September 5 - China: Yangshuo
Trip to the Lijiang River
We all woke up early this morning to catch our 6:30AM bus to the Lijiang River. Last night, we arranged for breakfast to be made for us at 6:00AM. But at 5:45, a girl from Lisa's Hotel knocked frantically on our door and said "Faster! Faster!" I looked at her like she was crazy, but she told me that we were supposed to be downstairs at 5:30 to catch a 6:00 bus and that Grant should have told us about the change last night. Well, it looks like things got a little wacky because Grant was downstairs when we hurried down and he didn't seem to know about the time change either.
But here's the reason for the rush: the Yangshuo Government wants a piece of the tourist-river-trip action. And they don't want tourists to go out on the little boats but they want us to ride on the big Casino/Karaoke boats. Of course, this is something we really want to avoid at all costs. So to bypass the government, we have to get up early to get on a little quiet boat to ride the river before the police show up. Grant says that - last time - they had to cover the windows of the boat at some point during the trip so the police wouldn't see it was full of tourists. The things we do for a little culture! At any rate, this is the reason for the big rush this morning - to get out on the river before the police start waking up.
When the rest of the group arrived downstairs, we grabbed our various breakfasts and walked down the street to meet the bus. The bus ride to the river took about 45 minutes over bumpy, bumpy roads. And the driver had no mercy on the people in the back of the bus, either. He was cruising over the potholes as if driving in a NASCAR race. But we arrived at the river in one piece and were quickly herded onto a boat and out onto the river.
The Lijiang River
Most of us climbed up onto the roof of the boat to get a better view of the huge hills and mountains around us. They are tall and thin, and many look like green sharks' fins rising out of the earth. Each mountain has a name and a mythical story about it, which I can't remember. But the names of some of the mountains were "Yellow Cloth in the Water", "Nine Horses", "Tortoise Climbing Up the Hill", "Chicken Cage Hill". The river was incredibly peaceful and serene. There were women doing their washing, men fishing, and some men on bamboo rafts collecting river grass for their fish farms.
We stopped for a bit in a little village and walked around. Most Chinese buildings are made of concrete, with thin tiles put all over the front as a facade. Also, all the windows are tinted blue. We've seen this all over the place, whether driving through towns of villages. So I'll never be able to look at a tiled building the same!
When we got closer to the dock where we started, the boat driver pulled over to the land and dropped us off by a road so we could walk back. This is so the police wouldn't see him coming in with a boat-load of tourists. So we walked the 2km back into down, where we sat at a cafe and waited for our bus to show up.
Around Town in Yangshuo
We arrived back in town around lunchtime, and Jon and I had lunch at a place called MC Blues that was very tasty. Grant told us that the owner's name is Micky, but at night his name is Jackie. This is because Micky doesn't drink, but Jackie does. Unfortunately, we didn't get to meet the Micky/Jackie owner although we asked about him.
After lunch, we walked around the cobblestone area of Yangshuo, which is basically the touristy shopping district. We finished all our XMas shopping in Nepal, so this shopping was just for fun. But I do need another sarong because the red one I picked up in Kathmandu is showing that it was worth the $3.50 I paid for it. It's already starting to wear. So Jon saw a store with sarongs in it and we found a pretty blue one we liked. We also picked up a cute blue bandana to replace my red-and-blue bandana. When we walked out into the sunlight to put the stuff in the daypack, we looked down at our hands and they were covered in blue dye! Clearly, I will have to wash these out before we leave here.
We walked around some more, and stopped in a photography store to look at a display of photos. It turns out that the store is run by the photographer who takes all the postcard pictures for Yangshuo and Guilin. He showed us his book and was thrilled that we were so interested in his photos. Of course, we couldn't buy anything because we have to carry it all the way through China, but it was so nice to meet him! Now, when we write our postcards it will mean a little bit more!
We met up with Laurel and Anne at a place called "Drifters" which Grant says has the best apple crumble in the world. So we sat and ordered it, not minding that it would take 25 minutes to bake. It was worth the wait! Apple crumble is like an apple cobbler to us Americans - it was so divine! After the crumble was eaten I went back to the hotel to wash out the sarong and bandana. Long story short: my hands were dyed blue and the tub will never be the same. In a moment of brilliance, I remembered the white linen shirt I had in my backpack. Because white is such an inconvenient color for traveling, Jon and I often talk about dying it. So I got it and put it in the dark blue water left over from the sarong. Then I washed it out to find that - instead of blue - it's still a dull white. Go figure.
