d21 A rest day

I met up with Jeffrey in the afternoon. We had a great chat about Hong Kong before he had to leave for soccer practice.

The local street food is also expensive $$$

d20 Big Buddha hike

Against the advice of the tourist information center I decided to climb the Lantau Peak on  Lantau island. I had a fantastic time hiking with the locals and exchanging stories. 

I had my first taste of Tai O and vowed to come back on my return to Hong Kong. Arriving at 7pm in the evening didn't give the fishing village any justice.

d19 Hong Kong Island explorer

One of the most popular walks in Hong Kong is known at the Dragons Back walk. Easy on anyone's' scale of walks.

To start the day I took the double decker tram from Livingstone Town in the west all the way to the otherside in the east. From there I walked into the hills, along a rainwater catchment system, past a WWII cemetery over the ridge to Big Wave Bay.

The water was more still than bath water.

In the evening I watched the very boring Symphony of Lights with some Japanese guys I met. They were far more entertaining than the show.

d18 HK Shopping Mania

Lets just say I shopped until I dropped.

I can confirm Hong Kong isn't as cheap as people think.

d17 Dim sum with friends

I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to catch up with my friend Shirley. We had worked closely when I was a CWLC Representative when working at EF. This is going back at least two years ago. What better way for two friends to enjoy themselves over a few dishes of dim sum!

In the afternoon I met up with Jeffrey and Julien. We explored more of the lesser seen parts of Kowloon, being the Kowloon walled city, and had dim sum for dinner. A great way to end a heart warming day.

d16 Huge visa issues

There were a few missions I had to accomplish in Hong Kong:
   1 - Get a 30 day visa for China
   2 - Go shopping for more items I needed for my bike (saddle and handlebar bag at the top of the list.
   3 - Go sight seeing

I got the disappointing news that the maximum visa as a South African national I was eligible for is a fifteen day visa.

15 days!!!

Immediately I though of plan B:
 - Go back into China to fetch bike
 - Cycle to Hong Kong 
 - Fly to another South East Asian country to get a 30 day Chinese visa in one of thos countries

Flying is against my travel philosophy. I think one should travel overland so as not to miss any opportunity and to admire the landscape. But when backed into a corner and left no options what can we do but fly.

Yes, I did look into taking a cargo ship from Hong Kong but that is way out of my travel budget. Gone are the days of the hap-hazard traveller being able to jump on the next outbound ship.

Thanks to Chenning, Chris and Meggy for sending me the relevant documents I needed to apply for the 15 day Chinese visa. Who knew they would need their old passport to apply for a visa?

d15 Welcome to Hong Kong

Fortunately Jiaojiao had been able to book a standing ticket to Shenzhen the day before. I had a relaxing start to the day going with Patrick to a hill in the southern parts of the city with a good view. He showed me some interesting landmarks including the cruise liner moored for the past 8 years or so, the one any only real skyscraper which stands empty and the Wenzhou millionaires' island.

At home Carson was locked in the master bedroom. Neither of us could were able to jimmy the door open. Neither could the locksmith. He had to use an angle grinder to bust the door open. I left them to it before they were able to spring the poor pooch free. I was bound for Hong Kong and had a train to catch.

I finally made it to my hostel in HK at 3 am.

d14 A feast with the expats

I got over my loss in mahjiang the previous night very quickly when I arrived at Texan John's house. I also took care of the pounding headache by minding how mant hair's of the dog I drank. Patrick and Karl got into the beers at full speed when we arrived. They guys definitely party hard.

Texan John had prepared a full lamb hind quarter roast. According to him it was a lot bigger before he served it up. There was enough to go around with the ample potato salad. 

We had decided previously to go to a barbecue place for our evening meal. All the folks at Texan John's place bundled onto a scooter or into a taxi and left for some more fantastic Wenzhou cuisine and beer. 

The bbq place wasn't quite what I imagined. It's not like Steve's on the corner of Huashan and Guangyuan Lu in Shanghai. It seems a bit more up market (for a street vendor). Never the less the food was plentiful and tasty.

After a lot more beer we eventually made it home from an expat bar.

d13 Loosing face at mahjiang

The day was relaxing. In the morning I potted not getting up to much. In the afternoon Patrick and I cycled to a public swimming pool where we met up with Karl. After that some more cycling about, dinner cooked by Jiaojiao and more mahjiang.

My 'beginners luck' had worn out this evening. I got thrashed at mahjiang, not winning a single game.

d12 Good times in Wenzhou

After a long slog in the heat I finally made it to Wenzhou where I mat Patrick from couchsurfing. Patrcik showed me around the area and introduced me to his very bouncy dog Carson, a beautiful golden retriever. 

Later that evening Jiaojiao cooked a fantastic Chinese meal. I must state at this point that Jiaojiao is a master at cooking Chinese cuisine. I thoroughly enjoyed every meal she prepared. 

In the evening Patrick, Jiaojiao, Karl and myself enjoyed a few games of mahjiang. All were very patient and explained the rules of mahjiang in an easy way to understand. I won 1 game.

d11 Quadruple whammy ancient water towns

After camping in quite a spiffy place I was well set for the day. I had crossed over a big ridge the afternoon before thus facing downhill the whole way to Wenzhou. Well in theory it works as there are more downhills than uphills.

Given my geographic altitudinal advantage I still had the geographic distance to overcome. 

The day was fairly eventless. I visited 4 ancient towns before setting camp.

d10 The breakfast of champs!

Almost having clouted the village idiot's head off during the night I was ready to head out of this town. As hospitable as the villagers had been I didn't want to risk my luck anymore. But there was one more hurdle to escaping this town... 

The Kingpin, as I coined him to be, lived across the river from the town. The only house across the bridge. The sole occupant that lived on the eastern side of the river. Opposite to the side that I slept on. Well, he came and sought me out this morning after hearing about my woes with the idiot. Village news travels fast I guess.

