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Published: September 17th 2007
Li River, China
Us on the Li River between Guilin & Yangshuo.After leaving Fenghuang, we rode another overnight train, but this time we got a soft sleeper for the first time. A little extra money got us a private compartment with only 2 other people (well, actually 3, one little girl shared a bed with her mom) and air conditioning. A much quieter & more comfortable ride. We arrived at our destination at 4:30 AM & had to catch a bus to take us to Guilin. We got there around 7:30 AM & found a hotel before heading out to look for another travel agency to help us book our last bit of time in China & travel to Vietnam.
After getting things all squared away, we did some sightseeing in Guilin. The next day we rode a boat down the Li River to Yangshuo. This a huge tourist town, so many of the people here spoke some English, unlike the rest of China. We were even able to find some restaurants serving Western food, but they weren't as good as we were hoping... We did manage to find a bakery that we really liked, so we ate a few too many egg tarts & coconut tarts. YUM! 😊
While
Yangshuo, China
Laura with her bike in the Yangshuo countryside. in Yangshuo, we rented bikes & rode through the countryside. We rode to Moon Hill & hiked up to the top of it, where the views of the country were amazing. Literally at the top of the hill, Ashley caught her one of her Tevas on a rock & ripped the front strap off! It was a painful descend down the hill for her, but once we got close to the bottom, we bought a pair of bamboo? or straw? shoes from an old lady. She even helped Ashley put it on her one foot. Later that day as we peddled through some small towns along the country roads, we stopped for some pictures along a river & the local women were all laughing at Ashley's mismatched shoes, hahahaha! Luckily we were able to repair her shoe in town for really cheap!
We also went on a day trip to the Longsheng Dragon Back Rice Terraces. It wasn't actually that great of a trip, but we did see a local tribe where the women are known for their long hair. They are in the Guinness Book of World Records. The one hour we got to hike up along the
Yangshuo, China
Moon Hill... Ashley broke her shoe at the very top of the hill! rice terraces was beautiful. We also tried a local specialty dish, bamboo rice, rice cooked with some veggies in a bamboo shoot which is put in the fire. Tasty! On the way back we encountered a traffic jam due to a car crash & the bus driver was being crazy trying to turn around on the tiny one and a half lane road to go another way because the cars weren't moving. When he finally got turned around he went about a quarter mile before deciding to turn around again! And our tour guide had assured us at the beginning of the tour that he was the best driver in China (something we heard every time we got on a new bus).
From Guilin, we rode a train to Nanning, where we caught a bus down to Hanoi, Vietnam. The border crossing was a bit chaotic. There weren't any lines, you just placed your passport in through a window where the piles of other passports where waiting to be processed. You then just waited for them to hold up your passport picture & try to pronounce your name to get the processed passport back. Once we got ours back
Yangshuo, China
Ashley's new shoe on the way down from Moon Hill. from the government officials we got onto another bus (Vietnamese, not the Chinese bus from earlier in the day) where another government official boarded the bus & checked to ensure all our passports had been processed. They have to do this because since there isn't a line & check point inside you could just walk through & board the bus without having your Visa/passport validated. Not the most efficient method.
Hanoi is noisy & filled with motor bikes everywhere. Crossing the street can be a daunting task. You just have to walk out in all the traffic facing the bikes coming at you & trust that they will dodge around you as you cross the street. The different food & friendly people are definitely a welcome change. Even though we haven't escaped the vendors that constantly want to sell us stuff. We also love the food & drinks they sell on the streets. It's common to see people eating in little plastic chairs on a sidewalk. We stumbled upon some cheap keg beer (12 cents per cup, but the cups were small) being sold on a street corner. Sidewalks seem to be used for everything but walking in the
Old Quarter. Vendors use it to sell their wares or people use it to park their motor bikes.
After a few days in Hanoi we headed to Sapa - a French hill station near the highest peak in Vietnam, Fansipan mountain - northwest of Hanoi. We spent the a few days hiking through the mountains & rice fields & spent 2 nights with 2 different local families. The first day of our trek we had local women & girls (as young as 9 years old) walk all day with us so that they could try & sell us stuff later that night. A little annoying when you want peace & quiet to enjoy the scenery but came in handy later in the day when we were basically mud skiing downing the mountain side - it's the end of their rainy season here. They would offer their hands to support ( i.e. "drag") us down the hillside. Once we arrived at the house for the night we heard "You Buy From Me" again & again from each of the ladies for the next 1/2 hour. We had to say "no, thank you", "no, no, no", "NO, Thank you!" several times
Hanoi, Vietnam
A sea of motor bikes! as they presented every item in their inventory multiple times. A real test of patience!
We then took turns taking "showers". There was no shower head, you were basically in a cement enclosure with a tap coming out of one wall about knee high. Nobody told Ashley what to do when she got in there & she ended up pulling the faucet out of the wall & being sprayed by water while trying to force it back in, hahahaha. Finally she figured out how to get it back in & filled the plastic basin full of water to scoop onto different parts of the body. A fun shower experience. Later that night after a home cooked meal the husband of the house tried again & again to get us to take shots of home brew rice wine. We counted - mot, hai, ba, zo - "one, two, three, bottoms up" with him several times! The first few sips of rice wine seemed very strong but it seemed to get smoother & smoother with every shot... :D
When we got back to the hotel in Sapa, where we had left one of our bags, we found a mouse or
Hanoi, Vietnam
Drinking on the street with our new friends & watching the traffic go by... rat had chewed through our pack to get to some food we had left inside! The hotel staff sewed it up for us, but I think we could have done a better job. Looks like the person who sewed it had never sewed before. Despite the mouse, we really enjoyed our time in Sapa & the surrounding villages. It was also much cooler up in the mountains & was a welcome break from the heat of the cities (as we sit here in a Internet cafe in Hanoi, sweating).
Next we headed to HaLong Bay & Cat Ba Island which is off the east coast of Hanoi. We spent the first day riding the junk boat (wooden boats that can sleep about 12 people plus staff) off the coast & through the limestone peaks & islands that dot the water. We stopped in the afternoon for a little kayaking & swimming. Ashley made a few jumps from the top deck of the boat but a certain someone else was too chicken. 😉 And then we watched a beautiful sunset from the top deck before dinner & sleeping on the junk boat that night in the bay.
The next
Sapa, Vietnam
Trekking along the hills near Sapa. So beautiful! day was rainy so we didn't go hike in the Cat Ba National Park as planned, but kayaked all morning in the drizzle instead. We looked at the many different floating fishing villages on the water & when it cleared up after an hour or so we pulled our kayaks up on to an island beach & took a swim. Later in the afternoon we headed to Cat Ba island (the largest island & the only one with a town on it) where we discovered that Ashley was very, VERY sunburned! So the next few days we spent chilling OUT of the sun on the island. We did manage to go to the beach 2 days where we spent time reading under the umbrella & then jumping in the water to cool off & swim (Ashley in a t-shirt, hat & sunglasses to prevent further damage to her pink skin)! It was really relaxing & helped us cast off our tiredness from China & get us ready to go for our next stop, Nepal!
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