Oh My Karst!

  Yangshuo, Guangxi Zhuang, China
May 16, 2009

We were up at 6:30 am. Bill had his croissant and bun that he bought last night and an orange. I had my cereal, apple and peanut butter. We showered and packed and were down at the tour office at 8:00.

Aida (her English name, her Chinese name is Shopping) is going to be our guide today. We are going to have 22 people in our group today. Our driver is Mr Buy. We witnessed our first traffic accident. Mr Buy hit a girl on a red motorbike before we arrived at the pier. After a brief discussion we moved on. I guess she was OK...

Aida told us that there are 600,000 people in Guilin and 1.3 million people in the surrounding area. There are 56 minority groups in China and 11 in Guilin. She spoke to us about the Qiang (I think, it sounded like jaung when she said it) people who are famous for their folksongs.

We are going to be taking a boat down the Li River which is 1437 kms long. Our trip is 63 kms to Yangshuo.

Our bus ride to the pier was around 40 minutes and we waited for a few minutes to board our boat. There are hundreds of people doing the same. Once on board we met Esaskoon and John from Spain, Evan and Helen from Edmonton. Helen is visiting her son Evan who has been teaching in Beijing for the past eight years. We also met Don from Tennessee and his son Tim from Texas. They are spending 10 days or 2 weeks in Tokyo and China.  

We departed around 9:30 and our crew served us some tea and water. They would not allow us to go up top until they completed an announcement in Chinese (we all signed up for the English speaking tour, Chinese people are offered a less expensive tour). On all the other boats we see, everyone else is above deck, so our group is getting anxious.

Karst hills are basically weathered lime stones. The limestone hills were formed by fossils that were on the sea floor and were brought to the surface by naturally occurring events over the centuries. The limestone has then been worn down by rain. Underground water have also formed caves in the limestone hills. It says that the karst hills in the Li River are 980 feet or 300 meters.

When we were allowed onto the upper deck we were able to take in the incredible scenery. The weather cleared for a bit and we had some sun. We were able to see karst mountains in Halong Bay, but these ones are even more spectacular (hard to imagine, but true). We spent a lot of time enjoying the scenery, taking photos and visiting with Evan, Helen, Don and Tim. We saw lots of bamboo rafts and then some "modern" rafts that look like the bamboo raft, but are made from PVC. Some guys attached to our boat (it was moving at a good pace, I am not sure how they managed) to sell us some jade. Bill spotted some wild goats high on one hill. We saw some cormorants, ducks, water buffalo, fishermen and a dead floating pig.

From time to time Aida would come along and point out the major sites - Yearning for Husband Rock (it looks like a mother and child waiting for her husband to return, their love story like Romeo and Juliet), Beauty of Crown Cave, Painted Hill of Nine Horses (I could only see 2) and the spot that is pictured on the 20 yuan note. Bill had to take several photos to capture it.

At 11:30 we moved down below for lunch. We had soup with pork and veggies, rice, pork with potatoes and carrots, minced chicken and green beans, cauliflower, steamed cabbage, beef and cucumbers, fried chicken, peanuts, scrambled eggs and bananas. We had been given one free Liquan Beer per couple, but other tables did not want theirs, so it ended up on our table. All this time we watched Don and Tim eat their deluxe meal from the Sheraton (lox, sandwiches, cookies,...)

After our filling lunch we headed back up top and arrived in Yangshuo shortly afterward. There must have been at least 50 other boats that made the same trip today. We docked and walked up West Street. We dropped our bags at Fabio and Patrice's hotel (they are from Brazil) by the KFC. We decided to spend our hour exploring the town with Don and Tim. First we spotted an ice cream cooler and had a Magnum. Tim loves ice cream and had never heard of Magnums. I think that he approves!

Bill asked a woman where the market was. At first she took us to a grocery store and then understood that we wanted to go to a real market. By the time we walked there, it was time to turn around and go back. We had to meet the group at the KFC at 2:15. We are going to take an additional tour this afternoon for an extra 200 yuan each ($40).

Yangshuo county has a population of 300,000 people. I believe that 30,000 people live in Yangshuo and 1.8 million people visited here last year.

