Today has brought me crashing back to reality and the fact that I am back in China, the land of squat toilets, dirty streets and touts that just won’t leave you alone. Hong Kong really was a pleasure to stay in and I miss it already, especially that everyone speaks English. That’s not to say that I haven’t had a good day, I have had an amazing day, I just miss the home comforts of Hong Kong. Is it so much to ask for a proper toilet? Come on China, get it together!
Anyway, back to Guilin and last night at the backstreet youth hostel. I had a pretty bad night’s sleep, the bed was a Chinese mattress (sort of like a roll mat you take when you go camping, but probably thinner) on a wooden frame. It was ok once I had fallen asleep, but it took me ages to get comfy, although it is a massive bed with big fluffy pillows and duvet. I got woken up in the night by the rain hammering on my window, thunder and lightning! This went on all night and I got woken up a few times by the thunder. When my alarm went off at 6am the storm was still going strong and I was beginning to regret booking the Li river cruise tour for today, but hoped that by the time I got downstairs it would have stopped.
I had the best shower I have had since arriving in China, one of those hot power showers. I was dressed and downstairs by 7am for breakfast and luckily the storm had stopped! I was on the tour bus with about 30 other tourists by 8am (although we had to wait until 8.30am for a few late comers, if you can’t be on time, leave them behind was my attitude but obviously not that of the tour guide)and arrived at the Zhujiang pier in Guilin at 9.15am. We all boarded the boat and set off at 9.30am and I headed straight to the top deck to start taking photos. Even though it was misty and overcast (makes the mountains look mysterious according to the tour guide) it was still 22 degrees and quite humid.
I can not put into words just how beautiful the scenery was and the photos just don’t do it justice. The cruise down the Li river from Guilin to Yangshuo was 54 km and it took 4 hours. Everywhere you looked there were stunning views of mountains and the winding river. There were also small boats on the river and little shacks on the banks which were peoples houses. It was an amazing experience, I only wish it had been a sunny day so that the photos would have been better. There is a spot on the Li river which is famous as it is the beautiful scene from the 20 RMB banknote so as we got to that spot everyone got out their banknote for the picture so you could see we were in the same spot. It was a lovely tour with gorgeous views from start to finish and I would happily do it all again (on a sunnier day of course). The only down side was that the toilet went straight into the river and then further down there were people washing their clothes in the river. That and the lunch provided was not very nice but that wasn’t why I was there so it didn’t make much of a difference to me.
At 1.30pm we arrived in Yangshuo with warnings from our tour guide to be extra careful as there is a lot of pick pockets in the area. So with my bag hugged to my chest I went in search of a cafe for a drink and snack. That was the end of the tour and there were three options, you could either get the bus back to Guilin after an hour of shopping and exploring of Yangshuo, you could make your own way back, or the option that I went for, you could pay for the countryside tour which started at 2.30pm.
I met the guide back at 2.30pm with 9 other tourists that had also signed up for the countryside tour. We took the mini bus to the Yulong village, about 15 minutes away from the touristy town Yangshuo and deep into the real countryside. We took a bamboo raft along the yulong river (literally 5 pieces of bamboo tied together with string but with two deck chairs to sit on) water was coming up through the bamboo, there were no sides to hold on to and I spent most of it looking into the murky waters and desperately trying to remember what that programme about river creatures had said lived in the rivers of China, because if anything had bumped into our raft we would be tipped into that river straight away. Luckily we stopped at a marshy field not long after getting onto the bamboo raft and were introduced to a herd of water buffalo. I made a bee line for the baby ones with a handful of some sort of green leaf we had been given to feed them with only to be told that they were still drinking their mothers milk so I had to feed one of the bigger ones. We were even told that we could kiss the water buffalo if we wanted to (you must be joking). After a few photos and after I had used about a quarter of my anti-bacterial gel after stroking and feeding the water buffalo, it was back onto the bamboo rafts. It was all very scenic and lovely until I became aware of a noise which gradually got louder until I realised what it was, the sound of a waterfall! I could see the rafts in front of us were just going off it and although it was a very small waterfall, I had inspected the bit of string holding the bamboo together and I really wasn’t convinced it was going to end well. Contrary to my growing paranoia (there’s just something about sitting on a bit of wood tied together with string, floating over what ever river monsters are lurking beneath waiting to strike that just doesn’t sit well with me), we were fine. To my relief we got off the bamboo rafts and went for a walk through the countryside along the river. It was nice, but i’m glad I didn’t wear my flip flops like I had considered doing as at one point I was in a field of mud. Then we were back on the bamboo rafts and off to see a “Cormorant fishing show” which involved a man standing on a raft with 3 big black birds which had a piece of string tied around their necks and he put into the water. They each dived down and came up with a fish, which he took off them and put into a bucket. We were told that the string around their necks is to stop them from swallowing the fish. I wasn’t really sure what to think about the fishing show, but before I had a chance to dwell on it we were on the move again to our final destination, Dragon bridge. We had a few photos and then it was back onto the mini bus as it was 5pm and we had to drive back to Guilin.
We arrived back in Guilin at 6.30pm and after dropping my things I went in search of somewhere to eat and to have a mooch around the night market. After dinner I came back to the hostel and to the communal area to skype (there is no internet in the rooms which is slightly annoying) the internet connection is quite slow and I have loads of photos so I will upload them when I get back to Beijing.
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