First impressions of Xi’an are good

(Lianna)

Allison: Li and Alex were not feeling well.. so Mark and I met Diana at 9 to go to Black Dragon Park. Our last chance to breathe the fresh mountain air of Lijiang..before hopping in the van, and heading to the airport. We started walking…on the way, we passed several people on their way to work in the town. Picture the quintessential Chinese park in your head… We arrived at the park and we ran into a large waterfall—the falls flow into the river, that flow into town and through the canals...  We then came upon a large pond... Jade Dragon Snow Mountain was in the background – and reflected in the water..stunning. Diana, Mark and followed a path around the pond…then walked back to the hotel..goodbye Lijiang..

Lianna: I puked again at breakfast and it sucked. But don’t worry, it was just a fluke. We went to the airport with Alex and I both feeling miserable. We thought we had a 4 hour flight from Lijiang to Xi’an, so after less than an hour when they told us to prepare for landing, we were all incredibly confused. We had no idea what was going on. Alex asked the flight attending if we were landing and she said Kunming, I nearly had a heart attack until she said “Connecting flight to Xi’an.” We still had no idea what was going on, so every time we were moved we just said Xi’an and waited for a yes. It might have been nice if someone had warned us about this. We finally got to Xi’an okay, and met the famed Richard…

When we got to Xi’an Alex wasn’t feeling good, so he stayed in, but the rest of us went to a Hot Pot dinner. Definitely the best dinner we’ve had in China. It was delicious, cool, and fun. They had tons of sauce stuff, and we each made our own sauce. Once we had our sauces we sat down at the table. Lettuce, Spinach, Chinese cabbage, thin noodles and thick noodles, potatoes, and Tofu were already waiting for us. Once we were sitting and ready to go they brought out lamb and eggs. We each had a small pot of boiling water. We put whatever we wanted into it and then poured our sauce on it. My sauce was soy sauce with chicken powder and a little bit of garlic… delish!  We are going back to this place again. YAY!

After dinner we went to the lantern show. That was awesome. We didn’t know what to expect, and the name is deceptive. We were expecting to see standard Chinese lanterns, or a performance, but we weren’t really sure. It definitely wasn’t like anything we were expecting. The best way to describe it is as parade floats, but they were made out of a thin cloth and had lights inside them. It was absolutely beautiful. So our first night in Xi’an was very good.

Shout out to Nat- HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

YAKS!

(Alex)

Today we headed to Jade Dragon Snow Mountain early in the morning, with the hopes of having a great day’s hike and, my personal goal, finding a yak to take a picture with. After meeting up with Diana around nine, we headed off in the direction of the mountain that had been towering so beautifully on the horizon for much of the previous day’s activities. Arriving in a very crowded parking area, we made a quick dash towards the cable car arrival station, due largely in part to the enormous crowds that were already forming around the ticket counter. 

Today’s trip really reinforced for us one of the things about Chinese culture that has really affected our trip thus far. There is absolutely no concept of lines when it comes to entering a vehicle or other constricted space. We have all learned to perfect the art of flying elbows and knees in order to reach the buses, planes, and cable cars as a group. 

Well, after a relatively short cable car ride (much to Lianna’s relief) we reached a sort of base camp for viewing the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, with a pristine meadow central to the stop. The trail surrounding the meadow and leading directly under the mountain was complete paved with wooden boards and steps, something that we learned is commonplace for many “natural” tourist attractions around China. Diana led us around the perimeter of the meadow, allowing us to take in the majestic natural beauty of the mountain up close as well as the surrounding meadow. We even saw a family of cows crossing the path behind us. They were quite cute. Making our way back down after many, many photos taken of the mountain, we stopped to see the river flowing from the mountain, and the place where many, many tourists were talking pictures of YAKS! Yes, we found our elusive prey in the pristine waters where many groups had found them in the past. After paying a measly 50 RMB (around $9) I was able to fulfill one of my big goals of the trip and ride one of the coolest animals found in China. We took a lot of cool pictures both together and separately, so keep an eye out for them (Yes, I know I have been saying this a lot, but it takes A LOT of bandwidth actually uploading photos so I think I’ll wait until we get a stronger connection). It was definitely one of the favorite moments of the trip for me thus far. After the Yaks, I exercised the waterproof power of my boots and waded into the falls, getting a lot more cool pictures and some jealous looks from the other tourists. And you thought bringing them would be a bad idea Mom! 

While Mark and Li both took the opportunity to walk upstream to some shallower areas and explore the crystal clear water banks, and had some fun splashing about, Diana and I went to get some spicy cup noodles. Even the cheap and nasty cup noodles taste better in a foreign country! 

Finally wrenching ourselves away from easily the most beautiful natural scenery we have seen in China thus far, we headed back to Lijiang to visit the Naxi Cultural Museum, the definitive collection of ancient artifacts of Lijiangs most populous minority. It was very interesting to see some of the ancient relics and technology of a culture that we have had to the opportunity to see operating in present day. Many of their old traditions are still maintained today, though in far more modern forms. It truly awakened us to the pervasiveness of minority cultures even in modern China, and how they have impacted the entire countries development. 

In keeping with the theme of minority exploration, our nighttime activity after a delicious traditional Naxi dinner was the ethnic traditional dance exhibition. It featured more than 15 different local ethnic minorities dancing to express various traditional stories that represent the respective minorities backgrounds. I was surprised to find that even with a language barrier, the show managed to convey the messages central to each minorities identity and tradition, and I think we all came away with a much more profound appreciation with each minorities long history and culture. 

Today has certainly been an amazing day in terms of connecting with the true natural and cultural essence of China, but an extremely exhausting one… So for now, goodnight! Coming up soon: Xi’an, and the Legendary Richard!

Lovely Lijiang

(Allison)

We hit a bit of a rough patch in Kunming…fortunately Lianna and Mark are feeling much better!

Lijiang is a beautiful and very well preserved ancient town in the Yunnan province of south west China. It is only 250 kilometers away from Tibet. Lijiang is 2,400 meters above sea level. The town is located at the base of the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, part of the Himalayas. The mountain is breathtaking.

We had a very full intinary for the day. Our first stop was to get sunscreen.  We headed into the town with our new tour guide Diana.  Second stop -- the Yuhu (Jade Lake) Naxi village. Naxi people are a Chinese minority group who inhabit the area of Lijiang. China actually has 56 different minority groups, but they are only 8% of the population. The majority of the population identifies as Han (96%).

The Naxi people became wealthy by trading tea, in the form of bricks, with the people of the Tibetan plateau, in exchange for a type of medicine that was only available in Tibet.  The Naxi men of Lijiang would travel for two months up the mountains to engage in trade, and then two months back. As a result, the women became the head of the households!

In the village, we visited the home of Joseph Rock, an Austrian American renowned botanist. Rock came to the area of Lijiang originally to study the plants of the area, but then became very interested in the Naxi culture. He ended up writing a book, Ancient Kingdoms of Southwest China and introduced south west China to the western world. The Naxi people work very hard at preserving their way of life and culture.

Second stop -- Yushui (Jade Water) Mountain Village. The Naxi religion is called Dongba, and they worship the god of nature. We visited a beautiful Naxi temple, and then a historically preserved Naxi village.  I met an old man and he gave me a piece of paper that had Naxi writing on it. The Naxi have their own system of writing..it is a language based on pictographs (similar to the cuneiform of the Mesopotamians).  Diana interpreted it as saying “wishing you safe travels”. Lunch time – the native food of Lijiang is very spicy..we had some sort of interesting chili that had bacon on top..and some other spicy dishes.

Third stop – the Yofeng Lamasery/Temple. Walking up a hill we noticed some older Naxi women in their traditional dress scurrying towards the entrance of the temple. They joined hands and burst into song. They then encouraged us all to join in. It was so fun – they were so friendly and happy!

We then climbed several stairs in order to see the ten thousand flower camellia. The tree itself is 500 years old. There was an old man, dozing off with a smile on his face, sitting in a chair near the tree. Diana informed us that he was 86 years old, and that his job for the past 50 years has been to take care of this tree…at the bottom of the stairs we explored the Tibetan Buddhist temple.

Back to the van..fourth stop – to visit a very old fresco that depicted the history of the Naxi people….but before we reached the fresco, we explored another temple..but this one was a Confucius temple.

After viewing the fresco we were very tired and needed a break. Diana took us to this open air café called the Buena Vista. We ordered milk shakes…but they were not as good as the ones in Yangshuo. Back in the van – again.. headed to explore the  old town of Lijiang!

The ancient town of Lijiang is wonderful..! There are canals and humpback bridges…shops, restaurants. Diana took us up to the highest peak so that we could take a picture. We then walked through the narrow streets and did some shopping! Alex bought a necklace. Mark went on a hunt for a Tibetan singing bowl!  Ginger candy is soooo delicious! We watched it being made and then had to buy some. 

Diana took us to a restaurant called Mishi Mishi. We had such good food! We tried fried lotus flower root – delicious! After dinner, Diana took us to this wonderful tea house. She kept telling us that their tea was of very high quality. We tried several different types of tea. One was three years old, another was eight years old…the tea had to be seeped twice, before we were able to drank it..to clean it. After we had enough tea..we headed back to the hotel, grabbed our laptops and went in search of an internet café.

It's Better to Rest Here for A While

(Mark)

This has been such a long day that I BARELY even remember the morning, but fortunately I took a few notes that should help…

We had to wake up relatively early this morning, as we had to be in the lobby with our bags, ready to check out by 9 AM. I headed down to breakfast early, then went back down with Lianna when she was ready. Fortunately, I was feeling fully recovered from yesterday, but Lianna still wasn’t feeling her best, and thus didn’t eat much. Anyway, after breakfast, we headed out to meet Michael, and hopped in for the first of two hour-long drives. The drive took us out of the main city (which is quite nice, by the way), through a countryside of rolling fields and farmlands, to the small village of Yang Zong, named for the lake around which it is situated. The village actually boasts a variety of different things. For one thing, the soil is full of iron, which generally makes it hard to grow anything, but allows tobacco and tea to thrive. These two crops are thus the two biggest exports of the village (and I think the province as a whole). There was also what looked like a nuclear power plant on the outskirts of the village; it had two large reactor things that you always see in textbooks and such. Michael laughed at us when we asked if they were nuclear, saying “it would be dangerous to have them that close to the road.” He told us that it WAS a power plant, but that it produced power from the coal… not really sure what that means or how it works, but he didn’t seem able to explain any further. Michael also told us that the golf course renowned as the best in the province was nearby. He also told us that golf was actually once an abbreviation, standing for “Gentlemen Only, Ladies Forbidden,” but that now it commonly referred to as “Grass, Oxygen, Light, Friendship.”

The main attraction of the village, for us at least, was an embroidery museum, where they made and displayed all kinds of things, including pictures, carpets, and clothing. It was actually quite amazing. We walked in and were greeted by a woman who was once an English teacher. She told us that everything in the museum was made by her family, and proceeded to take us around and tell us about the displays. The pictures were much like what we’d seen at the Chen Family House; completely silk embroidered, with amazing detail and color. As we walked through the gallery, she told us how long each picture took to make. Some took only one month, while some took up to eleven months. The longer ones were much more detailed, and often featured people. One human face alone takes about one month to embroider with detail. There were pictures of everything—ships, the Great Wall, and even a remake of the Mona Lisa. She then brought us to the carpet-making part of the museum. Some of the carpets (those meant for decoration, not for walking on) were even more detailed than the pictures. She told us these took up to two and a half years to make (can you imagine spending that long working on the SAME thing every day?). When we noticed a half-complete carpet featuring a dragon, we realized just how renowned the embroidery of this family must be, as it was specially ordered from Israel. After the carpets we headed to the gift shop, which featured shirts, shoes, and many other trinkets, which, she told us, were all made completely from hemp.

After that, we got back in the van for another hour-long drive to the stone forest. Attractions along the way included the China’s first-ever international railway. Funded by the French, engineered by the Italians, and built by the Chinese, the 865 km (1392 miles) railway snakes through the mountains from Kunming to the capital of Vietnam. Oh yeah, and there was also the minor inconvenience of a bridge being closed, and our driver clearly not knowing how to go around it. We ended up going through another small village, though this one was much worse off—it was completely filled with slum-like houses, and the roads were BARELY big enough for our van (much less two lanes of traffic). We made it through though, and continued to the stone forest. We stopped for lunch on the way, which was as delicious as ever (though much too big, especially as Lianna still wasn’t feeling up to eating much). We had our second experience with a whole fish being placed on the table, but just as last time, it was quite delicious.

After lunch, we made our way into the stone forest. At first, we didn’t really know what we were getting ourselves into. At the entrance, there was a small pond with a bunch of rocks sticking out of it. Apparently, the rocks were completely natural, but the water was added when Zhou Enlai toured the forest and said it would be more feng-shui with it (rocks are positive and water is negative. Or the other way around. Can’t remember which). We then proceeded up a staircase made of stone, which was very slippery, as it had been raining recently, to a small pagoda from which we could see all of the stone forest. We were shocked at what we saw.  The stone forest covers an area of 360 square kilometers. Within that area are some of the strangest, yet coolest, rock formations on Earth. A few years ago, a blogger described the forest as something out of Lord of the Rings; when we saw it, that was EXACTLY what Alex and I jumped to, particularly the scenes around Mordor, though without the volcano and black clouds and such. The stairs are comparable to the path up to Shilob’s lair, both in size and slipperiness. Anyway, the rocks are completely natural, and, if I understood a sign correctly, are made of limestone from corals over 200 million years ago. There are now pathways running all through the forest, though in some parts they were barely wide enough for us to fit through them. As we made our way through the forest, we felt like celebrities; at one point we were mauled by a crowd of eager Chinese, all of whom wanted pictures with us, one by one. After escaping that crowd, a pair of Chinese girls who wanted their own picture with him grabbed Alex, and Lianna was snatched up by a teen dressed in a pimp outfit. We FINALLY made it through that crowd, though not alone. We soon discovered that we were being followed by a pair of old Chinese women (we weren’t just being paranoid, they LITERALLY followed our every move…at one point, we had to turn around, and they were RIGHT behind us and turned around as soon as they saw us do so). So that all was a little funny. We thus made our way through the forest, doing all the things that Chinese tourists were doing—touching certain rock formations for health, luck, and safe travels, and sitting on one that’s supposed to make you immortal (hence the title of this blog).

By the end of that walk, we were all pretty tired, and didn’t notice much of the “small” stone forest, which was basically just the path to the park exit. We did encounter a group of minority people, however, who were having some kind of celebration that involved chanting, dancing, and playing a guitar-like instrument with only three strings, and drum as a body. After all that, we finally headed back to the van, which took us aaaaaall the way back to Kunming, and then to the airport. We arrived quite early, and ended up having an hour and a half just to chill. About 4 hours after we left the stone forest, we finally boarded the plane for a whopping 50 minute flight that took us to Lijiang. 

You will probably not be reading this until well after we’ve left Kunming, as the hotel here does not have internet in the rooms, and charges 150 RMB for one hour down in the entertainment center. Oh well. It is now almost midnight, and I think I’ve given enough detail to this entry (am I right dad?), so I shall say good night. 

