China part 2

---

The river cruise wrapped up and we took a ride on a small sort of shuttle on the back of a motor bike through some rural country side to the bus station. It was interesting to see how people live away from the big cities, and the piles of bricks and run down shacks dotting the road we took really gave me a good idea of the real China. We were shuffled onto a bus and taken to Youngshu, a city similar to Guilin but with the mountains more intimately nestled around the the streets and buildings. We didn't have much time in Youngshu, so we found a hole in the wall for a meal (it was the quickest place we could find that had pictures of the food, ha). It was one of the best meals I had in China, one of the best meals I have ever had. The food in China is very oily, but the oily meat was on a nest of flattened chewy noodles, and with a dash of some spicy chili oil (my father would have killed for this oil) I was in near ecstasy. A calming river ride with some of the most spectacular views capped off by an excellent (dirt cheap) meal made the day one for the ages. After our meal we got a bus back to Guilin and a taxi ride to the airport where we hopped on a plane and headed for Beijing, a Wall, and a new year...

---