After an early night last night we got up early to go for a walk up Yellow Mountain which is one of the most beautiful and impressive places I’ve been to.

We got to the bottom of the mountain about 9am and we got a ticket very easy, it looked busy but we walked straight into get the cable car to the first station about a third of maybe even a quarter of the way up the mountain and then we had to figure out where to go. The cable car ride was great and took about 15 mins and you immediately get a sense of what the mountain has to offer. The autumnal colours against the sheer granite cliffs with pine-trees hanging off them perfectly perpendicular.

We headed up and had our first encounter with the crowds, which is the only real downside of coming here. At times you are just stuck in a people jam and you can’t go forwards or backwards. This happened at one narrow point when we were just about to leave a rest area, the problem was being caused by two porters carrying about ten suitcases up the hill.

The finally stopped absolutely exhausted and no wonder. All over the mountain you can get your very own sedan chair ride and I think it was around 100rmb for two hours, I was nearly tempted on our way back.

We were heading for the “Fairy Bridge” which is a small bridge connecting the path over a gorge. It’s quite a walk to get there and it took us nearly three hours to return from that point and we were all very happy when we got back down to the cable car station.

Along the way we were up and down dale walking through beautiful scenery that would often disappear due to the low cloud coming up the sheer cliffs and obscuring the view. This place is magical and you can see where many of the Chinese artists got their inspiration from after visiting.

We made it back home in one piece feeling weary but satisfied with ourselves that we had climbed so much far up and down the mountain, it was a great day and you know many of the people on the mountain were old Chinese, older than us and some even had gammy legs but they still make the effort.

An early start this morning, up at 5 am for an early breakfast so that we can get to the bus station in plenty of time to get the bus to Yellow Mountain. I’m not looking forward to the bus trip due to the fact that the Chinese can’t drive for shit.

The journey would take about 4 to 5 hours and and so far as I sit on the bus it’s not an enjoyable experience. The drivers seem compelled to blast the horn at every vehicle they pass or want to pass. On the narrower roads they constantly scare the shit out of pedestrians as the walk along the road.

After two hours we pull into a petrol station for a break. Up until now I have had a free seat beside me but unfortunately some Peasants join our bus and one sits beside me and immediately falls asleep and begins to snore. I have given her a kick a few times and also an elbow or two to try and stop her but it doesn’t seem to working too well but I’ll persevere.

The second driver we have is worse than the first one and can’t keep the bus in between the lanes and so the warning system is going off all the time.

My patience is wearing thin and I hope I can make it to the terminus before killing someone.

Oh did I mention that the peasant bedside me smells.

The week started with me bumping the mole on my left side with the sharp end of the soap believe it or not and I thought it had come off but it just looked a little angry. I sent pictures to my doctor in Ipswich to ask him to have a look and he was good enough to get back to me the next day to let me know that the mole looked benign but to keep an eye on it over the coming weeks to see if it looked better or worse and if I wasn’t returning to Australia soon for him to check it then I should find someone nearby that can. It does look a little better and not so angry.

I also bought some winter clothes to replace some old looking ones that had seen better days and also because I will be going to Yellow Mountain in a few days when Catherine and Stuart arrive. It is time for an autumn adventure across China, more of that to come in the next week or so.

I bought all the train tickets and bus tickets and I even booked my train from Hong Kong back to Shanghai which will take around 9 hours. It’s almost quicker than taking the plane by the time you factor in all the waiting time and the transit time between bus, plane, train and bus to get me back home.

So tomorrow is Monday once more and so that means absolutely nothing to me because I’ll get up as usual and have breakfast and go to the park and ease into the day as one does. Tomorrow I will have to buy some HKD and a few things for the trip and of course I really should see what I’m going to take with me on my trip.

We will be starting in Yellow Mountain and then going to Hangzhou and then to Guilin and finally Yangshuo. I’m just hoping that the weather is kind to us and I don’t really have to wear my new wet weather gear.

There has been 8 different people stay at the house this week for the National holiday and six out of the eight have been fuckin arseholes in one way or another. Noise is a big thing with the Chinese and they don’t give a fuck what time of day it is, they don’t care that they are walking into a shared house and then throw the door closed so hard that it reverberates around the block. Once we have gone through the motions of that then we have to laugh and talk loudly on the way to the room. Then one of the women has to have a shower and wash her hair followed by about 20 mins of the hair dryer set to the fuckin’ turbo option.

