Hello Again

My apologies if this post will seem a bit scattered. We have alot of catching up to do, I have limited free wifi minutes at this hostel and I just arrived in South Africa following about 20hrs of flying/airport time.

Where to begin. The reason I haven't been posting is because I haven't been allowed. China isn't exactly keen on free speech, so all access to Facebook and my blog was completely restricted. Vietnam was a bit more lax on allowing me to blog, but their communist regime also blocked Facebook.  But I am free to speak my mind again, so who knows what crazy things will flow off the fingertips. I might even tell you that I got married. Which would be utter nonsense, except for the fact that I actually did get married...kind of. And I gotta tell ya...not all it's cracked up to be.

So I last left you before my trip to Halong Bay. It is recognized as one of the new 7 wonders of the world and is one of those UNESCO world heritage sites. Not quite sure what the standards are for becoming one of these world heritage sites, but the Chesapeake Bay should put themselves up for nomination. That is to say, in spite of the fact that there are hundreds of these massive limestone rock formations rising up out of the bay, there was garbage floating around everywhere. Combined with the fact that it was hazy the whole time, and the whole experience was lesser than I was anticipating. I also got ripped off by my tour company in that I paid about $30 extra for what I thought was going to be better lodging than everyone else on the tour, but essentially I lived just as they did and then got charged an additional single supplement fee. So all told, $40 more than everyone else for the same experience. We were fed like kings, which helped. I think the French were a bit appalled by how much and how fast this American ate, but whatever. Stop your incessant rambling at dinner and you could eat a bit more as well. Spent the trip with 3 Brits which provided nice company, and overall, if you look past the garbage, it was still a worthwhile adventure.

Got back to Hanoi and then took an overnight train into Guilin, China. For the record, I really liked China, but for that whole free speech limitation issue. Sun everyday didn't hurt either. I stopped in Guilin because of convenience and because of these terraced rice fields. At the Longji Rice Fields, there is this village with women that have the longest black hair you have ever seen. Some lengths of hair are over 6' long. Anyway, they put on this little show where they flaunt their black hair, and then they marry off some of the villagers that are still single. Well, they wanted a westerner to go up there, so I, along with 3 Chinese guys went up on stage to get married. They ask you to go over and pick the girl you would like to marry, and the one I chose actually refused me. Just like real life. She passed me off to her friend and then they take you backstage where you are forced to buy a bracelet for a wedding gift for your bride to be . You could pay anywhere from $5-8. What a scam. I got this bag as a wedding gift in return, but I would have rather saved that money for some other fun activity besides getting hitched to the old ball and chain. I also had to sing a song to profess my love to her. Didn't know what to sing, so of course I sang, Happy Birthday. I am so romantic. Luckily I got an annulment, and I am back on the market again ladies. Being a divorcee might have hurt my street cred.

Spent another 2 days in the town before taking a 29hr train ride to Beijing. I thought I was going to have a sleeper bed for the trip, but there was a communication lapse between me and the train ticket agent, and I ended up with just a seat on a bench next to another Chinese dude. Not exactly luxury confines for such a lengthy train ride. Pretty tough to sleep. I was also the only white dude in my car, which as the trip progressed, was kind of a good thing, because I was like a circus side show act. These 2 guys kept buying me beer and rice wine, so we drank the trip away drinking beers and taking rice wine shots out of water bottle caps. I think they were surprised I could drink with them. We kept chasing down the drinks with peanuts and hard boiled eggs.

Got to Beijing and then had to wait about 1 hour at the train station before finally getting a cab to the hostel. Of course the cab driver didn't know how to get me to the hostel and I forgot to write down the phone# to the place, so we were driving aimlessly around Beijing at like 1am. I kept trying to find free wifi at restaurants and hotels without luck. Finally got the idea to call my dad at home and he got the number for me. But then I argued with cab driver about the fare because he wanted to charge me for the time spent wandering aimlessly in his cab. Not my fault he couldn't find the address. I paid him less than what he wanted but not by as much less as I would have preferred since my cash supply was low. Couldn't find a bank in China to do a cash advance on my credit card and since I have been without ATM card for about 1 month, I actually had to borrow money from another American while in Guilin, just to finance the rest of trip in Beijing.

Anyway, loved Beijing. My first official day of Spring was April 24th. Don't know when it was for everybody else, but it was the first cool day I had experienced in 6 weeks. Bright blue skies and fresh air in Beijing. Never thought I would utter those words.  Visited the big sites and absolutely loved the Great Wall of China. One of the coolest things I have ever seen. I must have walked about 4 miles on the wall, and it was strenuous. So strenuous that my knees physically ached by days end and it limited my sightseeing the following day. But that wall is a photographers dream.

Am in South Africa and am going diving with Great White Sharks tomorrow. Going down in one of the shark cages and just watching the sharks come at me. I will upload pics and share some other thoughts in the next few days.