Having spent a couple of final nights in Shanghai to visit some of our favourite spots and enjoy one final rooftop beer overlooking the magnificent cityscape, a couple of short flights took us southwards and out of China.
Country synopsis, CHINA -
Likes:
Beijing's Hutong. An amazing side of the city with so much energy and variety. We could easily have settled for a month or two in these never ending mazes. The cafes and bars were delicious havens in which one could easily lose track of time with a book and a beer.
Portion sizes! For just a few pounds you can pick up a feast that will easily feed a family - we're going to keep away from the weighing scales for a while.
Dislikes:
Manners! (Or lack thereof). Spitting and gobbing in the street, open mouthed staring, queue jumping and slurping & lip smacking when eating. Not everyone, but the uncultured few could really put a sour taste in ones mouth, or turn ones stomach, marring what could have been quite pleasant occasions.
Toilets. The public toilets are vile, filthy and smell so bad they were sometimes unapproachable. I won't elaborate, but when many of the old buildings do not have toilets, these fly ridden hell holes were the only option.
Favourite beer: Tsingtao, cheap and available everywhere. Yanjing draught comes a close second.
Favourite meal: Peking roast duck at Dadong's on my Birthday. It couldn't have been more Chinese.
Favourite day: Hiking the Great Wall. Unforgettable and truly stunning.
And here we are, having spent most of Friday between flights in a random airport in southern China (and catching up with the blog) we arrived late last night and have just finished breakfast before heading out to explore Hanoi. It's hot, it's humid and the scooter horns are echoing loudly in the street outside - let's do it!
PS - Blogspot, Twitter and Facebook are now fully available again! Expect some better formatting of the blog once we've unpacked the laptop.
No comments:
Post a Comment