First, let me begin by my semi-regular apology for the delay of this post. This time however, I have a somewhat decent excuse. I wanted to include video clips into this post, and as of two days ago, YouTube seems to have made the list of blocked websites here in China. This is strange, because it comes just one day after I found myself able to view my own blog for the first time in a few months. This however is the subject of another post all together. So armed with the will to try out blogger's in house video programming, let me continue our story...
We arrived back on the mainland over land and into the city called Shenzhen. Some say the place is China's answer to Hong Kong, others say that it is a complete dump and a nightmare, but I'll just settle on... wow there were just too many people there. We ventured into the city while waiting for our night bus to Yangshuo, and couldn't help but be mezmerized by the moving masses. (How alliterative!) We also had the chance to use the toilets at the first McDonald's on mainland China, and be befuddled by the Shenzhen metro system. SO MUCH FUN!
And what's a stop over in a Chinese city without some uniquely Chinese food or drink?
Who would have thought that bamboo juice would actually be... good?
But good it was, and with Panda Feed in our stomachs, we boarded the night bus to Yangshuo. Now, I don't know who among you have traveled by way of night bus, but based on my experience, you are usually stuck dealing with a glorified coach bus, hoping to catch sleep in fifteen minute intervals. These though... something else entirely.
Metal framed bunk beds big enough for people half the size of the passengers, but still, one of the finest ways to travel. Sure when the bus lurches you find yourself skin to freezing metal, but of the three of us, I was pretty much able to sleep like a baby. Chinese Night Buses? HIGHLY recommended.
(Hope this new style video works...)
When we woke up, we were in Yangshuo. Elephant brained readers of this blog will recall that we hit Yangshuo on the last Whirlwind Tour. It was only on our way off of the Li River, but it made enough of an impression to warrant a longer stay.
In Yangshuo, we were able to bike around rice fields and farming villages, navigate around cows on leashes and make sure we were too sore to sit the next day.
We also met up with Jon, another friend from Syracuse who is currently teaching in Shanghai.
After the biking, we relaxed in the best way possible... by treating our bikes to a rest on Bamboo rafts down the river.
But we were far from done with Scenic Chinese Nature after we departed from Yangshuo. We were heading to the rice terraces of Ping'An next, but first there would be a quick stop for the night in a city called Longsheng. Not on any tourist maps I've been able to find, Longsheng is a slice of cold war era China that has preserved itself quite well. Dreary and bleak, yet full of character. After wandering around a bit during the night, we spent the morning before our bus to Ping'An in Longsheng's early morning market.
You want live Chickens? They got 'em. You want them to slaughter them fresh in front of you? You got it. You want some maggots and honey combs? Of course! You running low on pig face? Well you're in luck. