More of Yangshuo-Mud Cave & Cooking Lesson

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When our alarm sounded at 8am we looked outside to rain and cloudy skies, not a good sign since we are to go on a bike ride for 5 hours today. We got ready and went out to get a good breakfast before we were to meet our guide, Ying at 9am.

As we walked out of the hostel at 8:30 she was already waiting for us and said if we wanted to reschedule for Sunday that was fine due to the rain. The only problem for us was that it is to be rainy and cloudy our 3.5 days in Yangshuo.

We got some breakfast and then it was still raining and even harder. Ying basically said it would be very muddy and not a good day for the bike ride. We didn't know what to do since all our friends told us to do the bike ride around the countryside. Ying suggested we do the mud cave and hot pools inside the cave as we would avoid the rain. Our hostel said it would be 100 kuai and Ying said 120 so we got her to 100 since that is what our hostel was charging.

We took a van to the Mud/Water cave then paid for our tickets. The posted price does say 120 kuai so we did save 20 kuai each. The water was a ten minute drive away so we had to wait for the company van to pick us up. We hopped in the TINY van and then the driver waited for 6 more girls to hop in. We all thought in our heads how is this going to work but it did. We found out the girls only paid 60 kuai each and then we were really bummed and felt ripped off.

Another crazy ride in our lives in China as we went down this gravel road that was very bumpy and muddy due to the rain. We came upon another van that was stuck in the mud. There was a Chinese man outside of it laughing and smoking a cigarette deciding how to get it out.

Once we got the the cave we had to crawl in a small wooden boat and be paddled into the cave entrance. The Mud Cave was nothing as we expected as most things in China are that way. We came upon the Mud cave and it was a much smaller area than expected and the mud was very watery and cold. I was not so fond of it but we got a photo for 10 kuai of Pete and I covered in mud. I scooped it up and rubbed it on myself as Pete laid in the mud/water like a boy would.

We showered off and then moved on to the next part, hot pools. We stayed in the hot pools for the max 30 minutes and then headed back out of the cave with the 6 other girls in our group.

If you visit there are places inside to take your camera with you and we didn't know this and left ours in the locker at the entrance.

We arrived back in town around 2pm and grabbed a quick snack as we signed up for a cooking lesson at 3:30pm thinking it would be awhile until we actually got to eat what we cooked.

The Yangshuo cooking school experience was awesome. Kelly was our teacher and she took us to the farmers market first to show us what to buy(beware some disturbing pictures in the meat department) Once we finished at the market she took us to the school that was located right along the Li River.

We got to make 5 dishes: egg wrapped dumplings, steamed chicken with mushrooms, egglant Yangshuo style, green vegetables with garlic and stir fried pork with vegetables and oyster sauce. Kelly demonstrated each dish and then let us prepare them each at our own cooking stations. We ate all of them along with 8 others, 2 of them being 7 and 13 year old girls adopted by a lesbian couple from England. The little girls were so entertaining all night long.

If you ever go to Yangshuo take the cooking class as it was a great 150 kuai per person spent on 4 hours of cooking/eating. Great Experience!!!


EVERYTHING you must bargain for in Yangshuo otherwise you are getting ripped off. Example, I need to get another pair of sunglasses since Pete accidently broke mine on the boat ride. I found a pair that I liked and we asked the girl how much. She started off at 170kuai=$24.90, crazy girl we told you we live in Shenzhen so we walked away. Then she asked what would we like to pay 30 kuai was our answer. No 80 kuai she replied, 30 kuai is all we are paying, then she dropped down to 50 kuai and again we said 30 kuai. OK OK you can have them for 30 kuai. Some tourist would have just gotten ripped off by 140 kuai if they wouldn't have bargained. Same girl the next day I bought a nice North Face 3 in 1 jacket for 150 kuai=$21.99 after bargaining her down from 250 was her best price she we bought from her the day before.

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Photos

Moon Hill
famous place to visit but we just saw it passing by

More
Pete said there were live ones in the cage behind the woman, I didn't get a close up as across the market was enough for my eyes.

egg dumplings with pork
Hen Hao(very good)

Comments

[Mom]

cooking lesson
Looks like another fun day in china! The cooking lesson sounds neat! The mud bath??? I can't believe the dog hanging in public!!! North Face coat for almost 22.00 ! HAPPY EASTER...I am saving your candy until you get home in July!!!! I am sure it will be fine!!!!

[Staci and Martin]

AHHHH, I did NOT realize you had a picture of a dog on here, I specifically avoided this section when we were here...I went back and noticed your tiny warning of the pics :P I'm glad you guys are having fun in spite of all the rain...the cooking class was one of the best things we did there also!