Yangshou

Despite our desires to get to Yangshou as quickly as possible so we could shower, we stopped in Guilin to eat lunch and hear a lecture on Chinese painting. For the lecture, we went to the art studio of a well-known local artist. He spoke in Chinese and told us about the differences between Chinese painting and more Western style painting, the main one being that Western paintings generally depict things as they are, while Chinese paintings portray images as they appear in the mind. The lecture was very interesting, but it was very hard to focus because we were so tired and incredibly anxious to get to Yangshou.

After almost close to two more hours on the bus, we arrived in Yangshou. When we got off the bus, we were disappointed to realize that we had another long walk ahead of us with all of our bags in order to get to our hotel. My friends insisted on helping me carry my bags since my back was still bothering me from our hike in Long Sheng.

Our hotel was located on West Street, a very famous pedestrian area in Yangshou known for dining and shopping. We were really excited to be staying in this area at first, but by the end of our time in Yangshou, we had determined that staying on West Street was the equivalent of living in the gauntlet of the Silk Market for a few days.

When we got to the hotel, we were happy to unpack and do some laundry in the bathtub, as most of our clothes had gotten pretty dirty and smelly in Long Sheng. After freshening up a bit, Molly, Cara, Brittany, Gill, Jon, Aaron, Jay, Richie, and I headed off to dinner at a café on West Street, famous for American food, called Meiyou’s. Meiyou is one of our favorite words in Chinese, probably because our friend Brooks likes to say it all of the time with a bunch of funny accents. The world Meiyou translates to mean without.

We were able to sit at a long table outside on the street, which was a great location for people watching. This area was full of tourists, not only from all over China or the West, but from a bunch of different places all over the world. Most of us ordered cheeseburgers, which were delicious after nonstop Chinese food up to this point on the trip.

After dinner, we walked around West Street and tried to do some shopping. It seemed that most of the things they were trying to sell could be found in the Silk Market in Beijing and were not incredibly unique to this part of China. Also, because this area was very touristy, it was very hard to bargain for low prices. After a whole semester in China, we had all become pretty cheap. After shopping for a bit, we found another café on West Street called Drifters, where we sat and enjoyed a drink or two while people watching. Then, we went back to the hotel and went to sleep.

The next morning we woke up excited for a day of bamboo rafting on the Yulong River. We suited up in bathing suits and sunscreen and headed downstairs to the hotel lobby, only to discover a heard of bicycles waiting for passengers. After all of the hiking we did in Long Sheng and walking with our luggage in Yangshou already, the study trip was beginning to feel a lot like fat camp.

Riding the bikes through Yangshou was actually pretty cool. Riding across the main streets was somewhat terrifying though, as the traffic from cars, carts, motorcycles, and other bikes was crazy. However, before we knew it, we were biking into the beautiful mountains of the Guilin area on dirt roads. On our ride, we stopped to buy crowns made out of fresh flowers to wear upon our heads.

At last we arrived at the banks of the Yulong River to find bamboo rafts, built for two, lined up and waiting for us. Cara and I boarded our raft and immediately went into Hawaii mode, stripping down to just our bathing suits and our shades.

The scenery was absolutely stunning and we drifted down the river, down small waterfalls and through minor rapids. Our raft driver was convinced that Jon and Aaron were our boyfriends and did a great job at making sure our rafts went down the river together at the same pace. Molly and Brittany and Gill were also on rafts nearby.

At different points throughout the river, they had floating snack stands where you could stop the raft to buy beer or fried fish right out of the river. We stopped to buy our driver a beer and I think that’s when we became best friends. After that, our driver let us dive off of the raft and swim in the Yulong River. The water was calm and refreshing. Cara, Brittany, and I all dove in and swam. Gill, who is a swimmer and forgot to bring a bathing suit on the trip got so jealous that she stripped down to just her underwear, which were white might I add, and dove in after us.

Once Cara and I got back on our raft, our driver decided to let us attempt steering the boat, which was much more difficult that I thought at first. He steered the raft with a long bamboo pole, which in shallow areas, he pushed right off the floor of the river and in deeper areas, used just like an oar. He helped us with our strokes at first and after a bit of practice, Cara and I were able to steer our bamboo raft down the river on our own.

Overall, our rafting adventure consumed close to two hours. In the course of that time, we went swimming several times, had splashing fights with our friends, and steered our raft further and further down river. Our rafts were the last to arrive at the downriver bank, I think because we were having the most fun.

Once we got off the rafts we decided we were going to continue biking into the mountains to explore some natural caves. Not knowing what to expect, we all purchased $2 Asian fun time shorts to wear on this adventure.

After biking a little further we stopped for lunch in a little town in the mountains. This town was awesome because it had a view of Moon Hill, one of Yangshou’s rounded peaks with a natural moon gate eroded into its very highest peak.

