Yangshuo (Part 2)

To continue with my Yangshuo post, I finished the Li River cruise around lunch time, so I decided to do some more bike riding in the afternoon. I picked a different area to explore and got ready to leave. Just as I was about to take off, two Chinese students asked if they could go with me. They might have just wanted to practice their English, but I also wanted to practice my Chinese. I figured the more the merrier and said they could go with and we started off. Compared to the roads I was riding on the first day, the roads we used that day were a lot rougher, with a lot of rocks and unclear directions. The two students were girls and they didn't have as nice of bikes as I had, so I was quite impressed at how well they were able to ride. It was also really nice to have them with me because we constantly had to ask directions in the beginning. So many roads kept branching off that it was impossible to know which way to go. We rode through a lot of small villages and farmland that day. While there weren't nonstop spectacular views like the first day, there were a few spots that were very good.

Farmland and Mountains

The final goal of the ride was this ancient village, but very close towards the end there was a site called "Three Colored Ponds". At one point in history, there was a very rich man's house and estate there, but things were destroyed by an earthquake. As the name says, there are three ponds, but now they seem to all be the same color.

One of the Three Ponds (Rock on the left looks like a horse's head)

Close Up of Rock

When we arrived at the village, we took a break at a small restaurant there, had some tea and a few snacks. I should mention that because the road we went on day was off the beaten path, we hadn't seen any foreigners pretty much the whole day. However, as we were sitting there, we heard someone pull up on a motorcycle and when I looked to see who it was, I realized it was this Swiss guy I knew. I had originally met him at the Clean Tech conference in Shanghai back in December and had also bumped into him on the main street in Yangshuo, but it was a big surprise to see him pull up with his wife and small child at this remote little village. After he saw me, he was equally surprised and we all relaxed for awhile looking at the mountains and river. Their little girl was really cute and she reminded me of my nephew Parker. They both seem to just walk around like they own the place and want to touch everything and cause trouble.

Lake and Mountains at Village

Village

Chinese Students

Mountains and River

Swiss Friend and Family

Village as Sun with Sun Going Down

We left the village a little bit late, so we had to take an alternative route to go home that was quicker, but less scenic. I think we were all ok with that, though, because the riding was quite hard and we were all a little tired. At this point my butt was increasingly sore since I wasn't really used to riding a bike and the seat began to leave a permanent mark on my backside.

Fields and Mountains at Sunset

Sunset (with power line pole)

The next day was my final full day in Yangshuo and I decided to do some more biking. It really is the best way to see the neighboring countryside and I enjoyed the openness and solitude, both of which are sometimes hard to come by in China. I planned to go see these two old bridges that were supposed to be free standing structures, meaning they are cleverly engineered so that they don't need any external support such as pillars or anything else. The final day in Yangshuo was also the only sunny day I had on my trip it seems like and I was sweating a lot as I was riding around. The roads I traveled that day were very bumpy again, but at least the directions were clearer since I was going alone this time. I traveled along the river, through villages, and through farmland pretty much the whole time, so it was a really great ride.

River and Mountains (and Sunshine!)

Riding through Village

Mountains with Farmland

Riding Up to Village

The crazy thing about the villages is that even though they seemed pretty underdeveloped, there were power lines running to all of them and the cell phone reception was five bars. I think I could probably have made more clear calls there than I could when I was in my apartment in Chicago. Almost all the people seemed to have cell phones, even though they didn't seem to have much money. After riding for about two hours, I arrived at the first bridge. It was pretty cool, but I have to admit that it seemed like any normal bridge. However, as always, the ride to the bridge was great, making the journey much better than the destination.

The Dragon Bridge

It took about another hour to get to the second bridge and I got lost a little on the way, but it is never a big problem to get lost because you might just get a closer glimpse at a village or some other site.