Mah Jong Lessons
At 4:00-6:00, 5 of us (Jon, Grant, Mel, Michelle, and myself) met downstairs at Lisa's for Mah Jong lessons. Mah Jong is a Chinese game played with tiles that is a bit of a Chinese tradition. Grant bought himself a Mah Jong set on the street today, so we were ready to roll. Lisa gave us a teacher who is apparently a "Mah Jong Expert" and also an interpreter because the Expert doesn't speak English. However, he had the LONGEST fingernails on his left hand than any woman I've ever met. I mean, they literally curled around his fingers!
Anyway, the Expert/Interpreter thing didn't work out too well because there were 3 different people yelling instructions to us. So we finally settled with Christina who is one of Lisa's guides, and Michelle who is one of our fellow travelers but knows quite a bit about the game. We had a great time! Mah Jong is really very similar to Gin, but played with tiles and a few more intricate rules. After 2 hours of it, we had a much better grasp of it and were happy with our progress.
Jon, Mel, Me, and Grant playing Mah Jong
Dumpling-Making Lessons
From 6:00-7:30, 4 of us (Mel, Darren, Anne, and myself) met Julia (one of Lisa's cooks) to learn to make dumplings. Unfortunately, the dough, meat, and veggie mixtures were already prepared. So all we really learned was how to form the dumplings and put them in the bamboo steamer trays. But it was still fun! We made two trays of pork dumplings and two trays of veggie dumplings, and then they whisked them off to be steamed in the kitchen. So while I've taken "Dumpling-Making Lessons" I really have no idea how they're actually made. But they were definitely yummy to eat so I must be a fantastic chef! Or at least a fantastic dumpling-wrapper-and-tray-putter-inner.
Jon Skips the Dumpling School and Goes Running in Yangshuo (Run #2)
After my first running expedition in Hong Kong, I have decided that I am going to try and run at least twice a week, at least until we get to more tropical areas like Vietnam and Thailand where the heat may be a bit more overwhelming. While most everyone else was in dumpling school, I headed out to the main highway (a two-lane road that was paved and has room for pedestrians, bicyclists, etc.) and got my second run in for the week. It was a bit hilly, but mostly those long, gradual kind of hills; you have to understand that we don't really have ANY hills in New York except for a couple in Central Park so hills are fun! I made it back to the hotel just in time to shower and meet everyone to see the Cormorant fishing.
Cormorant Fishing
At 8:00, most of the group met to go see the Cormorant Fishing. This is something that Chinese fishermen have been doing for thousands of years, but now it's done for tourists and not for necessity. We walked down the cobblestone street to the end where it met the river, and we boarded a big touristy boat. The 8 of us, however, were the only tourists on board. The boat left the dock and began to cruise down the dark river. A few minutes later we were met by 2 Cormorant Fishermen on bamboo rafts who paced the side of our boat down the river and back again.
Cormorants are birds about the size of ducks, but much sleeker. They dive down under the water and catch fish with their beaks and it's amazing to watch how quickly they dive. Chinese fishermen have used their talents to help catch fish for years. They sort of train the cormorants to dive under the water, catch the fish, and to bring them back up to the rafts where the fishermen put the fish into their baskets. It's actually a little more inhumane than this, and I'm hardly a card-carrying member of PETA but it still made me very uncomfortable. The fishermen have tied strings around the necks of the Cormorants so they can't swallow the fish past their beaks. When the fishermen see that a fish has been caught, they pull the cormorant back up to the boat and force the fish out of their beaks. Then the cormorant gets put back into the water to continue fishing.
Laurel told us that she saw a National Geographic episode that described the great bond that's formed between the fisherman and the cormorants, and I suppose that has to be true - the birds are their livelihoods. Laurel also said that the cormorants are fed a lot before they're taken fishing, so they don't go hungry. And, the string around their necks is tight enough to stop the big fish but the smaller fish are allowed to be eaten. We definitely saw some of the birds sneaking some snacks during break time. This rationalization makes me feel a bit better, but we were definitely ready to leave after about 10 minutes of watching.
Cormorant Fishermen
Obviously, this doesn't do it justice but here it is anyway.
After 20-25 minutes, our big boat headed back to the dock and the fisherman slowed down to leave. Looking back, we could see that they each brought the cormorants up onto their rafts where they could dry their wings and enjoy the ride back to shore.
Jon headed to get a bite to eat and I headed to the Internet Cafe. By then, it was 10:00 and we went to bed.