Being less stubborn

Yesterday went from Yangdi to Xingping. Pretty nice but the paradise vibe is wearing off. This blog entry will be short as I need to hurry to Guilin to catch my bus to Kunming to catch my flight to Yangshuo. I hope Lijiang wasn't too affected by the earthquake.

Anyways, on the way we ran into two Spaniards with whom we shared a boat. They didn't want to pay the full price because they only wanted to go halfway. My friend and I compromised but they wouldn't. A lesson in being less stubborn. I don't like being a translator in the middle of an argument.

The deflating intertube

So made friends with my suite mate at the hostel in Yangshuo and we decided to go down the Li River by intertube. A lot of guessing and walking around later, we came to the conclusion that there was no person renting out intertubes so we bought one at a store. Was 15RMB. We took off for the river and started floating. The river near Yangshuo is actually fairly slow. We had to use our shoes to paddle down the river. We saw some ducks and a fair amount of trash. And right we were about to get to faster flowing part of the river, my intertube started sputtering. It was a hole that would deflate our planned journey to the city of Fuli.

After that bump in our journey. We took a motorcycle back to town. We went our separate ways. I rented a bike out to Moon Hill and it was really fun. The scenery is perfect as always in this area. The climb was fairly exhausting up Moon Hill. Every climber has an old woman following them. I thought they were like ghosts following you. I actually tried to ditch mine by going faster (I know :P Not very nice). But you get tired and they are slowly but surely catching up to you. They want to sell you water, soft drinks, and postcards. I was reminded of Bubble Bobble and the white whale that chases you if you are too slow.

Yangshuo has this tiny slushie stand that serves the best passion fruit slushie I had. They used actual passion fruit... preserves. A little better than the concentrate syrups. It is so refreshing on a hot summer day.

I am so physically tired that I just want to rest for a day but I can do that on the train and at Kunming airport. This is all warmup for Tiger Leaping Gorge. Gorge; I am afraid of you but I am getting prepared!!!

EDIT: The slushie stand is close to Global Cafe. On the cross street that intersects West Street closer to the Li River. Alas, the girl who've I kind of gotten to know says she is selling the place. So get there quickly! Don't know if the management will stay the same.

Swimming in River Grass

My eye is bugging me so this entry will be briefer than the other entries so far. Let me say that Yangshuo is kinda expensive. Any kind of activity costs at least 20RMB. I took an hour river ride today and swam in the river. The kid driving the boat took me to the end where there was some grilled fish for 3RMB. Pretty good but lots of bones. Damn river fish. I swam in the river for about 5 minutes. Boy am I out of shape (getting more worried about Tiger Leaping Gorge). Lots of river grass were getting caught between my fingers.

I need to find cheap alternatives. I might either go intertubing to Fuli or go to Yangdi to check out that part of the Li River.

Enter Jurassic Park - minus the dinosaurs and killing

Forgot what I said about being glad I stayed in Guilin the extra day. Yangshuo is so much better. The karst mountains are actually right beside instead of 3 kilometers away. On the bus ride here the scenery just kept getting better and better. I couldn't decide whether to look right or left.

I got into the town center and there were plenty of people offering bike rentals and tour information. Trusting one wasn't the best idea as she lead me to a different hostel and not the hostel I booked. Really glad I stuck to my guns and went to the original hostel I booked. It's off Xi Jie (noisy party street) but still only like a minute walk away from the river and Xi Jie.

Met cool German, Aussie, and Taiwanese dude and went on a river bike ride with them. They went on a fast pace and it was hard keeping up in the beginning. Took lots of awesome pictures. Went through small villages. My bike got caught in this huge pothole and did a forward 360. Luckily the dip put my feet on the ground and I just ran forward. The lanes we took were really narrow and extremely bumpy. At the end of the Yunlong River we took a bamboo raft that took about 3 hours to get back to the beginning of the path. It was the perfect ending to the afternoon. The boat driver recommended this village restaurant and we ate there. The food was actually really except there were mosquitoes all over the food and one actually laid a larva into my standing tea.

Rode back into town in the dark and it was really annoying when motorbikes and cars turned their high beams on us. Definitely lost sight of the road for a good second each time.

Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings. Planning to go to a neighboring village called Fuli for their village market.

Tea on a Lake

A much better day in Guilin than the first. The weather was not as humid today as the other day. My plan was to go through the city on foot and follow the river. It was pretty cool. Went on a very rickety old wooden bridge with no railing. It was just hoping the planks wouldn't give and these local Chinese people were just riding their motorcycles over the bridge. I'll post picture when I get the chance.

Then I kept following the river and inexplicably got lost in the residential districts amid some karst hills. I eventually hit a big street with a lot shops making and selling veranda railings and stair railings. Finally, I broke down and asked a local for directions to the main street of the city. It turns out I was in the very western edge of the city. Still not knowing for sure where I was, I hoped that the local woman was telling the truth and kept going. Eventually came upon a lake looking onto the main street. The views from the lake were gorgeous. It made the extra day in Guilin worth it. Got a good picture from here. It might have been the heat or the mountain views but I wanted tea and there was a teahouse on the lake. I was the only person insane enough to drink hot tea on a summer day, but it was sublime. The tea made my body want to cool down and there was an old woman playing a Chinese string instrument similar to a guitar but layed flat.

Met an Australian and New Zealander in my hostel. Cool people and well-traveled. Can't wait to see what YangShuo has in store for me tomorrow.

(Side Note: Internet cafes are a godsend and curse. So easy to use and everywhere, but goddamn my lungs are crying because of all the smoke in these places)

Guilin's Mosquito Mist

Arrived in Guilin this morning and my first impression was, 'Wow, this really does look like the watercolor paintings hanging in museums around China'. I took the 20RMB bus shuttle from the airport to the CAAC building and then took a short cab ride. The cab driver was trying to persuade me to go to other hotels. This one is only 100RMB. Fuck man... I am paying 30 RMB for dingy room already. No need to spend more for dingy room with service.

The hostel I am staying at is well... a hostel. Little room, bunk beds crammed like sardines. What do I do but live with it. At least, the room has A/C even if it is weak.

It's almost four and I haven't eaten lunch yet. Just gonna skip straight to dinner. Had breakfast that consisted of preserved gourd of some sort of rice porridge on the plane ride. I am still scared whenever I fly but it's much better than that flight from London to Beijing.

Went to the Sevent Star Park and what rip-off. It is a nice park and it has the really cool karst formation called 'Camel Hill' but I was in and out and in like 2 hours. They had this tour of some cave within a karst hill. The guide kept describing all the stalactites as tigers or lions or elephants. I guess all the rocks look animals to the Chinese people here.

When I got out of the cave, (this is where the title of this entry comes in) I was bitten six times by mosquitoes within a span of ten seconds. I was taking a picture when I felt a tickle on my leg. Taking a look at what is feeling me up I see three fucking mosquitoes. Didn't get any of them and I guess I didn't see the other three but damn. I ran like hell out of there. My legs itch like crazy. Take note to bring bug repellant if you ever go to Guilin. It's worth noting that the park had many bodies of stagnant water. Perfect conditions for mosquito paradise. I saw a white haired yak today and it was so beautiful. I don't think I can eat yak meat again. It exuded a regal presence about it and had the roundest eyes I have seen. A deep green in color.

Don't know what the hell I am going to do for the next day in Guilin but I sure am not going to another park. Somewhere along the gushing Li River, por favor.