Monkey Mountain

This weekend a couple of colleagues and I went to the Longhu Mountain Natural Reserve, also known as monkey mountain.  The name, of course, says it all.

The place is about 2 hours out of Nanning and we took a bus to get there.  One of our local colleagues took us, and acted as our interpreter too.  She even made us lunch - home made beef and corriander dumplings which were delicious.

The reserve has about 2500 monkeys.  There are pathways through the mountains and a river to cross (by bamboo bridge).

The monkeys are curious about us and we had a few occasions where they seemed to follow us for a bit.  It also seems that they have their own territory as they'd only go so far. 

We bought monkey nuts to feed them but you have to keep the nuts hidden until you're ready to give it to them as they are quite grabby.  They even try to look through your pockets for them!



 

It was a lot of fun to visit the monkey reserve.  I even found King Louie (Jungle Book).

The Chinese, Hong Kong-ites and the British

After 1 month in China I travelled to Hong Kong with a colleague so that we could process our residency visas for China.  The journey from Nanning was by bus.  I was a little concerned initially about the comfort of the journey but it turned out to be very modern, with flat beds and no loud TV.  They even switched off all the lights so that everyone could sleep and made you take your shoes off at the entrance and put them in a bag.  The only downside was that every 3 hours the bus stopped for a pit stop and everyone was encouraged off the bus.

Hong Kong is a fun place to be.  We had to leave our passports at the Chinese Embassy for a few days so we went sightseeing.  We visited some of the sights around the harbour (including the 'Avenue of the Stars' in Kowloon).

From there I also watched the Symphony of Lights show.  This was a 'sound and light' show with the lights coming from the tall buildings on both sides of the harbour.  It was quite impressive.

Another day the markets were on the agenda.  We took a bus to Stanley Market on Hong Kong island.  It was a lovely, scenic, journey.  On the bus we met some people who were here on a cruise on the Queen Elizabeth.  The market itself is, not surprisingly, very touristy but it was fun to visit.

One night I met up with some school friends who live in Hong Kong.  We went out in the Soho area which was buzzing with life.  To get there you travel on an extremely long traveling walk way which takes you up the hill for a few blocks from the metro station.  Apparently in the morning the travelator goes downhill to get all the residents to the metro for work.

After a few days I went to collect my passport from the Chinese Embassy only to find out that my passport was full and they couldn't put the visa in as there were no empty pages (I obviously travel too much!).  So, off I trawl to the British Embassy to get extra pages (the passport is still valid for another 5 years) to be told that they don't do this any more and I need to get a new passport.  This will take 3 weeks to process... so I got 'stuck' in Hong Kong.  I guess there are worse places - and luckily I do have more friends in town so it was a nice excuse to spend time with them.  In the end the Embassy issued me with an emergency travel document and with that I got a new tourist visa for China so I could return here.  Once my new passport arrives I'll have to go through this process again - another visit to Hong Kong!

With a weekend to kill waiting for the Embassy to open, I visited the Giant Buddha on Lantau island.  You travel up there by cable car and we took the 'crystal' car up which has a glass bottom.

When I left Hong Kong I had some trouble with my 'emergency passport' as I had no entry stamp into Hong Kong in it.  I was escorted to the back offices where they checked my records on the computer.  Fortunately all came out okay and they let me through so I could get back to China.

Lantern Festival

Walking around the area that I live in, I pass lots of little enterprises that are taking place on people’s doorstop.  On my way to school I pass a lady who fixes shoes, someone making breakfast on the back of their motorbike, someone selling gold fish and tortoises on the side of the street... I’m hoping these are for pets rather than food as I have seen tortoises and crocodile in the food section of the supermarket!

One of the restaurants near me does a barbeque at night.  You sit on little stools by a table on the pavement and they make beef or pork skewers and BBQ fish.  It’s delicious.  I’ve also seen chicken feet but I’ve passed on that.

I get around either by walking, using the bus or riding my bike.  I thought there’d be hundreds of bikes here but most people either use a moped or an electric bike (ie operated by a battery).  It’s pretty manic on the road (and pavement) as they just go anywhere and in any direction and ignore all traffic rules that I might be familiar with.  I thought driving in Honduras was bad but this is something else!

When I arrived here it was during the ‘Spring Festival’ time (Chinese new year).  The last day of this is known as the Lantern Festival.  This is during the period of the new moon and represents the start of the new year.  The story is that during the Han Dynasty (2000 years ago), the Jade Emperor in the Heavens was angry at a town because they killed his favourite goose.  To punish them he decided he’d destroy it in a rage of fire.  However, a good fairy warned the town and told them to light lanterns on the appointed day.  From the heavens it looked like the town was on fire so the emperor thought it was his goose had been avenged and didn’t do anything.  Since then, the people remember this day by lighting lanterns.