Ciao China!

I wanted to title this post "China - a retrospective" but that really sounds like a wank. But I feel that after roaming round this contry for the last two months I've got a lot of emotions about it that I want to share with a wider audience than Sarah (who has now taken to putting in her Ipod earphones and instantly ordering a beer everytime I look like opening my mouth).

I'm not sure about how the tone of these postings has come across, but I'm worried it may have sounded like I've been slagging off China. Well that's because I have been. But in a nice way.

We're both getting a little sad about leaving China though. This country is chock full of amazing things to do and see and I feel as if we've barely scratched the surface. You've seen the photos - we've been blown away on so many occasions by the incredible sights. In general it's easy enough to get around and transport is pretty good, the guesthouses are excellent and dirt cheap, and the food can be damn tasty (up until the point where you overdose on oil, salt and MSG).

And the people. Of course there's the odd few arseholes, rip-off merchants and slack-jawed gawkers and you do get a little sick of the constant chorus of strangulated "Hellooooos!" everytime you walk the streets, but the majority of people have been lovely, friendly and really helpful. Even the hawkers and touts give up after a single shake of the head, just when I'm gearing up for an Egypt-style half hour fight over not wanting to buy an awful postcard or a bunch of rotten bananas.

In fact our major source of frustration over this whole trip has simply been our own inability to speak or read any Chinese apart from the couple of stock standard phrases ('Hello', 'thank you', 'two beers', 'no meat' and 'I don't understand'). I think if we could have commicated enough to chat to some of the people we've met on the way it would have really enhanced the experience.

Ok gotta shake myself, think I was possessed there for a minute. Fricking spitting, staring, chain-smoking bastards...