Ducks ducks ducks ...

(Lianna)

Being the ambitious people we are, Mark and I decided to get up at 7 in order to go on a bamboo raft before leaving the hotel at 11. We went down for breakfast around 7:45. We left the hotel at 8:45, and headed down to the river. West Street was pretty much empty, except for the early-morning walkers and people setting up shops. On the way to the waterfront, we came across the CUTEST little puppy, playing with a twig or something. We wanted to play with it, but we couldn’t go near it in case it had rabies… it was sad. The dogs here are SO cute and there are so many but we have to stay away. It’s incredibly hard.

When we arrived at the waterfront, a lady came up to us and said “bamboo raft?” We figured we’d be safe to go with her, so we paid the 60 Yuan and boarded. When the engine fired up and we didn’t move, due to the incredibly strong current in the opposite direction, we became a little skeptical, and wondered if it was worth the amount we paid. After a few minutes, we realized that we had no idea what we’d gotten ourselves into; we didn’t know where we were going or how long it would take. We decided to just relax and enjoy the scenery. It was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, we saw people capturing ducks and I decided I am never going to eat duck again. The way they capture them is utterly cruel. They stuff tons of ducks piled on top of each other into tiny cages. I decided to call it the duckocaust. The ducks were so cute. Ducks ducks ducks

We passed a boat full of people whom we think were going to market to sell their products. It was confusing though because they were all dressed really well and one had an ipod. But they were kind of creepy because they started at us, and not in the way that most Chinese people stare at Westerners. It was a more intent and lengthy stare.

As we walked back to the hotel things were starting to liven up on West Street. We chilled in the hotel for a little while, then we drove to the Guilin airport… where I got sick… very sick... For 24 hours (but I didn’t feel the effects until we got to Kunming)… and it sucked… So we had dinner and went to the hotel, and that’s when my life spiraled into hell. I’m still getting over the sickness and I’m afraid of food, but I feel much better.

House of the Dragon

(Alex) 

Well, although it is not my day to blog, certain circumstances (i.e. a moderate bout of food poisoning) have left Mark and Lianna pretty much incapacitated, so I’m picking up the slack. Today was the first day full in Kunming, and, although only half of us experienced it, it was one of the best days of the trip so far. Leaving Mark and Li to sleep off their illness, Allison and I met up with our guide, Mike, and set off into the busy streets of Kunming City. 

The best way to describe the sprawling city is to recount a tasteful combination of advancement and of tradition, with skyscrapers and traditional Chinese architecture dispersed along the busy streets. I in particular was interested in visiting the city because of my personal connection to some of its history. My godmother’s mother was the daughter of Yunnan Province’s last governor general, Long  (Dragon) Wen, before the Cultural Revolution, a man who, as our guide told us, has garnered much praise amongst the locals of Yunnan for his many beneficial reforms and public projects, most importantly the Burma Road. His daughter had arranged for our group to be allowed to actually visit her family’s house, which has since been converted into an extremely exclusive hotel for visiting dignitaries, and was the first destination on our trip. 

To call it simply a house is an understatement.  This place was an entire compound, complete with its own beach front property, a theater, and “rest and relaxation” house that looked closer to a mansion. We were greeted by the head liaison of the hotel, and were led rather quickly around some of the more tranquil areas of the resort. However, this did not detract from either the beauty of the location or the personal resonance the location had for me. Envisioning  “Nai-Nai” and her family growing up in such amazing and lavish locale really gave me a new perspective and appreciation for the stories she has told us. We both certainly felt honored to have access to such an exclusive aspect of Kunming’s culture. Michael, however, didn’t seem to grasp the concept of a godparent, and constantly referred to Long Wen as “your ancestor”, and even took the opportunity to brag about me to the driver. After taking many photos, we continued on to an amazing Buddhist temple lodged in the heart of the city.

