Cromer, Norfolk Day Trip – Rolling Back The Years

It is a good 20 years since i last went here, and it was great to go back to the seaside resort of Cromer where i had caught smal crabs many years ago as a youngster. It is one of my few memories of childhood and so wanted to spend a few hours pottering around this quiet town to see if it had changed, and try to see if i could recall any of it again.

Though cold, the weather was good with clear sunshine helping me to take some decent photos, see below. We also had customary Fish ‘n’ Chips, with additional Baked Beans for me! The place really reminded me of Old England, a far cry from the hectic, multi-cultural life in London that i had been involved in myself. I’ll be honest, i certainly prefer the latter, which offers up more choice and variety to our otherwise mundane lives, but to see Cromer for the day was interesting and relaxing.

Something i would say for Norfolk from the few days that i have been here is the incredible friendliness that people seem to offer freely around which i have not experienced in China or indeed in London. It is refreshing and takes a while to get used to.

It suits my parents to be here in Norfolk, as my father happily talks to anything and anyone. Later in life, such places would be ideal, but for now the money and culture is in London, so that is where i will head on Friday…

New Mobile Number – 07813 138273 – Please Text Me Yours!

New phone number, pay as you get friends, i just now need a new job and flat! The search will begin later this week and i shall pop to London and take it from there. All this sort of stuff is really boring but once it is done i should be more relaxed back in UK.

I have spent a few days at my parents’ cottage in Norfolk which has been ok, and good to see them, but after a while it can be frustrating as i can’t get anything done here. I felt obliged to stay after not seeing them for over a year, and they’ve helped me to reactivate my bank cards and sort a few other things out.

My first reaction on getting home was of just how cold it is, having been in Kuala Lumpur at the start of the week. November to February are always a bit nippy here, so it wasn’t anything i wasn’t expecting, but was still a shock to the system. I didn’t even have any jeans or trousers on me, as had slashed the bottom halfs off to make some funky shorts, which will now be useless for the next 6 months. I don’t plan to go anywhere anytime soon, certainly not on a plane! I am happy to keep it simple and just generate some cash for Ruby’s visa application. We hope she can apply around the turn of the year. Each application costs £600, so i don’t want to apply without being ready and having a good chance of success.

She was pretty upset when we separated in Southern Thailand, but now seems ok as her company finally coughed up her bonus which will keep her going for months. She’s even planning to buy a new camera so that she can keep me updated on her latest adventures in China. She’s visiting a friend in Hunan province who lent her some money for the trip.

I must say it feels pretty strange being back home now, and i don’t have a feeling of home anywhere anymore, unfortuantely. I am hoping that a few years in London will bring that back though, particularly if we can manage to arrange a mortgage next year. I always had great affection for London and it will now seem relatively calmer and quiet to where i was in Shanghai, so hope we can be happy there for some time. Over the last few years we have both lived in several cities and it would be nice for us to finally settle somewhere for an extended period. Of course, the main issues with that is whether Ruby gets a visa or not, and also whether she likes living in London or not. I think she will generally like the differences, but the climate and the cuisine maybe a problem, but only time will tell…

Cheap Kuala Lumpur ideas needed!

I am starting to get pretty excited and curious about my short stay in Malaysia in a few days time. I must confess to knowing very little about this country and hope to learn about it in the few days that i will be there before flying back to UK. I expect to see plenty of modern high-tech stuff similar to Shanghai and Bangkok and also believe that some old British colonial architecture remains in tact too. I have lined up Hostel Cosmopolitan as the best cheap choice that i can find, and need some ideas for things to do before my flight on Friday afternoon.

So far this page has some good stuff including a monster bird park in the city center, a historical tour, trip to the Petronas Towers and plenty of asian markets as good options.

Funds running low…

We have had a lot of problems in recent days with our cashflow. Having been away from the UK for over a year, my debit and credit cards have helpfully been cancelled by HSBC, for reasons they have creatively come up with in order to try to paper over the cracks of the recession, which the banks collectively caused themselves.
My bank used to be pretty good for service, and helpful where possible. But since i left the UK the ‘world bank’ as they call themselves have just given me responses like “sorry sir, can’t help you” or “oh, we can’t do that” or similar. Anyway, having saved up £1,500 before this trip i thought my problems would be at an end. We now have had issues moving cash to the right cards that work in the right country. This has proved harder than expected and our main concerns are just getting home safely and making our flights. We should be fine, and one of the many avenues of cash we’ve tried to set up should come available soon, and help us get home. We’ve still had a GREAT time, but next time i hope we can go without any worries in the back of our minds and just concentrate on organising things to do.

