Revealing the River Li

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We arrived in Gui Lin in the early afternoon after our 20 hour train trip...easy haha its the longest trip on a train that we have done and will do however we were surprised that it was really not as bad as we expected.... we were really bored for the last hour as we stopped a station out for like 30mins and there was nothing to see there the only people left on the train was us seven tourists....and we couldn't establish how long we would be there and what was happening we tried to ask but everyone we spoke to shrugger and walked off we eventually found out that they didn't know either hehe. Eventually we arrived in Gui Lin and all walked out together and made our way to the exit there was a lot of pushing and shoving here and we used our powers of swinging around to talk to each other to give us some space....packs are great for that the only thing is that when you have a pack on and someone nudges you a little hard well you have alot of extra weight and very easily go flying hehe....we could see a sign with Michelle written on it was strange that our hostel had said they were just going to hold a Wada Hostel sign so I went over and eventually we saw Wada and left the poor person standing there with a sign and hoped there was another Michelle arriving otherwise that place that never got back to me just sent someone to pick us up!
We had made a booking at Wada (as in Waaa-Da hostel all in hand with a picture of Bruce Lee in the middle of a kick as there logo) so the name and what went with it meant I had no choice we were staying there....this is Mikes call it has good reviews so hey it will be okay its a newly opened place...the hostel was fine other than not advertising that they have no power in the rooms from midday till 6pm....thankfully when we arrived they turned it on for us to have a shower, the beds felt like a plank of wood and the second night was only booked with supply of a second duvet so that I could fold it into quarters and sleep on it as my back was not handling the hard bed at all! Overall the place was fine and worked for what we needed we didn't do much in Gui Lin met a few more people and explored the mall across the road, we got the onwards journey train tickets which we decided to go straight to Shenzhen as there is still a lot of rain and the flooding is constantly getting reported about on the news for guangzhou so think we will bail on heading there! we organised a trip down the river on a bamboo boat to Yangzhou for tomorrow and from the sounds of things the weather is supposed to be okay.

So the next morning we head downstairs ready to go with our packs and got some breakfast at the hostel as it is easy only one breakfast is included a night per room so we paid for the other a little weird but we will get over it....we were picked up in the minibus and drove around picking up other passengers from various places and head off on the 1 hour bus ride and 20min bumpy back road bus driving we could have done with a few 4x4's hehe to get to the river. On arriving we paid the lady across from the boats so we can use her toilets and then onto the bamboo boat there was a little sun out which was nice as the weather has been a bit iffy....we head down the stairs and slippery ramp with our packs and clamber onto the raft Mike and I got on first so ours got put into a big box (well protected from the water) however we had five people and five packs so there were some just sitting on the front of the raft which soon was taking on a little water...Mike so smartly said I should sit up the front on my own to get photos however we didn't expect I would be getting spray on me and the camera...soon I had removed my shoes as I was getting wet feet hehe....a few mins later the two packs up the front were getting very wet and i rolled them over to try and get the covers over the straps.....one of the other guys climbed up the front to help zipping. We coast along the river getting splashed every so often for about 1 1/2 hours where we stopped to have lunch (we brought our with us so not sure what the food was like but the toilets were not the nicest!) the trip was lovely however we didn't spot any of the specially shaped rocks that were supposed to be around, if we went on one of the big boats they would be pointed by the english speaking guide but on the little boat the only english was the tourists. After lunch we had another 20 or so mins on the boat and then we got off with our packs (a little challenge) we climbed up the muddy, leafy, stony hill...I eventually got help as a guy(from the bus picking us up) was telling me to hurry up we were last to get off and last boat in....I said to him if you want me to hurry up come and give me a hand don't just stand there yelling at me...surely you can see I am finding this a little hard with 18kg on my back! He soon dropped his head and came and said you need help here I help you and took my hand and helped me up the hill 😉

When we were getting off the boat there was a bride & groom there having pre wedding shoot in there full outfits they looked amazing although I thought she was going to fall in the water climbing from boat to boat....no doubt they will have the most amazing wedding photos! Poor thing having to get down and back up that hill I hope her hubby to be helps her.