Let’s wash our underwear in the sink, now that’s not such a bad thing but what is, is the amount of water on the floor and everywhere else for that matter……….so much in fact that I need my waders just to get to the loo. Two freshly opened laundry powder bags sit in the bathroom window sill even although we have a perfectly good laundry with everything there in waiting. Ask for fucks sake, don’t just go through the cupboards and decide to use new packets of powder. Fuckin’ thick as pig shit.

So much hair on the bathroom floor, and yes this brings back memories of me many moons ago………..surely you would make an effort to pick it up off the floor rather than let it pile up. How can folk make such a mess and think that it’s perfectly acceptable, this is is not a hotel…………it’s Airbnb which is different…………as part of the agreement to stay you must obey the rules of the house. These dumb fucks are certainly not house trained, a pig sty is more fitting for them me thinks and even then the pigs might not be too happy that we sent them there.

One couple arrived late last night and went straight to making the bathroom look like a war zone, they even used our towels instead of the ones provided to them and of course the water is everywhere once more.

Tonight loverboy turns his hand to being the chef for his darling bride, now usually this is always a messy affair when Chinese enter a kitchen and tonight was no exception surprise surprise. The newly applied cling film that was put over the the wall for such an occasion was splattered with oil and shit. The floor was covered as well, did they clean either……did they fuck. The food was cooked and they sat at the table and it was at this point I put my headphones on and cranked the volume up to “make my ears bleed” so that I didn’t have to hear them eat……….what a fucking racket. 

After dinner the girlfriend/wife does the washing up and like most Chinese they don’t seem to have heard of dishwashing liquid, no they just turn the  of tap on full bore and blow the grease and oil away and then neatly stack all the dishes back in the cupboard still wet and in a manner than all the water will just sit there until stagnant. How fucking stupid are they? there is a drying rack beside the sink, beside the basin that you put the water into to wash the dishes and so now we will have to wash most of the dishes in the cupboard. I’m staggered at just how dumb people can be, or maybe they just don’t give a flying fuck………or are my standards too high I wonder?

All over Suzhou and the surrounding district you will come across a lot of walls that have been decorated with art of one kind or another and today I came across some lovely old art covering the old buildings.

Lydia and I jumped on the number 5 limited stop bus which took us to the Water Town, I expected every man and their dog to be there but it was not as bad as I expected. The sun was shining and the wind was light and so it was a perfect day. 

This water town was good because firstly there was no cover charge which is a problem at some of them, although if you wanted to go into the museums or anywhere we would have to pay a small fee but to be honest they all begin to look the same after a while.

Lydia stopped to buy some food and opposite there was this old couple just sitting there watching the world go by and seemed oblivious to the tourists taking their picture and that included me.

The town was quite interesting but I will come back again one day when it’s a little quieter and stay a little longer, today there was just too many people but nevertheless it was a good day out followed by spicy noodles for lunch.

It’s day 2 of the national Chinese holiday and I was up bright and early to meet a friend at Lingyanshan where we were going to walk over the a few peaks to finally reach the Black Pool at the end of the walk, but half way there as I was sitting on the bus listening to the BBC she called to say that she had to cancel.

Ah well shit happens and so I didn’t mind too much because I’m sure she would have have slowed me down because she never wears the correct footwear which is what most Chinese women do and of course this is also a male problem too. I mean if you have travelled all this way to climb a large hill you would think to yourself, “I’d better put on some good walking shoes”

Today there were many Chinese snaking up the mountain tracks and to be honest it was kinda stupid coming here at this time but you know the sun was shining and I fancied a stroll. Once you pass the temple complex you will then move onto the path through the brush and the first bit heads down the hill over mainly rocky terrain coupled with really slippy loose fine gravel which makes it interesting indeed. I’ve been in the first bit a few times and so I know how to navigate it quite well. There are always water and food stops but today they had multiplied at least 5 fold. Many have shade cloth and chairs to entice the weary travellers to stop a while and eat and maybe buy a walking stick. The Chinese love this, any excuse to stop and rest. Many don’t do this kind of physical exercise well and these resting areas are essential. I keep going I’m not interested in anything they have to offer.

