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Published: April 23rd 2008
Yangshuo The river boats carrying tourists on the famous Li River Cruise from Guillin to Yangshuo pass just beneath our deck every morning between 10:30 and noon. A cacophony of boat horns, of varying pitch and volume, announce their arrival at the Yangshou dock, just a mile downriver from us. I am reminded of sitting near the Ballard Bridge one Sunday afternoon when the large lock emptied out its capacity of sailboats and motorboats heading back to Lake Union or Lake Washington after a weekend in the salt. Somewhat controlled chaos, and lots of near misses. It is a sight to see from up on the hill above the fray.
We are staying in a wonderful inn the said mile out of downtown Yangshuo, on the hill above the Li River, with a great views of the river and that interesting geographic feature called karst mountains. It is rainy and cloudy here in April, and the mountains are quite lush and green. Hope the pictures can do it all justice.
We’ve hired a local quide and driver the last 2 days to take us around to the various sights. Very personalized service for about $35 per day. Our guide,
Lilly, speaks great English, and grew up on a rice farm an hour from here, so is quite knowledgeable about the land and the town. The driver, Mr. Teng, drives a very nice car, yet still weaves in and about among the busses, trucks, bikes, motorbikes and pedestrians like the experienced driver he is. I just try not to watch whenever he pulls out into the oncoming lane. We are still alive, so all is well.
This is rice country. Every possible piece of land is planted in something…mostly rice, but also orange trees, peanuts (which are harvested only for the oil), and vegetables. I have learned a lot about rice farming from Lilly, whose parents still farm their patch of ground by themselves now, in their ”late years.” Lilly’s father, who is only 60, is quite debilitated from arthritis and other ailments caused from walking around bent over in the rice fields all his life. New farming methods are making it a bit easier to plant the rice, says Lilly, and require less strenuous positions, but the old folks still keep the old ways. Walking around in mud up to your shins while bent over at the waist
is clearly hard on the body!
We road a bamboo raft down the Yulong River yesterday, and climbed up Moon Hill today for a view of the river and mountains. Took a walking tour of a small village, and ate at the local restaurant. The village inhabitants are used to strangers walking through their very small town, and peering at their homes and land, I guess, but it still feels a little odd to me. Lilly kept encouraging me to take pictures the people as they went about their lives, but I just couldn’t do it. Too invasive for my tastes.
Well, we have enjoyed Yangshou and the rest of China very much. And we are also getting homesick for our friends, home, piano (jim), quartet (pat), peanut butter, English, and any food that is not fried or flavored with soy. So, we decided to come home a few days early. We have snagged a flight home on Friday, instead of next Monday, and we are really excited to be going home. We’ll have been gone a bit over 3 weeks, and that is just enough for us. See you all soon, I hope.
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Maggie
non-member comment
Wow.
Thank you so much, both of you, for sharing all this. As noted before, the writing is absolutely excellent, and the time and effort must have been considerable. I feel I have gotten my own vicarious trip to China... Hugs, have a good trip home!