Dueling Backpacks

Day 298 (April 22, 2019) - Kunming, Yunnan Province, China Kunming was our first stop on our tour of Yunnan Province. Kunming is quite a far distance from Yangshuo. We started off on a slow train from Yangshuo to the larger city of Guilin, where we changed to a high-speed train to take us the six or so hours west to Kunming.

Day 295 (April 18, 2019) – Yangshuo, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China Our high-speed train from Guangzhou took us out of the flatlands of the Pearl River Delta and into China’s expansive karst landscape. Although the name for these rock formations, karst towers, may be unfamiliar, the sight of them is immediately recognizable and iconic of China. The town of Yangshuo sits along a bend of the Li River and is surrounded by these enormous rock tower formations. It was a beautiful sight and we were going to spend a few days getting more acquainted with the landscape.

Day 291 (April 15, 2019) – Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China Guangzhou was our first destination in mainland China. I admit that we were feeling a bit nervous. We didn’t know what to expect. We were afraid that we wouldn’t be able to communicate. The five phrases we picked up were not going to help us order food or train tickets. We also knew that we were entering China’s Great Firewall, their massive effort at internet censorship. Not being able to access Facebook or Instagram was not our concern. We were more concerned with our ability to access the internet for maps and navigation, hotel and travel websites, and translation apps. Usually, most fears never come true, but our fears of travelling in China did. But our fears were only challenges and we got better at navigating them over time. Guangzhou, however, was our first stop and it was trial by fire.

Day 286 (April 10, 2019) – Hong Kong, China I was very excited when our plane landed in Hong Kong. We had been in Thailand and Malaysia for nearly two months and I was ready for a change. Hong Kong certainly provided that. Compared to Thailand, Hong Kong felt modern, sleek, and clean. Exiting the airport, we hopped on a bus that took us downtown. The bus was extremely well signed, quite comfortable (also nearly empty), and had flat screen displays showing all the stops, the time, and our progress along the route. This was definitely not Thailand. You would never find this level of organization there.