China & Taiwan Part II
“He felt like a prisoner of pirates being forced to walk the plank the way his feet were tied together – yet instead of falling into the sea he’d be heading straight for the road below where the shuttle buses full of tourists would be”
By Shri & Firuza
Macau
Christmas Day
We travelled all of Christmas day from Shanghai to Macau. This was a strange Christmas, as we basically ended up travelling by every means of transport possible to get there. We flew from Shanghai to Hong Kong, having taken a metro train form our Hostel to the airport. We then took a bus from the airport to the ferry terminal at Hong Kong, realized we’d got on the wrong bus and so had to get off and catch another bus. Finally we got our ferry to Macau. You might be thinking, why did we fly from Shanghai to Hong Kong, only to take a ferry to Macau when we could have taken a flight to Macau directly? As we write this (literally still on the ferry), we have been wondering the same thing – please never bring this up when you speak to us – it has been a long journey…..
Macau as we saw it
Macau, formerly a Portuguese colony which has subsequently been handed back to China is a tough one to get your head around from a sovereignty perspective. It is part of China, yet at the same time acts with a separate set of rules (similar to Hong Kong). For one, they do not use the Chinese Yuan there but have their own currency: the Macau Dollar (interestingly enough they also accept Hong Kong Dollars in Macau and in all of their casinos they will only accept Hong Kong Dollars – bizarre!).
Additionally to this, the VISA rules that apply for China do not apply for Macau; as a British tourist you do not need a VISA to visit Macau as a tourist and are able to stay in Macau for up to 6 months (same as Hong Kong). Credit cards are also normally accepted in Macau unlike in mainland China which was a very welcome change. Finally and most importantly, there is no internet block in Macau (or Hong Kong for that matter)! This means you can use WhatsApp, Facebook, Google, Instagram and everything you’ve come to hold so dear without needing VPN! While these can all be considered perks of visiting Macau, it’s important to just keep on top of the small changes – you don’t want to end up in Macau with a wallet full of Chinese Yuan only to find that nobody will sell you any food.
Macau has a reputation as the ‘Vegas of Asia’, or the ‘Vegas of the East’ or in some cases ‘the Vegas of China’. This is predominantly due to the casino scene they have there and is known to be a place for supposed ‘high rollers’. We set out to explore and were surprised by the amount of construction they had going on. Some areas were extremely built up with casinos but by the looks of things they are really ramping up – seems like the industry is expected to grow here in the future as we think most of those buildings are going to be future hotels/casinos.
We visited an old lighthouse that still operates but probably doesn’t need to anymore as most of Macau has substantial light pollution at night coming from the various casinos, but which did provide a scenic view of the island. We also visited a church that remained from the Portuguese era and managed to get a glimpse of the older parts of Macau on Taipa Island which is a bit more residential but still quite quaint. As for the casinos, well they are more or less just like Vegas in the sense you can go into any of the hotels to gamble in their casinos, smoking is permitted and they have about a million cameras in each casino so that there is constant surveillance in every inch of the premises. One nice feature we noted was that unlike Vegas, most of the big hotel/casinos offer a free shuttle bus between the hotels and the ferry terminals so you don’t need to get a taxi to hotel hop. We were reminded quite unmistakably that we were still in China when getting into an elevator in one of the hotels when a man made the ever familiar retching noise before spitting on the floor outside the elevator – yep still China!
The World’s Highest Bungee
One of the first things that comes up when you google ‘things to do in Macau’ is the bungee jump from Macau Tower – the world’s tallest commercial bungee. So naturally when Shri saw this, he couldn’t let it go and after 10 mins of negotiation with Firuza, managed to get her to agree to let him go – he hadn’t expected her to give up so easily and so there he was going up to the counter to book the jump, wondering what he had just got himself into, and wondering if Firuza would stop him before the purchase was complete. She didn’t.
So up they went to the 61st floor where Shri was to get geared up. After signing all the waivers that basically ensures that nobody will be liable if you die and having been told for the third time that there would be no refunds if you don’t jump he made his way to the outdoor platform. There were a few other jumpers here, both from China and about 3-4 staff members. The staff kept talking to each other, saying things like ‘we have to try not to hurt another client today’ and ‘more slack on the rope next time please, we don’t want another issue’ in loud voices. As you can probably tell, these guys who spend all day throwing people off a building at 233 meters above sea level do get bored doing the same thing all day – why hasn’t someone bought them a games console to play on in-between jumps – maybe which would stop them from making everyone nervous!
