China - Yangshuo County

8/4/2010

Our trip back to Hangzhou was pretty boring, the bus ride took longer than expected and dropped us at the same bus station we were at the day before. This time we decided the cabs can shove it and we grabbed a bus map and hopped on the public bus. As you might imagine, we were the only white curly haired, sweaty backpackers on a bus full of Chinese, but we didn't get ripped off and we eventually figured out how to get back downtown. Seeing that we had a couple hours to spare, we checked out the pretty lake in town for a little while before getting some lunch.



While walking around, we came across a cool soup place which had a large cooler full of ingredients. Here is how it works: you grab a basket and some tongs, open each door and pick out what you want in your soup, and then at the end you pick some noodles to go in, and the guy counts your items, takes your money, and prepares a spicy bowl of soup for you with your ingredients. It was great fun, and I loaded mine up with tofu, crab, mushrooms, cilantro and a bunch of greens. We told him to make it real spicy, and we proceeded to sweat all over the place. Next door there was a takoyaki stand and I can't pass up those delightful japanese fried octopus balls, so we split an order of those as well. Full and sweaty, we found the airport shuttle bus and headed out to catch our flight to the south.

The plane got in super late last night in Guilin, about 45 minutes by car from the town of Yangshuo. Luckily, I had arranged transport through our hotel in Yangshuo so we had a dude with a sign waiting for us at the airport. The drive in was really creepy, this area is covered in karst peaks, which are limestone hills jutting straight up and covered on the top by trees. At night all you see is dark strange forms all around as your driver speeds down a gravel road, and you are wondering if you did in fact arrange this transport after all, or if this is some kind of a terrible horror film developing before your eyes.... Luckily, our driver was legit and he dropped us at the River View Hotel which I booked after finding a tip on TripAdvisor about getting a rate that is less than half of their rack rate. Immediately, the security guard befriended us, and in really broken english, proceeded to offer to call some girls he knew for us, which he described as "colorful". From our balcony (wow this place is fancy by our standards) we could see a night market, and the Li river winding its way between some lit up peaks. Curious, we made our way through the market which quickly turned into a tourist street complete with thumping discos and vendors hawking all manner of cheap shit. A grocery supplied us with snacks and beer, and we turned in for the night.

This morning I woke up and snapped two photos from our balcony. It feels like we stepped into a different country already.

Look to the right: (the river is in the lower left behind the trees)


And now to the left:



We rented a pair of bikes, grabbed a map, and set out for the countryside. We really had no idea where we were going, but it didn't matter. Everywhere around here is amazingly beautiful, the stunning peaks are everywhere, and the river is an easy landmark to fall back on. We started on some roads on the way out of town:



Things got a little bit more rural after we turned off on a random dirt path.

From Yangshuo

Now we were riding among rice paddies and and what looked like taro fields. Here is another video to give you an idea of how it was to ride.



Eventually we became horribly lost and while looking at our map, a chinese lady stopped and pointed to the map and seemed to indicate that we could follow her for a while. She led us through a number of small villages:



Eventually we came to an 800 year old stone bridge which seemed like a good halfway point.



To get that photo we had to wait for the cow to cross the bridge



Our ride back took us back through some of the same villages, but we turned off the path and found a road that led us back into town. Overall it was a great ride.



Back in town we decided to stop for an early dinner of the local specialty, beer fish. It is a plate of carp, chopped up and stewed with vegetables. It was really fantastic, and went well with a plate of veggie dumplings and a beer.



After eating, we biked around town a bit, bought a bag of lychees and ate them by the river. As we poked around near the river, a group of Chinese students came up to us and started asking questions. We soon discovered they were at an english camp for the summer and were practicing their speaking skills. As the sun set, we bid them farewell, but not before snapping a group photo.



8/5/2010

Today we rented bikes again and set off on a different route. Today it was pretty hot so we stopped for a swim in the river:



The scenery was just as amazing as yesterday, but we took a lot more breaks due to the heat.



Back in town, we tried a small restaurant that promised us delicious spicy tofu. We explained that we want it Chinese level spicy, and they delivered. We even got a bowl of the chefs homemade chili paste to add more heat to both the tofu and fried noodles. The girls who worked there were all watching and laughing as we were sweating and smiling. Back at the hotel, we sat and enjoyed a gin and tonic and chatted with Jing, one of the employees who took a liking to Noah.



She also tried to cut off a lock of my hair as a souvenir, but I caught her before she could snip. We are now sitting around waiting for an overnight sleeper bus to take us to Hong Kong so we can meet up with a friend who lived in our dorm in college. Cheers!

Here are all the pictures from Yangshuo: