Right now I am in Yangshuo. It is a small town and is definitely my favorite place I have been in China. I just had one of the best days of my trip. Me, my friend Taina (pronounced Tie-na) from Finland (we go way back, met one day prior), and two Chinese couples she befriended rented mountain bikes and a guide and road through the countryside. We passed rice fields, all kinds of little farms, small villages with animals everywhere, and people working the land using water buffalo to plow. There were dozens of women carrying things with a bamboo pole across their shoulders and buckets attached to either end. Side note, I think Chinese women are the hardest working, strongest lbs. for lbs. people on the planet, it is amazing what you see them doing everywhere. We stopped for lunch in a tiny hole in the wall on the Dragon river and ate beer fish and vegetables all of which couldn't have possibly been fresher having been grown and caught right there on the spot.

The ride out to this town called Baisha was about 15 kilometers. Half way, trying to take a picture while riding my bike on a tight & rocky dirt path, I hit a rut and took a spill down the embankment, about a meter or so drop. Luckily, I only hurt my knee and didn't have any cuts or bruises. Unluckily I hurt my knee pretty bad and will be paying the price of that genius move for at least a week or so to come. Being in one of the most amazing places I have ever seen, I sure wasn't going back to town (I could have caught a ride on the back of someones motorbike taxi,) and so of course I road on in pain.

After lunch we got on bamboo rafts and cruised down the Dragon river for two hours, two of us per boat. It was just about perfect. The weather that day was absolutely gorgeous. 28C/83F degrees and sunny, with just enough clouds to make the scenery that much more surreal. We saw more of the same in terms of farmland and animals etc., but the most beautiful part of this area is the natural landscape. In every direction in this region of China are huge limestone karst rock formations, almost big enough to be called mountains (think Hermon Mt. :) Some are sheer rock cliff, some have colors, and most are covered with greenery. The funny part of this trip down the river was the guide explaining to us what the rocks looked like. One was a frog, another was two lions, and the best was the one which we were told resembled "A beautiful girl wearing a dress looking for her boyfriend." Taina and I had a hard time eying that one but we nodded and smiled and thanked them for pointing it out. After the boat we got back on the bikes and returned to Yangshuo just as the sun slowly set over the breathtaking landscape we had spent the day exploring. Perfect ending to an excellent day!!!