Sunny Yangshuo

---

Hello, everyone!! This is Amy again, back on track after a brief battle with a nasty head-cold. My guess is that the brutal massage I received two days ago in Guilin pushed some toxins into my system and I finally got Jeremy's cold that he'd had the previous week. Luckily, it appears to be short-lived, and although I'm still a little stuffy, I'm 90% better and ready to make up for lost time!

Jeremy did a lovely introduction to our new "home away from home," The Giggling Tree - a true retreat in the middle of nowhere. It's literally a breath of fresh air after two weeks of big, bustling, smoggy cities. Most of my day yesterday was spent in bed, trying to recover as quickly as possible so I wouldn't miss a single second of this gorgeous area.

In the 12th century, a Chinese artist lamented, "I sent back drawings of the beauty of Yangshuo, but no one believed me." After seeing the mountains for myself, I can totally understand how one would not believe that such strange shapes and formations could exist on this planet. Jeremy's description of prehistoric world is spot-on. This land feels as if it has been unchanged for eons of time; as if you really would expect to see dinosaurs come lumbering across your path. The people here in these tiny villages on the river live no differently than their ancestors did hundreds of years ago - and there is something very refreshing about that. I wonder if they know that they live in what has to be one of the most beautiful places on earth...

This morning we awoke and the sun was FINALLY shining after days and days of overcast. Immediately we rented bikes and headed out for a few hours. We had to cross the river on one of the long bamboo rafts that is the main source of transportation in this area; the little old woman who took us across loaded our bikes on the back, we hopped on, and off we went. On the other side, we cycled for a while, down paved roads, dirt paths, through farmland, tiny villages, and narrow passes...you could get lost here and have a fabulous time doing it. Every few minutes we had to jump off our bikes just to stop and take in the soaring scenery around us. It honestly doesn't look real - it's as if someone dropped big green cardboard cut-outs of mountains everywhere with no rhyme or reason. Photos of course could never do it justice, but hopefully you'll get a little sense of what it's like to be here.

The Inn itself is so pleasant, too. We're rooming with a British girl and a Swedish guy who also just took the Trans-Siberian Railway (which we finally looked up, out of sheer curiosity, and it's actually quite reasonable - 5 days from Moscow to Beijing, 4700 miles, for just under $600. Maybe one of these years...). There is an Israeli family here, traveling China for a year, with THREE children under the age of seven!! They said the kids are having a great time and are already speaking more Chinese than their parents! A Dutch couple owns and runs the Inn; they have two children as well, and last night we heard their kids speaking English, Dutch, French, and Chinese, depending on who they were speaking to. It's incredible to meet all these people and see the opportunities these children have to travel, learn new languages, and explore other cultures at such an impressionable age.

We decided yesterday that, at least for now, we are going to by-pass Hong Kong. It looks so close on the map, but there are no real direct routes to get there from here, so we'd be looking at another 14 hours each way on the train. We still have so far to go down through Vietnam and Cambodia, and our Vietnamese visas started ticking away today anyway (they give you 30 days from the date you specify, and we've already spent more time in China than we were originally planning, even without Hong Kong)...so at this point, we'll save Hong Kong for another time. Our plan is two more nights here in Yangshuo, then we're backtracking to Guilin for probably a few days, since we didn't really get to see and do everything there that we wanted (there's a fabulous day-trip from there we want to take to the "Dragon's Backbone Rice Terraces," supposedly some of the most beautiful rice terraces in the world)...so we're going to take the time that would have gone to Hong Kong and get to know the Guilin/Yangshuo area better, since it's so amazing here!! After Guilin we will be taking the train about five hours south to Nanning, the last major city before you hit Vietnam, and from there (haven't decided yet), either a daytime bus or an overnight train down across the border and into the capital city of Hanoi. That's the plan, as it stands.

But, for now, we are hiding in our room from the Florida-like heat (we have no air-conditioning here, just fans for each bed, but it's actually not too bad). We slept under mosquito nets last night for the first time ever, which was pretty cool - like sleeping in a cloud. Tonight we are going to see the Liu Sanjie Light Show, performed on the river by 500 local farmers and fisherman. From what I've read and heard from fellow travelers, it's quite the spectacle. They light up the karst cliffs on the river to make a stunning natural backdrop, and then put on a Broadway-style show complete with singing, opera, dancing, boats, dazzling lights, special effects...the works. Sounds very interesting, so we will of course post tomorrow and let you know how it is!!

---

Comments

[Sarah]

Hey guys
Looks like a great time! Tell Jeremy he needs his hair cut! :o)

[taylor elizondo]

!!!!
woooaaahh there jeremy...ur hair is getting a little long...haha..very pretty place!!

[p.morgan]

life on the road
enjoyed your update.wish i could be there.take care.