China Part Three

We braved the insanity of the streets and rented mopeds!  It was pretty crazy weaving in and out of buses, vans, bicycles, motorcycles, and semis.  But we made it to some really cool spots.  Here's a low-traffic scenic area:

We swam in the Yulong River and jumped off Dragon Bridge.

Next we went to Shangri La, a touristy park.  The boat ride was full of cheesy gimmicks, but the scenery was phenomenal.




After eating lunch back in Yangshuo we went to the Big Banyan Tree which was planted more than a thousand years ago. It was beautiful!
A man leading a cow around at the banyan tree area:




We tried to eat the popular "Beer Duck"  but only found a few small morsels of meat among the skin, bones, and webbed feet.  The vegetables were good though.


Mmmmmm... Yummy...


It was Dave and Mikelle's last day before they flew to Shanghai, so we went back to the firework store that night and bought the biggest pack they had.


We got a lot of stares as we made our way to the river:


I let the boys light this one.  Todd said it was, "every 12 year old boy's dream come true."

Dave and Mikelle left the following morning and Todd and I rented an electric scooter and went to the Butterfly Cave and then watched the sun set from Moon Hill. Moon hill is the single reason I have wanted to visit China all these years. It is amazing.




Moon Hill:


The view from Moon Hill:


The following day we moved to Climber's Inn, a hostel full of climbers.  Some of them invited us to join them at "The Egg," so we did.






We went to dinner with the climbers and stayed up late talking about life with some Canadians. They were really cool and philosophical about following their passions in life. It was really nice to talk to them.

The next day we tried acupuncture! Todd's wrist has been injured for months and has been recovering very slowly so he had Dr. Lily jab him there. She also stuck a needle in his palm- ouch. His wrist actually seemed to improve after the acupuncture, maybe that stuff really works?




After watching Todd receive treatment, I opted for a Chinese medicine back massage instead. :) It felt great.

Later on, we went to the Buddha Water Cave.  The cave was huge!  And very beautiful inside.  We dipped in the mud baths which were freezing, then relaxed in the hot springs, which were just perfect.
(We're not naked, just muddy! ;)


We were so tired that night we fell asleep at 6:30.  I blame the freezing mud pits.

We got up early to watch the sunrise from Lotus Peak (the tower in Yangshuo.)  It was misty and hazy which made the city look mysterious and romantic.


Later we went climbing again, this time on Moon Hill! As if that place wasn't awesome enough without being able to climb all over it!  This is May climbing, but Todd and I did some routes too.

We climbed with May and Pat, a couple from Australia who came pretty close to convincing us that we need to move to Australia too.  Maybe some day.
It was our last night in Yangshuo so after dinner Todd and I sat by the river and watched the moon rise over the karst towers. I wanted to stay there forever and not come back to Utah at all!

That afternoon we went to the market and were scarred for life by this sight. I'll let you figure out what it is.


Not sure what this hideous thing is:

China Part Two

After arriving in Guilin we decided to bus/boat down the Li River to Yangshuo.  The ride was amazing!!  There were karst limestone towers were everywhere and it was stunning!




The Cat:




A fisherman on the river:


Dave and Mikelle:


We walked through some super cool old stone villages:


We ate lunch with a cute Chinese couple from the boat ride (which tasted a lot better than dim sum!) When we got to Yangshuo we found a $10 hotel and went to a night show created by Ang Lee, the man in charge of the 2008 Olympics Opening Ceremonies. It was very cool to watch!  The show was all in Chinese so we had no idea what it was actually about. :)




The next day we hiked a peak in the park for a nice view of Yangshuo:


Mikelle enjoying the view:


There was a fortune teller at the top and for $0.50 I got to pick my fortune.


Apparently this means good luck: (Actually, I think that's the only thing this guy could say in english, never mind which card I chose)


Dave made a friend named Michael who agreed to take us to the village where he grew up. We took a bus to a tiny village covered with rice fields and helped the locals sow rice!