As you can imagine, this did little to calm Shri nerves, although he tried to keep a brave face. Meanwhile, one of the other jumpers was preparing to jump, giving the thumbs up before she leapt she turned to Shri and said ‘It’s not that high’! And then off she jumped. Funnily enough, this gave Shri a bit more courage – if this 5 ft. nothing girl could so calmly throw herself off the building with a smile on her face then he should be able to do the same. There we go – a sane and logical thought to help you jump.
As he got strapped up, Shri noticed that his legs had been bound together and all of a sudden he was being led the very end of the platform. He felt like a prisoner of pirates being forced to walk the plank the way his feet were tied together – yet instead of falling into the sea he’d be heading straight for the road below where the shuttle buses full of tourists would be. And no sooner had these thoughts run through his mind the countdown has begun
“3”, “2”, “1”, “Jump!”
It was one of the strangest feelings he had ever experienced, pelting head first towards the ground and the weirdest part – not being able to hold onto anything with your hands which is the natural instinct when falling. But after the first second or so he absolutely loved it. Following the first bounce and the unbinding of the legs so that he came back into an upright position, he was able to take in the views of Macau as the sun was setting – a truly once in a life time opportunity and breath-taking experience (in every sense of the word).
Once unstrapped at the bottom, he headed back to the 61st floor to collect Firuza and the photos. As he walked out of the elevator he felt like 10 feet tall having done the jump now(he was also actually the tallest in the room) and practically bounded over to the desk. We ended up walking around the viewing deck for a while before leaving the tower. As we were about to leave we decided to watch one more person jump (there was a big TV which displayed the jumps live as they were happening from outside. The girl who was about to jump took what felt like an eternity before deciding she couldn’t jump. Whether that was down to the sheer height, the concept or the staff with their dodgy jokes at the top, Shri could completely understand how she felt. We can only hope that they were able to give her some of her refund.
So if you are ever in Macau and fancy a bucket list challenge like a bungee, we encourage you to try it! There’s no feeling like it and it’s something you’ll never forget. But if you’re sensible then maybe, you know – don’t do it…
Hong Kong
The Antman and the Wasp
Having spent 2 full days in Macau (we think that’s enough) we hopped back on the ferry and went back to Hong Kong – this time to stay. We noticed a few differences to mainland China very quickly. First off, most people there did speak English (including the locals). Secondly, when using their metro subway system, people waited for you to get off the train before boarding unlike in Beijing or Chengdu (or Shanghai for that matter). As we’ve already mentioned, just like with Macau, they have their own currency (Hong Kong Dollar), they accept credit cards in most places (VISA and MasterCard), there is no great firewall so no need for VPN and Brits do not need a VISA and can visit as tourists for up to 6 months.
One thing worth noting is that if you are going to travel around Hong Kong you should obtain an Octopus card from any MTR station. You deposit money on this card and can use it to travel around the city and can even make payments in certain stores using it – so kind of like and Oyster card equivalent in London (why are they all named after sea creatures?).
Exiting the subway, it became apparent quite quickly that this was the busiest city we had visited thus far on the trip, as well as the most ethnically diverse. The streets were crowded, people moving in all directions and then there was us with our traveller’s backpacks in the middle of Tsim Sha Tsui struggling against a tide of people to find our hostel. The hostel itself was located on the 7th floor of what was essentially a multi-use building complex, consisting of shops and restaurants on the first two floors, followed by residential, commercial and hotel/hostels on the higher floors. As we entered the building we noted that more than half of the shops were basically currency exchange providers – the rest were mainly small food stalls. We eventually found the elevator – of which there was only 1 which went to our floor and a huge queue of people also waiting for it (with time we learnt where the stairs were). The hostel room itself was tiny – probably no bigger than our bathroom at home and that included an ensuite bathroom in it. We are both big advocates of hostels when travelling as it gives you an opportunity to meet lots of people, a lot of them are now to a high standard and are good value for money (check out Hostelworld.com – this is a great place to find cheap accommodation that meets whatever standard you are looking for). We picked ‘Canadian Hostel’ which we didn’t find on Hostelworld in the end and would definitely not recommend it. Although it was a private room, there was no communal area, the room was tiny, the condition was poor and we paid more for this than any other place we stayed on the entire trip. Hong Kong is extremely expensive when it comes to accommodation (both for residents and visitors) so do be prepared to pay a bit more here.