I fly out from Malaysia on Friday and have found a decent looking hostel at £3 a night, which looks like just what the doctor ordered! A few nights there and some local street food in Kuala Lumpur should see me home, whilst Ruby only needs a coach-ride back to Bangkok where she can journey back to Guangzhou and then onto her flat in Ningbo.

Thailand trip coming to a close :-(

We’ll soon by going our separate ways as the trip draws to a close. It has been really great, and the past few days we have been in South Thailand relaxing and just enjoying the seaside and local food. This was what i had planned many months ago, and for me is the type of Thailand that i like most. We have been staying in Ao Nang Beach in Krabi Province in the south of the country, and it has served as a great base from which to island hop around the many beautiful surrounding areas on offer. Having dragged our heavy luggage around Bangkok we decided to find a good hotel and stay there for the duration of the trip. The one we found on Hostelworld.com is about £10 per night and more than adequate for our needs. It is clean, stylish, spacious and with Wifi in the rooms.

Ruby has already mentioned that she wants to return to Thailand at some point and see some of the remaining islands. It has been an exciting time for her to leave China for the first time and get to know a different asian culture at close quarters. Her main observation is the relative politeness of the Thai people, and the cleaner countryside on offer here. There were many Chinese influences in Bangkok for her, but the areas of South Thailand that we have seen so far have been more like Spanish island resorts with small seaside shops and fresh seafood the main attractions. There are also predominantly westerners here, with Thai workers, and most appear to be Germans, Russians and the like.

Bangkok done… Off to Krabi tomorrow…

We have had a GOOD time in Bangkok, and are really looking forward to the second week of the trip, which should be the island paradise that most people consider when talking of Thailand. Bangkok has been an interesting place for many reasons, and decent starting point for discovering Thailand, but the island retreats are really what we came here for.

After some financial issues were resolved we can now relax a little more. My cards from UK were not really much use, but i can rely on my Shanghai cards to get me by until back in blighty. We’ve managed to see the main sites in Bangkok without being too tourist-anal and have struck a good balance between sight-seeing and relaxing. I am hoping that the beach areas of Thailand will offer the simplicities that we need – sun, sea and sizzling seafood! Only time will tell, and there are many options available for that island paradise feel. Krabi looks good for its location which allows Ruby and I to go our separate ways reasonably equidistant from our respective flights home – Bangkok for her and Kuala Lumpur for me.

We feel a bit more in control of our trip now and i’ve negotiated well with locals to get some completely free Tuk-Tuk trips around the city on the agreement that we’d spend a short time in local tailors, which reward drivers for delivering unsuspecting tourists. An Oscar-winning actor i might not be, but i have atleast seemed interested enough in my token 10 minutes in each establishment to earn my driver 50 Baht (£1) and allowed him to carry on our journey for free. It seems a good deal to me, and better than earlier in the week when we let the drivers tell us the deals.

I have just stuck all our photos from the last five days or so in Thailand on my Flickr account, so check that out if you’re interested… I shall also add another post soon, once we arrive in Krabi. We’re not sure yet, but that maybe our permanent base for the week before we part our separate ways and i return to London town on the 30th!!!

Thailand… at last!!

Finally, after a lot of faffing about and organising we have arrived in Bangkok and have two weeks to spend in Thailand. We haven’t planned to much for the trip itself, but instead were busy getting Ruby’s flat in Ningbo up and running and adding a visa to her brand new passport. The Chinese holidays also delayed us as many things were shut down at the start of this month. After spending a week in her flat we managed to fly out via Guangzhou and Ruby is an excited traveller who has left China for the first time. Having targeted Thailand for a good holiday when i first came to Asia, i am pleased to finally have made it here and all i meant to do has now been done.

Main experiences so far after a few days here have been avoiding all the scams that go on and generally enjoying meeting the lovely Thai people. We’re looking forward to getting out to the calmer, cleaner Thai countryside in a few days and i will also be flying back from Malaysia so can enjoy one or two nights in Kuala Lumpur.

Packing Going Well, Out By Sunday

Damn packing is boring! My stuff will soon be on the way home in two large boxes. The rest i shall cart around Thailand for a few weeks. Ruby had a whopping 80KG for me to drag around Shanghai this morning. Certainly, i will be pleased to have all this done by the end of the week.

They say that job hunting and moving house are some of the more stressful things you can do. Well, to do both at the same time isn’t ideal, but i wouldn’t say we’re too stressed out yet, just a bit bored of moving all the time. I will be pleased to finally settle down into a flat of my own soon, hopefully early next year, as renting isn’t exactly a great investment and im certainly happy to stay in London for a few years if all goes well.