I reach one part of the walk and there is a traffic jam, we are slowly moving up the hill and it’s not old folk ahead, it’s in fact young folk with stupid shoes and unable to gain traction and on top of that they stop in the middle of the path to rest, they are so fucking stupid.

Further up near the top of the second ridge I meet a group of guys with remote control cars driving them down this bumpy mountain track, there must be about twenty of them young and old with a variety of model jeeps and strange looking vehicles.

The higher you go the fewer people you encounter which is great. The path looks a lot more difficult than it is I think and so maybe that puts many people off and so it was finally nice to walk for a bit with some space around me.

I came to a fork in the road and I wasn’t 100% sure of which way to go but you will never get lost in China because all you have to do is follow the trail of discarded food wrappers and empty plastic bottles that litter almost everywhere. I took the left fork and then disturbed a young girl doing the toilet just off to the side of the path, at least go into the bushes a bit.

At the end of this walk you end up at a recreation park where many people have come to enjoy the weather, eat food with their family and of course to play games on their phones. I’ll never understand why you make the effort to come all this way and then just sit glued to your phone. So many couples were sitting beside each other more interested in their phone than each other. Just stay home.

I quickly exited the park and jumped on one of the free City bikes and headed home. I was going to cycle the 26km home but decided that after 10km’s that I wanted food and that my poor body was running on empty and so I parked me bike and jumped on the metro and headed to the wee place that sells beef and potato with rice. I could have scoffed two plates but I decided to keep some room for chocolate instead.

I think I mentioned before about the way the Chinese holiday works, many people will get seven days off in a row but they don’t seem to mind having to work the weekend before the holiday starts and so in fact they have to work seven days to get seven days off and they all seem to think that this is great, mind you I suppose any holiday in China is great because they are few and far between. When you happen to mention just how many holidays many western countries get they are usually astounded. I will be having a fairly quiet week I think, in fact today I got up and went to the park and then started to watch the new series of Grand Designs which was good. I had a great lunch and then I wandered back home and then had a siesta which is the best way to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon. I decided that today was going to be a very simple day and so far it is. I spent a bit of time trying to finalise my travel plans and next visa run which just seems to come around way too quick.

The sun is setting once more and the temperature is dropping quite quickly and so the beanie will be getting clamped on to my head very soon. Today was a pleasant 28c and with the colder nights it’s becoming easier to sleep.

Tomorrow I will be heading out but not too sure where at this stage, I’m heading out with friends so I will keep you posted if I go somewhere exotic. On Tuesday I will go for a hike to one of the local mountains and I’m hoping it’s not going to be too crowded, however it is the National Holiday. They forecast sun and pleasant temperatures for the week and so gods have been kind.

Well on that note I will go and make some food, my stomach is beginning to talk to me………….

My nose was full of it this morning when I woke up and now I look like Rudolph…….yesterday they cut the grass in the complex and some of the debris has obviously made its way to the 4th floor and tampered with my nose because it ain’t happy this morn. However on the upside the weather is very pleasant and it’s even time to look once more for the winter woolies. Look through the drawers and suitcases to find my collection of beanie’s, time to grow the beard longer and wear my thermals, although it’s not quite thermal weather yet, it’s very pleasant in the sun you know, but when it goes for a sleep it feels a little brisk.

Today is also my last lesson for a week, the Chinese national holiday begins on Monday and so many places will be closed and so I am looking forward to that as long as my usual haunts are still accessible. I would hate for my local cafe to be closed, or my favourite restaurant but I’ll wait and see.

I went to the park this morning but I had no energy and so I just strolled around listening to Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here” and did a few bits and pieces, but it’s always good to go for a stroll after breakfast and ease into the day and as I said the weather is very good and so it’s most enjoyable. And listening to Pink Floyd is always a good thing.

My biggest decision of the day is to figure out where I’m going to go for lunch, which I may add is not so easy. There is a lot of choice and I’m thinking will so I go for my favourite food or try something different, it’s quite the dilemma. 

I went out to dinner last night and then we went to a whisky bar on the way home but at £7 a nip I just couldn’t afford to get drunk.

I had a wee dram of 12 year old Bowmore single malt which was very pleasant, I haven’t had one of them in quite a while.