After stopping to eat, we jumped on a bus that took us right to the mouth of the caves. We had to check all of our belongings and all of us stripped down to just our bathing suits. We were given rubber shoes to wear for stomping around in the caves and then we set off on our adventure.

To get into the caves, we had to take small boats over water. As soon as we got into the caves, it was dark and cold and there were stalagmites and stalactites everywhere. It took two boats to get our entire group into the caves because there were 17 of us all together.

When we got off the boats, a guide led us for a hike through the caves that ended at a natural mud bath. There were no hesitations about getting drenched in mud and we all just dove right in. The mud was cold and a lot thicker than I thought it would be. I got my whole body covered because the mud is supposed to be good for your skin. There were natural rockslides that led into the mud bath, so we all took turns sliding down those. There was also a photographer at the mud bath taking pictures of us. The pictures were hilarious and we bought a few after we got out of the caves. Because we are all covered in mud, it looks like a lot of us, especially the girls, are completely naked in the pictures!

When we got out of the mud baths, we were able to rinse off a bit, but there was still mud everywhere. We then hiked, half clean, to another part of the caves where there was a natural hot spring. It felt so good. Too good in fact because when we got in, we thought it might be a good idea to skinny dip and take off our bathing suits in order to clean off most of the mud. It was definitely another bonding experience in China! We relaxed in the hot springs for a while and then we hiked back to the exit of the caves and took the boats back out into the open air.

Outside of the caves, a bunch of us bought some bamboo sandals from some of the local people. They shoes were so cool and the only cost five kuai, which is about 70 cents, so I bought two pairs, one in orange and one in black. I can’t wait to wear them back in the United States.

We then found our bikes and rode back to West Street. At this point, we were much farther from our starting location and we had a nice 45-minute bike ride ahead of us. We were all biking in our bathing suits and wearing our flower crowns. We must have been quite a sight! The ride was beautiful. We got to see more of the mountains and we entered town from a different direction, which allowed us to see a bit more of the surrounding area.

After a full day, by the time we got back to the hotel, it was already 5:40 and we had to be downstairs in the lobby for dinner by 6:00. Because we were already in our bathing suits, Molly and I jumped in the shower and took the quickest showers of our lives. The water in the showering was running brown from the mud and to this day, mud is still coming out of my ears!

Dinner was pretty good. Yangshou is located so far south in China that it is very near to Vietnam. In southern China, the Chinese food resembles more the taste of American Chinese food than northern food, such as what I have been eating in Beijing. However, authentic Chinese food is still better than what we get to eat in America.

After dinner, Brittany, Jon, Aaron, Kaity, Heidy, Amanda, Richie, Cara, and I, went on a night river cruise on the Li River to watch the local fishermen use commarant birds to fish. It was pretty impressive. The fishermen rode on bamboo rafts similar to the ones we rode earlier in the day. Attached to his raft, he had five commarant birds tied loosely by their necks. The birds would dive and catch the fish, but would not be able to swallow them because of the ties around their necks. When the birds’ mouths looked full, the fishermen would pull them on to the raft and empty the fish from the birds’ throats into a basket. He would then feed one or two of the fish to the birds as a reward and then throw them back into the water.

At one point, our boat pulled up to the riverbank with the fishermen on his raft. We got to check out the birds up close. All of a sudden, the fishermen put one of the commarants on Richie’s arm. After that, we all got to hold the bird. The bird was a lot calmer than I thought and its feet were a lot less slimy than I expected. Perhaps I can learn how to use commarants to fish in the canal in my backyard at home in America!

After our nightcruise we went back to the hotel. I caught up on some episodes of Grey’s Anatomy with Jon, Heidy, and Brittany and then went to sleep.

The next day, we had a free day, so for once on our crazy trip we decided to take a day that actually felt like vacation. Molly and I slept in, got up and showered, and went to brunch. We did some shopping, including buying matching Chinese t-shirts for our dads, and got manicures and pedicures. Later in the afternoon, we met up with some of our friends at a café on the river for drinks during happy hour.

We had dinner with the program and then went back to the hotel and watched Kung Fu Panda, which was actually a really cute movie. Because it was our last night before heading back to Beijing for a few days before going home to America, we decided go out and hit up some of the bars on West Street. Even Joyce came. Because most of the places were expensive and the music wasn’t all that great, a few of us ended up back at Drifters for a night of leisurely drinking and people watching. Then we went back to the hotel ant went to sleep.

The next morning we were able to sleep in a bit and then the Spring Break team met up for Western style breakfast. We went to eat at a café on the river and we all had omelets, juice, and coffee, which was really delicious and hit the spot! We then headed back to the hotel, hiked back to the bus and were headed back to the Guilin airport and on our way back home to Beijing!