August 12-18: Yangshuo

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August 12 - Yangshuo5- Dia 52
Rest day. Well deserved, my forearms and fingers were destroyed.
Starting the day with some good yoga, Five Parks Yoga.. amazes me every time. With no plans in mind I went one a short motorbike ride to some farm fields. Trying the motorbike off road for the first time, defiently not meant for it.?
Today I always felt like something was missing. I was missing somebody to spend all this moments with. I find myself learning that I really can't live a single day without having some human contact.
With the day getting warmer I decided to spent the rest of my time swimming in the Li River. It was comforting since their where aways people chilling next to me. Some fisherman dressed extremely professionaly but not managing to catch anything. A lone woman taking care of their children while they played in the river. Or the seldom father which actively went in the river to play with his kids and teach them how to swim.
Deciding to head out I started looking for my motorbike keys and could not find them anywhere ?. Stressing out I realized I had dropped them in the river. I spent a long time walking knee deep in the water trying to find them. Received some curious looks while doing so, most probably they were wondering why I was looking at the water so closely. I managed to surpsingly find a lot of junk but no keys. Giving up I texted my landlady to try and fix it through her. Luckily she had extra keys for the room but non for the motorbike. Now I had to send my motorbike to a mechanic shop to change the key. ?
I walked back to my house to talk with the landlady and further discuss details about the motorbike. Met with this old grandpa , I assume is the father, which amazingly hold a motorbike key which could possibly work with my bike. Excitedly I jumped at the back of his motorbike and we road off to check if the spare key actually worked.
Success!! The key had worked. I had finally run into some luck. ?
With a bit of sun left I returned to the river to try this new water soloing location I had seen earlier today. Jumping into the fast current I was taken by the river but managed to stay close to the overhanging rock bank. I decided not to give climbing a try since it was way to shallow. I will keep on looking, I have hopes for a good water soloing location in Yangshuo.

August 13th- Yangshuo6 - Dia 53
Today was not the best of my days in China. I guess it was partly because while climbing I took a fall and managed to get the rope wrapped around my leg. Resulting in a massive burn throughout my upper calf. Immedietly after the accident I was left with thick line of white skin. Filled with adrenaline and energy I didn't let myself be defeated and managed to finish the rest of the route.
It was not until later that evening, when I was back home, that I really started feeling the pain. Especially when I took that cold shower. ? I am luckily alone in my room so I took the liberty of shouting to ease the pain.
A local friend recommended and gave me a medicinal powder called Yunnan Baiyao to apply to my burn. I applied it after the shower and it gave me a strange numbness and sharp pain all throughout my leg, going all the way up to my hip! I kept it on until I gave up and washed it off. It was not letting me sleep and the pain was so intense I wanted to puke ? Hopefully the short time I had it on helped out for something.
After doing some research I found some interesting stuff about Yunnan Baiyao. It's considered to be the penicillin of China. Saving many Chinese life's through the war periods. Promotes blood cloggulation and prevents infection. It's supposed to be a natural remedy with secret ingredients ?
This Chinese people really have their natural medicine dialed.

August 14th -Yangshuo7 - Dia 54
Nothing to write about. Spend all day in bed driving myself crazy. Really needed to rest my leg for a day before continuing the climbing sequel. A lot of Netflix and chill today. Sounds wonderful, but it was torture for myself!

August 15th - Yangshuo8 - Dia 55
Still with the burn and the pain every time I moved my leg I decided to give climbing a try. I couldn't stay in bed all day again.
We (with a Chinese friend name Luke I had made two days ago while climbing) decided to head out to a new climbing crag, The Egg. A bit nervous to see how I would climb since I could not stretch my leg fully ?
Immedietly when I started to climb I completely forgot about the pain. I was back to my usual self. How nice did it feel. This area we went was a bit more remote, situated next to some farming fields and small fresh water lakes. I was happy to be outside again ?
We got on some pretty cool routes, one which had a huge roof and required you to Dyno(do a small jump) your way through it. Took a while to figure that one out. Between climbs we ate some delicious local grapes and peaches while enjoying the solitary vista. At the end of the day an old lady came up to the wall carrying some weird seeds cultivated from a plant floating on the nearby water. It had a dull taste and was supposedly good in reducing blood pressure, so old people ate it a lot ?
Happy with the day we head out and drove our motorbikes back to the busy town of Yangshuo. Today was a good day since I realized I can still climb with my injured leg ?

August 16th - Yangshuo9 - Dia 56
Another climbing day and my first day teaching English!
Having arranged to teach English for Thursday and Friday this week, I head over to a local English school to be a teacher for half a day. I was honestly a bit nervous because I did not know what to expect. I was going to see what it means to be a teacher for the first time.
I had done it mostly for that and they also payed extremely well. Around 150 yuan, 30 Canadian Dollars, per class (being an hour and half each). How easy would it be to stay in Yangshuo while teaching 2 times a week for only the morning!
Being given two teaching packages for my two different classes I went to the first one. A small 6 student class with kids aged 10-12. Walked into the class as they goofed around with some Halloween masks. ? Seeing this made me loosen up and realize I was just a temporary teacher. Not knowing a lot about teaching I think I did really well. Received really good compliments from the kids as I left the class. Maybe it was because I didn't give them any homework jajaja
The second class was about the same size but a bit older kids, all the way up to 15 years old. They knew the basics of English and were currently doing group readings. So I just asked them to read while clarifying doubts and words they did not know. Easy!!
What I most liked about teaching both classes today was realizing how quickly you start to see every students personality. The shy one,the one who blurts out all the answers, the funny one and the sleepy one jajajaaja. Found myself missing and remembering my middle and high school era.
After a cool morning I went climbing for the rest of the evening. With my fingertips sore, forearms tired and a leg and a half, I did not find myself climbing too well today, we tried some new routes in the classical area Leipi Shan. It was an enjoyable evening regardless, surrounded by some extraordinary Chinese climbers. They are so good! I just see so many people using a 12c route as a warmup. Climbing 13s without any effort and projecting 14s!!! Makes me feel weak and small. But it is also serving as a great inspiration. All of this people are around 30 years and older. I still have a lot to go and improve then. Jejeje ?

