Had a Hard Day, Such a Hard Day!
Yangshuo, Guangxi Zhuang, China
May 18, 2009
We were up late and it has been raining. Today we are supposed to kayak and go to the light show this evening. Hopefully it lets up and we do not lose a day here.
I had Set 2 with french toast, omelet with bacon and mushroom and fruit with green tea and watermelon juice. Bill had scrambled eggs and bacon with orange juice. My meal was huge, so Bill helped me with some of it.
I continued writing for Nigel. He has almost finished in Myanmar!
We then passed the time by using the hotel computers. Bill is checking on baseball, the stock market and planning the rest of our time in China. I am desperately trying to catch up on emails and the blog. It does not take me long to forget what we did a few days ago!
Bill found out that our tickets for Guilin to Dali on Monday did not get booked. For some reason the credit card payment did not process on time. We are now in a panic and ask the receptionist to call the airline for us. Thankfully it is only going to cost us an additional $15 and the driver for the hotel can pick the tickets up for us. We considered leaving today (flights are 2:30 every day) for an extra $50, but Bill decided we should stick to the plan.
The rain tapered off around 10 - 11, so we decided to go kayaking. We were going to take the shorter route, but the guy said the water would be quick because of the rain, so it would be better to stick with the longer trip. We found out that a car to and from the kayaking is not included and would be an extra 130 yuan ($26). We kept going back and forth, but finally decided to cancel. It was a good thing because the rain came down hard again from 11 - 3.
We had to pack our things this morning and move to another room. Our new room is in the main building and is smaller (sink is beside the bed), but has a double bed and a balcony. There is still mold in the bathroom, but it does not smell. There does not seem to be any insulation in these buildings. We can very hear our neighbours conversations...
Around noon we ordered lunch. I had a bacon cheese burger with a salad. There was no dressing for the salad and the only condiment I could get is mayo. I think I should have ordered something from the Chinese menu instead. Bill had a chicken sandwich which came on toast. He agrees that we should stick to the other side of the menu.
We played two games of Rummy to pass the time. Bill beat me both times. I had a chance the second game at least. I suggested spending the afternoon by getting massages or drinking, but Bill had other ideas!
Bill checked the weather and it looks like it is going to clear later in the afternoon, so the show should go on! It is the Impression Liusanjie Show. It is outdoors with the karst hills as the backdrop. ZhangYimous is the director, he was also the director for the opening ceremonies at the Beijing Olympics. It sounds incredible, it should be a great show.
When the rain stopped we headed out for a 2 hour mountain bike ride so we could be back on time to clean up and go into town for dinner before the show.
The first stretch of our journey was hilly, but paved. We came to a juncture where the road stopped and we had to cross the river. It cost us 10 yuan to get a 3 minute bamboo ride across the water.
We were riding below the beautiful karst hills, beside the clear river, among orange and mango trees and rice fields. The sky was getting more clear and the sun was out. We saw lots of farmers in their fields planting the first season of rice, some cows and water buffalo, men fishing, people taking the bamboo rafts down the river, graveyards, a few other bikers,... Bill had a great time stopping every 5 minutes to take pictures of the hills.
We saw a few different birds too. One was a large black bird with copper coloured wings. We also saw a bird with a brown belly with black, gray and white and one that was gray with black and white.
We crossed back over the river on a cement bridge and a lady directed us toward Yulong Village. At this point our plan of turning around in 20 minutes and heading back since we had been gone for 45 minutes was abandoned. The was the TSN turning point (for the worse).
The bike ride became more challenging and the path became less obvious. We were taken through dirt roads, fields and small villages. The path was muddy and there were lots of puddles that we had to go around or through. We were trying to avoid them because Bill's bike did not have a splash guard. We saw lots of children playing and one old guy was really funny. He had a huge grin and was calling "hello" to us. I tried to get a good photo of him, but I think I managed to get a better photo of a cat sleeping in a doorway instead. I gave him 5 yuan for his troubles, he seemed pretty happy about that.
