The Plan B Adventure

What a great, educational 4-5 days we had in Guang Xi and Guangdong provinces. We are back in Hong Kong for the Chinese New Year (known as Spring Festival locally). I’ve finally found a computer that didn’t freeze up, shock me, or reject my camera USB connection so visit the World Photo Map for a sampling of our first week’s pictures.

Our last post left you with an idea for the hellish bus trip we took from Guangzhou. After a bit of discussion with other travellers and some additional personal experience we were a little “green”. But it’s the experiences that make us richer, right? I don’t know if Becca would agree in this case!!!

Yangshuo is a great little backpacker haven. Seems like it use to be a sleepy little town before the West and many of Chinese discovered the beauty of the Yulong and Li River mountains. It is still completely enjoyable and allows you to join up with other travellers after an exciting day and share your stories. We quite enjoyed our experience in the city and hired a local guide, Jade, to take us around the Yangshuo countryside. We were joined by a couple from Holland, Manon and Brant. Manon is volunteering outside of Beijing with Chinese orphans (kudos!) and Brant is a sous chef in Haarlem. We had a great time peddling through the back channels of the agricultural community of Yangshuo. In our opinion the people are extremely friendly and very welcoming as we snapped shots of them in the fields and working their everyday task. We stopped by a few touristy traps (Moon Hill was the best) where we all got a feeling for the way capitalism has affected small town Yangshuo. It seems that they have named every mountain that resembles something and charge something nominal just to cast your eyes in its directions. We ventured up Moon Hill (vista pics on the map), covering 800 steps to amazing sweeping vistas of the Yulong River valley. Little did we know these steps were a small pre-cursor of our journey to come. Returned to town after venturing through the back streets of a small Yangshuo outskirt and finished off the afternoon by splitting a few LiQuan (local beer better than Tsing Tao, Matt!!) with Manon and Brant, and sampling some of the local cuisine. Yangshuo and the surrounding areas have some interesting eats. Not necessarily our favorite flavors (or lack thereof) but the noodles and veggies were Bec’s fav while Jeff tremendously enjoyed the local Beer Fish. That night Jeff taught Becca to play Cribbage and we enjoyed some additional beers in the relaxing, yet smoky confines of Lisa’s Cafe. Seriously I don’t think we’ve met anyone in our age group whom hasn’t smoked. Ugh!!!

The next AM we lazily got up, had some breakfast, chatted with Thomas (a Yangshuo local from Appomattox) and then headed off for the local roaming town market in Fuli. Jumped on a local bus to experience the everyday folks of the region and just loved it. They treat Becca like a queen (who doesn’t?!!) due to her height and hair. As the only non-locals we got quite a bit of attention making our way through the market which contained an enormous array of worldy goods. From herbal medicines, to public dentistry, to children flash cooking pork, and even a local Tony Robbins selling a build-it-yourself gas machine better known to us as a “Coleman Camping Oven”. After all the excitement of the market we decided to thumb a ride on the local bus to Xingping, the launch point for a small boat float down the Li and Yulong Rivers. As we made our way to the boat we ran into our American friends, John and Janice, whom were a blast and wealth of knowledge (We tried to get to M at the Fringe Janice, but got terribly lost and went to Ruth’s Chris instead..HAHA) to hang out with for the rest of the afternoon. The boat float was breathtaking even when our El Capitan made us hit the deck as the authorities zoomed by. Apparently he is only allowed to take a few passengers and he had more than he should of. Oh Well….makes for great stories! On our way back into Yangshuo we ran into our new friend, Neal Clark. Neal’s an Aussie living in Norway whom we thoroughly enjoyed sharing a coffee and conversation about everything from his SE Asia advice, to communism, to the beggars in China. We hope to run into you again Neal. Safe Travels.

Up the next AM early and leaving Yangshuo to move onto the hidden-away world of Longsheng. Unknown to us prior to leaving, Longsheng is the large town at the bottom of all the mountains. Definitely the place you want to stay if you go to that area. Instead we chose to stay in the small, small village of DaZhai where the bus dropped us off. DaZhai is an ancient community inhabited by many of the smallest groups of Chinese ethnic minorities built into the rice-terraced mountains of China. Absolutely gorgeous but very remote and very “RUSTIC”. We hiked around the mountains the whole day while our bags rested safely in our new accommodations. It wasn’t until later in the evening after all the tourists left that we realized where we were and what we had gotten into. Not that we regret the amazing experience at the Pan’s guesthouse but it might have been a little ambitious based on our desired level of comfort and the next days activities. HAHA!!

Oh….man. This day was the toughest yet. Jeff decided a 17km hike through the mountains to the next town wouldn’t be that bad. But once you strap your pack on, look down at the stones you are walking on, and proceed to hike up and down four mountains each changing by 1500 feet up and down….it turns into quite an adventure. Two days later we are still recovering!!!! For all the heartache it was a Chinese hiking trip of a lifetime. We hired a local guide whom after further review was interested in every spare dollar we would give her. Kind of disappointing that tourism has affect such a beautiful culture in this way but I guess we don’t help it by throwing our money around. We arrived in Ping’An, the final village, 4 hours later….WHEW!!! Then Mr Intelligence (Jeff) thought let’s just hike down the mountain to the bus stop where we would be picked up for our transport to Guilin, where our soft-sleeper chariot train awaited. Well, another miscalculation as the bus pickup is located 2000 ft below Ping’An. As we hiked (our first big argument) Jeff finally put his thumb to work and we grabbed the local bus to transport us the rest of the way. Maybe, we should have done what the rich Chinese do……..In Guilin we got our first truly, enjoyable Chinese meal and hopped on the train to Hong Kong (via Shenzhen). These soft sleepers are the only way to go on the Chinese train if you have the money. The hard sleeps are all in one car and allow smoking. We wouldn’t have been happy and all for only an extra 10 bucks!!!

Tags: China, Hostels, Travel, World Photo Map

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