Once Upon A Time In China, Part II: Guilin, Guanxi Province

Monday, 16 September 2013

We had breakfast in the hotel as there is a halal restaurant there. After breakfast, we drove to Shangri-la Park about 15 km from Yangshuo, a park showcasing the minority people (primarily the Miao and Dong). In the park, we boarded boats to cross the lake and visit a cave. Along the boat ride, we were treated to folk performances from the minority people. We also participated in a folk dance and a game to win the silk balls (didn’t win though).

After Shangri-la, we visited a bamboo factory. The Chinese have invented quite a few inventions from the humble bamboo tree – bed linen, t-shirts, innerwear... and we were given some demonstration to show the wonders of those inventions and later some time to purchase the bamboo products. We then drove back to Guilin for lunch. Thank God, for I was sufficiently hungry after all that bamboo stuff. Lunch was had at Endian Halal Restaurant again. No complaints as there were some cute lads in the restaurants. Our tour leader, Zali, also packed some raw meat and chicken from the restaurant for our dinner that evening and lunch the following day at Merryland Theme Park Resort as there was no halal restaurant at the resort.

After lunch, we visited a silk factory and given a demonstration on silk quilts. There has been improvements in the technique and technology of making silk quilts (wouldn’t you know) and I was sufficiently persuaded to purchase one (oh no!) and part with a bulk of my money...

After the silk factory, we drove on to Xingan and it was such a hot afternoon that I felt drowsy and dozed off most of the way there, despite the bad road conditions and the honks liberally applied by our driver.

We reached Merryland Theme Park Resort at about 5 and checked in. We enjoyed free speedy WiFi here; alas Twitter, YouTube and Facebook are banned in China. SM and I then went for a walk around the hotel grounds (it looked deserted enough although we did meet a group from Indonesia). We headed for dinner at 1930 before retiring to our rooms later. Dinner was prepared by Zali and I must say, it was quite good for we finished everything.

Tuesday, 17 September 2013

This morning, after breakfast, we walked over to the adjoining Merryland Theme Park. Some of our tour mates opted to ride the park’s buggy (there’s a charge for this. I have never taken a buggy in a theme park before, not when I have two good legs). The theme park was also deserted and we walked around, practically having the park to ourselves. We sighted the theme mascots and took pictures with them; SM then wanted to take a photo wearing a traditional Chinese costume and while we were waiting for her photo to be developed, she took some of me too in my casual wear but with the studio background. I then rode a rollercoaster all alone (seriously, where were the other park guests??) then both SM and I rode another ride together. I was feeling increasingly uncomfortable as I was perspiring heavily (it was too hot and there was hardly any breeze) and hurried back to the room to shower again.

We left after lunch (again, cooked by Zali) and headed back to Guilin. We stopped at a traditional medical centre and spent some time there before making our way to Hotel Universal Guilin. We were given an hour to freshen up. Dinner was had at the restaurant where we had lunch on the day we arrived in Guilin. After dinner, we went for an acrobatic show called Mirage Guilin at Lijiang Theatre. The show lasted an hour and I thought it was way better than the show at Yangshuo. Oh well, maybe I’m in the minority in this thinking.

We returned to the hotel and SM and I ventured out again to the pedestrians only shopping area. We returned to the hotel well after 11 pm, after checking out the area near to the hotel (it reminds me of Bukit Bintang area with its various massage centres).

Wednesday, 18 September 2013

Another breakfast at Endian Halal Restaurant before we set off for Elephant Trunk Hill Park, so called because the shape of the hill resembles that of an elephant drinking water from the river with its trunk. We spent 45 minutes here before continuing on to a tea showroom where we were given guide to drinking three types of tea: the Osmanthus tea, the Oolong tea and Pu ’Er tea. I didn’t buy anything because I’m bad at buying food and not consuming them.

