September 4 - China: Yangshuo

So none of us slept particularly well last night, especially when - at 3:00AM - an alarm went off and the lights came on.  But we went back to sleep until 6:00AM, which is when the lights and the Chinese music came back on.  We packed up our stuff, brushed our teeth, and got ready to leave.  The train arrived in Guilin at 8:00AM, and we all trudged off the train and out into the parking lot to get a bus to Yangshuo.

The Bus Trauma

We didn't have a pre-arranged bus set up, so Grant had to wheel and deal to get us a bus driver.  The touts were clamoring for us, and we finally negotiated a bus.  Unfortunately, it wasn't big enough for all 13 of us + baggage because there were already people on board.  So the bus driver threw some passengers off so we could squeeze in.  3-4 of us climbed onto the bus when another bus driver showed up from our hotel.  So we then had to get off the bus to climb into the other one, and the original bus driver and fellow touts were VERY ANGRY.  They kept yelling and screaming at us in Chinese, and one little lady started to hit Jon on the arm.  (Of course, he hadn't done anything.  But this hardly mattered because he was part of "the group".)  We finally got onto the 2nd bus and had thrown off all the touts who wouldn't let us leave.  Then we were on our way. 

Yangshuo: Lisa's Guest House 

The ride to Yangshuo was about 1.25 hours, and was pretty uneventful.   We arrived in Yangshuo at 9:30-ish and the bus dropped us off at the end of cobblestone road that was closed to traffic.  The cobblestone road was lined with little shops, sidewalk cafes, and guest houses.  Lisa's Guest House is a little hotel just a few blocks down the main cobblestone road with a cafe out front and on the main floor.  This is apparently a main staging point for Intrepid and they were very excited that we'd arrived.  Lisa is a Chinese woman with a little boy named Nicholas.  She speaks English very well and seems to know everyone who comes into the the Guest House.  Grant checked us into our rooms, while simultaneously arranging our activities for the rest of the day.  Jon and I decided to go on a bike ride to Moon Hill in the afternoon.  So we put our stuff into the room (yay!  air conditioning!) and met our guide downstairs at 12:00.

Bike Ride to Moon Hill

Anna, our guide, is a little Chinese girl with a lot of energy.  She took us outside to get our bike seats fitted for us, and we were pleasantly surprised to find fully-shocked mountain bikes.  We got everything settled and headed off on the trail.  Michelle and Darren were also with us, and the four of us were pretty excited to get out and see the countryside.  Unfortunately, as soon as we hit the bumpy roads the brake on the back of my bike popped off.  So Anna had to take me back to the hotel to get another bike and this set us back about 1/2 hour.

Anna guided us through some beautiful countryside and some cute villages on the way to Moon Hill.  The path was really bumpy and at times very narrow so we were happy to be on such swanky mountain bikes.  We were also glad for the overcast weather because it was hot enough without the sun to complicate matters.  At some points during the ride, we had to walk our bikes over precarious bridges or up daunting hills.  But it was a gorgeous ride!

Anna, Michelle, Darren, and Jon walk over a dam

Grant told us earlier that the ride to Moon Hill is an easy 8km ride.  But after an hour and half of biking, we were sure that it was neither "easy" nor "8 km".  We were exhausted and our butts hurt.  Despite the gorgeous scenery, we decided that this might have been a bit ambitious an event for a day after 14 hours on a train.  Needless to say when Anna said that her village, "Moon Hill Village", was just down the hill we were elated.  And then we were a bit annoyed when we had to pass a highway to get to the village.  Couldn't we have just taken the easy road!?!?!  Sure, but we wouldn't have enjoyed the view as much.

Lunch at Anna's House

Anna led us through Moon Hill Village and took us to her home where she would make lunch for us.  We met her grandmother who is a tiny tiny tiny Chinese woman completely stooped over by osteoporosis.  We also met Anna's father and nephew.  Of course, none of them spoke English so we all just sat around and smiled at each other for a while.  The house was a little 3-room enclosure about the size of my parent's garage, and the main room had a table, 6 stools, and another table with a gas big wok on it.  Anna and her father began to cut up various vegetables and meat for us for lunch, and we were really wondering if all this food was for us.  Sure enough, they stir-fried bamboo shoots, chicken, pork, peanuts, green beans, sprouts, beef, tomatoes, carrots, and plenty of other yummy things just for us.  There was SO MUCH food!  Granted, we were starving, but wow!

Darren waiting for lunch at Anna's.

In the background, Anna's Grandmother, Anna, and her father (on the floor) prepare food.

Lunch was so amazing, and we told Anna that they should open a restaurant.  Anna's grandmother had some postcards that she wanted us to buy from her, and how can anyone say "No" to this adorable little old lady?  After lunch was over, we chilled out for a while and then got ready to go climb Moon Hill.

Moon Hill

Moon Hill is a hill that we could see from the doorway of Anna's house.  It is aptly named because the rock formation on the top of the hill has been formed into a huge arch that looks like a crescent moon.  And we sat there on the ground looking up at it, and thinking of how much our thighs and butts hurt from the bike ride, we were all having second thoughts.  But then we came to our senses and motivated back onto the bikes to ride to the base of the hill.

The climb up the hill was on steep, steep steps.  I started to count them, because we'd heard there were 1000 steps.  But I lost count after 150 and was sweating too hard to care anymore.  We made it to the top after about a half hour, and it was definitely worth the climb!

On the top of Moon Hill

Anna had brought some oranges up with her and gave them to us to eat.  She's convinced that I'm orange-impaired because I can't peel the oranges very efficiently.  I tried to peel one on a rest during our bike ride, and she couldn't help but laugh at my piddly efforts.  So here on the top of the hill she insisted on peeling it for me.  It was very sweet.

On our way back down the mountain, Jon counted the number of steps.  The final count is 812.  That's a lot of steps!  At the bottom of the hill were a group of women selling ice water.  We had told one of them on our way up the hill that we would buy water from her after the hike.  "Later!"  we said.  Sure enough, she was waiting for us on the bottom saying "You say later.  Later now!".  Thankfully, the water was ice cold and we definitely enjoyed every sip.

Ride Back to Yangshuo

Anna had mercy on our thighs and butts, and took the main road back to Yangshuo.  This was obviously the 8km route we'd been told about earlier.  The ride took only about 20 minutes and was very quick and relatively painless.  We were back in town by 6:00, which is good because we had to shower and meet the group by 7:00PM.

Dinner

Dinner was at an outdoor restaurant that had little fishbowls in the middle of each table.  In each fishbowl were 3-4 beautiful goldfish.  The waitresses all had western names like "Tracy", "JoJo", and "Sullivan".  Grant ordered a bunch of dishes for the table, and we all chowed down.  The eggplant was delicious, and so was the beef stir-fry.  So yummy!

After dinner, we went to the big Internet Cafe in town to see if we could read emails and upload journal entries.  Unfortunately, we're having disk issues and didn't have any luck with the uploading.  But oh well.