The lady from the bridge had caught up to us and told us it would be 30 minutes to get to Yulong. We should have headed back at this point, but kept going. Outside the village we came to a spot where two other bikers warned us that it was muddy ahead. (again, we should have turned around and went back) We thought, no big deal, we have been through lots of mud already. They were not kidding, the path was really wide, but was filled with deep muddy tracks. We made it through though and then a guy on a motorbike lead us through some fields and another village for a shortcut to Yulong.
We arrived at around 5:10 and took a couple of photos at the bridge. A lady and the guy on the motorbike were going to sell us a trip back to our hotel via bamboo, but it was going to take 3 hours. We need to be back by 7:00 to catch the shuttle and we have been gone for 2 hours already... We left the village 10 minutes later and took a wrong turn into a nearby village. It was 5:30 by the time we were on the right path (through fields). Around 5:45 I was leading the way and was trying to avoid a puddle. I went to the edge of the path by a big flat rock. What I could not tell because of the weeds was that there was a culvert beside the rock, so my front tire went into the culvert, my left shoe caught, my right thigh hit the handle bar and I did a flip off the front of the bike and landed on my feet 2 or 3 feet in front of my bike. A lady was coming up the path from the other direction and she immediately started laughing hysterically. Yes, thanks, I am OK! Bill was dumbfounded and then started to laugh when he realized I was OK. Bill retrieved my shoe and my bike for me. The bike was fine, but the chain had come off. Bill fixed the chain and we were off again.
My shoes and peddles were muddy, so my left foot slipped at one point and the peddle smacked the front of my shin. It is red and bruised. I am starting to get really beat up now.
We are trying to hurry and we all know what happens when you try to rush - accidents. They say the third time is a charm and my third incident was the most spectacular. We were on a narrow muddy raised path beside rice fields. There was a bend in the path, so I slowed down. I was going too slow and got stuck in the muddy ruts and lost my balance. I started falling to the right and dropped my bike, tucked and rolled so I landed on my back through a thorny bush, into a field. Now I am pissed and my pride is completely shattered. I have a thorn stuck in my right calf and am bleeding from 15 - 20 other scratches. It was a good thing that I had my rain jacket on, so my arms and upper body did not get scratched. My shoulder hurts a bit, but I had to "get back on the horse" and keep going.
We got back on the path and then onto the really muddy road. Both Bill and I got stuck in ruts and had to put our feet down. Bill's sandals and my shoes are really muddy now.
We made it back to the cement bridge and do not have to deal with the muddy paths any longer. We rode back to the crossing and stood there for a while. Everyone is packing up the rafts for the day. Finally two guys notice us and come to get us. They wanted to charge us 40 yuan (surprise, surprise). Well I am in no mood to be ripped off right now and I start arguing with them in English and they are arguing with me in Chinese. I pointed to the the damn nearby where a guy is crossing with his water buffalo. I made it clear that I was going to cross there and he motioned that we would fall. I motioned to my muddy legs, shoes and clothes and said that it would be fine for me. Bill was able to convince the guy to take 20 yuan and we were given a lift across.
We peddled like mad back to the hotel and made it back for 6:40. I jumped in the shower while Bill returned the bikes and inquired about the shuttle at the reception. Bill came back to the room and told me that the show has been cancelled because there is too much water on the ground. Are you kidding me right now?! The day has been a complete rain out!
After our showers Bill put Bactine on all of my cuts. I think I have some tiny pieces of thorns in a few spots, but I am unable to dig them out with a pin.
We had dinner again at our hotel. We ordered the local specialty - beer fish. We chose the cheaper, carp with bones instead of boneless catfish and steamed rice. I ordered Louhanzai a famous vegetarian monk dish with bean curd, glass noodles, elephant ear mushrooms, enoki mushrooms, fig, a legume and something like bok choy. Bill had Liquan and coke. I had water with our meal.
The dishes were very good and very filling. After relaxing for a while and finishing our tales for Nigel and Freddie we ordered some red wine, apple crumble and vanilla ice cream. The crumble was very good and not too sweet, it was actually a bit salty.
We finished our adventurous day on the internet with the bugs. We were both exhausted when we went to bed late.