After the tea experience, we went to a jade showroom. I had been wanting to replace my jade bangle and spent time browsing before enlisting Alex’s help (told you the locals hardly speak any English). I finally bought one and bargained the price down (despite the ‘Fixed Price, Nor Bargaining’ signs around. I know it can be done because I had done it before) and after consulting the manager and much Mandarin consultation, they agreed to let me have it at my bargained down price. Success! Alhamdulillah.

Our next stop was at a silk shop but we were there all of ten minutes before we left. Lunch was next, yes, at Endian Halal Restaurant again (the food was better there and the chaps in the restaurants were good-looking so no complaints from me) and then we paid the nearby mosque a short visit before heading to the South Sea Pearl Museum (museum? Indeed, that was the name). I already have enough pearl necklaces and bracelets and a pair of pearl earrings (I wouldn’t protest if someone wanted to buy me a pearl ring) so was just content to browse and admire the gorgeous pearl jewellery there. We stayed for close to 45 minutes before making our way back to the hotel to rest. Not enough time to grab a siesta though. We went to the lobby at 7 and walked to a nearby halal stall selling ‘hand-pulled noodles’. I had mine in broth and must say I enjoyed it very much.

Back to the hotel to meet a local woman who came to sell us souvenirs and then we left again and headed for the night market. I managed to buy some silk fans and an embroidered panel of some water-lilies at the night market. There were some seriously rude sellers at the night markets and I got a bit angry and scolded one of them. Really, there was no need to be so bloody rude. We then walked to the massage centre where we had massage on the first night but apparently, the prices quoted for walk-in customers differed from what we were told on our visit that we left after 15 frustrating minutes of attempted conversation. We headed back to the hotel and settled in for the night.

Thursday, 19 September 2013

We left at 0715 and headed to Endian Halal Restaurant for breakfast. After breakfast, we drove to the airport. We reached the airport just after 9 and lined up our bags for checking in. We had to put our bags through the security check before going for the group check-in counter and as weak and hungry as I was getting (yes, despite the breakfast just consumed!), I helped with the lifting of bags of some tour members and then I helped the useless man assigned to sort out our passports and boarding passes. Really, men can’t be trusted to do anything at all.

After all that had been done and the bags all checked in, we went through immigration and waited at the boarding area. Thankfully, there were only two shops there and I wasn’t tempted to shop. We boarded after 1115. I read and even managed to nap before resuming reading.

We landed at 1515 and I rushed to clear immigration. The bags were out after ten minutes or so and after shaking hands with some of my tour mates, I rushed off and just about made it for the 1545 bus back to KL Sentral.

Once Upon A Time In China, Part I: Guilin, Guanxi Province

I had initially planned a trip heading elsewhere for the Malaysia Day weekend (as early as back in February) but eventually decided not to utilise the ticket (the colleagues I invited for the trip presumptuously invited two other people to join the trip despite my misgivings. I can’t and won’t travel with people who can’t respect me like that). At the MATTA Fair back in March, I booked and paid the deposit for a package tour to Guilin in China. I then asked another colleague if she wanted to come along (Abah changed his mind as usual) and she agreed. Why a package tour? Well, I suppose I could perhaps travel on my own in China but I didn’t feel like struggling with the language barrier and having to find halal food when I don’t speak the local lingo. This turned out to be a wise decision as unlike Beijing and Shanghai, hardly anyone speaks English in Guilin except for our tour guide and some hotel staff.

Saturday, 14 September 2013

After spending a sleepless night at KL Sentral and being chased away every time I was settling down by idiots in uniforms (ever noticed how pompously one behaves when in a uniform?), I boarded the 0245 bus to LCCT. Arrived at 0330, half an hour before the assembly time outside McDonald’s. SM arrived just before 4 and we collected our boarding passes and immediately went in to drop off our bags. We then went through the usual process and waited for morning prayers in the prayer room. AirAsia’s departure times to a lot of its destinations are at ridiculous hours.