It’s quite funny to be back on Facebook. I might not like the thing, but it is quite an important way to keep up on things these days, particularly if you have friends in different places, which i do after living in a few different cities. Having said that, most people are just like “Oh, you know, same old same old”. But i’m the age where the odd person will have just got married, child or whatever. And by the time i get to 40 i guess they’ll be some divorces too (Though hope not!) I am quite glad to see my parents haven’t, and never will be, joining the thing though. To have your parents as friends on Facebook is like having a party as a teenager and giving them free reign – it just ain’t a good idea!!

One Week Left In Shanghai

It will be a BUSY week with plenty of packing and organising to get through. We are trying to send all our things by courier early this week so that tidying up the flat will be easier. I haven’t got too much to send back and can keep most in my suitcase. It isn’t ideal to carry too much around Thailand, though, so my Wii & Ipod Speaker system will get home a month early! I’m hoping to stick all my valuable bits into one box and send via EMS. It shouldn’t cost much more than a few hundred Yuan to get that back to my parents’ house in the UK. A number of colleagues have sent boxes home to Europe without any problems so it should be fairly straight forward.

We now plan to move Ruby’s things to Lanzhou where she can stay with her family until her visa comes through, hopefully later this year. We shall have a short tour around China to complete some tasks before we end up in Thailand. We shall visit Ningbo, Xian, Lanzhou and maybe also Qingdao before heading south to the golden sand beaches & blue clear waters With everything done at that point, the holiday should be a great, relaxing break. Our funds look ok too for a good month or so there.

Thailand holiday plans begin!

Just one week of work left now. It will be a shame to leave the company, but life in London will certainly be more relaxed than Shanghai, where things are as i need and everyday tasks are not a problem.

This weekend we will try to organise a new flat for Ruby to live in until her visa arrives, and i shall make a start on plans for our Thailand holiday. Things seem generally calm here despite everything that needs to be organised and we’re enjoying married life, with nothing seemingly different at all. I will also box up some of my stuff next week and get it shipped back to my parents, otherwise we will have alot of stuff to carry around on our travels, or risk it being stolen when we are away from Shanghai.

I’m now trying to save every penny possible for these final weeks to help us to spend as much time abroad as possible, and i think some good planning should help us to find the most economical hotels possible, whilst making sure that they’re still actually ok places to stay.

Xinjiang Hami & Urumqi Trip – Riots, Kebabs & Bureaucracy!

Day 1 – Friday 4th September 2009

After a little rush at work to get some bits finished before this break it was a relief to sneak onto the train in time. Our 600Y (60 quid) tickets got us a journey leaving at 6pm Friday night, eventually arriving at lunchtime Sunday in Hami, Xinjiang.

Day 2 – Saturday 5th September 2009

The only full day on the train, and one i tried to sleep through as much as possible. We travelled through both Xian & Lanzhou today. I plan on maybe popping to Xian for a few days to see the proper Terracotta Warriors before i leave China next month, if possible. It was only around early Sunday morning that we finally reached Xinjiang and that i saw the amazing scenery for the first time, constrasting wild mountains against banal desert. The two together, along with some incredible lakes, help Xinjiang to hold a uniqueness and magic that millions go to visit every year. The mixture of races also makes it an interesting destination for domestic Chinese tourism, with only relatively few Chinese ever travelling abroad. At times in Xinjiang i felt as if i was in the Middle East or Northern Africa and the area holds an atmostphere quite different to the other parts of China that i have so far been to.

Day 3 – Sunday 6th September 2009

The trip to get here from Shanghai was nothing short of monstrous. After arriving 3 hours late in Hami, we’d actually be on the train for a whopping 42 hours!! Yes, not ideal, but i couldn’t afford flights and this was our only other option. Fortunately my ipod just about last the distance thanks to my computer doubling up as a recharger, and the substantial amount of sleep that i managed to fit in during the journey. Our neighbours were also not the typical shouting and screaming uneducated type that some provinces seem to have in droves, and were pleasant and quiet throughout. All-in-all i am certainly not looking forward to the return journey at the end of the week, but it was bearable and about as good as could be expected. I read a report that by 2015 the route will only take around 10 hours, which makes me feel a bit cheated!

Day 4 – Monday 7th September 2009

For several days now i have been mistaken for an ughyur, a Chinese minority, found mainly in the most western province of Xinjiang, and the subject of alot of recent press coverage following the considerable troubles that this province has experienced in recent months. Whilst the situation of ethnic tensions continues between themselves and the Han majority, Xinjiang remains a slightly concerning tourist destination. We have quickly discovered that the majority of any problems seem now to be restricted to the major city of Urumqi as several days in Hami have shown up little sign of anything. We have seen a police presence spread around the city strategically, and even some public-run “gangs” seeking to protect the vulnerable, but seldom any actual action. Of course, we are pleased for this for the sake of the locals and also in terms of getting our own tasks completed so that we can fully enjoy the rest of the time we have left here on more interesting things.