Fuli Bridge

Little Orange Trees

River and Mountains Near Bridge

Village Near Bridge

That was pretty much all the riding I did that day. I didn't take as many pictures because I had already seen so many views of the mountains and rivers, but it was nice to just ride without worrying about anything else. After I got back in Yangshuo I relaxed for awhile and took some time to think about the trip. Later that night, I went out with an American guy I had made friends with at my hostel. We went to another hostel to meet some people and hang out. Some Northwestern alum might be interested to know that at the hostel we went to it's possible to play beer pong. However, they play by non-sanctioned rules and the Americans were often flummoxed by Europeans and their ilk who don't know how to play the game like gentleman. I think it was impossible to calibrate your shot with the plastic straws fixed to each cup, too.

Non-sanctioned Pong

So that is pretty much it for my trip during Chinese New Years. Looks like 11 days of travel or so provided enough material for one month of blog posts. Since I am a detail-oriented person, these posts tended to be on the exhaustive detail side, but that's just my style. I think the highlights of the trip were definitely the Tulou (Earthen Buildings) and riding around in Yangshuo. While I took a chance traveling during Chinese New Years and also the winter time, I think pretty much everything worked out well for me. It's not the ideal time to go, but at least there weren't a lot of crowds, except in Gulang Yu. As far as traveling alone, it has its pluses and minuses. I definitely met a lot more new people traveling alone and learned how to do all aspects of traveling on my own. It really improved my confidence in speaking Chinese as well and I was able to practice all the time. I think traveling alone is a good experience and something worth trying, but if I have a choice, I will much prefer traveling with some friends. There were times when it would be a lot nicer to have someone to share the experience with or chat with. However, after this experience, I know that I can travel on my own and still have fun. So in the future if I plan to do some long term travel, I won't feel bad about doing it alone. For those interested, there are more pics of Yangshuo at: http://picasaweb.google.com/wallred10/Yangshuo#

Yangshuo (Part 1)

After spending two days in Guilin, I decided to spend the last three days of my trip in Yangshuo. Yangshuo is about a two hour bus ride from Guilin, so I took off in the early morning so I would have plenty of time to see some sites my first day there. Upon arriving in Yangshuo, it was immediately obvious that the scenery and mountains were more spectacular there than in Guilin. While the main street, Xi Jie, is very touristy, at least the prices in general seemed to be a bit lower. For example, my hostel was about $4/night, so not too expensive at all. For the tourist sites, though, the prices in Yangshuo were much, much cheaper. "Xi Jie," or West Street, also seemed to have almost a majority of western cafes, restaurants, and other food, which was a bit of a disappointment. It was possible, though, to find some good Chinese food. There were, of course, a ton of shops selling souvenirs, paintings, fake clothing brands, and the other usual fare.

Xi Jie (West Street)

West Street with Mountains Yangshuo with Li River

Mountains Close Up

The best things to do in Yangshuo are mostly outdoor in nature, which makes it a perfect place to stay for me. I was able to spend my whole day riding a bike, hiking, or other things outside. It also isn't as conducive to the packs of large tour groups that are so common in most tourist places in China, which makes it a bit easier to get off the beaten path. I think that's why it's almost a de facto base camp for a lot of westerners who want to do biking, hiking, rock climbing, and other outdoor activities. However, because there are so many westerners there, it's not really a great place to see Chinese culture sometimes, but most people go there to see the scenery anyway. After checking into my hostel, I took some advice from the Dutch guy I met earlier and rented a bike to cruise around the countryside. I ended up biking everyday because it's really the best way to get around. There are a few good maps that show a lot of the biking trails around, although they are not always clear cut. I started heading out towards a famous mountain the area and was struck by the constant beauty of the area. It was really refreshing to get on a bike and go wherever I pleased without many people around. On my way, I came across the Yulong River, which had some beautiful views.

Yulong River

Yulong River

I was heading to Moon Hill, which is a hill that has basically a donut hole in the middle.

Moon Hill

It's possible to hike up to the very top of the mountain, although most people just hike up to the bottom of the arch. The last stretch isn't an established path of stairs like the lower part, but it's not that difficult and the views from the top are worth going all the way. You can see nearly all the mountains in the area. Unfortunately, like most days on my trip it was a bit foggy and there were short rains, but that's the risk you take traveling during winter time. The views were still good even with the fog.

