China - Gilin & Yangshou & Shenzchen

China, well china ey. Like in Hong Kong I was frequently left pointing at the menu taking out the money and praying for something dead and cooked. Ending up with frequent dishes with ell and then snake wine to top it off the most potent beverage Ive ever had. The whole place is just packed with symbols and bright colours everywhere. Its the first country ive ever traveled to without having a lonely planet, the travelers bible, in my back pocket. Oh my word when you don't have a lonely planet it just raises the bar. You just don't have a clue about anything seriously anything. It made the adventure so much more fun. arriving into a city not knowing the size of the city, the location of the bus station, the average price of accommodation, what type of things to-do and activities the list goes on. And then to really make things confusing china has gone for the symbol language which means an English speaker literally cant understand a single thing. Oh my word it was so much more fun and annoying hahaha.
But my first stop was Guilin which is 12 hours from the Chinese Hong Kong border. Im not sure what they are but the guilin region is surrounded by these small hill / peak / mountain things which just look class. They're very sharp looking hills and the whole region is surrounded by them. Which makes it one of china's most scenic places with tourists flocking there.
As i arrived over the boarder i also manged to by a bible on entry. Now i was under the impression that some Christians seem to smuggle bibles into the country and here was me wandering around at the border city of Shenzchen picking up a Chinese bible for Y22 roughly 2.5 euro. SO was looking forward to practicing my skills wiriting out some stuff. I got my Tatoo translated and i worte i tout in my journal which was eligible aswell so they told me.
So i spent my days wandering around on bamboo rafts to bicycles wandering through some small villages out and around the city. Trying my hardest to get lost in rice fields and old quarries and endless amounts of weird spiky mountains.
But China has its very cheap side as long as you stay off the main strips then you can defo survive on only $12-15 a day. But those main streets are aiming alot higher but its great to see that in defiantly doable on a cheap budget. The places is covered in street ladies selling fresh fruit all day everyday. Which made for an excellent breakfast of a big pile of green grapes, a slice or two watermelon & then an orange or two but that means ya gotta stay close enough to a toilet for a while just encase ya know or maybe that's just me?
The Old men in China have this habit of rolling up there tee-shirts up over the belly to keep there prize possession nice and fresh. This leaves big round belly's pointing in all directions as you walk the streets night & day. There Car horn's are explosive i frequently nearly put my fist through some windows. You'd be walking down and the next thing this car horn would go off and seriously loader than anything you've ever heard, you'd literally jump out of your skin. Or they love there over enthusiastic yawns. Its hilarious they well up for let out everything they've got when a yawn's tickling inside. So you'll be sitting beside some old dude on a park bench your minding you own business and next thing he starts screaming from the top of his lungs. hahah i havent yet tryed to see if i'd be accepted if i went for it myself or would they just know that its some whitey trying to fit in?
The Military organization of the country was evident from the odd staff meeting id observe through a show window or on the street. they'd all line up in formation men & women lined up focused away listening to every word now matter how hard i tryed to get there attention. nothing not even a wink.Another highlight of my trip into china was the book i was reading. Chasing the Dragon by Jackie Pullinger. Some very inspiration testimonies of what God has been doing on the streets of Hong Kong freeing drug addicts from the chains of heroin without any pain. But Jackie left England in the 70's and went to the walled city of hong Kong. But i seriously got inspired by this story and was very challenged I also got very attached to the story and didn't want the book to finish. I always had people stopping beside me staring because I was laughing out loud and i got stuck with this huge smile smack on the middle of my face which I couldn't control. Very very cool stories.
This week was also a huge for me as in so many things became clearer to where I am and what im planning on doing over the next couple of years in my life. It was such a special week which i had so much time alone and time to pray and process my trip home. Its like I was given keys into so many things. After leaving High School and going into college that was all prity standard. Then going to the Congo that opened up alot of who I had become and what I wanted in my life. In the Congo the realization that i wanted to serve God with everything I had became quite obvious. So I went back and lived in Ireland for a year then I went off New Zealand for a year. But now after returning to Ireland i feel ive left with a sense of Destiny and ownership of my life and becoming an adult. Also living in the present and not focusing on the past and other places but embracing where I am in the physical and keeping my mind where I am. Its so freeing and releasing and extremely important to me but far to long to explain on text a bit outta my league. So its very exciting..