Category: China

Wake up to the familiar sound of rain.  It’s my last day in Yangshuo, so I head out and grab some breakfast, and upload some pictures.  Wonder of wonders, at about 11am, it stops raining.  I stare at the cafe owners in disbelief, but it appears to be true.

I still have to check out, so I head back to the guesthouse, checkout, and confirm my bus for the evening.  As it turns out my bus is leaving at 6:40pm, instead of 8, so my hours are limited.  I head over and talk to Christine for a bit, but she gets busy with a customer, so I wander off – running unexpectedly into the Irish lads from Dali, Alan and Wolfey, and their new companion Wade.  Aidan is still in Yunnan province, but is apparently on his way.

The boys need a guesthouse, so I show them to Backstreets, and they check in there.  They’re having lunch shortly, so I tag along.  After lunch they want to do some shopping, so I join them on that too – then they try and arrange for something to do in the evening.  Unfortunately there’s been so much rain, that they’re unable to do anything on the water – all the touts that usually try selling boat rides, have nothing to do for the next couple of days.  I show them some before and after photos of the river, whose banks are now completely flooded.  Here is a before/after look:

Before:

After:

(Note: I talked to Alan a few days later and they had to evacuate, because the town itself flooded)

They manage to book some rock climbing, and we do a bit more wandering.  Before long it’s time for me to head back to the guesthouse, so I do – and have a bit of a struggle to get my key deposit back, but finally manage.  This has definitely not been my nicest guesthouse experience, but at least I still have my bag and contents at the end of it all.

I hop on the sleeper bus at nearly 7pm, and settle in for the long haul.

More rain this morning.  I head to the Minority Cafe, and hop on the internet.  Get some coffee, and eventually some breakfast, and upload some photos.  It’s much quieter today then the weekend, despite today being a holiday in China. I assume most people are heading home.  That, or they’re afraid of the rain, or still sleeping.  Probably those last two.

Walking back to the guesthouse, I run into the girl who sold me the sunglasses, and chat with her for a while.  Her western name is Christine, although it’s also Rosa.  She tells me her Chinese name, but I forget it.  She gets some customers, so I bid her adieu, and regroup at the hostel.  Hop on the internet there, and the mother of the owner tries to get me to pay (internet is only free between 19:00 and 24:00, but never seems to be working at this time), but I refuse.  She doesn’t speak english, so I just feign ignorance until she goes away.

Back in town, I have some lunch, and do some reading, then get back to the hostel, and Natasha invites me to dinner with our new roommate, George (who I actually met in The Minority Cafe earlier), and two others – Danielle and Tom.  We all order a dish, and share.  They’re a bit small, so when we get to the next bar, I order some fries to fill me up.  Not as good as the ones I had at Tiger Leaping Gorge, but they’ll do.

We head back to the hostel, and I read a tiny bit, but I’m nodding off, so I just get some sleep instead.  It’s hard work doing nothing all day.

We get a snack at the bakery again, but eat it en route to Lucy’s cafe, where we get a real breakfast. I’ve got a craving for porridge – and it tastes okay, but would be better with brown sugar.

After breakfast we take a short walk, and up getting caught in the rain. Seems like we’re in for a lot of rain here in Yangshuo. Rainy season, perhaps? I didn’t have much planned for Yangshuo, but was hoping to do some rock climbing, so hopefully the weather improves.

It’s also the Dragon Boat festival in China, the first time in 60 odd years that everyone gets the holiday. I figured there would be some racing along the river, but apparently not. Bit of a shame. The streets are relatively quiet, as most people seem to be staying inside and avoiding the rain. Smart. Natalia was going to stick around town for a bit, then head to Guilin, but since the weather is lousy and there’s not a ton to do here, she decides to head to Guilin early. We head back to the guesthouse and check out – with me moving into a dormitory up stairs.

I walk Natalia to the bus station in the rain (for some reason I didn’t bother to grab my raincoat at the guesthouse, so we share her umbrella) then head to the Minority Cafe to update this journal, avoid the rain, and drink some hot chocolate (followed by a coffee). My mom tells me Wayne is on facebook, so I send him an SMS via the Rogers website, and tell him to hop onto MSN. Chat with him for a bit, then decide to pay and head out before I wear my welcome out at the cafe. I’ll likely come back tomorrow, after all.

Wander through some shops, but nothing really impresses me (and in typical Asian fashion, everyone sells the same unimpressive stuff). I spend the rest of the day reading in cafes, or wandering through the rain.

I get some information on rock climbing, but it still looks like it’ll rain tomorrow. I head back to the guesthouse in the evening and chat with my dorm roommates for a bit. Mike from NYC and Natasha from England, plus a Scottish guy, whose name I never get.

We grab some breakfast at the bakery near the guesthouse, then head to Minnie Mao’s cafe to get something to wash it down.  Natalia is nearly finished her book, and has a 20 hour train ride ahead of her, so she needs another one.  She asks me to suggest something, so I tell her to grab “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy.  Hopefully she likes it.  It did win a Pulitzer, so if she hates it she can’t say I am alone in my appreciation of it.