Moon Hill from the Top

View from the Top of Moon Hill

View from the Top of Moon Hill

View from the Top of Moon Hill

View from the Top of Moon Hill

As I was coming down from the hill, I ran into the Korean guys that I had met the previous day when I went to the rice terraces. It was pretty random, but it was nice to see them and we planned to meet up again the next day to take a cruise on the Li River. After I finished at Moon Hill, I spent the rest of the day biking along a stretch of the Yulong River. I've never really seen mountains like the ones in Guilin and Yangshuo before. In the past, I have mainly seen mountains that are a connected, continuous range roughly following a line. The mountains in this area, though, see to be random dots and all the peaks are not connected together. Instead, almost all the peaks seem to rise independently and go all the way from the valley to the peak. It was really nice riding through the small side roads and through some of the small villages. For the most part, there were still a lot of people living and farming in the villages.

Riding Through Country Road

Village and Mountains

Near the Yulong River

Farmland near the Mountains

Farmland near the Mountains

By the time I got back to my hostel, I was pretty tired since I had biked for several hours and my body wasn't really used to it. Since my hostel was right on West Street, at night it was pretty noisy since there were a lot of clubs around. It was a bit funny because most of the clubs would have two or three people standing out front and dancing to techno music to draw people in. However, it was good that I was pretty tired and I was able to sleep without too much trouble. The next day I got up and met the Korean guys to go on the river cruise. Taking a shorter river cruise on a stretch of the Li River near Yangshuo was much cheaper than going from Guilin and is supposed to be the most beautiful part of the river. There are a few different options for a boat, but we took a bamboo boat because it might be a little more fun than being in a big cruise boat. While a lot of these pictures might blur together and seem similar, when you're actually there it's so beautiful and difficult to resist taking a lot of pictures. Everywhere you look there are beautiful views of the mountains, rivers, and countryside.

Cruising on Li River

Bamboo Boat

Li River and Mountains

Cruising with the Koreans

Li River and Mountains

The cruise we took went for about an hour or so up the river against the flow, then took us back to where we started. They stopped in the middle at a place where we could sample some fish, tea, or other food. We also saw some guys who put on displays of some traditional farming methods. They have these birds that they train to catch fish for them, but they put a band around the birds' throats so they can't swallow the big ones. These days I think mostly it's just a tourist attraction, but it's pretty interesting to see.

Some Local Wares The So Called Nine Horses Mountain

Cruising on the River

More Mountains

Man Fishing with Birds

Since this post is getting long, I will split it into two parts. After this, the posts for my Chinese New Year travels will be done. I hope no one has gotten tired of reading about travel stories, but that's all the kind of stories I have right now, so you have no other choice.

Longsheng - Dragon's Backbone Rice Terraces

There are two main day trips to do from Guilin. The most famous and popular is taking a cruise down the Li River. The views down the Li River are some of the best the area has to offer and are normally ranked as one of the top 5 sites to see in China. However, the locals know this and charge an arm and a leg to take one of the cruises, especially by China standards. To take a cruise is normally 400 - 600 RMB (~$70-$90). Luckily, when I met the guy from the Netherlands on the train to Guilin, he advised me to take a shorter cruise around the Yangshuo area that is much cheaper and shows the most beautiful part of the river anyway. He said that the cruise from Guilin can actually get a little boring since it lasts around five hours and the scenery is pretty much the same throughout the cruise. In light of this information, I decided to postpone my river cruise until I went to Yangshuo. The second main day trip from Guilin is to the Longsheng (or Dragon's Backbone) Rice Terraces. In Longsheng County all the mountains and hills are carved up into rice terraces, so it's not really a single hill, but an entire region. They have been that way for over 500 years and during certain seasons offer some spectacular views. It is interesting to see such a feat of engineering side by side with traditional methods of farming, but then again you'll see rural farmers using cell phones as well, so I'll leave it up to you to decide which is more surprising.