And so the first day or so we took to adjust to the feeling of being tiny. People do live on top of people here and it really does make you feel small both when you’re inside (box-like accommodation) or when you’re outside amidst the crowds and surrounded by skyscrapers from every angle (more so than New York it felt like). And hence the Antman and the Wasp title (if you are not into Marvel then don’t worry – only one more Avengers movie to go and then you’ll stop hearing about it).
Exploring Hong Kong
Hong Kong is made up predominantly of 3 parts: Kowloon, Honk Kong Island and Lantau. All can be accessed using their metro system and are relatively close together. We started off by heading to Lantau where we saw the Big Buddha statue – luckily there weren’t too many tourists (most of the families with kids had gotten off at the Hong Kong Disneyland stop on the metro) although there were a few British boy scouts around funnily enough. Here you take a cable car ride over part of the sea and through a very scenic vegetative hill (can also be trekked) to get to the statue which is well worth a visit.
We also managed to take a cruise along Victoria Harbour (so named after Queen Victoria from when Hong Kong was part of the British Empire). This is nothing spectacular but was nice enough and was included for free if you bought the Hong Kong pass (we did and just like Shanghai, this will save you money and from having to use your cash if you want to do the major city attractions). You might think we’d be ‘skyscrapered-out’ by this point from Shanghai but we still managed to go up the International Commerce Centre building to the Sky-100 viewing deck to check out the night skyline. This is the tallest building in Hong Kong and by going up we ensured we’d been to 4 out of the 10 tallest buildings in the world.
We took a tram ride up to Victoria Peak on the Hong Kong Island side which offers spectacular views of the harbour and city – as we were to be in Hong Kong for New Year’s Eve we kept this open as a potential option for where we could watch the fireworks. We also did a walking tour which was very insightful and actually one of the more enjoyable tours/excursions we did here as we got some personal insight into what it’s like to live in the city as well as seeing some of the older side of Hong Kong. Funnily enough one of the most enjoyable experiences we had was simply walking through and relaxing in a park (called Hong Kong Park) which was a refreshing break from the hustle and bustle of the city in this beautiful oasis.
We took a tram ride up to Victoria Peak on the Hong Kong Island side which offers spectacular views of the harbour and city – as we were to be in Hong Kong for New Year’s Eve we kept this open as a potential option for where we could watch the fireworks. We also did a walking tour which was very insightful and actually one of the more enjoyable tours/excursions we did here as we got some personal insight into what it’s like to live in the city as well as seeing some of the older side of Hong Kong. Funnily enough one of the most enjoyable experiences we had was simply walking through and relaxing in a park (called Hong Kong Park) which was a refreshing break from the hustle and bustle of the city in this beautiful oasis.
Monkey Altercation
On the morning of NYE, we went to visit the 10,000 Buddha’s monastery – so called because it has 10,000 Buddha statues. This was located in the hills, nearby one of the metro stations and was a small trek to get to through a primarily residential area.
Once we got there, we climbed the steps up to the monastery, some Buddha statues being already present on the stairs. But there were also monkeys on the stairs which we noted as Firuza took a few pictures of them, not thinking too much of it at the time. The monastery itself was very unique and there really were 10,000 Buddha statues here – one room literally had thousands of statues lining the walls but photos were not allowed of this room – something you will have to see for yourself if you visit.
Before leaving the site Firuza went to take one more photo of one of the monkeys – what she didn’t anticipate was that it would turn around and snarl at her before running off. Small as it may have been, it frightened her (for those that don’t know Firuza is scared of most animals and the snarl only reinforced that fear). Shri told her not to worry and that there was nothing to be afraid of and that ‘we’re leaving’ now, thinking that would be the end of it. But he was wrong.
Going back down the same stairs we had entered from, there were about 5 monkeys visible to us. Shri took the lead of going first knowing Firuza was already a bit worried when all of a sudden he heard a scream. He turned around to see one monkey grabbing onto Firuza and instinctively swung his coat at the monkey. The monkey immediately let go and ran to a nearby bush. It dawned on Shri afterwards that it was the bag Firuza was holding that the monkey had grabbed – incidentally this bag contained our packed lunch for later that day and so it’s difficult to pinpoint if the monkey sensed her fear or just wanted the food (which was by the way all packaged completely). The other monkeys were all now watching and several started moving forwards, blocking our path.
