Despite the long drive, we really enjoyed ourselves. The sleeper train that we were in had bunk beds 3 stories high. This was ok if you were on the bottom bunk, as there was enough room to sit up, but if you were at the top or middle level, there was only enough room to lie down. Being at the top it was miserable until we figured that we didn't need to go up there until we were actually sleeping. It was fun and social being squashed together on the train, and I think it helped our group to bond right from the start.
We finally arrived in Yangshuo, and were immediately struck by the beauty of the place. The town was quaint like a ski village, and the weather seemed about as cold. The mountains all around were the most bizarre we had ever seen. There were hundreds of little mountains that looked like giant rocks towering into the sky. All of them were tall and thin, and they filled the horizon. They looked very much like the islands on Halong Bay, Vietnam, but rising from the earth, not the water.
After settling into our hotel, we left the shore on a little boat to see the landscape by the Li River. The ride was beautiful but freezing cold. The roof of the boat rolled back, like a convertible and we stood watching the mountains pass by and locals on the riverbanks.
We stopped at a local village, and looked at the temple that was built by the riverside. It had an angel statue that was to protect the people on the river. They explained to us here that the dragon is made of many different animals. It has the eyes of a shrimp, the body of a snake,...
They took us to a cave where huge stalactites were hanging, and a river was running out of it. We also saw the famous 3 ponds, which are different colours. One was yellow, one was blue, and one was white. It was hard to see though because the heavy rain had stirred up the waters and obscured the colours.
Amy, one of our guides in training, translated a sign which told of the legend of the 3 ponds. The quick version is that there were mermaids in the area, and a rich man treated them badly, so a fairy told the mermaids to perform a ritual, and the rich man would be destroyed. They did, and his the earth shook and his house sunk into the ground. The ponds lie where the house once stood.
Next they showed us the village which was ancient. A lot of the houses were originals and were beautifully contructed. We looked at one house which was owned by a fairly wealthy man, and then we saw another house where the owner was still living. He and his wife were so old! He was bent over with age, but he was so sweet. He was very proud of his garden, so we had a look at all his herbs and flowers. They didn't charge us to see their house, so we bought a cute little porcelain turtle that they were selling.
The boat ride back again took twice as long because we were going against the current. Everyone entertained themselves by playing card games, and teaching each other new ones. Some people even got to drive the boat.
We met up in the evening for dinner and for happy hour! Cocktails were two for one, so they came to about $2.50 each! Everyone made the most of it!
After dinner and drinks, we went back to the river where we followed a local boat with our own boat. The local boat had cormorants - big black water birds - tied all along it's roof, and a big spotlight that was shone into the water. The birds were released, and they dove into the water to catch little fish.
We stopped on a little rock island and we got to hold the birds. Loren picked one up herself and patted it for a while. They were beautiful creatures.
We retired to an Aussie bar, where we played pool, tasted local beers and played a Chinese dice game. It was fantastic! Everyone has six dice each, and they make bets on how many ones, twos threes there are in the entire group. If someone thinks you've guessed too much, they say cheat! If they are right, you drink half a glass, if you are right they drink half a glass.
We forgot to set the alarm the next day and were woken by a phone call from reception. Artur decided to get up and join the others for the bike ride to Moon Hill, Loren caught up on some more sleep. Most of the group went along, and it was raining like a monsoon. Everyone came back absolutely soaked! 
Later we went to see a Kung Fu and Tai Chi show. It was really impressive. They did dragon dances where they held huge dragons in the air with sticks. 
At the end, they let Loren and some others try both dragon dances. The one where the dragon is on sticks, and the one where you wear the dragon head and move around like one.
The leader was once the top kick boxer in China! He lead our group in a Kung Fu lesson. It was quite physically and mentally challenging. Loren didn't find it too hard to remember the routines, but Artur struggled a bit with it. It was exciting to perform the whole routine with strong movements, like you really knew how to fight.
When we got to the cooking school, we sat down for some tea and chatted with our teacher. The kitchen that we used looked just like the ones that are used in Australia for Home Economics classes. 
We then left for a 22 hour journey to our next destination. 4 hours by bus, 18 hours by train. We were relieved to get a soft sleeper carriage this time, which has 4 beds in each instead of 6, and each section has a door to separate it from the others. But we acually enjoyed it less, because it was less social then when we were all in one big communal carriage.
Doing Time in Our Prison Cell
She led us down the elevator, along the street for a few blocks and then into another building. Here we waited in line for about 10 mins to get the elevator. We were stared at by everyone in line. We were clearly the minority. The apartment building was inhabited almost completely by Indians and Africans. 
The City by Night
Eventually we found a Japanese place that we liked. The food was great, but we were very surprised to find that most of the alcoholic drinks were cheaper than the non-alcoholic ones. We made the most of it, dreading our return to the room.
The street was full of life! Artur got approached by some girls who wanted to interview him for school, about his opinion of Hong Kong girls. We also saw some beautiful girls in bright coloured vinyl dresses and white boots handing out give-aways to the crowds around them. Artur fought with the others to get one, but it turned out to be a little pad of paper! Pretty funny!
After hearing about the trip, we went to Hong Kong island for dinner. We got instructions from a friendly local guy for somewhere to eat. We had a place in mind, but decided to go to this place. We couldn't find it in the end, so we ate at a place that served similar food. The food that we were looking for was the traditional hot pot. It was worth the effort!
After this we went in search of the local desserts. Hong Kong has some amazing food, and we were determined to find some of the traditional desserts. We eventually found a place that served Walnut Dew and Lotus Seed Soup. It was very sweet, but Loren liked it. Artur wasn't a big fan, but the Almond Dew and Lotus Seed Soup that he had was even nicer than the Walnut one.
