We let them keep our passports for an hour and nothing has exploded yet…

2 days back in Australia…

And it’s only now that I get a stomach bug.

Vietnam (so far)

- Don’t ask 7 very tired, very cranky Australians whether you can keep their passports over night in a foreign country at 1130pm. it’s just not going to happen.
- We chilled out in Saigon and ate pho and banh mi (bang me?) and tropical fruitsssssssss.
- Dani and Livi left – sad times
- We haven’t done anything fun without you, don’t worry. except see sherlock holmes, which was pretty good but not stellar
- Elective starts today. I have to be up in 5 hours. It’s just like real uni!

Love: locals who smile at you, crossing the road successfully, becoming locals at the bakery, all baked goods, size 5 shoes, rock and roll doc martens, vietnamese street parties
Hate: suspicious-looking mayo, knees, dodgy night managers, suspected paedophiles

26-12 & 27-12

The over night train left in the evening. A soft sleeper and much, much more habitable.

Its easy to tell when you get to Guillin. The city is surrounded by giant green rock formations. Green interwoven with steep, pale rock face. The city has grown around them, but to look at the whole scene, it feels the reverse. A far cry from Shanghai, the pace is slower. The roads are still dangerous.

Guillin was cold (no Shanghai concrete city warmth), but not too bad. Train station was a 10 minute walk from the hostel, when we eventually found it.

Ahead of us lay the Post-Guillin travel to Ho Chi Minh City. A train, an overnight train, a flight and a lot of lay over time. 40 hours in transit. We couldn’t face it. At the hostel we bought somewhat more expensive flights that would get us to Saigon in 11 hours. Dani and I went out to get money and cake back with a small pink celebration cake.

We stayed at the riverside hostel, which, true to its name, was right on the river.

Everything is bright lights and bling. Very much a China tourist town.

Dinner at the Forest Gump restaurant. We had duck and goose. And sat by the elevator.

Guillin is a nice little city.

KNEEL PUNY MORTALS

for Shanghai is the future. It is a neon-soaked, smog-shrouded, over-crowded hive of industrious activity and it is the future.

Did I mention that it was the future?

Things™ are happening in this place, and it feels incredible, like you’re at the beating heart of the Asian golden age or something. While that may be exaggeration, this following sentence is not: 20.5 million people live in this city. This city is more populous than Australia.

I apologise for not posting sooner, but crippling transit and seeing Olivia off had killed my desire to bloog. However, now the demands on my time are slightly less, what with just having to go to the hospital now. So I guess I can catch you up a bit.

Anyway, yes, Shanghai.

If you’re in Shanghai and you want a place for around $180 a night for a double room that is way too swanky for tools like us, then the Longemont deserves a shout-out. It’s five-star in everything except the airconditioning and on a clear day you can see forever.

Five days in this place did a lot to repair jangled nerves and windblasted facies. The hot tub and some Moët and Chandon were particular highlights as we tried to kid ourselves into thinking we were brats of the rich and the famous.

If forced to have Christmas dinner abroad, you can’t go past Hamilton House. Truly excellent indulgent french cuisine without the wallet hit (a three course meal including wine costing around $55AU each). 1221 is a pleasant introduction to Shanghainese food, while the Dumpling place in the old city blew all of our faces off.

Cloud 9 is a satisfactory place to get a drink on Olivia’s birthday though I am wondering how I’m going to top drinks with the China Seven in the highest public bar in the world for her next one. Maybe the Burj Dubai will be open then, if it’s not broken up for scrap metal. As it was, it was nice of everyone to dress up.

One of the downsides of the Wilkinson flaming red hair (or the poor imitation that is mine) and six-foot-plus heights is that it makes it difficult to avoid hawkers who view you as a giant walking dollar sign. A pale giant walking dollar sign.

Also, Andrea’s lightning elbow grip foiled an attempt to lift what the pickpocket would have realised was reciepts and an expired Macau ferry ticket from my coat pocket, but her moxie and delivery were impeccable and she deserves a beer.

It’s 2311 on Saturday night in HCMC and all I want to do is sleep. I promise I’ll write about Guilin soon.

Night all,

Tom.

25-12

We woke up eventually. The group then organised quite space to talk and clear the air to see if we could settle things. The rest of us waited in another room preparing breakfast until they returned. Breakfast was Moet and cake.

We played the crystal wine glasses and gorged on cake. Everyone seemed happy.