We have no real plans, other than to swing by and get our zongzhe.  She’s remembered it, and we each get one.  I had bought her a chocolate muffin at the bakery, so we do a swap.  It’s sort of a sticky rice, rice pudding mixture.  Not too bad, but not outstanding.  I’m the only one of the three that likes it even a little.  We do a bit of shopping, as Natalia needs to get a few things, and I should start considering picking up some items too.

Untethered by any plans, we decide to take a stroll along the river, and end up coming across another market, this one a long stretch of vendors.  They seem to be attracting the “just finished the river cruise” crowd, which unfortunately comes at us from the opposite direction.  They’re armed with umbrellas to protect from the sun, so I worry I’ll lose an eye.  We make it unscathed, and eventually reach an area that is untouched by tourists (other than the two of us).

There’s a sign for a martial arts studio ahead, and a river retreat, so we head towards the retreat, hoping to grab a drink or something.  The retreat, is an expensive (for China) hotel, and we go in search of a restaurant, but there is no one around.  It looks like a nice place, but not anywhere I’d stay on this trip.  We head to the martial arts studio next, but it is likewise deserted.

Chagrinned, we head back to the guesthouse, and grab a drink and read in a restaurant.  We head back to the guesthouse, and I have a shower.  Natalia mostly reads, while I watch a documentary on Go.  I decide I should venture out for a bit, but it appears to be raining.  I’m restless so I venture out regardless, landing at the Canadian run cafe.  He’s got no power, so I can’t stick around, but I’m able to swap a couple of books for a new one.

Do a bit of reading then decide to get some sleep.

The plan is to rent some bikes, so when Natalia finally wakes up (complaining slightly that I didn’t bother to wake her up), we head down and grab some breakfast.  We swing by the sunglasses place, but she’s forgotten to bring us the zhongzhe.  Tomorrow, she assures us.  We get some bikes from the Backstreets guesthouse.  They seem pretty decent, although the saddles are never great on these bikes.

We follow the map to a bike trail that runs near, but not along side the river.  Natalia isn’t sure, but I win her over with my confidence that we’re heading towards Moon Hill, which is a karst formation with a moon shaped hole in it.  Who wouldn’t want to see that?

After a scenic bike ride, we arrive at moon hill, fend off the women trying to sell us water (“You’re too polite.” Natalia tells me.), and make our way up the hill.  A bit of a hike, but nothing compared to the Krabi climb a couple of months prior.  We take some pictures up there, fending off even more water sellers, then descend, taking a different path so we can see the hill from a distance.  We grab a drink and a light lunch from the cafe, before venturing out.

We plan on going for an extra long ride, but the rain starts, so we figure we’ll head back.  About 20 minutes from town, it really starts to pour, so we duck into a restaurant and decide to eat a second lunch.  Noodle soup.  Simple.

It’s still raining, but a little less hard, so we make our way back into town, drop off the bikes, and have a shower at the guesthouse.  For dinner we get some yak cheese pizza at a place run by an Ottawa native.  He’s got a bunch of good books, so I’ll probably be back to grab at least one before I leave.

The weather is still lousy, so we get some sleep.

Expected people to join us in the cabin, but it ended up just being Natalia and I for the entire trip (other than visits by Peter, who was stuck with all Chinese).  After a noodle breakfast, we arrived in Guilin – and waited in line for about an hour for Natalia to book her ticket to Shanghai for a few days from now.   Peter is staying in Guilin, so we say goodbye to him.

Natalia and I grab a bus to Yangshuo, which seems to leave every ten minutes or so.  It takes about an hour, and I manage to nod off – even though I didn’t think I was so tired.  There’s a guy in the aisle next to me, whose dandruff keeps getting on my shorts.  Lovely.  When he leaves, a new guy sits down and asks where I am heading.  He asks where we’re staying in Yangshuo, and tells me that he actually works at the hostel we plan on going to.  I don’t believe him for a second, but we decide to check out his hostel instead.

It’s decent, and relatively cheap, with a nice location, so we figure we’ll spend at least a couple of nights there.  I’m planning on staying in town for a while, so the nicer the better, but this will do.

We head into the busy area of downtown, and grab some lunch (pizza), which is pretty tasty.  I book my onward journey ticket, managing to get the price down from 250 yuan to 160.

After wandering the town for a bit, we watch the news back at the hostel, which plays the same China Tourism commercial over and over.  Nice looking country.

We grab some dinner next.  Beer fish – and the Americans at the table next to us encourage the restaurant owner to break out his musical instrument (I forget the name), and he plays us some music.  After dinner, I buy some sunglasses that I doubt I’d ever really wear at home, but think I’m growing fond of.  The girl who sells them to us speaks excellent english, so I ask her about the supposed festival taking place over the weekend.  She tells me they eat something called zongzhe, but doesn’t know the english term for it so she tells me to come back in the morning and she’ll bring me some.