Yangshuo Impressions

(Brandon Wu - senior at Dover-Sherborn High School)

Hey ya'll,

This is our second day in Yangshuo. We had much of the day off today to relax and explore. Mike and I went for an early breakfast and then for a walk through a nearby park. It was fascinating to see all of the activities that people were doing. We saw people doing tai-chi, a lady practicing with a sword (or what appeared to be), many kids running around under the watchful eye of their parents, and groups of men sitting around stone tables playing checkers or cards.
It almost looked like some of the scenes from the Karate Kid remake (with Jackie Chan and Jayden Smith).Mike decided to get a closer look at the old men sitting around these stone tables, and stealthily walked up behind them to curiously peer over their shoulders. He got some pretty intimidating and disapproving stares so we decided to depart the park.

After arriving yesterday, our group wanted to climb one of the nearby rocky hills (that are very characteristic of this region). We saw a stone pagoda on top of these hills and told each other that we would climb to it. We never found the way up; however, Mike and I had found another mountain to climb earlier this morning. Right next to the staircase was a group of small caves. Mike displayed his climbing prowess and clambered his way up. He found some nice graffiti (I know, an oxymoron), one of which read "Dreams do come true." The group certainly agreed that this trip was already shaping up to be just that. We led the group up to the top, snapped some pictures, and went back down. 

Later that night, Lily, our tour guide, took us to a show called "Impressions" that is very popular in Yangshuo. It focused on the four most prominent Chinese minorities: the Yao, Miao, Biao, and Zhuang peoples. The show itself took place within an outdoor theatre, built directly around a lake. It was a magical experience, with its numerous cast members emerging and disappearing under the colorful lights that lit up their watery stage. While we could not understand a word that was said by the cast, we did enjoy the show.

Signing out,

SirBrando