Seeing many different forms of traditional architecture and techniques, including one borrowed from the Japanese by which it is possible to build an entire temple without using a single nail, Allison and I both were entranced by the beauty and charm of the temples. We both took tons of pictures so be sure to keep an eye out for them soon! My personal favorite shrine was one that sat on a small pond only a few inches deep, housing a many-armed Goddess of Mercy. Seeing the devotion which the local Buddhists showed this and every other shrine was certainly an eye-opening experience. Michael was surprisingly knowledgeable about the various different sects of Buddhism and how they manifested themselves in this temple, much to Allison’s delight (ongoing joke here… Allison wants to become Buddhist). 

After a lot of wandering, we  left the temple and decided to break for lunch in a little restaurant right in the shadow of the Western Mountain. The food there was, in a word, AMAZING! It was by far the best food I have had on the trip so far, especially the restaurants specialty, a pork knee extremely reminiscent of the cuts of meat I have had at the Beer Gardens in Munich. While Mark and Li couldn’t experience it, I’m sure Allison and I ate enough to feed four people! After an extremely satisfying meal, we headed up the Western Mountain to view some of the most spectacularly position temples I have seen thus far. 

The Daoist temples in the Western Mountain are quite literally carved into the mountain side, making for some spectacular views and some extremely spiritually devout followers. Climbing up what seemed like hundreds of flights of stairs (with Michael having us count everyone, then stating the significance of the number to Daoist philosophy), we came to the highlight of the trip, the grottos. These grottos were carved into the face of the mountain by a single Daoist Priest and took over 3 years to complete! They consist of these intricate passageways periodically interrupted by shrines to Daoist gods. It’s astonishing to think the sheer force of will needed to complete such a formidable project! Again, look for photos soon! On the way down, Michael thought it would be fun to take the long way, descending not by car, but by stairs formally used by peasants wanting to show their devotion in the days before cars. Yea. Fun was had by all.

 Lastly, before heading to the hotel, Mike took us to the shore of the unpolluted half of the Dian Chi Lake (yes, they are separate bodies divided by a damn put in place by who else, Long Wen!), to see the migrating Russian seagulls. As it turns out, not such a good idea ‘cause Allison received a special “gift” from a passing gull, found on the drive back to the hotel on her backpack. A few more inches and we would have had a much more messy situation on our hands! Well, that pretty much sums up our day… we decided to forego dinner because Mark and Li are still out of it and Allison and I are dead tired. Will write again soon!

Bu Yao!

(Alex)

“Bu Yao!” A phrase that we have come to know, and frequently use, by our second day in Yangshuo, a beautiful resort town downriver from Guilin. It means “Don’t Want!”, and, as you can imagine, something we have said a lot to the swarms of local vendors who seem to latch onto us as soon as we make eye contact. Today, we had a “free day”, although we already had planned yesterday to find the fabled “Uncle Sam”, and view the surrounding area of Yangshuo by mo-ped. After a great sleep-in and a surprisingly tasty breakfast of eggs and bacon, we headed down the crowded West Street to find some hint of Uncle Sam’s shop. After some awkward questioning and about 20 minutes of hard searching, we found “Uncle Sam’s Travel” shop wedged between two much larger shops. 

A friendly middle aged man who identified himself as Sam warmly greeted us and asked us how he could help. Although we introduced ourselves as friends of Team China (last years group), Sam sadly did not remember last years group. He did, however, quickly run us through the options for the day trip, ranging from raft trips, bikes, mopeds, and, my favorite, hot air balloons. We ultimately decided, however, to do the traditional moped trip with a guide to Moon Hill and back.  After meandering for about an hour while Sam prepared the mo-peds, we returned to meet our tiny but extremely lively guide Annie. After what seemed like no time at all Sam was ushering us down West Street on these foreign vehicles to pick up my larger “Big-Westerner” moped. All of us were slightly apprehensive at the prospect of navigating Yangshuo’s wild traffic on these little electrical bikes, and neither Annie nor Sam seemed to be picking up on it. With a far-too-calm “Ready?”, Annie whisked away amongst the whizzing traffic, leaving us slightly at a loss. After a quick glance Mark, Li, Allison and I reluctantly followed. 

