Smoked Bean Curd

AKA Chinese Cheese. 

This morning, we braced ourselves for a tourist extravaganza but were pleasantly surprised with the setup. Yes, a huge number of boats to match the same quantity of tourists, but, smaller and spaced out on the river so you barely saw another one. So, the Li river has been a delight. Along with the rice terraces, it's the inspiration for many of the Chinese ink drawings with towering limestone pinnacles on either side of the river and rushing waterfalls. 

Kites, an eagle maybe, egrets and a kingfisher were lovely to see. We've also chatted to an Australian couple who had tagged on a holiday to a business trip. We heard an interesting perspective on the 30 storey accommodation blocks that are going up in such vast numbers. Apparently, many are empty so it can be quite intimidating to go back to on a night and the infrastructure isn't as good as you might think either.  I'm wondering what will happen when the buildings begin to fill and the cracks start to appear. There must be millions of flats that have gone up in the last 30 years. Will they all begin to go wrong at the same time? 

The other interesting story was from our guide who was talking about life in communist China pre revolution where everyone (well, almost) really did have the same. If your family chickens had chicks, you gave those to the head of the village or town to share out amongst you. If you hid something like that and were found out (neighbours were quick to shout), you would wear a hat and arm band of shame and were paraded around the village. Nobody cooked for themselves. Whoever you were employed by cooked the meals, ensuring everyone had the same. I imagine these as dark and grey times. And that's recent history too. Now that kind of communism appeals little!

Earlier in the holiday, we heard that China positions itself as a market, not a factory anymore. Apparently, much of the Made in China labels are actually made in places like India and Pakistan. What we don't know is whether that's truth or propaganda. But an interesting one really either way.

I shall glaze over the top cheese activities that we did this afternoon. A huge lit up limestone cave spoilt by people and an inescapable, desperate length of weaving tat shops. (Caving in Yorkshire was eminently more appealing and I'm no caver!)

A vaguely more enjoyable night show of city life and 'culture' (hmmm... Not really sure that word is appropriate) from a boat on the moat. 

Our guide took us to a wonderful local noodle bar for lunch where we had delicious stir fried noodles, egg & veg. Simple. Delicious. And less than £2 per plate.

With the start of our journey home beginning tomorrow, we've been reflecting on the trip and wondering where it might lead next. It's an interesting one. 

Vietnam absolutely inspired us to visit another communist country but if we'd visited China first, I don't think the same kind of inspiration would have been there. Don't imagine from that that we've not thoroughly enjoyed the trip. We've learnt, experienced, felt awe, been shocked, laughed til we cried and wholeheartedly enjoyed meeting the local guides and discovering snippets of their real lives.  We have enjoyed the unexpected which has opened our eyes just like Vietnam, but in a surprisingly different way.