I tried to sleep during the flight but it was a futile attempt. We landed at 11 but were only out at 1115. I quickly made my way for the immigration before the rest of the plane descended upon the counters. The bags took a little while to emerge (I think it was because some of our tour members brought in some fruits in their check-in baggage). SM and I then went out to join the rest and meet Alex, our local tour guide. I had actually met Alex a week earlier at the MATTA Fair in KL.

We finally left at close to 12 and boarded the bus to Guilin city. Gui is the Chinese word for the Osmanthus flower and Lin means forest so the name literally means ‘forest of sweet Osmanthus’ due to the abundance of the flower tree in the city. The city was a 45-minute drive away from the airport and we were immediately brought to a halal restaurant for lunch. If you have been on any China package tour, you’d know meals in China are a lavish affair indeed. After lunch, we drove to Yao Mountains and rode the cable car up to the summit. I was a bit apprehensive especially as it was an ‘open’ ride (i.e. there was no barrier) and to make things worse, it was such a scorching hot sweltering afternoon with hardly a breeze. For some reason, I had thought that I’d enjoy an early autumn weather in Guilin but no, it was just as hot as, if not hotter than, Malaysia! We stayed for about 45 minutes before making our way down. We then drove to Hotel Universal Guilin. There was no WiFi in the room (only in the lobby and only if you were lucky) but there was a prayer mat and the direction of Qiblat provided in our rooms.

We rested for a bit, then went down again and boarded the bus to a massage centre where we enjoyed a complimentary foot and back massage. After that we went for a rather hurried dinner before making our way to the river to board our 1930 cruise around the four connecting lakes of Guilin. The cruise lasted an hour and we were back at the hotel by 9 pm to rest. I wanted to watch the Arsenal match what with Ozil making his debut and all but there was no match shown at all (there was a Bundesliga match shown though if I recall it correctly).

Sunday, 15 September 2013

This morning, we were given two wake-up calls (and we would be given two wake-up calls every morning throughout our trip): one at 5 for morning prayers and the next at 6 for us to get up and get ready. We had been told to leave our bags outside the room by 7 am and come down to the bus by 0710. It was as bad as going to work, I remarked, except it was doubly worse as it was a Sunday. No such thing as an easy Sunday morning in bed, no sir.

We left the hotel and went to Endian Halal Restaurant for breakfast. The Muslim population in Guilin is quite small: out of half a million of its population, only up to 30,000 are Muslims and there are not many halal restaurants and of these, only two open sufficiently early for breakfast.

After breakfast, we drove to the Crown Cave Scenic Area where we boarded a ride (a bit like those at amusement parks) and ‘drove’ it ourselves into the Crown Cave. We then walked in the cave, marvelling at the lighted stalactites and stalagmites (some of the rock formations like real). There is an underground river and we then boarded boats to get to another cave. After exploring this other cave, we waited for the underground train to the elevators to exit the cave. You could enter the cave from this other entrance and I suppose the cave experience will be reversed. And get this: the Crown Cave is apparently listed in the Guinness World Records as a cave with the most ways of travelling. From the elevators, we walked out into the mid-morning sunshine and walked down to the river before boarding one of the boats for our cruise to Yangshuo.

Our bus and driver were waiting for us and we continued on to Yangshuo. We had lunch at a restaurant in a big building before checking into Yangshuo Sovereign Hotel. We only had 45 minutes to freshen up as we were told to meet at the lobby at 1530 for a bamboo raft ride and trip to the Silver Cave.

Now, a word about my fellow tour mates: 18 of them are from Shah Alam and know each other. They are at least above 50 years old with some pensioners amongst them but my, were they a jolly lot. They even brought some karaoke DVDs which they asked Alex to put on and which they later sang to. Who knew travelling with such a big group of senior citizens could be so much fun? I was laughing so much and really, they really had me and my mate in stitches throughout with their antics and dry humour. I also loved that I learnt a lot of things from them through interaction during meals and their sporting attitude (sharing tips and advices during the bus rides). I think they made the trip so much more fun, really.