The city traffic was terrifying. Trucks, bikes, and cars in varying degrees of disrepair zoomed past us on both sides, the concept of street signs and laws seemingly lost to the Chinese drivers, who passed across the center of the road with complete disregard for their own safety and that of those around them. Honking was abundant. Finally, after many close calls, we navigated the hectic streets to come out into the main road leading to the country side, where the view was far more scenic, but the street no less dangerous. The white-knuckled ride to Moon Hill will be one I am sure I will never forget. 

Arriving at the impressive formation, some of us decided they weren’t up to the hike (I’ll give you a hint, they're dating.) Allison and I however, headed straight up the stairs provided to the summit. We did not count, however, on divergent paths, and after climbing up the wrong path on a very steep incline for the better part of 20 minutes, we came to realize that we had actually gone up the wrong path. Yeah. So after much frustration we made our way back to the bottom and hiked our way up to the summit of Moon Hill, only to discover that, had we continued down the “wrong way” we would have eventually came back around the right way anyhow. Much frustration and exasperation ensued. But, Allison and I both agree that the view from the summit was well worth any consternation that we endured. (Look for pictures when I find a fast enough connection!) 

On our return journey down the mountain, we ran into a very talkative but very friendly Brit who had been traveling out of his backpack in China since 2007 (!). He offered us loads of helpful information about most of the places we will be traveling, and was a great inspiration for us to experience China without any inhibitions. Meeting Annie, Li, and Mark at the bottom, we were informed that we would be taking a much more scenic trip back, going along many of the back roads instead. It was, quite simply, amazing. We took a road that led amongst many of the rice farms, passing farmers and small huts and houses along the way. It was an amazing eye-opener for me, especially in the sense that even amongst so much accelerated development that we had witnessed, there were still so many places in China in which its citizens lived in relative poverty. The sharp dichotomy between the overly developed and over-crowded city of Yangshuo and its surrounding rural community was simultaneously stunning and thought provoking. However, this lack of development did not seem to diminish the quality of life of these farmers, who wore ever-present smiles and cheerfully approached us and returned greetings of “Ni hao!” whenever we waved or pointed. I truly felt for the first time that I was experiencing the real China that only a trip such as this could provide. By being able to fully insert ourselves in the rural community in ways that the average tourist could not, we were able to get a small taste of what the true essence of China might be. The moped ride back was without question the highlight of the trip so far. 

Finally returning to Yang-shuo almost 5 hours after we had left, we were overcome by an overwhelming sense of accomplishment and exhaustion. Lianna, however, still had her heart set upon taking a bamboo raft up the Li River, and although we ultimately decided against it today, she still plans to wake up early with Mark and try her luck by the docks. After a little more wandering and haggling along West Street, we were completely spent and decided to take some personal time and meet back up at dinner. I wandered the streets some more and struck up a conversation with one of the street artists, who actually was an art teacher at the University of Beijing but was in Yangshuo for New Years to provide instruction to younger artists. We chatted for about an hour about the trip, China, Politics, and America. It was a very cool conversation and great night. Meeting the guys again by the hotel, we decided to try a quaint little restaurant off of West Street called Lucy’s, where we met Lucy and were served some of the best spicy beef I have ever had. 

And that brings us pretty much up to speed. It has been exactly a week since we left the States, which sometimes seems like an eternity, and yet the time has flown by. Even only a week into this trip, and I have had some of the greatest traveling experiences of my life. I miss you guys, and hope everything’s well. Shout out to Mr. Bourque, Mr. Kors, Mrs. Koppeis, and Mrs. Cheverie and all my classmates! Talk to you later.

