Tres meses por el mundo

The last week of our trip we spent in Beijing, another metropolis, covered in smog and blazing hot one day, fresh and clear another, always full of people. We visited the Forbidden City, Tian'amen square, parks and of course the Chinese wall. We now know that we are not fans of Chinese food, are very good at understanding the Chinese system of queueing (in other words, they don't queue ever), that Hong Kong is NOT China, that China is not like any other country and that learning a bit of Chinese could come in very handy at some time.....

After 3 months of travelling, 13 planes, 1 train, 1 van called Jimmy, various local busses and boats we have arrived back home. We would like to thank everybody for reading the blog and keeping up with our adventures. We enjoyed every minute of it, we hope you did as well.

Love, Marcelo and Suzanne

First, some photos of Dazhai, a small village in the middle of endless rice terraces. We took a taxi from Yangshuo together with David and Teresa, a couple from New Orleans. We spent a great afternoon hiking, chatting, and ended up in a local home having lunch (there were "vegetables from outside" on the menu....). The women from this region have incredibly long hair which they like to wash and dry with special care. Have a look!

Marcelo and I have come to the conclusion that not everybody speaks English in China, especially not in Suzhou. We thought it would be nice to visit a "village" close to Shanghai, but Suzhou turned out to be a megapolis with about 6 million inhabitants. Of which maybe 10 speak English. Nice! It was supposed to be the Venice of the East, but you have to have a lot of imagination to see the similarities. We struggled for three days to get around and get understood (even made it to a real small town, Tongli), until we were tired and headed to Shanghai.....somebody must speak English there, right?

In Shanghai we stayed with friends from Barcelona and visited the world expo (after struggling to get tickets, not beacuse there weren't any, but because they didn't speak English haha). We were able to skip the queues at the Dutch and Spanish pavillion, refused to stand in line for the Japanse pavillion (4 hours) and ended up visiting strange countries like Myanmar, Iraq, Iran, Korea DPR...etc. (no queue!).

Dutch pavillion:

Chinese:

Spanish:

By the way, we have turned into celebrities. Chinese people (mostly young people) constantly want to take pictures with us!

Now we are in Xi'an, city of the Terracotta Warriors.....very impressive!

PS, they do eat snakes in China.....this one was caught near our hotel in Yangshuo:

Marcelo and I are enjoying the countryside in Yangshuo. Instead of staying in the city we have opted for small hotels like the giggling tree and the Yangshuo Village Inn, both lovely places with great views.

Yes, we saw the game (soccer final) together in the Giggling Tree Hostel. As it is owned by Dutch people, Marcelo found himself surrounded by 30 Dutch soccer fans all dressed up in orange. It could have been a good party if only Robben had scored....Now it was a one man party haha. Marcelo got offered champagne by the owners (who were about to cry over Holland's loss!). By the way, they served bitterballen! (duych snack)

As for activities we went to an impressive light show that was held on a lake. It was directed by the same guy that directed the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games. More than 600 actors, singing, lights....all against a back drop of Karst mountains was pretty impressive!

We also went biking through the country side, hiking and took a bamboo raft down the river. The Chinese are really good business people. They have these floating bamboo offices on the river. They take your picture as you float down the river, and right there (on the river!) they print it and sell it to you! Every 10 metres there is someone selling beer from another bamboo boat....man they are good!

We were afraid of the big crowds in China, spitting people etc. but the Chinese we have met so far are super friendly! We are really impressed by the high standard of service until now!

Traffic seen from a double decker tram:
Trafico desde el tram:

In Hong Kong they love eating bird's nests!
En Hong Kong les encanta comer nidos de pajaro:

Enjoying a cold beer on a terrace:
Una cerveza fria en una terraza:

On our way to the big Buddha:
De camino al Big Buddha:

Big Buddha:

Big Buddha's friends:
Amigos del Buddha:

Hong Kong skyline:

Hong Kong at night:
Hong Kong de noche:

High! Altos!:

According to different sources, the relationship between Marcelo S. (32, Spanish) and Suzanne G. (29, Dutch) is about to end.
Paparazzi's were able to enter their hotel room where they encountered the couple in a clear state of crisis. They were not willing to make any further comments.
Just a few days before there were rumours about a secret wedding in Hong Kong, when our journalists found Marcelo S. in a luxurious banquet hall but these plans have cleary been cancelled. How will this story end? We will find out on the 11th of july!

Segun nuestras fuentes de informacion, la relacion entre Marcelo S. (32, espanol) y Suzanne G. (29, Holandesa) esta a punto de acabar. Paparazzi han encontrado la pareja en su habitacion de un hotel en Hong Kong. Estaba claro que no viven su mejor momento. La pareja no queria hacer comentarios.
Hace unos dias, nuestras periodistas encontraron a Marcelo S. en un restaurante de lujo. Rumores dijeron que estaba planificado una boda secreta....esta claro que no habra ninguna boda ahora. Como acabara esta historia? Lo sabremos el 11 de julio!

The tension is clear. La tension en la habitacion:

Marcelo planificando una boda? Marcelo planning the wedding?

Suzanne: Holland must win! Holanda ganara seguro!

Praying for victory/ Rezando por la victoria

Marcelo: Spain must win! Espana ganara seguro!