One of the highlights of the day was wondering around a Chinese police station for a few hours whilst we tried to sort out various certificate and stamps for Ruby. It was the nearest i’ll be getting to using the internet too, with only police and government allowed access to the internet in this whole province, currently (population here is approximately 20 million!). The police officers there seem to sum up all the ones that i’ve seen in China so far, some being quite genuine and interested in helping the public and actually doing some good, whereas others were sat around eating pies with there feet up probably working out how to spend their latest bankhander. I’d say most fell in the former category here and i was surprised at how much they were willing to help us out to get the certifications that we needed. Much was down to Ruby’s friend Dabo who with his local status and senior age was able to command enough respect and interest to get our things processed.

In one final attempt to be wooed by Chinese wine i bought a Changsheng bottle from 1994 which seemed to be the best available at the top, topping a pricey seven pounds! It came in a special presentation box and, with its 15 year age, i expected it too actually be quite good. Unfortunately, it was only ok and still worse than the chilean wines that i can get here cheaper. But atleast it was ok. I am now looking forward to my return to London where i can stock up on affordable Aussie and Italian wines, that i love most.

Hami Main Square

Ruby at her old secondary school

Dinner with Ruby’s father’s friends, in Hami

We went to a strange but interesting group of architecture in Hami, and had the chance to dress up in traditional Uighur dress. The location had Han Chinese temples and Muslim mosques together.

Hami skyline across to nearby mountains

Day 5 – Tuesday 8th September 2009

Day 6 – Wednesday 9th September 2009

Married for 90p!!

We also popped to Ruby’s old university in Urumqi. It seemed a little rundown but also had the same feel as campuses back home, with an open expanse of relaxation and business, with students playing Basketball or studying by themselves. Interestingly, the Han and other ethnic groups would be at either end of the court and weren’t mixing together often.

Wednesday evening we spent with some of Ruby’s friends at a local restaurant with exciting food, and even better music entertainment!!

Day 7, 8 & 9 – Thursday – Saturday 10th – 12th

We finally returned home, much to my relief after a being away in some quite perculiar places where westerns would all feel quite isolated from what they now, particularly if they speak virtually no Chinese like me. It is always a great feeling to be back safe and sound in the flat when we go away to the areas of China that do not cater for non-Chinese are i can now once again do the things that i have missed, such as internet which was turned off in Xinjiang and also just generally watching my sports and dvds. We managed to get everything done that we wanted and so are pleased that we dont have to go back there again for the time being. Prior to applying for her UK visa Ruby will need to return to Hami for some more papers and certificates but that probably won’t be for a few months yet, as i will need some time in UK by myself to organise a new flat and organise my finances. This will be a tricky time, but hopefully not too long and we can be patient with an exciting future ahead of us.

I can now concentrate on the final two weeks that remain at work, and wait for Ruby’s passport to arrive if her application proves successful. If ok, we would then fit in our trip to Thailand straight away, and organise a cheaper flat for her before i return home. It will be good for her to get working again and earn some money for herself in the months coming up to xmas.

The passport would be a real treasure to Ruby who still has yet to travel abroad, even to a neighbouring asian country, and she currently feels a little trapped in China. This freedom will offer her a choice she had seldom enjoyed before, and give her a new insight into other countries, starting with Thailand. I think travel is hugely important to learning about other people, and perhaps something we in the west take for granted and don’t always take advantage of as much as we could. My return to UK certainly doesn’t mark the end of my travelling either. Ruby will be wanting to visit various parts of Europe, and i am still desperate to see a good portion of South America in the coming years.

Chinese Riots & Protests awaiting us…

The great news on the eve of our trip to Xinjiang is that the place is now dangerous again, with reports of protests following a spate of stabbings, doh! After the riots of July, which left 200 people dead, we had hopes things might calm down a bit before we visited this province ourselves, but the troubles still persist. It is basically ethnic muslims against Han Chinese people, and recently the cultural melting pot has well and truly boiled over.

It is worth noting that the troubles are mainly centered in the city of Urumqi, and for most of our trip we will be away from here. It is also a shame that people have to reflect on these social problems when it remains one the prettiest parts of China to visit, and holds an exciting uniqueness that we hope to enjoy during the week that we’re there.

The city of Urumqi is now flooded with 24-hour police protection throughout the streets to control any civil unrest, and (incredibly) the whole internet system is off. The government never needs much of an excuse to exercise its totalitarian muscle, and the civil unrest is reason enough to simply cut off the world wide web from the entire province’s population. No internet for a week!! That is tough for me. Still, i will be back in the UK soon, so a few weeks of such problems to too much to worry about.