Then everyone bath-robed up and headed for the Jacuzzi. I was buzzing from the champagne which made everything that little bit more entertaining.

We wandered the design shops of the French Concession. The Zen cafe lived upstairs to a particularly interesting shop. The cafe was really design-arific. Unfortunately the service was not. We waited over an hour for 2 sammiches. We were pissed, especially since the clock was ticking towards our reservation at the luxurious Hamilton House restaurant. Not Happy.

40 minutes in almost 0 degrees trying to find a cab. The low point of the day. Eventual success. Thank god we call the restaurant to push back our reservation.

Later, with the group dolled up and elegant we set off for the beautiful and classy xmas dinner. It was worth it. Everything was amazing. The group even tried to keep the conversation high brow
even if only for one night.

It was an awesome day.

Guilin

- Took 23 hours to get there on a soft sleeper train, which was about the same as a hard sleeper except they have a door that locks.
- Just realised how dodgy it is to sleep on a train without any doors. Tense stuff.
- Guilin was kind of a non-event
- Except Emma bought shoes and i bought a dress with whales on it. WHALES.
- It was however, quite pretty and very cold. Somehow it being cold makes it prettier, like it’s so cold everything is tinged silver.
- We left a day earlier than expected on a plane instead of leaving when we had planned to on a train, train and plane.

Love: cheap, clean accom, taxi drivers who can only sleep in catchphrases, victory cake, yanghzou, dude selling bootleg avatar in phil’s face, hello dvd hello, eating ironically at pagoda maccas
Hate: only getting one cup of tea, sticky feet, loud chinese businessmen in restaurants,

Shanghai

- Is wildly gorgeous.
- When we got there the doormen opened the door to our taxi. OMFG.
- Our hotel was the very study of decadence. We felt filthy walking through the lobby. Eventually decided that we looked like brats of the rich and famous. Didn’t really see anyone under the age of 25 apart from us.
- There was a family mart next door. Phil can totally show you where it is.
- Really really really good food: stir fried beef with fried congee dough roll, sweet and sour pork omfg. Peking duck was disappointing, however.
- Most people were a fan of the chinese fast food joint next door (yes, it was actually called chinese fast food) except for me and some others.
- Most gorgeous art deco buildings. We sat near one and watched some locals play badminton.
- Super brand mall was a shopping centre 5 stories high. Phil was cut about not seeing avatar, lol. We offered to buy him a pirated dvd just to see the look on his face.
- Don’t take the pedestrian transit tunnel, it’s shit and a rip off, take drugs instead.
- Pearl tower was pretty
- Cloud nine was pretty good I guess, highest bar in the world: 87 stories up.
- Chinese kids don’t really seem to drink.
- Hamilton House blew my face off. Try the escargot with tart flambee omg.
- French Concession had the most mindblowing collection of design stores i’ve ever seen. Wish i’d bought something now. Don’t order a beef sandwich though.
- Everyone speaks chinese to me. What?
- HELLO DVD HELLO HELLO
- Shanghai dumplings blew my face off.
- Haagen-das did not.

Love: snails, beef sandwiches, the view, staying in five star even though i dont deserve it, the goddamn jacuzzi
Hate: waiting an hour for beef sandwiches, black snot, chapped lips, wind burn, dry skin, bad temperatures, taking fifteen minutes to put on clothes in the morning because you need at least 4 layers.

Hangzhou

- Hangzhou is sort of like Perth, except colder and with a lake instead of a river. It is very chilled out.
- There are lots of very puffy marshmallow babies
- Dani has a pimp jacket
- We really didn’t get up to much.

Love: the view from starbucks, chinese cartoons
Hate: expensive laundry

24-12

The day before christmas. We walked down a famous street of art deco buildings towards the bund.

We actually saw the river today. Joy We also saw a christmas tree made of heineken.

We just walked and explored the city. The wires above.

The people below.

For the next yuletime morning, we bought 3 bottles of Moet and an enormous chocolate cake with delicate icing.

The evening was at the French Concession and dinner at a Thai restaurant.

The Concession was full of design stores. We drooled. We decided to come back tomorrow.

We drank swanky drinks in an awesome joint called Sashas. It was really classy. I had lychee martini and then mulled wine. We chatted with some young Shanghai life-insurance vendors who were having a christmas party. This was a moment that growing tensions among members of our group finally bubbled to the surface and threatened to explode. Quick action had to be taken by some to quell the potential problem and two well spaced taxis were taken home. Things continued into the night and not many got much sleep.