Li River and More!

Meet Jane.

Jane, a good friend of Cynthia's, has been here for almost 4 weeks (which sadly means she will be leaving soon).  I met Jane in my apartment weeks ago.  We made chocolate chip cookies and blasted music.  She's a cool girl.

She wanted to see the Buddha so we went together 2 weeks ago and found the Buddha in sunshine--a real treat.  But the highlight of our one day excursion was a moment of silence a top a monastery that felt so authentic, that I actually decided I would light my first prayer candle in China.  Later on, before our bus back to Chengdu from Leshan, we went to eat some Chinese food at a place with no English/picture menu and were successful in getting food!  Jane, like myself, has been taking Chinese lessons from Lynette.  I started in mid-March and feel like punching myself in the face as I really should have started in October.  I know I didn't start because I felt so stressed with trying to teach for the first time...oh well, live and learn.

Cynthia and Jane headed to Xi'an to see the ancient city one weekend and I stayed in Chengdu, booking our next trip to the Li River.  After successful bookings, I headed over to Ryan's place for a 17th floor rooftop South African braai (BBQ).  The food was delicious and the company were all teachers from the three centers and some Chinese staff.  It was a sunny day and from the rooftop, Chengdu looked...beautiful? (Actually, it's been sunny quite frequently of late; well frequently for Chengdu).  Leon, Alissa, Steve, and I played some rooftop badminton, only losing a few shuttlecocks off the top.

A week later, after the Buddha trip, Cynthia, Jane, and I headed to the airport.  We touched down in Guilin where I bounded out to the lobby waiting to see the sign with my name on it.  But alas, I couldn't find "Johnny" anywhere.  Finally I turned around a disgruntled man was holding up "Johnny".  My excitement at this didn't seem to make sense to him...or Cynthia and Jane.

The trip from the airport was AWESOME.  After a few minutes, large giants were viewable from our windows.  Eventually they were all around us -- finally I was in the land of karst landscapes!  Karst is a formation of bedrock that varies in many ways--but China has some of the most dramatic formations weathered by time.

The next day, we were up and going (sadly without NZ 'Up & Go's) after a quick breakfast at our hostel.  A bus ride later we were boarding a boat on the famous Li River.  The plan: to cruise down to Yangshuo, 70km down the river, passing some very dramatic Karst mountains (Karst is not a proper noun, but trust me, it should always be capitalized for emphasis).

What was visible by night was SO COOL by day.  Cliffs, waterfalls, and sweet green slopes guarded the banks of the Li River.  Needless to say, I'm came back with over 800 photos.  The sky was BLUE, the water a brownish yellow due to rainy season, but it was all good.

We disembarked inYangshuo, what once was a small town, not a bit larger with tourism.  It had grown fast in the past few years due to the attention from Han Chinese, as was previously a paradise away from Guilin for foreigners.  Large karsts surround and intrude throughout the city.  Walking around through the carless alleyways was wonderful.  Eventually our wanderings found us climbing up a small Karst and then up another one!  Great views of the city and larger Karts were our rewards for sweeting up stairs -- it was hot and very humid.

Later, after a nice dinner with a girl from Israel and Pris, or Pricilla, from Hong Kong, Cynthia, Jane, Mary, a French girl wet on the cruise, and I set out to see cormorant fishing.  Cormorant fishing is an ancient practice and from the clip I saw via BBC, I was determined to go watch.  But since the influx of tourism, it seems the practice has changed and was rushed and not well done.  Tourists use to board small boats with the fisherman and his flock of birds.  We were on a fairly large boat.  The birds dove time and time again into the water, eating most of the fish they caught, except the large ones.  A thin string tied around the birds neck prevents the swallowing of bigger fish.  In the BBC clip, it showed the birds returning to the boat and willfully giving up the fish – knowing they’d be rewarded.  In our trip, I watched a fisherman yank out a fish from a choking bird.  It was still neat to know that this harmonious practice exits, but I’d much rather see it a different way (where it actually looks harmonious).

That night, we took Yangshuo by storm starting out at a lovely rooftop bar where we all realized our inability to play pool.  From there we figured out, after a bit of food and some more drink, that it was our responsibility to take each bar by storm, get people dancing, and then promptly leave.  Something about a stripper pole, and then the night was over, after I managed to bang my leg on a fall from a stage.

We left Yangshuo early the next day by bus towards a river in the mountains.  We were to go drifting.  Which is like white water rafting, but without paddles, and the river is made to be super-navigable.  Jane and I climbed into our raft and after waiting in a queue with all the other boats, we were realized down a damn spill way into the river!  I snuck on my waterproof camera, which proved to be a great idea as I attempted to document our ridiculous hour and half journey down the river.

We all agreed it was the best fun we’d had in weeks, if not months.

Back in Yangshuo after a beautiful bus trip through rice paddies that I slept through, we hung out for a bit longer that expected with no buses back to Guilin for a few hours.

In Guilin, we got back to our first hostel and set out to walk around Guilin’s twin pagodas before some restless sleep with a bed bug scare.

Morning arrived finally and, with four other teachers, we found ourselves headed to a minority village.  At the village we viewed the “Long Hair Show” as the women of the village cut their hair once at 18.  They wore it in three different styles depending on their status in life: single, married, or married with child – using their hair that they cut at 18.  They wash their hair with the water used to wash rice, which results in super black hair.  It was interesting, but not the best show I’ve seen.  Lunch afterwards was a bit on the too much fish side with whole river fish fried.

Finally, the main attraction of the day, rice terraces!  We climbed and climbed through some mountains that reminded me of New Zealand and hiked/walked around some terraces.  We were a bit too early for the planting at this altitude, but the terraces were still beautiful.  Carved out thousands of years ago, I couldn’t help but think “ChinaChinaChina”. 

It was a really nice trip, but its fast pace, after life in sleep Chengdu, caught me by surprise.  Thank goodness we returned to a two-day week.

On the weekend, Jane and I explored Wenshu monastery, admission only 5 yuan, which felt very authentic.  Between that and seeing the Li River Kart landscape and rice terraces, I was in a very mixed mood.  I’d finally seen some of the things I came here to see and since AP Psychology, my job energy has just fallen.  Could it be time to go home?

But then I look at the map of China and there’s SO MUCH TO SEE!  This country is officially TOO big.  But, hey, I could always come back.