So, they put on a karaoke DVD (turned out it contained a lot of songs by Engelbert Humperdinck - way before my time of course) and a few of them sang and entertained us. It took us 30 minutes to reach the river where we got down and boarded bamboo rafts for a brief river cruise. We also sang (competed more like between the four rafts) and were treated to some entertainment and a demonstration of fishing with cormorants. Cormorants are black birds which dive underwater in search of fish. Fishermen there use the cormorants to catch fish and return them to the boat. The fisherman we saw drove the birds into the water where they dived below the surface in search of fish. When the birds caught a fish, they returned to the boat and the fisherman removed the fish from their throat and placed it in the basket. The fisherman had a cord around the bird’s neck to keep the bird from swallowing the fish. It seemed a complicated way of fishing to be honest and I doubt fishing this way yield many fish. Why not just cast your nets?

Anyway. We returned after an hour and boarded the bus to the Silver Cave, with its crystal clear and silver-sparkling stalactites which gave the cave its name. The cave is a floor-type cave, with three layers and more than ten scenery spots and different types of stalactites. The most three famous scenic areas include snow-mountain with waterfall, music stone screen, and Jade Pool Wonderland. We took about 45 minutes to explore the cave before joining our fellow tour mates who opted not to enter and driving back to Yangshuo.

We headed to the same restaurant where we had lunch for dinner and after dinner, we went to the Liu Sanjie Light Show. There were two shows that night (we went for the second show) and there were so many people there, we were advised to stick closely to avoid getting lost. The show lasted an hour. We returned to the hotel well after 11 pm. It had been a tiring day.

To be continued

A Little Less Talk And A Lot More Action

I’ll let the pictures do the talking again today.

Sunderland-Arsenal (1-3)

Marseille-Arsenal (1-2)

Arsenal-Stoke (3-1)

Ironic

Spuds’ loss = Arsenal’s gain.

Ape boy will wear number 11 at Real Madrid. And Ozil who moved to Arsenal because of ape boy (among others) will wear number 11 at Arsenal.

By buying Ozil, Arsenal are indirectly financing part of Real Madrid’s purchase of ape boy.

Indirectly, we have Spastic to be thankful for, for his agitation and vying for a move back to Chelshit, which paved the way for Ancoletti to move from Paris to Madrid. And those moves led to footballing decisions, one of which led to Ozil feeling he had lost the transparency, trust and respect at Real Madrid. One thing led to another – including the now-famous phone call – and the rest, as they say, is history. And Real Madrid’s loss = Spuds’ loss = Arsenal’s gain. As Joachim Low put it, it is incomprehensible for Real Madrid to sell Ozil just to secure ape boy.

Anyway. Aren’t we glad that Wenger is a polyglot and has the powers of persuasion? Of course, other factors also influence the decision, not least of which is the World Cup next year. Whatever it is, it is the right move for Ozil, a fact echoed by Oliver Bierhoff, and he is now the most expensive German footballer. And a new life is breathed into Arsenal. Because Ozil is a Gunner, baby!!!

In life, we need the respect, trust, faith, love, confidence and transparency and if we don’t have these, it may be necessary to re-evaluate where we are and take necessary steps to make changes in our lives to regain them. Heck, if a successful professional footballer can feel insecure, what more us mere mortals.

Willkommen in Arsenal, Mesut Ozil!!!

P.S. I’m purposely dropping the umlaut in Ozil’s name (I should rightfully spell it as Oezil without the umlaut) because it somehow messes up with the posting of this entry (strange eh) and will do the same in future entries.

A Little Less Conversation

I’ll let the pictures do the talking today.

Arsenal-Aston Villa (1-3)

Fenerbache-Arsenal (0-3)

Fulham-Arsenal (1-3)

Arsenal-Fenerbache (2-0)

Arsenal-Spuds (1-)

Ollie’s turn this time

Sorry, what north London divide?