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rooftop work - view from the room! more nightmares for the electricians I knowTuesday, 6/28: Li River Cruise
Today we took a 4-hour Li River Cruise, a relaxing way to view the beauty of Guilin’s lush green valleys, bamboo groves and hundreds of fascinating rock formations. I especially liked the Phoenix Bamboo, the tall bamboo with the feather-type ‘flip’ at the top of them. There was one of the ‘monsoon’ downpours near the end of the cruise, as we finished dinner. After the rain cleared, the scenery was a bit different—terraced hillsides with a variety of crops planted. The cruise concluded in Yangshuo, where we visited the local market, one of the most colorful in the region. It was also one of the nicer in terms of vendors. I actually walked up to a couple of stalls and looked at things without being accosted. Of course, as soon as you point, touch, or ask, you’re interested. They were pleasant even then, though. Headed back to Giulin by bus—more beautiful scenery, some even clearer because of the rain but there were trees lining the road (quite lovely) that kept us from being able to take even MORE pictures. I weeded the pictures down to load on the blog (from the 175!! I took on
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I really did cut down the number of pics for the blog but there's still quite a few! the boat).
Notes from guide: Li River, 437 km long, is the mother river of Giulin, begins in Giulin, in the Kat Mountains, 2141 meters above sea level here. Runs north to south, dividing the city west and east; our hotel is on the west, old, side. The East side is only 32 years old; was rice paddies, now residential, shopping, etc., better planned. Li joins the West River then the Pearl River in Canton, then on to the South China Sea. Pearl River region is developed. We’ll ride 64 km of the river, through the highlight of Karsts, seeing village life and wildlife; many of the hills have names. The first will be “Waiting for the Husband Rock”: 2000 years ago, China had a war with Viet Nam and a woman’s husband went to fight in the war; she went up on the cliff to wait for him and waited 2000 years. Another is IQ test, a ‘lucky charm’ rock. Supposed to be able to see up to 9 horses on the rock; depending on the number you can see, it’ll predict how well you’ll do on the next test. Third, the scene on the 20 yuan note.
Village life: the river is used for irrigation, transportation, food, raising fish and ducks. Bamboo raft is typical here, 10 pieces tied together and the ends curved. Now, often made of PVC, saving bamboo which only lasts about 3 years. Some people put an engine on them, causing more pollution.
Wildlife: river has fishes: brown carp, catfish, eel, turtle, shrimp, crabs (both very tiny, eaten whole, shell provides calcium), snails (good summer snack, sauteed and with herbs). Can swim in the river. Birds: cormorants, kingfisher, hawks. Dragonflies, butterflies. Black bears, South China tigers (more stripes and smaller, bears and tigers are protected). Snakes, lizards, ants, anteaters, centipedes, in bushes. Catch them all and use for food and medicine. Smallish monkeys, Guangxi monkey; used to eat monkey brains but no longer—too expensive. Water buffalo are work animals. Every family has one, lives 15-20 years and cheap to keep: work 1 month/year, whole village herds them together, only one person to care for them. Eat grass.
Food: KFS, Kentucky Fried Snake. Local restaurant starts with a zoo so it’s all fresh. Buy live animals and will slaughter for them or do yourself at home. Use everything. Duck heads, necks,
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At first, I thought these folks 'float' the same way they drive and we were going to collide... chicken feet are good snacks. In Suzcho, unborn chicken (still fuzzy), rabbit head, ears (crunchy, crispy) are delicacies.
Banyon, willow, elm, bamboo (Phoenix tail bamboo) plants. “the Painted Veil” was filmed here, highlighting the beautiful Phoenix tail bamboo.
Yangshuo: 300,000 population, booming tourism business; agriculture business: rice, persimmon.
RICE: March is rainy season, floods. Early April, buffalo plow the fields. Small end of the field used as nursery. Begin seedling at home, nursery for 3 weeks, transplant to field by hand. Grow for 3 months, fertilized and weeded daily. One month for kernel to become full. Drain the rice paddies, cu with sickle at the bottom of the plant; dry in air, thresher, dry the kernels, then machine threshers. Sometimes use chemical spray for yellow leaf. First crop end of July. From seed to white rice, 40 steps. Land so rocky and irregular, it’s hard to use machines. Sometimes, farther north, they are able to.
Bonsai plants are originally Chinese. Bon=pot; sai=tree. The south has so much natural beauty and the north is flatter and has generally tried to build gardens to look like the south.
