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Published: November 8th 2007
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Hello from the town of Yangshuo beside the Li river. We have spent an idyllic few days cycling here, stopping off at Long Sheng, Guilin and Xing Ping. Long Sheng, being sited close to the iconic Longji rice terraces, was a mecca for tourists. One hotel that we checked out was fine, but overpriced, and worst of all, the entire second floor was given over to a young, predominantly male, mostly English, party of travellers. Sensitised as we were by weeks in tourist wilderness, they appeared loud, brash and arrogant in attitude. As we toured the streets, restaurant owners called out "hello" and "english menu". No doubt there were english prices to match; such is the effect of western tourism. We fled in dismay to the back streets where, just a few turns away from the main thoroughfare, China reasserted itself. While collecting our supplies from the supermarket, I was amazed to see the assistant using an abacus to reckon our bill. Having arrived at the total, she then tapped it into a calculator to show us. Well, it wouldn't have been any use just turning the abacus around, would it? There was no receipt for the sale. Perhaps someone should
invent an electronic abacus!
The following day we cycled up to Ping An village for a view down over the rice terraces. These fields have been shaped by centuries of cultivation and, though not at their most photogenic just now, are indeed impressive. Hundreds of, sometimes quite tiny, patches cascade over the steep hillsides. (I bet you'd like to see some photos! Patience, dear reader, patience.)
From Long Sheng we had a swift ride to Guilin, and on the way collected four Chinese cyclists. We chatted for a while - if gesticulating and miming can be called chatting - then zoomed into Guilin together and sharing a meal, before going our separate ways. They very thoughtfully arranged a phone call to an english-speaking daughter, in order to find out if they could help us in any way. Guilin is a modern, commercial, tourist city. We even found a good quality bike shop - which appeared to stock the very bike part that Richard has just had shipped to Hong Kong. At night the streets, lakes and river are attractively illuminated. We rather liked it. The following day we spent, without the panniers, cycling along beside the beautiful Li
River. Grapes are grown in the fields beside the road and the strangely shaped Karst hills line the valley sides. Richard took a fantastic photograph of a kingfisher, complete with fish - and a dragonfly hovering overhead to boot.
Next day, we re-traced our tyre tracks besides the River Li, then climbed out of the valley through the hills to Xing Ping. It was a fabulous ride, right amongst the hills. They seemed like so many teeth crowded around - all canines and incisors. On the way we encountered a group of 16 french cyclists and a pair of dutch tourers, and swapped tales with the latter. Xing Ping is a small tourist town where, at every turn, somebody tries to sell a bamboo raft trip along the river. But the would-be saleswomen have a light touch and there is no offence. We stayed with a family in their guest room and, on our second night there, they invited us to take some tea with them. A pile of snacks was produced; mostly innocuous - broad beans, rice cakes, corn biscuits and pop corn. However, they did encourage me to try some chicken feet. I politely took a tentative
nibble, and an ashtry was discreetly provided for me to dispose of the unwanted morsel. All I can say is that it was rather like chicken wing. With toe nails. The rest of the family chomped and chewed their way through a whole bag of the things. And, when the seven-year-old son of the family arrived and spotted them, he swooped on them with relish, like an english child and a bag of sweets. Having survived the chicken foot test, we were thoughtfully rewarded with a big slice of swiss roll each. During the evening an avalanche of gravel was delivered onto the road outside the house, in readiness for building work the next day. We were soothed to sleep that night by the rythmical crunching of gravel being shovelled, and our alarm call the next morning was a raucous yee, er, san... yee, er, san... yee, er, san... as dozens of the local menfolk shoved and heaved a huge cement mixer up a ramp outside the house. We spent a lazy day in Xing Ping, walking along beside the river, to view the fabulous scenery and then waving down a bamboo raft man to take us back to the
village.
I noted that the cutting edge Chinese news programme reported on the World Crazy Golf championship from blustery Brighton. We chuckled at the sight of the Lady Mayoress in chain of office, plus pac-a-mac and rain bonnet, presenting the award to a gentleman from Birmingham.
We have now passed the 3000 km mark in our travels across South China, and are turning our thoughts to the journey to Hong Kong. Though still more than two weeks away, we are looking forward to meeting Jacquie and Ray again and, fabulous though the chinese food has been, we are eager to sink our teeth into a nice rare steak, with fat chips.
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Andrew and Danielle
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Chickens feet
Can't wait to get home and tell the kids that the Halloween treats need to go back and we are converting to the healthy options of Chicken feet (well they are - not feeling as brave as you Di) Did Richard bottle out of trying them. Glad you are still enjoying yourselves. Do you resemble the chicken and duck yourselves yet or are you now more like Arnie? Love reading the blog. Love to you both and keep sending the texts. Love A D R and Z xxxxx