This is the life

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Well, my enjoyment and interest in China has been revived, though, strangely it’s been revived by one of the most touristy towns I’ve been to in China…Yangshuo. Some background info first: Yangshuo is about 40 kilometers south of Guilin, which is much more famous, but only because it is the gateway to the rest of the sights in Guilin county. Yangshuo is the place to be. While touristy, it is still relatively inexpensive at least this time of year. Rates for guest houses are in the US$5 range a night for a private room and western, Chinese, Indian, Mexican and a variety of other foods are easily available. The main area for tourists is West Street (see the pictures), which is a street filled with cafes, all of which have rooms for rent, shops selling local arts and crafts, clothes stores and even shops selling electronics and photo equipment (which came in handy later).

I have ended up staying here for six days and five nights, although three days is probably enough to see everything. I’ve spent three of the six days doing absolutely nothing, just relaxing, reading and eating well. However, Friday and Saturday were full.

Friday, I took a bus to Xingping, about 40 minutes from Yangshuo, to take a boat trip. The bus was only 11 RMB (8 RMB = US$1) round trip, a local bus that stopped for everybody it could hold and was packed solid most of the way. I set the boat trip up with a guide and she called ahead, so I was met by someone in Xingping, who shoved me onto the back of a 125 cc motorcycle, whose driver then whisked me up the road about 5 minutes to the boat dock. Then for 60 RMB I was put on a small, motorized boat and taken on a trip up river to Yangdi and back, which took several hours. It was cool and rainy, but it was twice the boat trip as the one I paid 300 RMB for on the Little Three Gorges. The scenery was better and the trip lasted longer. As you can see from the photos (labeled Xingping boat trip), the scenery was incredible and I took more than 100 photos.

I was on the boat with two young Chinese couples, who insisted on having their picture taken with me, so there are a few more pictures of me rolling around China. I imagine the Chinese who have their pictures taken with me label them “Me and a giant foreigner that was on ‘such and such’ tour.” There friends will ask “Who is he?” and they’ll respond, “I don’t know…I didn’t talk to him at all, just asked to have my picture taken with him.”

The couples got a motorcyclo taxi back to Xingping, but I decided to walk back, which only took 30 minutes. However, it ended up being a pricy walk, because I was caught by an older man selling his paintings. He had a card that said the same thing in 5 or 6 languages…”I am a teacher at the local middle school and I painted all of these myself.” I ended up buying two paintings for 120 RMB; ink on rice paper, backed by silk, which roll up into a scroll.

Now, I seem to meet interesting people on my travels. While other people I know meet young people from all over the world, I seem to get involved with older people and families. For instance, when I was in Thailand, I spent an evening with an American couple in their 70’s, who claimed Thailand as their second home. They were retired, but had spent their lives in Southeast and Central Asia with the Peace Corps and other groups. I really enjoyed my evening with them and thought of them as a good template for how I might lead my life.

This time, I was at dinner on Thursday and met a large group of people, all originally from the US. It was two families, with 5 kids between them, and an older couple. I was eating alone and reading, but somehow we struck up a conversation. One of the families lives in Hong Kong, where both of their children were born, while the other family lives in a small town south of Guangzhou and who had lived in China for 13 years, so their boys (3 ranging in age from 13 to 4, the youngest named Joel), were born in Hong Kong as well. The older couple were spending 9 months in China with the second family to be their home school teachers, as there was no American or International school anywhere near their town.

Well, I continually ran into these people over the weekend, having dinner with the older couple (Ed and Margaret) on Saturday and was invited to her birthday celebration on Sunday afternoon. So, I had an interesting time talking to the whole group. There is a caveat though…about half of the time spent with the older couple and a small portion spent with everyone else, was spent on their asking me my beliefs about god and Christianity. So, perhaps they were trying to bring me into the fold, but while some of you will be sad about it, others will be happy to know that I remain a heathen.

OK…back to the trip. On Saturday, I hired a guide, Ms. Li, for 100 RMB for the day, rented bicycles and followed her off around the country. It was money very well spent. While it would have been nice if it hadn’t rained off and on all day and if my camera battery wouldn’t have died towards the end and if my rear didn’t still hurt from the bike’s seat, I still have to say that it was the best experience I’ve had in China. Ms. Li (Li Yun Zhao - Mobile #: [phone]; email: [e-mail]), who grew up in a village about 40 minutes by bike from Yangshuo, has been guiding for more than 5 years and knows the area really well. She took me on farmer’s paths and roads where I didn’t see another foreigner or tourist of any kind for hours at a time. While it wasn’t cheap, she’ll take tours of 3-4 people and you can split the fee. Yes, I am advertising for her, because she was great, speaks excellent English and will take you anywhere you want to go at your own pace. The end of the trip, before a 40 minute ride back to Yangshuo, was on a bamboo raft down a local river. Unfortunately, my pictures didn’t survive from that part of the trip.

You see, the memory card in my camera has broken, so I lost probably 80 photos from the bicycle trip and I had to buy a new card today for 150 RMB (256MB). I thought I had a back up, but I can’t find it. Anyway, my budget was blown long before that. The bamboo raft trip was rather expensive 100RMB but you can split that between 2 people.

Fortunately, some of my photos were saved from the bicycle trip, so you can see some of the places I rode. Some advice from Ms Li: the best time to come is in fall, in Sept. or Oct. She says that time of year is cooler and sunny, where as this time of year is pretty wet and summer gets up to 40 degrees C (more than 100 F) and the humidity is high. If you take the train to Guilin, just leave the train station and right out front are buses to Yangshuo. It’s only about an hour further, so skip Guilin all together. If you have the time, Yangshuo is a great place to just hang out and relax. After a few days, the street sales people will begin to recognize you and know that you don’t plan to buy anything and will leave you alone, with the exception of a few, very persistent saleswomen.

Well, tomorrow I leave Yangshuo for Longsheng and an area of rice terraces and minority villages, after which I’ll spend a few days traveling the area just north of that making my way to Kaili in Guizhou province. I plan to spend a few days in that area, because there are many minority villages nearby. From Kaili, I’ll make my way to Guiyang, the provincial capital, and from there I’ll catch a train to Chengdu, which is where I’ll make my next update. I figure to be in Chengdu about the 20th of the month. So, until then, I hope everyone is doing well and don’t hesitate to email if you want to know something specific about anywhere I’ve been so far.

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Photos

Yangshuo Bike Trip 4
This is what I think about when I think about China.

Xingping River trip 81
This is the type of boat I was on for my trip from Xingping.

Yangshuo Bike Trip 3
My great guide, Ms. Li, and an example of the tracks I was riding on, pre-rain, which started about 2 minutes after this photo was taken.

Yangshuo Bike Trip 11
The famous Moon Hill.

Yangshuo Bike Trip 12
No the tree isn't on fire. The past week has heard fireworks going off all over the county. People were cleaning the graves of their ancestors and then burning fake money and incense, along with roll after roll of fireworks.

Yangshuo Bike Trip 14
One of the standard modes of transport in this province, which I really haven't seen elsewhere. They are used to carry everything from pigs and rice to people to nearby towns. They probably have a top speed of 30 mph.

Comments

[fran]

yangshou
I can't get enough of your comments docjsh. Yangshou sounds wonderful although sadly won't have time to see it. Perhaps I'll be able to make a return trip.