On the way back we found some egg tarts, which taste like custard tarts. They were delicious! We also sampled a dried sausage from one of the many dried food shops along the streets. Loren hated it, but Artur likes those kind of sausages.
It was a great place, we thought it was a hotel! We had a great time drinking and chatting with Andrew. We were very lucky, he let us stay with him. It would have been tough to find a place because we arrived so late.
We explored the inner section of the Royal Palace, where there are many temples, and monuments. We really liked the temple with the Emerald Buddha. It was filled with gold and jewels, everything was so ornate and valuable. The jade buddha was relatively small for the size of the temple, but it was beautiful. 
We also loved the murals that were painted on the outer walls of the palace. They showed the mythical creatures that were supposed to have lived in the palace and the wars between them. 
There were so many tall buildings and huge pagodas covered in gold. We also saw a model of Angkor Wat from Cambodia. It was beautiful to look at, it was modelled as it would have looked before the decay of time. 
We only had an hour and half to explore, but we did well at seeing everything. It was so hot, that people were handing out cotton wool balls soaked in ammonia to stop people from fainting. It took a while before Loren figured out why everything smelt like a hospital!
There were some pretty cool soldiers that were standing guard for the whole time we were there. One cool guy in white gave the tiniest nod, when Artur asked for a picture with him. At least they move more than the guards in London. 
Bangkok was much better this time around. Our drivers were taxi drivers instead of tuk-tuk drivers, and they were honest. We were much better off staying with Andrew instead of where we were before. He told us that we stayed at the worst place, no wonder we had a hard time before! 
Surprisingly we found two monks on board. One was sitting next to us and was eager to talk. Even more surprising to us, was that he had travelled all around Australia, and had lived in London for several years. We discussed politics, life as a monk, living in Thailand etc. He was a great guy, we gave him our address and email, and let him know he could visit or stay with us in Australia if he came back. How bizarre!
The city was absolutely filled with pagodas and temples. We visited one or two, but generally just wandered to see the sights. We found the Museum of Arts and Culture, so we decided to stop in and take advantage of the airconditioning.
It was quite an impressive museum! There were multimedia options for learning about every exhibit. There were voiceovers in the language of your choice, computer programs to browse, buttons which lit up pictures and maps, videos etc. The museum was mostly about the history of Chiang Mai from the stone age up to now.
Artur quickly realized that the area we were in was where he stayed last time he was in Chiang Mai with his parents. We saw his hotel, and the huge hotel across the road that was being built while he was there. He was lucky enough to see the kickboxing last time he was there.
We bought red watermelon and yellow watermelon which was new for Loren. We also bought cactus fruit, which is bright pink on the outside with little green protrusions and is white inside with black dots that are like poppy seeds. It's quite nice actually. We bought bags of ice as the watermelon was hot from the weather and we had no fridge. So worth the effort!
We arrived at the first tree platform from the top edge of the valley. The first few ones were short, to get us used to it. You just pushed off the edge of the platform and dangled on the harness as you flew to the other side. If you needed to, you could use the bamboo stick to slow your ride.
At some points, we were lowered on a rope to lower platforms. The last time we did this, we did it face first! Like spiders with our arms and legs dangling as we were lowered to the ground.
The people in our group were really friendly. We met two girls who are living and studying in Hawaii, two guys from Bath, England and an American family of 3. We had a great time with them and we all exchanged details hoping to host each other when we are back in our respective countries.
After a delicious lunch, we headed off to see the waterfall. We hiked up to see all 7 levels of the waterfall. There were supposed to be a lot of baby anacondas around, but only one of us saw it. Loren was most disappointed. The top levels were slippery, but we wanted to see the snakes, so we persisted. They were nowhere to be found, so Loren just cooled her feet in the fresh pools of water.
Snake Farm
We loved the snake show! They showed us the fangs of posionous snake and then we had to touch it for good luck. There was a hilarious commentator who talked in a monotone voice, and had music that sounded like Indiana Jones theme music playing. Everytime he spoke, he turned down the music. It was one of the best parts!
The performers tossed snakes out of bags and the snakes would try to bite them and chase them. The guys would try to pick them up again. They got bitten a lot, maybe just on their clothes, but only by the non-poisonous snakes. At one point, a guy caught 3 snakes, catching the final one with his mouth.
We got to hold a huge python and kiss it for good luck. Some of the women were so scared. It was pretty funny later, the guys told us there was a jumping snake which could jump 46m high. Then out of the box came a long thing that flew up and into the crowd, it turned out it was a piece of rope! Some of ladies nearly had heart-attacks.
The show started with a monkey demonstrating the different steps in their training to pick coconuts. There was also monkeys riding bikes, lifting weights, playing basketball, doing push-ups. Loren also had her hands tied and the monkey undid the knots and then sat on her lap.
Holding the monkey was great, and probably the experience that most people want is to be close to an animal or even hold it. However, the rest of the show just made us sick. You could see that the monkeys were bored and unhappy, and they were constantly chained, even while performing tricks. The things they did seemed so unnatural and cruel. We didn't really enjoy the show at all.
Afterwards, we wandered around and saw the tiny cages that the monkeys were kept in. We also realised that the monkeys chained to poles were not the ones used in the show, that's just how they were left to live. We were shocked, especially seeing as monkeys are used to the freedom of the jungle not tiny cages and chains.
After dinner, we headed to the airport to fly to Bangkok. We saw almost everyone from the Gibbon trip at the airport!
