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Published: October 10th 2009
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The streets of Yangshou...
...beautiful, quaint, and a McDonald's conveniently located downtown...this is my kind of place Adventures in Yangshou
As soon as I walked through the streets of Yangshou for the first time I knew that this city would be setting unrealistically high expectations for the rest of China. It was cute and quaint and unbelievably beautiful. The cobblestone streets twisted sinuously around ancient teak storefronts and cheerfully bedecked restaurants. Lush limestone karsts circled the town and river, casting us in shadow and providing blessed relief from the sweltering daytime heat. My hostel, tucked into a little corner off the main square, provided a cozy lounge room, laundry services, and our very own transvestite receptionist. I was put in a 6 bedroom dorm room, which was overrun with 5 young volunteers who had just finished a summer placement teaching English. I made friends with the most precocious one in the group, an outspoken and strong-minded guy named Sam. Shortly after I arrived, one of his friends came rushing in to ask whether we wanted to go kayaking the following day. She was ditzy, flirtatious, and beautiful - attributes which likely contributed to the fact that the organization had decided to waive the requisite fee in exchange for a brief English lesson for the staff instead. Sign
My own personal lifeguard...
...buttering him up just in case me up.
The next morning we all loaded into a mini van and made the bumpy ride out to the river. Each person had their own personal guide, and we began the day by listening to their memorized spiel and providing gentle corrections to their grammar and pronunciation. Soon we were all sliding our kayaks into the swiftly running water and pushing off into the current. We interspersed the journey with games, cliff climbing, and other wild shenanigans. Twice I ended up inadvertently in the water. While fully dressed and wearing running shoes. The first time it was an easy matter to get back into my kayak, but the second time my boat also flipped and we had to engage in the tedious process of emptying it before I could crawl back in. Hours later, wet, sunburnt, and exhausted, we pulled back ashore. The day ended with free sandwiches and drinks back in town and one more short English lesson. And with another date to join them again the next day for some free caving.
The caving was unbelievable. In small groups of 3 we descended into the bowels of an enormous limestone karst with rubber shoes on
our feet and a dim head lamp strapped onto our helmets. I managed to hit my head on the low hanging rock 17 times over the course of the morning so it was a good thing that I had a bit of protection up there. The tour ended in a large cavern which contained a natural mud bath. We all stripped down to our bathing suits and waded in. It was freezing. And squishy. I know that its good for the skin but I’m not sure whether it was entirely worth it.
On my last day in Yangshou I decided to rent a bicycle and ride through the surrounding countryside. This was a monumental and courageous decision for me since I am not exactly known for my driving skills. It doesn’t matter that I was on a pushbike versus a motorbike…I still feared for my life. Particularly since I was navigating through the crazy Chinese traffic. Thankfully the road’s calmed down once I left the main core of the city. And thankfully there was only a single, well-marked road out to Moon Rock, as I am also not exactly known for my navigational abilities. Lord knows why I thought
Cutting people off in my kayak..
...I'm just as bad of a driver in the water as I am out of it that traveling around the world on my own was a smart idea. But I managed to get through yet another day without getting rundown or hopelessly lost. The rice paddies and karsts outside of the city were beautiful and well worth the sore butt that I received from spending 3 hours on a bicycle.
I finally said my sad goodbyes to Yangshou and boarded a bus for Guilin. The Lonely Planet rhapsodizes over the natural beauty of this supposedly small city, but all I saw was an endless stretch of soulless glass high-rises popping out of the sidewalk like mushrooms. I hightailed it out of there as fast as I could for the infamous Longsheng rice paddies. Infamous by the Lonely Planet of course. One of these days I’m going to lose my faith in this traveler’s bible. I almost did this day. The rice paddies were fantastic despite the rainy weather. The pushing and shoving hoard of camera-snapping Chinese tourists were not. I felt like I was merely herded along with the rest of the pack. Every time I slowed down to take a picture, I would get jostled from behind as the movement interfered with the flow
All aboard...
climbing back into my kayak after someone dumped me out of it of traffic. And even when I did manage to snap a photo, I found that it was virtually impossible to do so without a strangers head or elbow making it’s way into the frame. By the end of the tour I was flustered and ready for the relative peace and quiet of my room. This was my first real taste of the hustle and bustle of a ‘real’ Asian city or tour group, and I quickly realized that I would need to learn how to let go of my tight North American bubble of personal space if I wanted to survive this section of my travels with my sanity intact.
Signing out,
Jen
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