“Use Your Noodle”

(Allison) 

Macy, our super cute and sweet tour guide, met us in the lobby of our Guilin hotel at 8:50 am.  We headed to a boat that would take us down the Lijiang or Li River (named after Lianna of course) to Yangshou. Guilin and Yangshou are two absolutely beautiful places. Their economies are based on tourism and they love westerners..

The weather – sunny, clear skies, 68 degrees – perfect! The Li River is majestic. The stone hills (not quite big enough to be called mountains) pop right out of the ground. (Please google a picture in order to understand how beautiful and unique they truly are). 

This is the dry season, so the river is very shallow and narrow. The cruise was quite lovely – it took us 5 hours…(during the flood season it only takes 2 )but it was so relaxing..it went by very fast.  I stayed outside on the upper deck for a while admiring the hills/mountains, the local people, and the water buffalo. Macy told us that we were very lucky because the water buffalo only come along the river when it is sunny and warm.

The Chinese people love to see objects in their rocks…they have very good imaginations.  Along the river there are various rock formations that people have identified as looking like different things such as a Buddha, a woman waiting for her husband, a fish tail…and Mark’s favorite – Jaba the Hut!  (very similar to the Old Man in the Mountain in NH..Can you see it Becky?) Macy kept telling us to “use your noodle”and our imaginations…

When we reached Yangshuo there was all sorts of commotion at the dock. People trying to sell us things and offering to take us out on the bamboo rafts… Macy had attempted to teach us how to barter before we got off the boat. We walked down West St. ( a tourist street lined with all sorts of shops and restaurants). Yangshuo is a very cool place. It is a very popular destination for backpackers. A large amount of westerners are here…and a large amount of people speak English.

We checked into the hotel and Macy left us for awhile… Our hotel is wonderful…there are courtyards and gardens, and it is a great location -- right at the end of West St. Enthusiastically, we headed right out – back in order to try out our bartering skills. Alex bartered for some sort of rope bracelet. I bartered for some playing cards with photographs of the scenery of Yangshuo.   I know that Lianna mentioned it - but there are babies everywhere in China..and they are ridiculously cute.. they are all bundled up in the poofy outfits! We love them.

We had dinner at this really cute place and sat on a balcony overlooking a side street of West St. We all ordered milkshakes and they were delicious! I had sweet and sour chicken, Lianna had some sort of egg and shrimp dish, Alex had a Chinese portion of steak, and Mark had duck (his favorite!). Oh yes, and lots of rice.  Trying to decipher restaurant bills in Chinese is always a challenge – so we had to work backwards from the menu to figure out what each of us owed – fortunately we were able to borrow a calculator – to our amusement it was a talking calculator (in Chinese of course..) so we were able to practice our numbers…yi, er, san…

Lianna and I made plans earlier to go to the “Realistic Performance with Landscape in Guilin” with Macy. We took an open air electric taxi to get to the show – the people in Guilin and Yangshuo are extremely environmentally conscious because there economy is primarily based on tourists coming to see the natural beauty of the area. 

Amongst a massive crowd, we arrived at the show.  Macy had Li and I stand next to a fence,  while she picked up our tickets. A very large Chinese family enthusiastically approached us…and started speaking to us..except the only person in the family who could speak English was their young daughter..She introduced us to her father and then introduced herself as Nancy! The Chinese are fascinated by us (and vice -versa).

The show is performed on the Li River with a natural landscape background..in Lianna’s words: “I was not expecting this to be so magnificent”.  It was fantastic. A portion of the opening ceremonies of the Olympics was modeled after the show…there are 680 performers (they are all cormorant fisherman or farmers from the local villages) and … 3,000 audience members…attended the show.

(back to my HK blog – I guess the bridge we walked over, at our first Buddhist temple, only added 3 days – not three years to our lives..but that is still pretty good!)