That evening, the whole group went to McFound’s for
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however, it was intentional and he was tying up to sell his fruit to passengers dinner and treated Hou Fei who joined us, helped us negotiate getting a table, and with ordering and paying. Very enjoyable meal and evening. Followed that up with a trip to the night market on the street down from the hotel. I was tempted to return to my room and crash (just as well I didn’t—was still hot in there—see hotel notes, following) but was asked if I really wanted to pass up what might be my only chance to see the night vendors in Giulin so I went, got a hair stick and saw Jack Fruit live (I’d had it in India and seen a drawing but not a real one).
A note on hotels: in their own way, each hotel has been very nice. Can’t drink the water anywhere but there were teapots for boiling water in each. Laundry service was good; each had a little shop if you wanted to buy snacks on-site. All served breakfast that included Western dishes. All had lovely tall open lobbies. All (so far, in Hangzhou) have had free Ethernet; Giuilin and Hangzhou also have had WiFi in public areas which helps the Ipad people.
Beijing was our first hotel
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I think drawing water out for irrigation and, if people were expecting something far off from their previous hotel stays (especially if they’d never been outside the U.S.), they were probably ‘relieved’ to see that it was a standard type place. The AC worked, the beds were comfortable, the housekeeping folks friendly, and our adapters fit in the outlets! Our room’s air conditioning ‘leaked’ a bit from the ceiling one night and the dripping of the water onto the floor woke Drew up at 1 a.m. We called down, got transferred a couple times, found someone we thought understood and said they’d send someone up. We waited an hour before sleep overcame us and no one showed up. Meanwhile, we turned the thermostat ‘up’ some and didn’t have that trouble any more for the week. The cleaning people vacuumed up the few little plaster pieces that had fluttered onto the floor and gave us a new towel to replace the soaked one we’d put under the drip… Also, the people at the currency exchange desk could be downright rude, telling one person to “go to the bank” when she needed yuan for a $20 bill. Standing behind the bank “exchange” sign!! They also sometimes refused to give
us smaller bills for 100 yuans. We were told to take small bills to the market because you might not get ‘correct’ change back. Oh, and, when they switched dining rooms for breakfast, they began serving the coffee and tea in carafes (as opposed to the glass pots on the burners) and the tea all tasted like coffee!
Xi’An: there was a bank directly across the street but the folks at the desk were very pleasant about changing American and Chinese money. The room was cool but the beds were an odd combination: mattress hard and pillows feather. Hard on the back and hips. The shower water pressure was excellent. The view from our room was of a very nice courtyard area. The Internet here was good and fast but the adapter didn’t fit in their socket. We called and got a transformer and were able to plug the camera chargers directly into it.
Giuilin: the staff couldn’t have been nicer, with money, adapters, leading us down darkened stairways (this is where the electricity was off both afternoons), greeting us, opening doors. The mattress was soft but our room never got cool. As a matter of fact, it
was right warm. Switching the button from Heat to Cool seemed to help but didn’t really. There was no vent in the bathroom and it’s really too humid not to have one. View of the city, the Children’s Palace across the street (after school music and art), and the rooftop workers. Good breakfast—first time we had bacon which was almost more like country ham. Tried a Lichee, new kind of fruit for me; had to ask the server to show me how -- needs to be peeled.
Hangzhou: the room itself sure seems like the motherload! Nice mattress, cool temp, lots of outlets and other niceties. Fresh fruit, bedside ethernet outlet and electric plug, good light controls, TV volume in the bathroom, nice ‘galley’ area and lighting. There was a weird sort of ‘moat’ around the bathtub except it didn’t have a dam and the water kept running onto the floor! Odd. There were 29 stories and great viewing areas on the 25th, in the bar area. The hotel reception area was on the 25th floor! The 1st floor lobby area was more for the whole building. The 3rd floor was a nightclub, 5th was restaurants, then floors with
rooms. The 18th floor has the ‘ladies executive lounge’, a really attractive area and the 25th floor has a bar and the hotel lobby, concierge, and little shop. Turns out it’s a 4 star hotel; we thought it was recently refurbished or something similar because the staff seemed new, everything seemed new—the carpet in the elevator area, the appliances in the rooms (teapot, adapters, etc).
Shanghai: The room cools and the mattress is soft!!! Has a little sitting area which is nice. Have to pay for Internet, though, which is so petty. Just arrived here so may have more comments later!
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