There was another couple present at the same time but they chose not to get involved, and continued to take pictures of the statues and monkeys. This could be because they were just uninterested in what was happening or because they were just glad that there was no issue with them and the monkeys. In the end we made what turned out to be a wise decision by exiting the monastery from a different path rather than going through the monkeys which may have resulted in conflict.
We had heard from other people travelling and in reading other blogs (yes we do look at those) that you are not supposed to feed the monkeys as this can make them aggressive. We had also heard of some being hostile for no apparent reason in the area and so were semi-prepared for that encounter. Even though all of our food which had been purchased from an M&S store and was completely packaged and in a bag, our recommendation is that if you do visit try, to avoid having any loose bags other than a backpack so that there’s nothing for them to easily grab.
Wild Boars, Stray Dogs and Mountain Dances
For New Year’s Eve we had tried to see if we could get a hotel room with a view of Victoria Harbour to see the fireworks. All harbour facing rooms were booked out. We had tried to book a seat on a midnight cruise on the harbour – also sold out. We even tried to book tickets to watch from the Sky100 deck – sold out! If you ever want to do any of these things for NYE in Hong Kong make sure you book well in advance.
We knew that the other options we had were to take the tram up to Victoria Peak overlooking the city or to find a space at the waterfront. The problem was, with either option we would end up having to queue early for a space and wait in the crowds for several hours. So we opted for a third option which was to go for a hike up Kowloon Peak where we would get an even better view of all of Hong Kong, even if it was further away.
We started our ascent shortly after 5pm, prepped with headlights, packed lunch for dinner and some playing cards. By the time we were due at the summit we’d still have a few hours to kill so figured the cards were a good idea. We got to the top quickly, just as it had fallen dark and once we had stopped climbing, immediately felt the cold. It was windy at the top, and there was virtually no shelter. It was 6:30pm, too cold and windy for cards and we had the best part of 5 and a half hours before the fireworks show. Great!
While at this moment, we were contemplating exactly what to do, and the reality of being in the cold without a proper plan of how to kill the time was starting to sink in, it does have to be said that we did have a magnificent view of the city. You could see all of Victoria Harbour perfectly, along with the skyline of skyscrapers, all of the cruise boats which had pulled up just to watch the NYE celebrations and the rest of Hong Kong. We took a stroll to another peak some 30 minutes away which was slightly higher. The view was comparable but the wind was much worse so we turned around and went back to our first spot, keeping warm though walking.
When we got back we found a wild boar ravaging a bin (trash can for American readers) and succeeding in turning it over. Firuza immediately made clear that she would not have the packed lunch anywhere near that bin and so we ended up having it by the wall next to the view point. It got cold quickly after we stopped eating and it was barely 8pm. There had been a few cars that had come and gone (people coming just to take a few pictures of the view) and a few stray dogs had meandered down from higher up the mountain before going back (which had made Firuza uneasy). At this point, we had a discussion as to what we should do – knowing that Firuza was not comfortable with all the animals up here, that we still had 4 hours to go, and that it was pretty cold when you weren’t moving.
Just as this conversation was happening our luck was about to change. A hiker had just walked up from the other side and Firuza decided to ask her what her plan was. It turns out; she was a local from Hong Kong who wanted to watch the fireworks from this peak and had underestimated how quickly she would make it to the top. She too was also wondering what she was going to do for 4 hours. So we had a good conversation which passed some time, we learnt a bit about her (her English name was Karen) and managed to have a few laughs before realizing that we were cold again.
Luck struck again in a strange way next. A group of youths pulled up in a car, opened their doors turned on their speakers and started blaring out music. There were 1-2 other cars by the viewing point, the occupants wrapped up warmly inside but otherwise there was nobody else here. Shri, Firuza and Karen looked at each other, and decided almost simultaneously that we should just dance. So we did. We listened to their music, we danced and the youths danced closer to their car, taking the odd selfie here and there. This lasted over an hour, with all of us keeping warm and forgetting about the cold but without talking to each other. It may have seemed odd but for all of us we didn’t care – we were going to watch the fireworks with an amazing view and we were warm and at a mountain rave. Everything was going perfectly.
