This past week we had off of work due to “National Day” holiday. I don’t really know what this holiday is for other than basically the whole country takes it off. We decided to take a little trip to a place called Yangshuo with three other friends: Dennis (Chinese) Leah (American) and Kate (English). To get there we first took taxi into downtown Xiangtan, Dennis hired us a car to take us to a neighboring city-Zhu Zhou, we took a train from Zhu Zhou to Guilin, a bus from Guilin to Yangshuo, then walked to our hotel. Whew! It was exhausting. The train ride ended up being a bit longer than expected- about 12 hours. It was an overnight train and luckily we got “sleepers”. There are 6 bunks in each tiny cabin and Doug and I had the very top bunks so we had to use our climbing skills to get up there. It was a decent ride and we even clocked a few hours of sleep.
When we first got into Yangshuo I was amazed at the beauty. There are these tall, yet slender mountains peppering the whole valley and Yangshuo is right in the middle of them. It’s a small city and very “Chinese”
We loved walking around the city and bartering for some souvenirs. Yangshuo is a perfect place for anyone that enjoys the outdoors, especially rock climbing. We met lots of Australians who were just bumming there and climbing. We even saw a blue sky and I couldn’t get enough of the fresh air. The only problem is a large portion of China had the same idea to go to Yangshuo and the place was crowded. Not America crowded, but China crowded. It was pretty crazy the first couple days- hard to even walk down the street. You basically had to swim through the sea of people.
We took a 5 hour raft ride down the Li River and saw some iconic places: the scene drawn on the Chinese 20 Yuan bill, another mountainous scene found on a box of cigarettes, and “9 Horse Mountain”. It was a beautiful and relaxing ride despite the fact we were sharing the river with countless rafts hauling tourists as well. Our Shi Fu (raft master) let us make lots of stops along the way at different areas to get some good shots and enjoy the tiny shops set up along the coast.
Doug and I rented some bicycles and rode about an hour or so away from the city to Moon Mountain. It was a little unnerving at times swerving in and out of the traffic and trying not to get hit, but it made it quite enjoyable too. We hiked up Moon Mountain and found quite a treasure at the top- a 69 year old lady selling water and postcards. She’s one of many elderly ladies selling things, but we loved talking with her. She spoke a little English and had this little book that she showed us that loads of people had written in- yearbook style telling about meeting her. A few of them said things like “We love you lady! Just spent 100 Yuan on a beer we didn’t need! We hope you keep on hiking the rest of your days.” (Beer is only 5 Yuan) It was so fun to look at and she showed us a bunch of pictures of her young “friends” that she’d met at the top. Moon Mountain was a decent hike (you can see how sweaty I am!) and this tiny lady hikes up there every day! Between her little English and Doug’s little Chinese they had a hilarious conversation. She showed us around the top of the mountain and took some shots of us. We just loved her! Needless to say, we bought some postcards and water we didn’t need. After talking with her we continued up to the “illegal” part which is on the very very top of the natural bridge; bit scary too. The pictures below were taken in the flat part under the arch.
We kept seeing foreigners all over Yangshuo and it was so weird for us to see white people! We’d do double takes a lot. Then we thought it was weird that we thought it was weird to see white people. No wonder Chinese people stare at us all the time. I was just as amused with the other foreigners as the Chinese are because they’re so different than what we’re used to seeing. Yangshuo caters to the foreigners and we took advantage of this. We had western food for every meal. Nothing beats banana pancakes, scrambled eggs and fresh OJ for breakfast! We had some great fruit that we can’t find in America too. We filled up on all the stuff that we’d never find in our city so that we could return with a renewed appreciation for the delicious Chinese food that we have in Xiangtan.