We walked from the KFC to a nearby hotel and boarded a bus. Mr Buy drove us to an village called Yulong. Yulong means "meeting dragon". Aida told us that there was a scholar who could not cross the river and he sat and cried for three days. A dragon heard him and carried him across. Later the scholar returned and built a bridge in honour of the dragon.

In the village we saw a home that was built during the Qing Dynasty (1644 - 1912). The features of the home are a tile roof, a carving over the door, steps up (raised to avoid flooding), no glass in the windows - wrought iron with animals and clouds on the 1st step (means your life and job will be better and better each time you step over). When you see clouds at an Emperor's residence it means "Sons of gods".

There are two red ribbons on each side of the doorways with Chinese writing. Each household displays their wishes for the year at every New Year. There are also pictures of two generals on the doors to scare away the evil spirits.

The Yulong bridge is a lovely stone bridge. You can rent bamboo rafts for two and go down the river from this spot. It is known that the bridge is over 600 years old because of the stone tablet on the stairs.

At the bottom of a door at one house there was an opening. Someone thought it was a cat door, but it is a chicken door!

Ladies in this village and other villages sell flowers for your hair. They wear them as inexpensive jewelery.

When we were back on the bus Aida told us that couples in the city are only allowed 1 child. Rural couples are only allowed 1 child if they have a boy first. If they have a girl first they are allowed to try to have one more child four years later.

We drove a short way and then hopped off. We all boarded a bamboo raft and were joined by a young local girl dressed in traditional costume. She sang some of the folk songs that Aida had told us about. It was quite lovely. Tim, a European former naval officer and myself took turns at navigating the raft. It was very difficult because the bamboo "paddle" was very buoyant. Don and Tim were handed engagement balls and chose to sing songs instead of staying here to be work slaves for the next 3 years. They are great singers (they both play in a band back in Tennessee).

We stepped off the raft and into the middle of some rice fields. We were able to feed two water buffalo some leaves. They are so sweet. I even got to hug one! Other people had purchased some lychee and plums. They were really tasty. We saw a Chinese couple purchase some plums from one of the ladies. The Chinese lady tried to take a couple extra and a shouting match followed. The sales lady won and was given her extra plums back.

On our way back to the pier we were given a cormorant demonstration. It takes 3 - 5 years to train the birds and they cost 3,000 yuan each ($525), that is a lot of time and money invested. The birds are tethered to the raft and jump in after a fish and swallow it. They can not eat it because there is a rope around their neck. The cormorant swims back to the raft and "coughs up" the fish. The guy had the bird do it for us 4 times in less than 10 minutes; you can catch a lot of fish doing this.

We took the bus back to Yangshuo and Aida arranged for a cab ride for us to our hotel which is 15 - 20 minutes outside of town for 40 yuan. While we were on the bus I topped up Don' hand sanitizer. We all used some and Tim had a reaction (or noticed one on his hands from something else. I am wondering if it was the plant we fed to the water buffalo...)

We were dropped off with an American couple who are living in Beijing. They told us to look them up when we get there, so I gave them our card. 

The location of our hotel is beautiful. We are in a valley in the karst hills and next to Yulong River. It took us a long time to check in, but we had orange juice and cookies while we waited by the river. We also used the internet at the hotel for a bit.

Our room overlooks the water and is a bit rustic and a bit musty, but will be fine. The a/c is working, so there is nothing more to ask for.

At 6:30 took an adventurous walk to Yangshuo Village through 2 small villages. The hills are incredible! We made it to town just before dark around 7:15. The directions were dodgie at best, but we made it!

We had a candle light dinner on the rooftop (3rd floor) at Luna (overlooking Moon Hill - the opening in the hill looks like a full moon). The decor was nice and the service was good. We were given a free beer and a free cab ride back for our trouble (as advertised at our hotel). Bill and I had caprese salad (not quite like home). Bill had calamari (not quite what he had hoped) and I ordered a meatball Parmesan hot hero (again, I was thinking meatballs, they were thinking chicken parm with pork), but the sandwich was not bad. We felt that the descriptions were better than the meals. It was very dark and we could see some stars, so it was all good.

We took a cab back to our hotel and went to bed early because someone was using the one computer that is working.