But then more cars started arriving and our friends with the speakers decided to leave. No more music! We stopped dancing and back came the cold. Next thing we know, a family of wild boars is being chased by the stray dogs in the vicinity. Everyone looked at this mildly surprised but this became quite a frequent event that night – as if the dogs and boars did this more for their entertainment than any tangible result – the dogs never did catch the boars either who were surprisingly quick runners.
Firuza and Karen decided it would be a good idea to walk to the other peak we had been to earlier where it was windier – not to stay there but more so to keep warm now that our little rave had ended. So hiked uphill again, flashlights on our heads until the beam fell on a large figure in the road. It was another boar, but much bigger than the ones we had seen earlier. The light from the headlights shone directly into its eyes – it stared back not moving, just as we held our stance. Having known that the boars are occasionally spotted on this peak and along this trail we had done a little bit of research and for the most part they don’t do anything unless they feel threatened. Karen had also told us that they had been known to attack humans occasionally and these were the thoughts that crossed our mind right then. These thoughts crossed our minds as we stared at the animal, never having thought we’d be in a situation where we might have to fight a massive pig! But in the end he walked into the bushes as we slowly edged by.
The walk there and back killed most of the remaining time (there was another stand-off when we came back with the stray dogs – Karen also mentioned that one of her friends had been attacked by stray dogs recently in the area which was music to our ears) and we had the best spot for when the fireworks came on. Fantastic view, fantastic fireworks and a great city to watch them in! You can also do this on Chinese New Year and for their Independence Day.
We managed to hitch a ride down the mountain with a local couple who were kind enough to open their doors to us and save us the hour and a half of hiking down in the dark. Firuza was the one he stuck her thumb up after seeing the boar family running down the road not far behind us – no doubt being chased by the dogs again. And before we knew it – we were back in our Canadian Hostel with no space having never been gladder to be there in the warmth free of animals. This was truly one of the most random NYE experiences we’ve had but we really enjoyed it and would definitely recommend this peak to watch fireworks. For those not into hiking, you can always take a taxi up there and it has not yet become that popular a place that tourists are really aware of it so take the opportunity while you can!
We succeeded in enduring the cold up there, passing the time and more importantly, we made a friend. Little did Karen know that she was just as important a factor in keeping us up there as we were for her, and we had a great night as a result!
Taiwan
Taipei
We travelled to Taiwan on New Year’s Day on Tiger Air (the only airline on this whole trip that we don’t recommend due to excessive baggage charges that are well hidden upon booking). We literally only had a couple of days in Taiwan, so had to choose carefully what we would do while we were there. In the end we chose to spend one day in the capital; Taipei and one in Taroko National Park.
Taipei as a city significantly contrasted to what we had been used to in Hong Kong. Firstly, it felt very clean, smelt clean and looked clean. On top of that, you could literally spread your arms out and rotate on the spot without hitting anyone (Shri did try this), which would not have worked in Hong Kong! We did observe that there were definitely not as many tourists in Taiwan at the time we visited (obviously not peak season so not a bad time to go). However, nobody really stared at us, or took sly pictures of us or asked for selfies as had been the case in mainland China. In fact, the only time this kind of staring occurred was on the odd occasions when we saw other tourists and having gone so long without seeing one, we would stare and they stare back, questioning in our minds where they were from.
As with Macau and Hong Kong, we could access the internet normally without needing a VPN and credit cards were readily accepted. The subway system (MTR here) was as good as throughout China with all the usual advanced features and flashing lights. We did see some peculiar signs, one when we arrived at Taipei Main Station that was next to a taxi symbol that read “Kiss and Ride”. We couldn’t work out what this meant other than assuming that you get a free ride if you kiss the driver (or worse, it’s a paid ride where you get to kiss the driver as a perk?….). We ended up asking what this meant both at our hostel and at the station. The responses were similar with both as the stuff just blushed (their colleagues giggling behind them both times) told us that the sign was a mistake, that they weren’t sure what it meant and then apologizing to us. We did a bit of research on this and turns out Taiwan have copied similar signs that are present in the US where they to refer to an area where drivers can drop off their passengers, usually a spouse, in the morning and pick them up in the evening, often with an embrace.
