Day 9: From Chengdu to Yangshuo
Although I was running on fumes from the flight from Tibet, I did manage to stay awake for enough time to see the incredible landscape outside the windows of our bus. It really looked like something out of a Dr. Seuss book. Giant hills/mountains rising out of the ground everywhere in magnificent fashion. It was a sight that I was completely unlike anything I have seen before. In the afternoon, after we arrived, I walked around town and next to the Li River. The surroundings were gorgeous. This was one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen, be it on TV, in the media, or in film. Words can't really describe the beauty of Yangshuo. The weather was Florida-esce in December and the scenery was out of a beautiful Chinese landscape painting. I couldn't ask for more. But there was more. As I strolled alongside the Li River I spotted rafts in the distance and wild horses running in the grass on the water's edge. Everything seemed to be in slow motion after living in Beijing for so long.
Day 10: Another Biking Adventure
In the morning, we all took a raft trip down the Li River. The trip was nice and relaxing, and the beauty of the area was really accentuated through riding along the river. Hills towered all around us as we slowly drifted along. Later on in the day, a few friends and I decided to rent some bikes and go on an adventure in the countryside. We rented really nice mountain bikes for a dollar or two for the day. These bikes were incredible to ride out in the countryside...we were all used to the crappy Beijing bikes that broke every time we rode them. Now we were speeding along the one-lane highway in the Yangshuo countryside with crop fields and giant hills all around us. We passed lots of farmers and one such farmer (most likely con-artist which we would say in the US but just another sly businesswoman) told us that she could take us to the "Assembling Dragon Caves", where we wanted to go to. So we let her lead us, and then the adventure really started. We ended up going into this town past where we wanted to go and our teacher, Xiao Laoshi, had his tire go on him. So we eventually found a biker (of the motorcycle type) who took Xiao back to Yangshuo with the bike attached to the back. It was pretty hilarious seeing our teacher with a little kiddy helmet riding on the back of a biker's back. We pressed on and Xiao came along to see the caves. The "Assembling Dragon Caves" was more of a marvel at modern Chinese tourism than anything else. The cave consisted of hundreds of neon lights creating a sort of psychedelic experience. Haha and that is not far from the truth. There was more electricity inside the caves than in the hostel in Yangshuo. Our "tour" also included two boat rides along the "canals" inside the caves. I have never heard of canals in caves, but it was humoress nonetheless. Most of the tour tried to create symbolic meaning out of the stalagtites. It was an incredible experience and worth everyone's ten dollars.
Day 11: On top of the hill
Some of our group did what I hoped to do ever since we arrived in Yangshuo, which was hiking one of the hundreds of "hills". We did that and had an amazing view from the top. As far as the eye could see it was hills and more hills, with farmland and small villages far below. Earlier in the day, a small group of us went to the area pictured on the back of the 50 kuai bill, which was much like the views from all over Yangshuo.
Day 12-end
The end of the trip was in Wuhan, of Hubei Province, which wasn't all that exciting. We went to a lecture on the current state of China's economy, but the lecturer did not have the best English. We did find a solid snack street with some tasty yangrou chuanr and mantou chuanr (lamb on a stick and bread on a stick). That chuanr is something I will always miss about China and the friendly chuanr workers who always strike up a great conversation.
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