We all spent too much money on fun Chinese souvenirs. Below you’ll see a lady getting silk straight from the silk worms! It was so cool to watch. Of course I couldn’t resist and ended buying a silk robe :)
The train ride home was a new experience. They were sold out of the “sleepers” so we had seats for the overnight, 9 hour ride. I was pretty apprehensive thinking of the long sleepless night ahead of us; then remembered how lots of Chinese buy standing train tickets and will stand up to 20+ hours and decided that I really shouldn’t complain. The seats were arranged in groups of four that are facing each other with a small table in between. We brought cards and somehow managed to teach a Chinese kid across from us, that didn’t speak english, how to play Phase 10. Doug and I played “War” with each other, but evidently were playing incorrectly because it never ended and we finally just gave up. We maxed an hour or so of sleep and were so excited when we finally pulled into our train station and make it safely back to our “home” in Xiangtan.
Comments
13 responses to “Yangshuo”
‘wow,you went to Yangshuo,that’s just nice !
What a gorgeous place!! How did you get those birds/ducks to stay on that pole? And the raft—that’s a pretty clever way to make a “bamboo” raft. I kind of feel like I’m visiting China too. Thanks for the blog. Keep those stories coming…..Love, Mom
The poor little duck things are tied to the pole. But we saw some later that night that were on the river “fishing”. So I think that’s when they get to exercise etc. It was really cool. There was a guy on a tiny raft with a little light hanging over the front and then the birds would stay in the lighted area on the water and fish and swim right in front of the boat. It was so cute! It was too dark to get a good picture unfortunately.
Your pics are beautiful!!! I am still so jealous everytime I read a post- I wish I was there! I just changed Colton’s poopy diaper- man I would trade with you in a minute! You guys live it up for all the rest of us stuck in “REAL LIFE!” hahaha Love you guys, Mandy
Wow these pictures are amazing! Those mountains are crazy. Chris and I just watched the new karate kid and then read this post…and then we decided we need to come to china because its so beautiful!
You guys are so awesome. And look so good! Aly- start eating you skinny little thing! :)
How are your classes going? What are some “english” things they have a hard time with? – sorry for the questions- im acting like they are aliens haha. Im really glad that they share my common love for lady gaga! :)
No, we love your questions! Things they have a hard time with in English….they have a hard time with pronouns. So they are always switching her/him & she/he so you aren’t ever sure who they are referring to exactly. L’s are really hard for them to pronounce at the end of a word especially. The word “famous” always comes out “famerrrse” for some reason; the words “clothes” is changed to “clotheses”- why the extra syllable? No idea. They use “fashion” as an adjective instead of a noun, for example: “That’s so fashion!” Instead of “That’s so fashionable!” I’ll think about it more in my next class and write down some funny ones. I’m starting to not notice the funny things here because I’m so used to it. We need to take pictures of the stupid mis-translated engrish signs too!
So, when are you guys going to come visit?!
ps- Im SOOO jealous you got a real silk robe from a little chinese lady making them from silk worms! Such a treasure!
I found out some information from a tour company about Guilin and Yangshuo that you forgot to tell us… That trip you took on the Li River is said to go through some of the most beautiful and unique rock formations anywhere in the world. They even said that the “day trip down the Li River with its staggering beauty will be one of your best days on earth!” Another comment from them was that “Guilin is possibly the most beautiful city in China.” I even went to http://www.chinahighlights.com and watched the Li River Cruise. WOW! I’m so happy you two had this experience.
Aly and Doug! Nice pics. My mom told me about your blog and I wanted to check it out. My wife and I are planning to try and teach english somewhere before I head off to grad school and have thought about China. When do you all get back? We would love to talk about your trip. Hope all is well. You guys rock.
Hey David! Good to hear from you! When do you graduate and head off to grad school? We should be back the end of January and would love to talk to you guys/answer any questions you have about going abroad to teach. It’d be nice for you since you have your degree because you get paid :)
Oh, and by the way- congrats on the wedding! I think your reception was like the day after we flew out or something, but we were really sorry we missed it.
Ha no problem. I’ll be applying to get into programs for fall 2012 and I think we will be in Rexburg fall 2011 so we should have plenty of time to talk then or sometime this coming winter when you guys get back. Tell Doug “sup” for me.
Hey Dave, thanks for stopping by! Congrats on getting hitched! A wife is a great travel buddy, so I fully encourage trying to live abroad for a bit if you can. We’ll be back in Rexburg/IF area near the end of January so we’ll spend an evening catching up.