So what did we do in Taipei? We spent some time in the National palace museum, with its vast collection of Chinese art and its garden grounds. We found it amusing that one of the security guards had a sniffer dog with him and they were everywhere around the perimeter while we were there – maybe museums are becoming hotspots for dealers (though it seemed fine to us). We also visited the Confucius Temple (beautiful architecture and we learnt about the Confucian arts) and the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall (we saw the changing of the guards here and lowering of the national flag) which were both free! We did also make a trip to the Taipei 101 tower, formerly the tallest building in the world and still in the top 10. Unfortunately when we went, it was a bit too cloudy at the top to see anything so we didn’t pay to go up to the viewing deck. So you can probably tell from reading this blog, if you didn’t already know, Asia is dominating the highest buildings list, and that doesn’t seem likely to be rivalled by another continent anytime soon.
Taroko National Park
It seems that the majority of Taiwan is actually a National Park. We made the choice to visit the scenic Taroko National Park on the east side of the country. From Taipei we took a high speed train to Hualien City where we picked up a rental car. Prior to this, we had originally tried to hire a car from Taipei to drive down to Hualien but there were no cars available for us across the whole of Taipei regardless of which companies we checked with! Lesson learnt – either car rentals are so popular in Taipei that you need to book well in advance or there is a shortage of cars there so you still need to book in advance to secure your ride!
Hualien was a very scenic city, right on the coast with absolutely stunning views of the beautifully blue sea. Driving in Hualien and Taiwan in general is not that different to driving in the US – its left hand drive and you drive on the right side of the road. Most drivers there are very relaxed with everyone taking a good few seconds to move after traffic lights go green – island life! The negative is that there are not a whole heap of roads so you normally only have one or two routes available to you when driving through the country so if there’s traffic (as we found later) then you will have to sit in it!
For the final day of our trip, we planned to drive into Taroko from Hualien, visit some trails and sights within the park and then head straight to the airport to catch our flight back to Beijing. The park itself is gorgeous as is the infamous Taroko Gorge which cuts its way from the Pacific Ocean into the heart of the National Park. The weather was perfect, the sky was clear and we were thankful we had made the choice to visit.
We did the Baiang trail which takes you all the way to a waterfall and the ‘Water Curtain’, a cave with water falling from the top which got us soaked and was also full of bats. We visited the ‘Eternal Spring Shrine’ after and unfortunately didn’t get a chance to do the Swallow’s Grotto trail which was closed, but after visiting the visitors centre we headed straight for the Qingshui Cliffs. These had some of the most spectacular views we’ve seen, with such clear blue water and breath-taking panoramas from the vegetative land panning across to the ocean in the east. We’d have to say this was probably our favourite view from the entire trip and would be where we go back to if we revisit Taiwan.
In terms of how you do Taroko, there are many trails and different things to see so you really can make your own choices and potentially spend up to several days there. Tours are possible and you can even take day trips from Taipei but these can be fairly expensive and we’d recommend doing them from Hualien which works out cheaper and gives you the chance to visit the wonderful coastal city. We’ve heard of people doing it via taxi and in some cases walking through Taroko. We think both options are crazy as a taxi would cost an arm and a leg (or maybe several kisses if you do kiss and ride) and walking would take forever. It really is best to have your own vehicle if you’re not doing a tour so that you can get to all the trails and sights that you want to.
Conclusion
After spending several hours in heavy traffic on the way back to Taoyuan airport our trip was pretty much at its end. While we were sad to be leaving, we reflected on what had been an amazing experience; culturally it had been amazing, we’d seen amazing sights, visited places stooped in ancient history, pushed ourselves to grow in certain situations, met some very nice and interesting people and broadened our minds through the travels. We wouldn’t recommend any one place we visited over another as we enjoyed all of it and think there is something to be gained from visiting all of them.
While China has its quirks with the internet blocks, credit card boycotts and for now lack of English speaking taxi drivers and frequently spitting citizens, we had an amazing time in the mainland as well as in Hong Kong, Macau and later in Taiwan and will never forget the experience. China is one of the most advanced countries in the world and we’re sure they will only improve on that with time and tourism is only going to get better there with the investment they are putting into the industry as well as English learning in their schools.
We landed back in Beijing, ready for our long haul flight back to the UK. The weather was cold again and we could feel the pollution in the air and the feeling of phlegm slowly building back up. Shri made a slow retching noise as he got the phlegm up top and spat on the floor, smiling to himself. ‘That feels better’. And it did.
As always, thanks for reading. We hope you enjoyed the journey with us through China & Taiwan and look forward to more drama, fantastic scenery, epic adventures and amazon sights (pun intended) when we head to South America in a few months time. All the best until then..
Shri & Firuza