Fall Break Trip

So today we got back to Beijing from one of the most amazing trips. I have just spent the last week in Southern China (where it is supposed to be tropical but was definitely cold) and had a wonderful time. Once again, I got to see so many interesting things and such beautiful scenery. You will have to check out these pictures for sure, even though it was cloudy the entire time. Ok, so I will begin at the beginning and walk you through each day of this trip, and I will try not to forget anything. It is going to be a long post.
Day one started with a train ride from Beijing to Guilin. It was twenty-two hours long and we got in at two in the afternoon on Sunday, the 28th. There’s not too much to tell about the ride, other than we slept, talked or played some card games almost the entire time. After we arrived, our bus took us to the Yao Hill and we rode a cable car to the top. The view would have been a lot better if there hadn’t been clouds and fog covering the entire mountain. When we got to the top, I looked around for a while with Cait and Tania before heading back down to the halfway point. From there, I took a toboggan/slide to the bottom. It was a lot of fun, but I definitely did not go that fast. After the ride to the bottom, everyone loaded back up on the bus and we went to the hotel to check in before doing dinner on our own.
Day two, the huge group of 120 students split in two and headed their separate ways. My group went to the town of Longsheng where we took a big tour bus up the winding mountain roads to stay at the guesthouses of a village that night. However, before we had gone up the last bit of dirt roads, we found that the roads were closed to vehicles of our size as there were giant piles of gravel on one half of the road and steep cliffs going up the sides of the other. It took a while for us to figure out what we had to do, but eventually they ordered us smaller vans to drive us up the rest of the way. It was a true experience. If you can imagine those overcrowded buses/vans where they tie the crates of live chickens to the top of, that is what these looked like. And we were pretty much packed just as full, since we had to bring ALL of our luggage with us instead of just a night pack. When we got to the village, we were bombarded with small women either offering to carry our luggage for us on their backs or trying to sell us some various things. I made it up the path and then carried my suitcase up the many stairs that consisted of the village’s walkway (as it was built onto the side of a mountain) to the guesthouse we were staying in that night. I ended up rooming with Tania and Cait in a three person room and after we had gotten our things up the stairs, we headed back down for our first hike. I chose to go on the hike to the more distant village and the small school. The hike was along these rice fields built into the side of the mountains in terraced steps. Harvest had just ended, so the fields were mostly the dried stems sticking out of the ground. The hike wasn’t too intense, but you definitely had to watch where you were going because the footing was uneven. This meant that I had to stop myself several times so I could observe my location. The scene might have been a little more intense had it not been so cloudy. When we got to the smaller village, we hung out with the school children and I got some cute shots, but then we had to head back because there was only so much daylight left. We had dinner on our own that night and then a bonfire with the village children (we ended up teaching them the song “Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes”) and then Cait, Tania and I went back to the room where we fought off two huge cockroaches climbing on our wall and froze in the unheated rooms with windows that did not close all the way. It was a good time over all.
The next morning we woke up and had breakfast: fried eggs, some kind of soup that I didn’t touch, and a few other dishes. It was good as far as Chinese breakfasts go. Then we headed out for a second hike, although I didn’t go because I wanted to get some postcards written and do a little more shopping before we had to leave. I also wanted to keep Tania company as she was not feeling well at all. When all of the groups got back, we packed up and headed down the mountain the same way we had gotten up… scrunched up in the tiny buses on the dirt/gravel roads. We made it to the bottom, switched onto our bigger and more luxurious tour buses and headed to the hot springs resort. I was so excited to relax some more. We got in late in the afternoon and after bringing all our stuff to our rooms, we put on our swimsuits and robes and headed down to the hot springs to soak up the heat before dinner. It was amazing. The water was hot and clear, we were completely surrounded by mountains, and it was so relaxing. After dinner, I went and got a Chinese oil massage for an hour before heading back to the hot springs. By the end of the day I was completely wiped out, and fell asleep instantly.
Day four I woke up completely refreshed and ready to go. The group boarded the bus and rode for over four hours to Yangshuo where we would meet up with the other group for a Halloween reunion dinner. Needless to say, the long bus ride completely undid any of the good that had come out of the massage. When we got to Yangshuo, we headed out on a boat to watch how the local fishermen had trained cormorant birds how to fish for them. The basic premise is that the birds have a string tied around their throats so that when they catch a fish, they cannot swallow it. The man then pulls the fish out of the bird’s mouth and lets the bird go out and get another one. I guess it’s sort of like training dogs. In our case, they were just showing us the technique by throwing out the same fish for the birds to catch over and over again. It was still pretty cool and we got to see the view of the mountains that is on the 20 RMB bill. Once again, it was too cloudy to take in the entire scene, but I was still amazed at the beauty. That night we met up with the other group and had a big banquet style dinner. My table found out that if you didn’t want one of your bottles of soda, you could trade it in for two bottles of beer. The guys thought it was a good exchange rate. Later that night, we got dressed up for Halloween and hit the streets in our costumes. I was with a bunch of guys who dressed up as girls and the Chinese people thought it was probably the funniest thing ever. There were many stares and pointing fingers and random people wanting their pictures taken with us. We hit a bar for a little while but left sort of early so we could get up the next morning for one of our activities.
Day five for me, meant I spent the morning at our tour guide’s home with her husband teaching us how to cook some basic Chinese dishes. I made Kung Pao Chicken, fried rice, Chao Mien, and Jaozi (or Chinese dumplings). All of this happened on their back balcony that had one of the most amazing views of the mountains and fields of pools where fish were raised. Richard, the man who taught us to cook, was absolutely hilarious and pronounced some of the words funny, for example noodles were “nooders.” After we had made a feast, and eaten everything, we headed out to enjoy some peaceful rafting down the river. It was cold and rainy that day so only five of us and Richard ended up going. It was a lot of fun though, and the hike back to the buses had some even more beautiful scenery than we saw on the river. That night, Cait, Tania and I hit the town and did some good shopping. There was a lot of stuff for sale, but you had to be good about bargaining.
The next morning, I along with two other students, Alex (a staff member) and a tour guide headed out to do some more hiking and then kayaking. There were three options for activities on days five and six and you got to choose two. A lot of people just didn’t show up that second morning for mine. The hiking ended up not really happening as we only walked along the side of less and less busy roads, but the kayaking was great. It was a really smooth and slow flowing river so we were able to relax or race around to our hearts content. Alex and I chased some of the many ducks on the river and Alex (it was his first time kayaking) announced that this was the first time he was ever faster than a duck in the water. We had lunch on a small dock restaurant literally in the middle of nowhere and then took a steam boat type thing back to the village where the bus was waiting for us. That night I did some more shopping, got a Chinese medicine foot soak and massage, and tried snails for the first time (they are a local specialty). They were actually quite good, but I’m not sure if I was tasting the snails or the pork meat that was stuffed in them as well. It was our last night of the trip, so we headed back after enjoying some apple crumble that was to die for, and went to bed.
Day seven meant that we got up early in the morning, loaded the buses and drove to the airport. We barely made it in time to walk through security, run to the bathroom, and then get in line to board the plane. And that was the end of our trip. I got back to Beijing and crashed so I would have some energy to study for my Chinese medicine midterm on Tuesday.
I don’t have all the pictures yet because some are on other people’s cameras, but they will be up soon. Enjoy!

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