So the excitement continues when we get into the supersized golf buggies and floor it for 10mins down the dirt road Mike with someone else's pack piled on top of him and all of us bouncing around like popcorn in a covered pot popping...I really thought that this might be the way we were getting to Yangzhou as they said its an hour and when we were approaching 10mins I was like I think this is the bus guys......however when we got to the mini bus people we seated anywhere and everywhere including on little plastic kids stools that were kept under the main seats in the bus and bags were almost packed to the ceiling then the lady on our bus and the lady on the bus behind decided to have a screaming match in chinese and from what we can understand the we were supposed to go on the bus behind however after finally getting in this one there was no way any of us were getting out. We head off to yangzhou not a bad trip in our seats but I do feel for those sitting on the little plastic chairs that no doubt bounced over bumps and sliding around corners. All and all the trip to Yangzhou was pretty smoothly haha we were dropped off at the bus station and grabbed the little map on our hostel filer and made our way to the showbiz rooftop hostel we found it pretty easily even though we were distracted as we walked through the town by all the little stalls I notices it said what was opposite the little lane up from main street and we watched for that on arrival Michael and staff were great, clean room and only one set of stairs to our room, . Yangzhou is cute,quirky and has some great shopping and cafes our hostel has great roof top bar that we spend a few hours at with new friends from Guilin and a couple of kiwi boys there and appreciate the amazing view (possibly the best in Yangzhou) as the weather turns from daylight to night and the hills are surrounded by massive up lights showing these big peaks off in the night sky...we can also see the colour of the lights in the distance of the light show. Soon after a few drinks we head out for dinner and a look around Yangzhou and end the evening at about 12.30 where the rest continued on and we called it a night. There is some happening little bars here all sorts of music options although the drinks seem to be a little highly priced in comparison to other places....I guess its how they all make there money in Yangzhou as everything else is well cheap.

The next day we have a sleepy sort of a day and book to go see a light show, we walk around and explore the shops and markets and eat some good food and then head off to the show in the evening....our driver arrives and collects us and takes us there we stop along the way to collect others and then when we eventually arrive we have a tour guide with her crazy little soft toy dog not like a normal dog some cartoony dog anyway it was on top of a stick that extended up this was instead of a flag interesting concept it must work for her which is the main thing I guess! We were to wait for some other people for 10mins after 20 I went and asked what was happening and was told another 10mins by the next 15 we were all getting a little frustrated as we didn't have tickets yet they hadn't purchased them and there is hundreds of other people going in while we are still waiting outside...eventually we move through and we get our tickets and head for our VIP seats basically back further than the cheap seats but they were comfy and tiered so that you could see properly. Throughout the show we could see people down in the normal seats standing to take photos (what a pain if you have someone in front of you doing so wink,wink nudge,nudge we all know that would be me) the show started and five mins in my zoom lens decided to pop its insides and it no longer functions as a automatic zoom. I did my best adjusting manually however it really is well and truly f*#ked and I don't have any others so photo taking is not really happening after this point...I was extremely disappointed, angry and sad...we watched this great show which has hundreds of actors and actresses involved its all done on the water with man made walkways and floating with great lights....looking back at the photo's it was a wonderful with the lighting I wish I had a tripod and longer zoom lens well a lens that was working properly but it was enjoyed even with the camera disaster....we would like to have known what was going on a little more as Chinese were singing, cheering and clapping and we had no idea why or what was happening after the show we went back to the meeting place and found the others that had been down in the other seats and they mentioned that there was bugs everywhere from the lights and many mozzie bites for this we are greatful we spent the extra as they said it was very distracting although they enjoyed the show too. We head out with a couple of english girls for some apple crumble which was lovely and soon it was 11.45 and we thought it was best to be off to bed our new friends were names apple crumble and cheesecake as we never introduced ourselves haha

The next morning I searched for new lenses and pricing on ebay as tomorrow we leave to Shenzhen and then the following day Hong Kong (where the electronics are well cheap so they say!)

At one stage I thought I had found the problem with the lens with a rattle inside after further inspection I realised I was fooling myself...time to put the lens away for safe keeping so she got is still on the camera as there is no replacement currently but I will not play with her in case of increasing damage.

I emailed the company I brought the lens from but it appears its out of warranty and the suggest not getting it fixed in Asia and to wait until I get home and get someone to have a look at it! So I email the insurance and tell them the situation they say to wait until we get home and send it to get fixed and they will pay for the cost of fixing it if it can't be fixed then I send it to them with original receipts and we go from there....they will not pay for anything that I purchase in the interim (this is how I understand it anyway) so what I buy in Hong Kong to complete with trip with comes out of my own pocket.

We made it up the road for Brunch and to the post office to find out how much it is to post a package back home...we have had a look at the three different prices....2days, 1-2 weeks and 2-3 months we had some stuff we were hoping to get back a little faster for my sis however on returning to the room and looking at what we had we could send back over 2-3 months in comparison to the stuff for my sis we decided to send all the stuff we could over the 2-3months (be back around the time we get back max 3-4 weeks after our return.) we made the decision that we will keep the gifts with us. The pile continued to increase as we went out in the evening and I got a pair of hand painted shoes and t-shirt all for $15 so I was a happy girl they are one offs 😊 the night was a bit icky as it was raining again we head down to the a aussie bar and get lamb mince pie and Mike had a chicken taro dish the food was good.....oh how I love meat pie (haven't had one since n.z and every place that had it on the menu that we have gone to is always sold out!) Home to bed well Mike to watch a movie I played games on the I-Touch as there was a bit of a party going on upstairs on the deck...we heard cheering and jumping etc but weren't to sure what was going on and with the rain we weren't keen to go find out haha we were snuggled in our beds (twins in this place)

The next morning we went up to the post office with gear in hand and sent back 9kg of stuff (I know 9kg how did we even have 9kg haha) it cost less than $30 au so we were happy to have much lighter packs and room for the little trinkets we have brought. We couldn't believe that it would have cost about $130 to send back fast post so glad I asked about the other options and could see the prices. We made our way down the hill to get some brunch and ran into a friend from Guilin they are staying out at a place in a village and he mentions his partner isn't well he was in doing a pharmacy stop...we head off and get our brunch at the aussie bar it was really good...then hotfoot it back to the hostel to checkout and leave our packs there....then we went off for a walk to find our friends...they really are in a village its cute, cool and they say at night there is fireflies and frogs (nice wish we had a night here...next time ;o ) We dropped off some medical supplies that we had that we thought would help and hope to see them in the Goldy about Christmas time!

The funny thing is we walked out to there place twice basically the first time we kept walking along the river we missed the turn off (no sign) and then ended up back that the hostel searching online where the place was its a good 10-20min walk so we ended up taking about one hour to get to there place instead of 10-15mins.

We head back to the hostel and on leaving run into the english girls and we introduce ourselves it appears little miss cheesecake is not doing to well and has some random infection on her leg and we were later to hear that she was delayed in Hong Kong while she got treatment however she is all well now😊 we get some KFC for the trip and then go jump on a bus back to Guilin 15Yuan($2.80au) each about 1 1/2 hours with the rainy roads get off outside the train station prefect. In the train station we ran into the Kiwi boys from the other night in Yangzhou they are in the hard sleepers on the top bed (three high) we are in the soft sleepers on the bottom bunk 😊...soon after we are underway the graced us in our room with there presence and we hung out for the rest of the night in the food cart just next door to our room until we were told they were closing up and then it was bed time we went back to our soft sleeper and that was us for the night!

Yangshou is our favorite place in China we could happily holiday there for a week or two and relax in the interesting, fun and cute cafes, restaurants and streets and beautiful scenery 😊

　

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