A Picture of the Rice Terraces I Did Not Take

Since some traditional villages and cultures still exist in the area, it is also possible to see some local life, although they have been bastardized to a certain extent because of the tourist trade. Our tour guide told us that the government pays the villagers money to stay there and live, otherwise most of the young people would bolt for the big cities, as happens pretty much everywhere else in China. I think since the village life there is unique and proves to be a good tourist draw, it's worth the money. I decided to do the Longsheng day trip and booked a tour through my hostel. That is really the only way to be safe, as a lot of these touristy cities are rife with fake travel agents and many a foreigner has been bamboozled into paying for a fake ticket. The trip takes all day and they normally show you a couple villages where you get a see a performance, eat some lunch, and see some of the buildings there. The first place we went to was the Yao village. This village is famous for the women who live there. All the women have really long hair and are only allowed to cut it one time in their lives, when they are 18 years old. Before the girls get married, they can't show their hair to any men, since their husbands should naturally be the first ones to see their flowing locks. Because of this rule and also the logistics of having hair that is nearly as long as the girls are tall, most of them have their hair done up into a hat/head scarf type thing. The village itself is nestled into the side of a hill and near a river, so it was very picturesque, especially with the surrounding fog on the rainy day I went there.

Yao Village Women

Yao Village

Yao Village

Yao Village

Yao Men and Smoked Meat

At the Yao Village, there was a performance where the girls did some singing and they had a short wedding ceremony with four men from the audience. While there were a few other foreigners there, I was conspicuously the only young white guy, so of course they chose me to participate. Our tour guide had told us beforehand that they would want volunteers, which normally I strongly prefer avoiding, but they chose me against my will.

Outside the Performance Hall

Yao Girls Singing Married Women Showing Long Hair

When they took us backstage, they told us that each of us would have to sing a short part of some kind of love song to the girls we were getting married to. At this point, my heart dropped and I began getting extremely nervous, since singing in front of a crowd is a pretty scary idea to me. They said we could sing a few lines of any love song we knew and at this point, my mind went completely blank. Before I could think of any ideas, they made us dress up in the traditional marriage attire and led the four of us out on stage. There were four parts to the ceremony, which was of course in an express mode for the performance. The first part is to make rice cakes by mashing a big bowl of rice. Each of the four couples took a turn.

The Four Couples

The Rice Cakes

The whole time this was going on, though, my mind was searching for something to sing. I've never had my mind completely go blank like that before. However, at the last minute, I remembered some of the words to the old Elvis song "Only Fools Rush In". When it came time to sing, they of course picked me to sing first and I most likely butchered the song, but at least I got through it. Needless to say, I am not a performer by nature.

This Man is Not a Natural

The rest of the ceremony including some exchanging of rice wine and giving a gift. During the ceremony, all the other village girls were pinching my and the other guys' butts as part of the custom. I am not sure why, but I will say that they were not holding back at all and were pinching quite hard. At the end of the wedding, all the men had to carry the girls off on our backs. All in all it was pretty fun and I have to admit it is a relief to finally be off the market. I never thought this was the way I'd get married, but marriage is a sacred bond that lasts for life and I cannot betray it.

Score

After the Yao Village, we went to the second and final village where we could hike up to see a view of the terraces. I had met some Korean MBA students on this trip and hiked up with them. They were also kind enough to take some pictures of me during the wedding ceremony. Unfortunately, the weather was rainy this day and by the time we reached the top it was too foggy to see. It was also winter, so the terraces weren't green like in the spring or yellow like in the fall, when the rice is ready to be harvested. Those are the risks you take traveling during the winter, though, and for the most part it was still worth going.

Hiking to Terraces through Village

View at the Top

View at the Top

View from Lower Terraces

View from Lower Terraces

Korean Friends

It might be nice someday to go back to the Longsheng terraces in the spring or fall, but then they might be a lot more crowded and expensive than when I went. There are always tradeoffs traveling, but no matter what the experience was fun. If you want to see more pictures, check out: http://picasaweb.google.com/wallred10/Longsheng