Kingpin invited me into his home for some breakfast. I could tell all this by his body language. But most of all, I couldn't resist his Cheshire grin. He had a spring in his step as he rustled together a fried rice and pork dish. I'm sure some of the salty seasoning came from his brow. The dish itself was delicious, along with the beer that I couldn't not drink. I promise I did try and refuse the drink but there was no 'no' in Kingpins body language repertoire. 

I spied about the house while Kingpin was putting some serious elbow grease into making my first meal of the day. At first I saw these humongous plastic sacks filled to the brim wooden pegs with  and sealed with wire. On a visual inspection they seemed like pretty good quality. Next, I followed the sound of the clicking to the stairwell. At the base I saw granny slipping the pegs together seamlessly using some contraption. Did she put all those pegs together.

After the scrumptious breakfast and beer tea was on the agenda. Kingpin has one of those tea displays only found in a tea shop. Those round exquisite numbers looking very gentle yet elegant on center stage. The tea tray itself was a table complete with electric water boiler and pump. It was perfectly laid out to hold the clean cups and dry tea leaves on one side leaving ample space for a generous number of people to be entertained by their host. Today it was only Kingpin, myself and the interpreter. 

After more than sufficient time has passed while I explained my route and getting of the comments of bewilderment I excused myself as I still had a long way to get back to South Africa. This being taken as a suitable excuse to leave I was allowed to continue... only after the obligatory photo session with every member of the village.

Finally out I tackled the looming hill with surprising ease. I regret one thing from my stay in the mysterious village. I didn't get the interpreters WeChat address.

On the other side of the I heard this enchanting singing from a temple not far off from the road.

d9 The village idiot

I cycled up a gorgeous valley with small villages dotted along the river side. A very rural area with terrace rice fields and orchards. The main fruit were pears with the occasional grape vine. 

The road coasted gently upwards higher into the mountains. It was a hot hot day, as every day is. I got relief from the beating sun from the breeze blowing down and the occasional puffy cloud that drifted in front of the sun casting a refreshing shadow. 

Every few kilometres of pedaling I'd take a break at a roadside stall to buy some local snacks (mostly fruit) and a drink. 

Some 60km up stream at the head of the valley I faced a cliffside, where the road wound upwards, switch back after switch back. 

Being the end of the day I decided to tackle this beast in the morning. I approached some of the local population to enquire where I could pitch my tent for the night. After some confusion the crowd that gathered (crowds always seem to gather) declared I could sleep in the village's cultural hall. I felt very welcome. 

After depositing my bike in the hall I was lead to a pond in the now steam where I could take a swim to freshen up. I took the opportunity to wrinse out my sweaty clothing too. 

This is when the village idiot had gotten into the hall and rifled through my bags. When I got back from my swim I found another, some what irate, crowd had gathered inside the hall around my bike and belongings. Still dripping wet I had to deal with and placate the individuals who had accosted the 'thief'. Through much humorous body language it was communicated to me that the idiot wasn't in fact all there and was just plain and simple 'the village idiot'. From a similar character back home I knew he meant no malice. 

The crowd was relieved to see my calm candor and apparent disinterest. Nothing was actually missing and I just wanted the folks to disperse so that I could change out of my soaked boxer shorts and cover my semi naked body before the mosquitoes attacked (imagine the scene of me standing in wet underwear surrounded by babbling Chinese folks having a go at the village idiot. They didn't seem to take notice of my near nakedness). 

The relived villages eventually got on their way doing their evening villager business and left me in peace to dry off and put some clothes on.

Much later that night (after a spot of gambling) the village idiot came and paid me another visit in my slumber. Being startled awake I sent him on his not so merry way. The whole experience was some what comical. I think the villagers will laugh at the memory.

d8 Lucky Me

I was forced to cycle into the dark. I thought I could find a decent campsite along the way before night fell. Unfortunately that wasn't too be. So I decided to take a side road into the mountains thinking I'll find a clump of trees to hang my hammock.

Soon after heading up the way I heard some voices chatting from the darkness. I was wary to get close, but decided to take my chances. 

I came across a hamlet where the some old people were sitting on a porch discussing things as elderly people do. They were equally pleasantly surprised to see me. 

I managed to communicate that I'd like to pitch my tent on the sandy patch of earth next to their home. They welcomed me to set up camp under the portico of a yet to be finished building. 

They were very entertained as I unpacked the tent and blew up my mattress. As you know, the way I hear Chinese folks talking isn't the message they are actually relaying. My first instinct was that they will promptly ask me to move on as the crowd grew larger. I was put at ease when the laughter started as an elderly lady tried to take my sweat soaked t-shirt and wash it.

I was greatful for the gesture but insisted I wash my horrid clothing myself. To wash my upper body I soaked one end of the dinky towel I have. Once done Uncle came over and coaxed me to rinse the sweat and grime out. In the light he would have been aghast at how dirty the towel is anyway. 

I'm now clean, dry, happy and ready for bed.

d7 Hey Andy, I made it to Putuoshan

My mate Andy from back in my teaching days had always wanted to visit Putuoshan. We had kinda sorta made possible plans to visit the island. Before moving to Shanghai Andy had lived in Ningbo but never had the opportunity to visit the sacred Buddhist island himself.

"Hey Andy, I made it to Putuoshan. It's amazing!"

After a slightly burned fry-up breakfast (on my part) and cleaning Steve's apartment (Yoyo and I) the three of us drove out to the island. It was great being out and about and not on a bicycle. We visited the top sites on the island, including a hike up to the top of Mount Putuo.

That evening we had takeout from the best Indian restaurant in all of China. It really was darn good (except the vindaloo was a bit tame).