Hey Hey N G'Day to you all,

Hope alls well with you in your happy parts of the world.

Alls well here in the south of China. I just returned home from a fantastic weekend away. I was going to head out for a short ride but the heavens are threatening to offer more than just a light sprinkle on our rice fields this night. When I got off the bus the skies looked pretty happy. After getting changed and carrying my bike down stairs they skies pretty much told me to forget it and retreat to my computer.

Hey, I had hours long 'blind massage' this afternoon. Do you really think I'm going to argue!

Anyhow, like I said, I had a great weekend catching up with friends in Baise. Being Monsoon season makes it pretty difficult to plan anything at the moment. I thought of heading to Lingyun for the weekend but it rained all Friday so I headed to Judy's place in Tiandong. We headed out for dinner and after a walk and talk we headed home to watch DVD's.

Awesome movie too. 'Sin City'. Yes it's been around for a time but I've never taken the time to watch it. It was worth the time indeed! Of course it rained all night.

By the time we headed outside Saturday morning the ground was its usual dry self. The water having been moved from the ground and placed into the air around us, oh don't you just love the humidity after a nights down pour. We grabbed a bus and headed to Baise for the evening to catch up with friends and of course to watch some of the World Cup.

We arrived around mid afternoon and spent a few hours walking around the town. I purchased more DVD's that I really didn't need but for some reason just had to buy. On the way to dinner we passed a new building site. This building is going to be huge and the fence around the site has been promising The Golden Arches of Mc Donald's to take up some floor space. On this passing a huge Kentucky Fried Chicken poster stared us in the face and now promises the same thing. Across the road in another huge new building the Chinese version of KFC has opened also. It's called 'Dicos' and in my opinion is much better than KFC. It not only serves chicken but some rice, soup and other assorted Chinese yummies. Give it two years and the three of them will be in a huge love triangle.

Oh (sniff sniff). Baise is growing up, it's not a baby anymore.

Baise is only at the beginning of its opening up. I believe it won't take long at all. Being the ONLY large city on the long haul from Nanning in Guangxi to Kunming in Yunnan, along with the fact that Baise is in one of the most beautiful areas to offer a huge selection of fun and awesome things to do for both foreign and Chinese tourists, I do believe Baise has great potential to one day be a major stop over point.

MMMmmm, maybe I should marry and open a Hostel in Lingyun very soon!

Back to dinner. Around 6 we headed to our favourite place on Shopping Street. Here we met up with Policeman and Policewomen Brad and girlfriend along with Chinese Kitty. It was so good to see Kitty again. We had not caught up since before Christmas and now it's June. Man time flies! She was just as beautiful as I remember. Here we spent a few hours eating, talking, drinking beer and catching up on what has been happening in everyone's lives since we last saw Kitty.

After paying a small bill for big food we headed to a bar that a friend owns. Brad introduced me to this guy several months ago. He also owns a camping shop. He has trekked all areas of China but his photos from around the Baise area are just stunning. Rock climbing and caving around Lingyun and Loyer, white water rafting at Jingxi and Detian and cycling and trekking around the same and many other areas. It's just as, if not more beautiful than the Guilin area but still remains pretty much untouched. I'm so glad I have been to and shall return to many of these areas now.

Anyhow, Camping Shop guy thought it was a great idea to open a small bar for him and his friends to catch up in after work and on weekends (someone has money!). If any others wished to join them they were welcome. It worked and many nights the bar is jam packed. Thankfully I wasn't there on Friday night when it was over flowing. Oh yeah, I must say, when I say bar, don't think of a normal sized bar like in England, Australia or America. This is just a tiny little thing. I didn't take my good camera so you will just have to take my word on it....it is very small! But hey, it's big enough to have fun. This night people came and went. Canadian Sara, Chinese Kitty and Aussie Judy were three of them. Too tired to party so they left for home. I stayed on until 2am when after a 0 - 0 end Brad and I headed out the door wondering why we bothered staying at all.

I'm not a soccer fan at all but it is a fun game to watch if you're in the right environment. Unluckily for me this bar is much too small to allow for much more than a few people banging their glasses on the tables yelling out things in Chinese that I can't understand to the television. For all I know they could be yelling to the guy in the kitchen ordering Noodle take away!

Hey, when I think about it, it's just like being at home with my friends. After a time they begin yelling out obscene things I can't understand to players I have no idea existed until that very moment. For all I know they too could be ordering noodles. When they get together they slip into their own little football universe. I collect my 'Visitor Card' at the door before entering and spend my time trying to understand what the hell they are all talking about. It's really just like watching soccer here in China.

Is Football/Soccer the same all over the world for someone like me? When I step into a room full of fans do I actually step into the same room or universe no matter where I am in the world? It all sounds the same to me even in an English speaking country.

Today (being Sunday) we met up with Canadian Sarah and headed out for a huge lunch. Wow, such awesome food. She took us to her friends little eating place. We sat there chatting for a few hours over fish, sweet n sour pork, liver and green beans, fried rice and freshly wokked up corn and peppers. MMM, this meal was better than normal, it was extra good....once again, you will have to take my word on it.

After lunch we walked back into the heart of town where we said good bye to Judy. Sarah then took me to the 'Blind Massage' centre where I had an awesome one hour long massage for five Aussie dollars! I had no idea this place existed. Maybe one day the sign will be in English and their prices will be tripled just as they have been in Yangshuo, Dali and Lijiang etc.

Once again, I'm glad I am here now.

I was also lucky enough to say the same thing six years ago before Yangshuo become the KFC neon sign it is today. It will always be beautiful but neon signs seem to take away 90% of the character that attracted the neon signs in the first place. It's a vicious circle my friends.

Around five or so sleepily I grabbed a roadside bus and slept all the way home.
I got home about an hour ago and thought I'd say G'Day before I head across for an early dinner.

Beers N Noodles to ya....shane