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Yanhshou
Phil ran up the hill JUST to take this photo! In the last few days/weeks we've slowly managed to snake our way across China using bikes, boats, buses (both public and private), planes and trains!! Here are some of our highlights!
Kunming
After a day to resting and recuperating in Kunming (Cat literally slept for four hours through the middle of the day) we headed off to our first Chinese 'show'. Dynamic Yunnan as the show was called had been highly recommended by Langer (our tour leader, not the former test cricketer) and after declining the first few on offer we thought it was time to experience one. Things were looking up (at least from Phil's perspective) when the exceedingly large advertising poster consisted of a very slinky female silohette (??) in front of a full moon. Cat's reaction was more along the lines of, "what is Catwoman doing in China!?!" However it turned out to be a truly magnificent experience. From the non stop powerful drumming, to the tiny little girl singing her heart out, to the 'catwomen' with her amazing moon dance (she used her arms to create amazing shadow puppets all while dancing!!)... Well we came out mesmerised! Phil even succommed to buying a CD of
Moon Hill
We made it!! 800 steps up! the music! It did make our stop in Kunming worthwhile though!
Guilin/Yangshou
So with great sadness we said goodbye to Yunnan Province (and ate some KFC at the airport to drown our sorrows...oops) and headed on to the next adventure. Airports in China are much the same as elsewhere, clean and relatively impersonal. Cat was very disapointed to find there wasn't a SINGLE book, magazine or any form of written Engish anywhere though. The plane ride to Guilin was relatively short and painless, as we came closer to our destination however we noticed a distinct change in the landscape - more and more small hills appeared below us. This led to the feeling that we had returned to Vietnam. The bus ride to Yangshou only made this feeling grow- the landscape we were driving through was Halong Bay without the seawater. Cat began refering to money as Dong again in her confusion!!
Yangshou was located on the Li River which our guide books says is the number two thing to do in China. Needless to say all we wanted to do was see the Li River. However patience is a virtue and as we were meeting our three
The Ladies
The ladies that escorted us up the hill - and sold us a drink at the top! Thanks for the fanning! new group members in the morning, we had to wait 12 hours! Langer took us to a crazy little restaurant with Chairman Mao dresses as Santa Clause out the front and pictures of all the famous Communist leaders displayed inside. Cat didn't care as for the first time in China LEMON CHICKEN was on the menu. Phil didn't care because there was a pool table!!
It was a very touristy town - for both Chinese and foreigners - meaning people wanted to sell you things, and there was lots of options for things to do!! Over the next few days we sailed down the Li River on bamboo rafts (slightly different to our experience in Thailand with Chris and Fay - these rafts had chairs, shade covers and actually we made out of PVC piping!!) which was absolutely beautiful. It did look fairly similar to Halong Bay and I was having visions of being back with the Mottley Crew on our rotted out raft! Phil decided to take a dip in the water, while Cat attempted to balance two comerants on her shoulders! We took another bike ride, this time to Moon Mountain (800 steps up, 800 down.) whilst
Making Dumplings
And the lady said Cat couldn't cook - Look at the concentration!! accompanied by the local farmer’s wives who have shifts set up to walk up the hill once a week to sell a drink to the tourists, which earns them more than what they earn on the farm. They fan you all the way to help with the tropical heat, and carry a large Esky/coolbox with a variety of drinks. We both bought drinks for a lot more than they were worth, ungrudgingly.
When Cat says we cycled there, that’s not entirely the truth. We have an older lady on our trip who was told by her travel agent that the tour was no more energetic than a stroll in the botanical gardens, and wasn’t sure she could go the couple of hours of cycling required. I volunteered to take her there on a scooter, which generated no end of entertainment to the locals as we drove past. Not entirely sure my passenger was feeling 100% safe the whole way…
We also did another cooking course, keen to try some authentic techniques. We were bitterly disappointed, the sweet and sour sauce was composed mostly of vinegar and ketchup. It did have its moments though, including cat being told she obviously doesn’t
Chef Phil
Need I say more! cook much, and the market trip with the dog meat section, complete with live dogs in their cages behind the counter awaiting their fate.
The next morning a group of us went to find a famous Chinese TaiChi master to teach us a few moves. He spent an hour teaching us a routine, I don’t think we impressed him too much, but in fairness his English consisted of muttering vague syllables together and nodding a lot, so most of the time we just mimicked his moves, including the nodding…
At the end he gave us a little show to get our money’s worth (all of $6.50 for an hour).
Suppose we should mention going to the massive Bhudda in Leshan, but to be honest it was a bit of a joke there were that many people about, and other than being very big there wasn't a huge amount to appreciate. Well, I tell a lie, you are able to appreciate that some monk built it many moons ago out of the cliff face, and the rock was used to quell the rapids in the river that killed so many fishermen. There, I talked about it.
Chendgu panda sanctuary/research centre
The results
Cat eating her delicious cooking! By far the cutest part of the trip, the largest concentration of Pandas in the world, where you can watch normally docile Pandas interact and eat. Well, that's if you arrive early, after about 10 AM the interacting tends to slow down and they all sleep. And only the small ones get to interact, being solitary and territorial animals, they all get their own pen once they grow up, where the get to eat all their bamboo in peace before retiring from the gazing crowds. Highlight were the cubs play fighting, which ended up with one cub being pushed off a 2M platform and fall on his back, only to resume the fight with the wandering keeper.
The next day we took in some culture previously unknown to us, the Dazu rock carvings, which depict various Bhuddist stories and Confucian teachings. Somehow it survived the cultural revolution, mostly by being up a mountain so noone could be bothered climbing up to destroy them. They include an entire cave carved into a sort of interview room where you can ask the three Bhuddas and his disciples questions, a giant reclining Bhudda (when he went to Nirvana), and a large mural
Chocolate Cake?
Cat ordered chocolate cake!?! sculpture depicting what happens to the bad Bhuddists (in contrast to Christian beliefs, apparently Bhuddist hell is very cold. But very painful.)
Today we also experienced our first "Jade factory stop" in China. We were taken to a "museum" which included a small room with various facts, and about 10 large warehouses of various goods for sale for a "good price". Conned. So we left there feely a bit down, but looking forward to our next stop- a Chinese teahouse, where we got a 10 minute demonstration on tea, then an introduction to the cost of every atcile used to make tea (including necessities such as the pee boy, who pees water when poured on with water over 80 degrees.) Conned.
... we're going to leave off here before we blind everyone... but more will come soon.. 😉
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FayChrisbie
Christopher Brighton Fay Winning
love this
Still loving your blogs especially while i am sitting at work selling holidays!!! Hope you both are still having fun i am soooo jealous!! Fay and Chris x