Trains, Planes, Boats and Minibuses

(Andrew)

The day started with a literal bang. For at least five minutes, firecrackers exploded on a street near our hotel. Though our windows were closed, it seemed that the firecrackers were going off right outside our hotel. Because Allen and I have been waking up a little late every day, it was a nice wake-up call to start the day.

After packing the rest of our luggage and eating another delicious Western/Chinese breakfast in our hotel restaurant, Ricky took us back into our min-bus for another day of adventure. Our first stop was a rural “Shangri-La” village where the Dong minority lives. Inside this gated village, everything was beautiful. Because the village is located near Yangshuo, rolling hills painted the background, and a crystal clear river cut through the village. To complement this natural beauty were the Dong’s traditional painted wooden buildings. While at the village, we took advantage of the river, and rode a boat through the village. The ride revealed the Dong people’s real modern homes which starkly contrasted with their traditional rituals and buildings at the front of the village.


The next stop was elephant hill. According to the legend, an arm of elephants clashed with an emperor a few centuries ago, and one decided to stay in Guilin. At the top of the elephant (hill) is a pagoda that represents the hilt of the emperor’s sword. Additionally, we saw in the distance two hills forming u2 a big turtle and a baby turtle. It is so interesting to see how the Chinese are able to perceive natural sights in such a creative light. However, unlike the other thousand year old legends we have learned about, this legend was only a mere two hundred years old.

After the elephant cave we went to FuBo Park, and saw the Big Banyan Tree, an eight hundred year old tree, and amazing Buddhist carvings etched in the side of cliffs surrounding the park. Since I visited the Buddhist nunnery in Hong Kong, Buddhism has been something I have sought to understand and immerse myself in; so, Fubo turned out to be a wonderful.

Our last stop before the Guilin airport was Reed Flute cave, and it was amazing. Unlike the Silver Cave that we had visited a day earlier, the Reed Flute cave was spacious and a little less touristy. At times, all six of us, including Ricky, would seemingly be alone in the cave system, and it was awesome to just hear the water dripping down from the roof of the cave. The stalactites and stalagmites were jaw dropping. Some even formed shapes of people or animals, so it was fun to stretch my imagination to attempt to see these different formations. After finishing walking through Reed Flute Cave, we all headed the airport for lunch and our flight to Kunming.

After a short flight, Howard, our new tour guide, picked us up from the airport, and took us to a very nice mushroom hot pot restaurant. The meal reminded me of sukiyaki in the sense that a variety of fresh ingredients were all continuously added to this giant pot of steaming broth, which was conveniently placed at the center of our table. As a fan of mushrooms, the hot pot was delicious. Served with various savory and spicy sauces, the soup was an excellent way to recharge our batteries before our first overnight train. Halfway through the meal Mr. Hoover and Pei Wei joined us (Mr. Hoover by the way is teaching English in Kunming by the way). It was so nice to see another face from DS. While talking to Mr. Hoover we got the added bonus of learning some invaluable pointers about the province we are scheduled to visit in the next couple of days. After finishing our meal, Allen was not feeling too well, so we all hopped in the mini-bus (Pei Wei and Mr. Hoover included) and went to a traditional Chinese medicine shop. Luckily, the store was still open and we got some medicine in time. Then, we headed over to the train station.

There, Pei Wei showed us a separate part of the train station that you have to pay to get into, but has a comfortable waiting room where people drink tea, play cards, or just catch up on their sleep. With a couple of hours to kill before our train, it was an easy going place to relax at. Additionally, it was nice that Mr. Hoover and Pei Wei stayed to keep us company. Towards 11:00 pm, which was the time we needed to board the train, Pei Wei helped consolidate our sleeping arrangements. But, we cut it a little close. After running from our waiting area down a couple flights of stairs and few train station platforms we reached the train with only a minute to spare.

As we walked down the train’s hallway it was interesting to see the different setups that people had made for themselves. One family in particular had managed to squeeze all of their personal bedding into the four small bunk beds that was their compartment. To be honest the thought of sleeping in a train with other people was scary initially, but when we all settled down on the train everything was surprisingly comfortable. That is, until the operators on the train came to tell us to move. Because our tickets had initially put all of us in separate carts, Pei Wei had graciously helped us in the train station to get compartments that were next to each other. But, apparently the operators on the train did not know that. After some difficult translating was done by Allen, everything was smoothed out, and the operators allowed us to stay. By that time I was exhausted. And, as the train began to move, I slowly dozed off to the odd yet soothing sound of classical, communist music resonating in our compartment.