 


Rice:


Sesame Seeds:


A farmer hard at work:


It was beautiful, everyone was reserved but welcoming, and they fed us a lunch of fresh peanuts, chestnuts, and an array of packaged snacks. We ate lunch with Michael's mother, and with him translating we were able to ask her about her life. Oh, and of course we drank tea.


Michael's mom:


Her kitchen:








Here's another local showing off his grandchild:


We ended up giving Michael some money to buy a "dictionary" that he claimed could only be bought in a different city." We're pretty sure it was a fib to get our money, but we didn't mind paying him after he spent his day giving us such an unforgettable tour.

Later that night we found a firework store! They're all legal, as long as you light them at the river. We lit a bunch of cool fireworks and then ended with the grand finale. We had an enormous roll of giant fire crackers- at least 6 feet long- and I was nominated to light them since I was holding the lighter. The "wick" was about a third of an inch long, and as I tried and tried to light it I was suddenly aware of explosions in my ears and firework material exploding against my face. Without even thinking I ran away screaming, worried about my ears (and new rip-off Northface jacket.) I got firework stuff everywhere! In my hair, my mouth, and I could hardly hear out of my right ear for being so close to the darn thing! After nearly blowing my face off, and when everyone else managed to stop laughing, we found the wick- 6 inches or so with 30 seconds of time to run away.
I'll post the video, it's pretty funny to see me scrambling away in a panic.

China Part One

Our big trip this year was to China! We started in Hong Kong and met up with Dave and Mikelle, some friends from home.

Utah was stunning when we left it:




Hong Kong is a massive city, with endless sky scrapers. The view at night from Victoria Peak:




We took a ferry to a little fishing village on a mile-wide island. We wanted to go fishing, so we approached some people with fishing boats at the pier...but how do American tourists communicate to Chinese commercial fishermen "take us fishing for fun, we don't want to keep any of the fish?" We thought we'd communicated well, but we ended up with a 2 hour boat ride with no fishing, breathing diesel fumes. Oh well. :)

Our Captain:


At one point during the boat ride our captain took out a plastic bag with a fish steak in it, put the fish on the roof of the boat, and tossed the bag right into the sea. It was the most exciting moment of the entire boat ride because we thought he was getting bait ready for fishing, but no, just putting piece of fish on the roof.

Some of the many boats docked:


Here is an apparently disliked political figure:


Some stuff for sale at the market:
I think these are sea horses.  They're also sold at the pharmacies apparently for medicine.


Blow fish skin:


Organs.  Thanks to my anatomy class, I could identify most of them and it was pretty strange because they were about human-sized.




I also had my first encounter on this trip with the squat toilet:


There were sometimes sitting toilets too:


When we got hungry, we decided to try "Dim Sum," a popular dish among the locals. I got chicken and rice, and after picking through it a bit I found several pieces of meat that didn't look like chicken. Eventually I found one with legs! I was pretty much done with my dim sum upon that discovery!


Dave inspecting his mystery meat meal:


Todd with a mouth full of dim sum:


We went straight to a McDonalds. French fries never tasted so good!


We ended up swimming in the South China Sea- there was garbage in the water, but it was still fun.  Sorry no photos of that.

Here's one incredibly tall building (there are a lot of these)


We made it back to our hotel in one piece. Here's the tiny bathroom where you can shower, brush your teeth, and use the toilet all at once:


After a few days in Hong Kong we took a hard sleeper train to Guilin on the mainland. It was a bit tight, but we didn't care- it was fun and comfortable once we laid down!


Mikelle snoozing:


Todd and Dave played the balloon popping game on Todd's I-phone with a toddler who nearly broke the screen slamming her finger into it.  It was pretty funny.  We met several Chinese travelers that knew english and Todd stayed up late talking with one of them. 


Todd with a person he met on the train


Todd's eye: