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Published: October 9th 2010
Yang Shuo at Night
They light up the karst formations surrounding Yang Shuo.Yang Shuo
We have spent the past week and a half in the town of Yang Shuo in Guangxi Province. We decided to settle here for two weeks to volunteer at an English School called Zhou Yue. We participate in their conversation groups called English Corner for two hours four evenings per week and in exchange we get a free place to stay and very cheap meals.
Yang Shuo is a touristy city which speaks plenty of English and has lots to do. It is the home to the beautiful Li River and its stunning karst formations called haystack rocks. The students all want to talk with us to practice their English but are also friendly and helpful. Last night, one student very patiently spent 15 minutes trying to teach me the proper way to use chopsticks.
I decided to use this blog to capture lots of small tidbits about life and adventures in Yang Shuo so, in no particular order…
National Day
In China, October 1 is National Day when they celebrate the founding of New China in 1949. Many people get the entire week off so many of them take the opportunity to travel. It is
kind of like the Fourth of July but without the fireworks and with the Christmas travel frenzy. Because Yang Shuo is a very popular destination among the Chinese the crowds and the prices have risen tremendously. For instance, we rented bicycles and the price had doubled since Friday because of National Day.
Bamboo Rafting
On Sunday, we joined Bob and Meri Jo for a ride on a bamboo raft. We rented bikes then rode for 30 minutes through busy city streets and remote country lanes to the spot to get a bamboo raft on the Dragon River. Due to National Day the price had increased by 50%!b(MISSING)ut our guide Nina was able to negotiate it down a bit.
These rafts were made of bamboo and were pushed along by a driver using a 10 foot long bamboo pole. They were four feet wide, 20 feet long and had a two person seat with a sun umbrella over it. Most of the trip was spent watching the scenery but several times during the trip we intentionally went over waterfalls of 3 to 5 feet. All along the way were floating vendors and restaurants as well as the ubiquitous
cameramen taking photos to sell. The scenery was pretty but the purpose was the experience.
We had safely arrived at the end and had disembarked and turned to watch Meri Jo and Bob get off. As we watched helplessly, their raft started moving backwards as they were stepping onto shore and Meri Jo, Bob and the driver did the classic arm-whirl to try to catch their balance. It was a valiant effort but it failed and all three fell in the water as a rising gasp drew forth from the crowd of Chinese holidaymakers. Their attention was drawn not only by the rare appearance of Westerners but the fact that they are visually impaired. We realized quickly that no harm had come to them as they stood up in knee-deep water laughing at just another foible in their lives. While words may not give an accurate enough description by this amateur account provider, imagine Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed dancing off into the pool in ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’, and that was Bob and Mary Jo taking the plunge into the Yulong River. The only difference was none of us onlookers joined them.
Clothing
John and I need
A Chinese Queue
We had to fight our way through this "queue" to get to our boat. some new clothes so went shopping. I bought a shirt and thought it was a misprint that the size on my shirt was XXXL but I learned later, much to my chagrin, that it was not. When we walked across the town to a clothing market, I got a rude awakening as to size. In China, I wear a XXL or a XXXL in clothes. I could not buy pants at the market…I am too fat. Sigh.
How to Queue Chinese Style
We had taken a bus to Xing Pig to take a cruise on the prettiest part of the Li River. We had arranged the trip from town so were met by handlers at every point. At the dock, we were met by a man who led us down on to the dock and into the crowd (or should I say scrum). Picture a concrete staircase down to the water’s edge with steep drops to rocks on both side and no railings. People were standing shoulder to shoulder constantly jostling to get to the boats. Our guide led me through the crowd as John, Meri Jo and Bob trailed behind. Finally at about 10 stairs to go, he
Li River
The famous and spectacular Li River. pointed out a woman in a white cap and, by giving me a gentle shove, let me know I was to elbow my way down to her. I got to the bottom step, second row but could not catch her eye. Meanwhile the others stood higher up in the crowd unable to move but constantly in danger of falling off the edge of the stairs. Finally John said they had had enough and asked me to come back up to where they were. We decided to regroup and give it one more try. So we worked our way to the middle of the stairs and, sticking together, made our way to the front. We eventually figured out the process. As boats arrived, people disembarked and pushed their way up through the crowd. Then whoever was closest got onto the boat and called to the rest of their party to join them. Three or four people would then push their way through the crowd and climb on the boat. We figured that was what our guide intended when he pushed me forward. But once the four of us were in front the woman with the white cap noticed us and got
Market
This is the produce section. There are also sections for fruit, fish, meat and spices. us onto a boat. We think the extent of the crowd was because it is National Day Weekend.
After the queue, the boat ride was almost anticlimactic but it was beautiful. It was on a “bamboo” raft made out of PVC with seats for six and a roof to keep the rain off. The driver piloted the boat up the river using a small motor along with several hundred other boats; the traffic rules on the river are similar to the rules of the road. The views of the karst formations were lovely and the people in the other boats were friendly and frequently waved to us. We saw an old farmer dressed in traditional garb watching his four water buffalo sit in the river…he just stared at them as if mentally controlling them to stay in the water. There were hundreds of small boats like ours and we rode on the boat about 50 minutes before we had to push our way back through the crowd.
Shoe Repair
One day we walked past a man sitting on a small stool behind a hand-crank sewing machine to repair shoes. We showed him the hole in John’s shoe and
John and the Shoe Repairman
He is sitting there seven days a week on a six inch stool repairing whatever shoes people bring him. he motioned for John to sit down on a small stool and take off the shoe. He then cut a patch from canvas and, using the sewing machine, stitched it solid. So John showed him where the other shoe was weakening but not yet torn and he did the same. The repairs cost Y30 ($4.50). All the time he worked he had a cigarette dangling from his lips.
Chinglish
On a billboard advertising tours of a tea plantation: “Amorous tea girls, sweet tea-picking songs”
Food Adventures
We took a cooking lesson one day and it included a stop at the local food market. It had sections for vegetables, fruit, spices, fish/amphibians and meat. It was great seeing the veggies and spices I had never seen before. The meat market had live and slaughtered animals. I never saw them actually kill an animal but I did see many ducks freshly killed and even one dog. I saw them pull a live chicken from a cage, hang it upside down from a scale to weigh it then the customer held it by the feet and carried it home. Our cooking teacher, Linda, said many people prefer to kill the animals
John and John from Spain
They are eating a piece of strange porcine anatomy. themselves so they know it is fresh. Our English students confirm this and explain it is more nutritious if it is fresh. In the fish/amphibian section we saw buckets of live fish and eels and live frogs in the same mesh bags that we buy apples in. Linda echoed our first guide when she said that Chinese people will eat anything. “We eat anything that flies except an airplane. We eat anything with four legs except the table and chairs. We eat anything with two legs except people.”
One night we were out after class with students and teachers. One of our new friends, John from Spain, went next door and ordered three barbequed pig’s penises. (As we have said, the Chinese eat everything.) He gave one to John and me so I ate the tip and John ate the rest. It was very gristly. So now I can cross off “Eat pig penis” from my life list.
Neewah
One evening in English Corner, the students were telling me about the Chinese creation myth. In the story, God made a man and then took a rib from the man to create a woman called Neewah. Neewah then proceeded
Sink
The water falls onto the floor then goes into the drain. to create humanity from the dirt. I found the similarity to the Old Testament story is striking and would someday like to know if this is coincidence of if their was contact between the Ancient Chinese and the Ancient Jews.
Plumbing
The plumbing in China tends to be a bit more haphazard than we are used to. Our room in Yang Shuo is a good example. There is a sink but it drains directly onto the floor where the water wends its way down to a drainhole. When we arrived the first night, the toilet tank was overflowing onto the floor because the float in the tank is not set right. The only way to prevent this is to leave the top of the tank off. They do not use goose neck pipes so when we use the shower, the water displaces the sewer gas and we get a foul odor coming back up. But, it works for the Chinese and has not harmed us. At least we have a western style toilet.
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Susan Craig
non-member comment
Beth, I love the picture of you with the cormorants!! And I continue to love your descriptions of your adventures. I love you both and please stay healthy! Susan