Airport's luxurious Terminal 3 - best mall in the world right there:)

So it's zai jian China, and if you think you can get to know a country from just what you read and watch in media, bear in mind this famous Chinese quote, "If you spend a month in China, you know enough to write a book... A year? maybe a page... And a lifetime, nothing. " I guess the more you find out about this country and live amongst it's people, the more it can defy your expectations of what you really think China is about, or how it should be, and where it's headed, and ultimately the impact it's going to have on the face of the world.

So see it for yourself.