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Panda face Friday 15
thMay 2015
So after last week’s doom and gloom things are much better now.
Well, our plans to raft down from Guilin to Yangzhou were scuppered by the weather; it poured it down all Sunday night and was still raining when we got a message to say that the rafts were off. Instead we had a 90 minute bus journey.
This area is beautiful it is green with Karst Mountains and our hostel is out of town looking onto two Karsts with a pond just below us filled with noisy frogs. Our host Frieda is very nice, although a little distracted by her boyfriend Daniel, who is Brazilian. It’s an easy 20 minute walk into town so we got changed and went in to check the place out. It is the most touristy and Westernised place we have been which brings with it advantages, more people speak English and more information available but the downside everyone trying to sell you something, food, souvenirs, trips etc. It also still has huge numbers of Chinese tourists too! There is a cookery class in town that I may sign up for.
Frieda provides a family style evening meal so
we had dinner with her and Daniel. The food was delicious they cooked pork and lotus root, duck and aubergine dish, pak choi and the inevitable rice. Daniel also made a beautiful banana cake. It was really good value too at 40 Yuan each (£4.50)
The Yuan has improved since we got here, it was about 9.2 to the pound and it is now 9.6 which over several weeks makes a bit of difference.
Over the course of this week we have sorted out things to do, although the cookery class is proving problematic with no other people for Wednesday or Thursday. Tuesday we set off for town on bicycles and found the whole experience very easy. The Chinese drive as if it is formation dancing and everything seems to flow pretty well. There are lots of bikes on the roads and you get given plenty of space, the bikes weren’t brilliant and my chain came off and Chris’ front tyre blew but it was good fun.
We cycled back in the evening and had a real treat an Indian meal. Five weeks of Chinese food and we were ready for a change. A nice young couple
run the place, she is from Chengdu (the panda place) and he is from Darjeeling. We opted for a veggie Thali. A selection of little dishes and it was delicious even the Basmati rice was good after weeks of sticky rice. I found another cookery class and e mailed to see if I could go later in the week.
Wednesday we got up early and cycled to town for Chinese breakfast, amidst all of the touristy stuff life goes on and we sat with the locals on squat stools and had pork steamed bun and then moved nest door and had dumplings. We did buy another steam bun which tasted awful and some things that looked like Spanish churros but we tasteless and fatty. Food can be pretty up and down as we don’t have the language skills to ask questions. We then went in search of some shorts for Chris, no mean feat considering how skinny most Chinese people are!!
We had a leisurely cup of coffee and then mango and yoghourt for lunch before our afternoon bamboo rafting on the river Youlong. There are two main rivers here, the Li and the Youlong. We were lead
Cookery class
Stir-fried pork to believe the latter was most peaceful and scenic it was the latter but not the former. We got taken by car with a Chinese family crammed in the back and at the bank side and on the river were hundreds of rafts. We were then taken to a small weir, taken up on a little belt and then waited 15 minutes to go down the weir. It was pandemonium, loads of rafts, no obvious system for who was next, loudspeakers blaring encouraging people to pay for a photo and then back to the end!!
We have a scooter from Thursday to Saturday and so we will be able to get out and about and be a bit more independent for the first time on this trip. Our first day on the scooter was great fun, it is only 80yuan a day and not very new but it goes fine. We headed off to Fuli town and after two attempts got on the right road. As always we are trying to navigate from a tourist map!! We thought we should have reached the town so turned off into a little village where we just followed the roads until it came to an end at the river at what looked like a village food spot. We opted for a coke, always a safe option and enjoyed the view.
Back on the road we found Fuli but the heavens opened so we made for some shelter and ended up sitting with a guy who sold fertiliser. He invited us into his “shop” and made us a drink-of boiled water and we chatted while the thunder and lightning passed. Fuli is famous for hand-painted Chinese fans but despite following the tour buses we didn’t find anything. A young lad at the market did alert us to the fact our back tyre was very flat. Initially we thought we would just go to the garage but Chris spotted a scooter repair place. Fifteen minutes later the repair was complete and it was £3 and not a word of Chinese other than thank you.
I spent the afternoon at my cookery class and really enjoyed it. We went to the market first, just to look, not to buy. I decided not to join the others to see the really fresh meat section, caged rabbits, chickens cats and dogs ready to be killed, I know it happens but don’t need to see it. The cookery school was in a lovely rural setting and well organised by our teacher Jackie. There was a Dutch family of three, an American couple, a group of seven American High school kids and their teacher and a young couple from England. We made five different dishes and then ate them afterwards. It was interesting to see the way different flavours are put together but also the amount of oil and salt added. When I cooked mine I used much less oil and no salt as there was always something else salty added. I will certainly try out the little egg dumplings when I get home.
Today we are off to Xinping a little village just for a wander out and to enjoy the view and maybe walk by the river. As the week has gone on we have seen less and less of the hostel owner, two mornings no sign of her or breakfast but we found a lovely place in town yesterday so it is her loss.
We are here till Sunday and then fly to Hainan Island for a week on this tropical island and my expectations are pretty low as I suspect it will not be all it seems.
Take care
Norma xx
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