Yangshuo
I was very sad to leave the comfort of our luxury suite in the early
morning of the 29. Julie picked us up and drove us to the dock to
board the ship. Our cruise ship was two stories and could probably
hold about 200 people, though it was half full for our trip. I was
looking forward to this cruise down the Li River to see the
spectacular limestone karst mountain scenery that China is so famous
for. The back of the 20Y bill features this landscape.
There was a group of South Americans on the boat who had a Chinese
guide who spoke very good Spanish with not a hint of a Chinese accent.
Her Spanish was so clear that even Scotty could translate parts of her
explanations. We sat opposite three Kiwis who were very nice. One
couple, Pete and Barbara, were very warm and put up with Scotty
showing them the pictures we had taken so far. We all recounted the
funny English translations we have found in China.
We were served a buffet-style lunch on board, which was quite good and
featured both Chinese and Western food. However, in Chinese-style, you
have to eat very quickly because they seemed to put away the food very
quickly. They cooked everything in the back of the boat. We also
witnessed a girl washing her hair in the back of the boat – I guess
there's a lot of water, so why not?
The cruise took about 4 hours cruising down 50 miles of the Li River
from Guilin to Yangshuo. After disembarking we were met by Lemon. We
were a bit surprised by her entrance as we had not been expecting to
be met in Yangshuo. At first I was a little concerned that we might be
being con-ed, but we had made extra arrangements with Julie before we
left Guilin for tickets and a transfer back to Guilin on the 4thso we
decided that it was probably ok Lemon was very excited to meet with us
and was training to be a tour guide, so offered her services for free.
Yangshuo is definitely the backpacker's town. It houses the highest
concentration of white people and English-speaking locals we have come
across. It provides outfitters for lots of outdoors sports, such as
rock climbing, kayaking, bike riding, etc, but still offers a thriving
nightlife. West street (Xi Jie) is a mecca for foreigners with tons of
restaurants offering Western choices and more importantly, English
menus. Plenty of bars as well as the normal souvenir vendors line the
street.
For dinner, I had the Yangzhuo style fried noodles and Scotty had kung
pao chicken. We then headed back to the hotel (the new Lijiang Hotel)
for our ride to the night illumination show called Illuminations.
After being passed off between guides and drivers and much confusion,
we finally made it to the show with tickets in hand (luckily a few
girls in the van spoke some English). The show was amazing and was set
on the Li River with the karst mountains lit up in the background. It
was produced by the same guy who did the opening ceremony for the
Beijing Olympics and portrays a few of the customs of the Zhuang
people, a local ethnic minority. The show features their call and
response singing from groups across the river from each other, much
like the singing of African Americans on old southern plantations.
The next morning we were met by Lemon and took a bike ride through the
countryside to the Water Cave. It is one of many caves in the area but
this is supposedly the longest and completely natural. It was located
near a small village tucked away near one of the mountains. I have
had my fill of limestone caves in the past but this one was different
because you could go swimming in the pools. There were three pools – a
relatively clear, cold water pool, a mud pool, and finally a relaxing
hot water pool. We were led by Mr. Lu, a local villager, who spoke
surprisingly outstanding English. He said he only studied in high
school but continues to learn English as his hobby. We stopped every
few minutes to be shown a stalagmite or stalactite that looked like
something, either a dog drinking beer or Buddha or Santa Claus. It
seems as though the Chinese love finding things in nature that appears
to mimic something familiar. Mr. Lu was an enjoyable guide who didn't
mind taking pictures on our own camera (they had people in the caves
that took pictures for you and would print them out in the cave for a
fee … we ended up copying a few to our camera for a reduced price). He
was also very curious about what lay outside of China and had many
questions for us. At the mud pool we met with three English speaking
Chinese from Tianjin, just north of Beijing, who were more than happy
to dump mud all over our heads. The mud pool was definitely
interesting as you could float easily in it...but the best was the hot
springs.
We then headed back to town and had a late lunch on West Street next
to the local Hostelling International. I had the famous Yangshuo style
fried noodles and Scotty had fried rice with pineapple. We both loved
the noodles but didn't like the rice so much. After a quick shower and
relaxing in the hotel we are now sitting at 7thHeaven Cafe on West
street watching a movie being shown outdoors (The Proposal) and
waiting for our appetite to come back.
-Julia