Wednesday : sunny

Well it's our last full day in china, and we are up early again. We are up way too early tomorrow too count it as a day so that's why today is our last day.

China has been great, apart from the pollution since Shanghai making us cough. A strange thing that we noticed was that no one wears face masksin China. In Vietnam loads of people were, and the air was clean. They were just wearing them for sun protection. The smog was my only real beef with China. Some of the places we went to had such natural beauty, but we could barely see it through the pollution. Really it was very sad to see, and no one seemed to care. I'm really looking forward to some fresh air in Nepal.

It's been a challenge at times to see the Chinese sights. It's definitely not as easy to get around as Vietnam, Nam is a lot better setup for English speaking tourists. Even though China has the high speed rail, linking the big cities, and the subways in the cities that are cheap and fast. The lack of English signage and people that couldn't speak English at info, and ticket booths, made it a slight task.

Even ordering a meal was interesting, we were always wondering what was going to be brought out. How can a country like China, one that deals with the rest of the world, be out Englished by Vietnam? (I know Englished isn't a word) They probably don't rely on the foreign tourists much.

It's like in OZ and you may see Chinese tourists with a leader, with a mic and flag, herding around a big group of people. Well they are everywhere here, the chinese love their tour groups, and seem to tour China a lot. Well they must get enough locals traveling to not bother about foreigners as much.

It was a mystery most of the time when traveling here, but we always got to our destinations with no troubles, and the language barrier gave us a few laughs along the way.

Apart from being differently setup the Chinese and Vietnamese are very similar people. Both are very very friendly and more than willing to help strangers find the right way. Both are interested in you and where your from, and like to learn things from you. Unfortunately they make the same disgusting noises, and stare. Oh the staring, hoicking and spitting, both got to me after awhile.

We were expecting China to be different than Vietnam, more sophisticated, and more developed. They are definitely one step ahead of Vietnam in the cities, but the people still act the same. I found apart from not being hassled as much, and less rubbish on the streets, China was just a larger Vietnam. So it still makes a great place to visit that's for sure.

I definitely preferred the countryside China, to the city China. It would of been good to spend more time in those towns and villages we visited earlier. I found the cities too big and if there wasn't a metro, we had to do a lot of walking because the taxi drivers a crap. Most of the sights are out of the cities anyway too, apart from Beijing. That means spending time on public transport or tours getting to and from the sights, Which still was fun.

We definitely felt more comfortable shopping in China, even though it was more expensive than Vietnam. items here had price tags and we never felt like we were trying to get taken advantage of. Though It was weird, that prices on certain things fluctuated dramatically from town to town. I guess it's just like all places really.

I definitely was expecting something special from China's food. However it did make big improvements the further north we went. Maybe we needed a Chinese person with us when it was time to eat to help us pick the special meals. With less chilly. We found that every dish was full of chillies, I had no idea they loved chilly so much. It was everywhere and in everything, even all over the roads drying out. Kim and I like a bit of spice, but some meals where just ridiculous. Talk about the meals not being that special, down south most of the meals even I could of whipped up with ease. At least we didn't get tummy sick in China, but we haven't eaten fish since Nha Trang, pretty sure that's what will do it in Asia.

Our time in China has been short, but we have seen so many brillant sights and towns. We did the greatest hits of China, in three and a bit weeks. China has so much history and culture, some of the things that we have seen made us say... How old is it?! Its been fascinating, if your a history buff, like chilly and have a anti-smog mask, this is your place. I'm sure I'll look back an say it was Fanbloodytastic!

Its not over yet though, we still have one more sight to tick off our list, the Giant Pandas! That's why were up early again. We decided to go with a tour to the panda park because they get us in early before they open the gates to everybody, and getting in early means seeing them feed the pandas and it's when their most active too.

We gave the hotels free breaky the flick and went to the adjoined hostel for breakfast. Seems that the hostels look after foreigners much better that the hotels, because their staff can speak English and their cheaper, with a very nice laid back environment.

We then hopped in our private bus and got taken to the panda park. It was almost an hour drive to the park. (See again out of the city) We went through the gate with the rest of the group, and it was empty. Our guide then lend us to the first enclosure, just as the big bear came out to eat. He was by himself and just a bit too far away too see him properly, but I'm sure that it was just a teaser.

We walked to the next enclosure and there was a family of pandas. The young ones are funny, they were pushing eachother out of what would seem to be their favorite spot up in the tree. The mum did a huge number two in front of the group, it was so funny. One young bear was eating by himself and fell out of his perch, he was alright probably more a little embarrassed. They certainly know how to put on a good show.

By that time there were are few more tour groups about, but still easy to get a good viewing spot. This park was pretty big, they had golf carts zooming around everywhere. Another thing we have noticed, the Chinese are a lazy lot, every place has golf carts or cable cars, taking them around.

We then went to the baby panda nursery. They're pretty vulnerable when they're young, that's for sure. They can barely move, be interesting how mummy looks after them in the wild. They get looked after here that's for sure, the keeper does everything for the little fellas. He some how makes them wee by rubbing their tummies too.

After the babies, we went to an adult panda enclosure, and we were able to see a panda eating. He was so close we could almost touch him. We watched him for 20-30min by ourselves it was grand.

It was soon time to leave and head back to the hotel in our bus. Once there we got cleaned up and then we left for a walk to people's park.

It was almost an hour walk to get there we walked along the river and saw a huge boat on land converted into restaurants and nights clubs, even seemed like people lived in it. With the laundry hanging up. The street ear clearners and massages looked inviting. Haha! We picked up some mooncake along the way too. I would imagine it to be quite tasty, but there are different types. The couple we bought, the outside cakey bit was good, but the filling started to taste like sultanas, but then bang! Chilly and spice! Chilly In cake! What weirdos.

We arrived at the park, and went into a tea house to have some tea. To try and help our cough again. The tea was great, we were there for almost three hrs. We were so relaxed drinking tea in the garden, and just watching the oldies play cards and their sort of domino game. They were all behaving themselves too, no hoicking, spitting or smoking, very peaceful.

We finished our big pot of tea and went for a walk around the park, lots of people in boats paddling around the lake, and just chilling out. The otherside of the park was crazy brass bands and people singing and dancing. I didn't know what they were celebrating or if this was an everyday event. They had their speakers turned up so loud they were all distorting too.

We were getting hungry and it was getting late. So back to the hotel to have a freshen up and went out for our last meal in china. We went to a restaurant close to the hotel it was a good meal. We did notice that we only got the western almost hand written menu though. When the locals got the menu on a iPad. I was a bit jealous, what if I wanted something other than sweet n sour. That's all the think we like here. Sweet n sour and satay.

We went back to our room and got packed up for our early checkout. We then listened to more podcasts and drank more tea before bed.

Perfect last day, great to leave with on a high.

Cya China!!