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Published: January 27th 2007
Ahhhhhh
Sun, raft, river, beer... It's a vacation!Hi Everyone,
Today I rented a bike for 10 Yuan a day (~$1.40) and headed out of town into the nearby rice fields, farms and villages. I took a route that was along a river, the Yulong.
The raod was mostly dirt, and rocks, but easy enough to drive. Kind of like a 4-wheeler trail in AK. bikes, hand carts, cows, motorcycles, scooters, tractors, all use the road. Well, I rode for maybe an hour or so, when I was stopped at an intersection, and 2 guys started talking to me about floating down the river on a bamboo raft. Well, after yesterday's experience on the tour boat, I was more into being alone and biking, but after talking to these guys for a while, somehow it seemed like a good idea. So one of them went with me to the river, where there were several rafts, and he loaded up my bike, and away we went. It was great! The river was calm, fairly quiet, and the sun was out, so it was nice and warm! I ended up in shorts and a t-shirt, after starting off all layered up because it was cold in the morning. The raft ride
Tractor truck?
These are all over in varying degrees of disrepair lasted about 2 hours. Every 10 minuites or so, we would pass by vendor rafts selling beer, water, fruit, fish, etc. So I got a beer, and later some fish on a stick, and enjoyed soaking up the sun and relaxing, and taking in the great scenery. After a while I offered to take the pole and do some pushing, which was a little tricky but I started to get the hang of it. There were a few wiers that the villagers made for crossing, that were a bit of a splash going over, but other than that it was very calm. The raft driver spoke no English, except "Hallo" which everyone says when they see me. So we managed to communicate using gestures, and my limited Chinese. So after that, I got back on the bike and finished the ride which was a loop back to Yangshuo. I returned to the house, and went for a walk around the neighborhood before dinner. I met several people- some concrete block workers building some sort of structure, a neighbor who is studying English that invited me to sit with her and her family for a while to chat. Then I found
About to plunge
The raft went over several of these a hill to hike up, so I did a little climbing and had a nice view. Walking back I had to go through a place where they were chiping stone to get it to a certain shape or something, so one of the guys invited me to try. It was hard to chip the stone, and these guys were doing it all day.
Then I helped a woman carry some water to her house using a pole across my shoulders, with two buckets hanging. I then chatted with them for a bit, the family was working on mixing up some cement to fix or expand their porch. They offered me fruit and a cigarette. I accepted the former. Then I headed back fior dinner, which was tasty and filling, nothing fancy- stir fry veggies, with beef. After dinner I headed to town to see what that was all about. They have a street called "West Street" that is chock full of stores and vendor carts selling everything you can imagine in the gift department. Sophie and Hailey, you would love it here! I was pretty overwhelmed and didn't buy anything, but maybe I'll go back before I leave this town,
My guide
On the raft. He was very nice, pointed out stuff to me to the best that our communication skills allowed. oops, i think I squished this pic... and get a few things... Lots of foreigners walking around on this street.
There is such an assortment of vehicles here, it is pretty funny. There are motorcycles, many of which are parked , waiting for someone to hire them for a ride. There are scooters, both gas and electric, bicycles, both 2 and 3 wheels, the 3 wheels usually have a cart on back. There are weird tractor/trucks with the engine exposed on the front (see pic). There are produce trucks, busses, mini busses, some king of open seating oversized golf carts, and other weird vehicles. Pollution is not horrible, much better than Guangzhou and Guilin, but still a bit fumy. Out of town it is good- and it was sunny, did I mention that? Anyway, that was my day, and now I will hit the sack for more fun in the (hopefully) sun tomorrow.
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Bob & Miranda
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Go Loopster!
so, this was really an involved plot at a VACATION! and a tax write-off? I'm telling George. But he's busy with that silly war. Jazzline dancing this eve, following by smoke free stas soiree. big low spun off gulf this week with ton o snow, then yuk (chinese term) rain. and make sure you find the factory that made spinner's dog collar. have fun!