Yangshuo
We arrived in Yangshou after an epic day of travelling (2 planes, 2 buses and a lot of hanging around inbetween). At times we didn't think we would make it as our bus driver was a crazy fool. We were the unfortunate pair at the front of the bus witnessing first hand the bus driver playing chicken with other buses, not satified with that he then went on to take over on blind bends and generally cut people up. I think we could have handled it had it not been pouring down with rain and therefore not being able to see 3 feet in front of us!
Back to Yangshuo, people had raved about this place, however when we arrived we thought we were on a Club 18 -30 holiday! People were trying to lure you in to their bars by dancing randomly outside them. When we say dancing it was the shuffling feet and waving hands kind. Green you needed to come here and show them a move or two! It had a seedy feel to it which left us feeling a bit perplexed as to why we were there.
Outisde the town was wonderful. We were surrounded by hundreds of limestone karst mountains poking up out of the landscape. A few of us hired bikes with our guide Andy and set off to explore the incredible scenery. Our pictures don't really do the scenery justice but hopefully you get the idea!
The highlight of our day was visiting a local lady and her wonderful home out in the country. She welcomed us in to her home which was a simple farm house and made us an incredible lunch using fresh ingrediants from her garden. After eating all her food, Marky went up for 3 helpings of course, we set off again and slowly made our way back to our hotel. The following day involved us taking a bamboo raft down the River Le again taking in the scenery. I finished off the day by getting a massage with a couple of the other girls - another bizarre experience!! On the final day we decided it would be a fun idea to go kayaking down the river to take in the scenery at our own pace. The idea in theory was brilliant, in practise it was a little too long for our liking. I was ready to get out and swim! This was our final day in mainland China as we borded an overnight train to Hong Kong that evening. What an incredible country China is, it was nothing like we imagined it to be yet it was everything we hoped it would be. We will definitely be back.
Hong Kong and Macau Final stop Hong Kong. Just as the books say: highrise, hightech and high prices. The amazing skyline of Hong Kong by night was stunning. The day after our tour ended we stayed in a hostel in Kowloon, still pretty central. The accommodation here was minimal space with maximum price, so we decided to get away from the hustle and bustle and head away from highrise heaven/hell (depending on your viewpoint). Before we did so we did 2 things:
1. We met with Ying, a friend of Jen's from the UK (and fortunately a HK national who was visiting home ), so she took us shopping and pointed us in the direction of some of the most tasty squid we have tried (after some prolongued indepth discussion it was later placed at number 2 of our all time squid tastings). Thank you Ying.
2.Pezza invested in a mini laptop. We were getting so peeved at the poor internet facilities on our travels, plus we were in the electronic shopping capital of the world. so thats what she did and thats why we are now a little more free with our communications (not that you could tell with our shocking upkeep of this blog!)
So we headed to Macau, just a one hour ferry ride from HK. The transport in and around HK was one of the most impressive things for us. All highly efficient and rediculously cheap-that made us happy. Macau is a real Portugal-China mix. The older part is very reflective of Portugal with little lanes, laid back attitudes, friendly faces (we looked for Fil), and tasty food.We loved its cakes- we were in bakery heaven several times daily to sample Madeira style cakes and custard tarts (island specialities). The newer part of Macau is the mecca for China's number 1 vice-gambling. It has a higher revenue from gambling than Las Vegas! The main casinos are lined in gold and the toilet doors open automatically for you. big wow factor. Fortunately, they have not dress code (i was wearing a t-shirt with a hole in it, shorts and flip-flops and was welcomed with partially-opened arms). Unfortunately, and much to miss perry's dismay, they did not house any 2p machines (she looked everywhere Roz!).

Our days were as follows:
1.We wondered around the old town on the first evening; we (I) decided to eat at a local cafe and ordered a 'seafood' hotpot (turned out to be frog, very tasty(M)/not such a fan(J));Jen popped into the bakery to get some food more gentle on her palet;Jen found a Mango discount store and i never saw her again, until the shop eventually kicked her out for closing(at 11pm!); we headed to the casinos- spent HK$6, won HK$70! result!; escaped the clutchings of the casino and went to bed happy. We beat the system!
2. Bakery;Mango;cafe;bakery;Cathederal ruins;city wall;bakery;cafe;shops;more food (its all just a blur of eateries!)went to bed full and happy.
After Macau headed back to HK, but this time to the outlying island of Lantau- with a beach and a lot more chilled attitude. Unfortunately jenny wasn't very well so we laid pretty low for the last few days until our flight to Vietnam. Not a bad thing as we were pretty exhausted and our hotel had a pool, and was right on the beach (us budget travellers!). Next stop Vietnam!