August 17th - Yangshuo 10 -Dia 57
Second day teaching English and rest day from climbing ?. Was also going to get my fat paycheck for both days teaching.
Since it was Friday and it was officially the last day of summer school...the kids were a bit reckless and distracted. For my first class I managed to make it interesting by teaching them words and drawing their meaning in the whiteboard. One of the students just kept on sleeping and I just couldn't get her to wake up and pay attention. Tried calling her name and asking her questions...nothing seemed to work. Hard life as a teacher ?
For the second class the students where much crazier and I could not get them to listen. Giving in and deciding not to talk to myself for rest of the class I played a game with them. I taught them The Hang Man...a game involving the guessing of English words. I guess it was an educational game? ?
Tried of teaching, I was happy when the class ended. Grabbed my well deserved money and headed back home to rest a bit. Teaching is more exhausting then I had originally thought!
Having planned to meet up with my climbing friend at 3pm to explore some climbing crags, I rested back in my room for a while. At 3 we headed out to see a massive climbing wall called White Mountain. I had to see it before heading out of Yangshuo. People say its the best place to climb all around Asia but since the sun hits it all the time...it can only be climbed through the winter months. Gorgeously big situated in the middle of a big farm field. With steep overhanging stalactite walls giving the ability to do long 40m routes. Made me think of El Salto in Monterrey, similar in quality ?
After White Mountain we road our motorbikes through gorgeous vistas towards Moon Hilll. The famous arch. After a bad walk uphill with my sore leg, limping all the way there, we found ourselves beneath the arch. I would have loved to be able to climb there. Unfortunately it became extremely prohibited due to some unfortunate events...the hanging stalactites are not extremely solid and there is quite a high possibility of one falling on a tourist ??
Well that pretty much was our rest day, we finished it by heading to some nearby river to swim. I had to control myself badly in order not to jump in too, don't want my fresh wound to get infected. Just layed down with my feet in the water, looking at my Chinese friends swim up and down the river, froggi style. They can't swim that well! And it seemed , as I looked around, that most Chinese can't swim well. With many not even knowing how to swim! I guess that's one of their great weaknesses? Defiently not climbing jajaja.

August 18th -Yangshuo 11 - Dia 58
Last day in Yangshuo had finally arrived! ? My plan was to go climbing in the morning and afternoon.
We started the day in a new area called Chocolate. First we had planned on going to Twin Gates...but as we got closer to the area we realized the sun was hitting it strongly.
Carrying a massive half a watermelon and a few peaches we left that area behind and went to Chocolate. We where supposed to take it easy but as always ended up on a really hard route. It was supposed to be an 11d but I would defiently say no to that. Jake could not finish it and I had to go up two times! ? It was a nice new area, covered by bamboo vegetation giving it a fresher feel. Eating the sweet watermelon between our climbs was defiently one of the highlights. I just love watermelon.
Being 1:30pm we transfered our gear and bodies to the old classical area, Leipi Shan. How better to end climbing where it all started ? Good decision
Surrounded by familiar faces we enjoyed the rest of the evening. Laying down on the tarps while resting and looking up at the people climbing the amazingly hard overhanging wall. I was again mesmerized by how strong the climbers around here are. Today for the first time two western looking faces appeared in the climbing crag. An extremely skinny woman named Ola and a nerdy red headed guy who I never got his name. Both of them climbed so hard! After talking with them I found out they where actually locals and focused their time in setting up new routes and exploring new places. Exactly what I want to do back in my hometown...so just imagine how excited I got by talking with them about it. I will follow their steps ?
I climbed a bit,feeling tired from the morning. Tried top roping a 5.12d for the first time..thinking I could get the moves and reach the top. Proved otherwise as I got stuck in the main crux of the route. I was told that it was because of my leg that I could not do the movement, so I still have hope.
Not being able to climb anymore we sayed goodbye and started heading out. I found out last minute that a local climber had invited a group of us to his house to eat dinner. Not about to reject this amazing opportunity for my last night in Yangshuo we headed off together. Driving as a motorbike caravan through the green lush valley of Yangshuo with all my close friends I had made this past 11 days. I felt happy to be part of it.?
The local took us to see his house he had rented from a local farmer for 20 years (you can only rent farmer property since Chinese government prohibits the farmers from selling their land). He had made some amazing renovations and build a huge wooden deck on top of the old building to look at the valley. This guy was quite the artist so he had decorated the house beautifully, spending his free time oil painting the surrounding landscape?
With our bellies getting hungry we all went to a nearby restaurant and ordered 6 main dishes to share while talking through a beer. I think it was the best way I could have ended my time in Yangshuo. Hopefully some of the friends I made here come visit me in Monterrey, a lot of climbing places to show them. As they showed me.

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