Guilin - Yangshuo - Xi'an

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Mom and I arrived safely in Xi'an last night. It has been a really great couple of days. We spent two days in Guilin, two days in Yangshuo and now 4 days in Xi'an. Guilin was supposed to be a pretty small city by China standards but it was huge to me and we got lost taking the local bus. I think I already mentioned this in my last blog so I will not repeat myself. The second day we took a tour to Longshen to see the rice fields. It was a bit of a gray day, misty rain and fog. It was still beautiful. On our two hour journey to the rice terraces, we stopped in the Yao Village- a minority group in China. Apparently there are over 55. Anyway, we toured the village and got to see some of the houses made with local wood, bamboo and not a single nail. We watched a show performed by some of the locals who sand local folk songs and dances then showed us their famous long hair. Apparently, the woman can only cut their hair once in their lifetim e - when they are eighteen. Their hair must stay covered until they are married and is word in different styles depending on whether they have had children or not. One womans hair was 1.9 metres long! From the Yao village we swiched on to a mini bus up the mountain. I think that the drivers sole purpose was to scare us silly. It worked! I was holding on to my handle for dear life. The roads rivaled those in India in terms of width and height. We made it safe and sound to the top and I am happy to say that we got a different driver on the way down. When we got to the rice terraces, we stopped for lunch half way up the mountain. It was absolutely delicious. We had steamed fish on bamboo leaves, rice made in bamboo over a fire and local fried greens. The best food I have had so far in China. From there mom and I walked up to the top of the mountain. What a sight. It is really hard to describe but essentially, the people have cut what look like large stairs in to the mountain for growing rice. The terraces spread as far as the eye could see. The clouds cleared long enough for us to take a picture. On our way home that evening, one woman kept loosing her dinner - a turtle. She would randomly find it under the seats in the bus. It was quite funny actually.

The next day mom and I took a cruise along the Li River to Yangshuo. This was a very overpriced tour for what we got. Four hours on the boat and a mediocre lunch. Anyway, it was nice to see all the mountains along the river. Once in Yangshuo, mom and I decided to relax a little. We are both pretty exhausted and I have come down with a cold. The first day we slept in, enjoyed a latte then explored the village on foot. It is one of the smaller places we have visited so far. We both loved it there. BTW- I have never tasted such delicious dumplings in my life. The food here was delicious! The next day we took a guided tour of the country side a long the river to see some of the farming villages. These people work pretty hard. they use water buffalo to plow their fields and do so in mud up to their knees. We also visited a 400 year old village and a pretty impressive bridge built in 1412. That afternoon we sadly left Yangshuo back to Guilin and on to Xi'an. The flight was pretty short and we took a shuttle bus in to the city. So far, we have not seen anything. All I can say is that we are not liking the hostel. The first room smelt badly of sewage, the second was not clean, and the third, still smelled of sewage (although less then the first) and was one floor up from the dance bar. I think first on our agenda will be finding another place to stay!

Hope everyone is well.

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Photos

Rice terrace
The rice terraces were absolutely amazing. It was pretty cloudy the day we took our tour but it cleared up slightly when we got to the top of the mountain. Enough to take this picture anyway!

Water Show
Mom and I watched a show on the water with the mountains as the backdrop. What they were able to do was really impressive. It was worth every penny - and it was not many.

Scenery
We loved Yangshuo for its beautiful scenery.

Country side tour.
We toured the country side just outside of Yangshuo. It was really interesting to see everyone in the field getting ready to plant rice.

Reed Flute Cave
These are some caves just outside of Guillin.