Feeding time at the zoo

Arrived into Yangshoe near Guillin this morning on the 4am train. Needless to say I hit the sack the minute we got to the hotel. Well not the minute because there was some strange delay between our guide and the guy at reception which went on and on for what felt like an hour. We were supposed to do orientation at 7.30 but i asked Patricia to pass on my apologies and hit the bed. This really is a lovely town, the scenery is spectacular and it's got a nice mix of western and Chinese. I still get hello shouted at me everywhere i go, and a smile and a ni hao usually suffices.

I'm a little up in the air at the moment as to what i am going to do after Hong Kong - initially i was going to go straight to Vietnam, then i had this brain wave that i would go to Tibet, and now i am kind of thinking that I might just come back here. I have a double entry visa for China, and i really like it here, and it's cheap, so why not use it. I was all set to go to Tibet, but am now struggling with the idea, and also well knowing my luck I'm end up with AMS or something. I have a pretty bad cold and that's not the best state to be going up 7000m.

I think that I should mention something about the people that I am travelling with. Well I have already mentioned Mike and Elizabeth, they are gems just lovely lovely people, kindhearted generous and always up for fun. There's Peter and Heather, at the beginning I thought that Peter was going to be a brash beer swilling annoying Aussie bloke, but they are both great. Peter is just so much fun, up for everything, I have never seen anyone just embrace life and just go for it like him, and Heather is great. I don't really know Kadire and Darleen, Darleen is sweet, a great talker and always seems to get the wrong end of the stick, mainly because she is always chattering away and not listening. Ewan the English guy is the youngest on the trip, but that doesn't seem to phase him at all, and again he adds so much to the journey, he's doing more or less what i am going but leaving for Bangkok the day after we arrive in HK, At the beginning i was worried about sharing with Patricia, but again she's just lovely, she's obsessed with her food and enjoys a good meal and is up for anything all the time, a real joy of life. Cheril is a lovely lady, with the warmest and brightest smile, she's funny witty and great craic. Alison, well hear no evil, see no evil ,speak no evil ... but poor wee Nini's not baring up very well.

The other night a group of us went out for dinner without our guide. We went into a restaurant, after asking at the door, English Menu, the lady nodded so in we piled. 7 of us. The entire place stopped, the work men on the street outside stopped, the waitress came along with a menu, all in Chinese, she pointed and said Chinese words, we said, Chicken, she pointed and we said beef, she giggled and we said vegetables, eventually she pointed and said chicken, Elizabeth who is a veggie went to the kitchen to select her own food, and we asked for beef, the lady cross out the chicken then we asked for pork, by making ounch ounch noises, she crossed out the beef, we asked for the chicken to be reinstated. She said something we kept nodding, Peter asked for beer she looked a little shocked and said no. All the other tables had beer, we asked another waitress and she said ok. We got our beer and then some meatballs arrived, followed by some cabbage and a burner. Then the rice, and then a big wok with a chicken inside, an entire chicken ... if you look very closely you can see its head. I have laughed during meals before but never ever like this. We were all taking photos with tears streaming down our faces, it was hilarious and delicious. They also brought out the giblets, all bloody and life like, which we immediately sent back. the restaurant stopped again while the other diners gasped and stared at out bad manners and behaviour. A meal to remember.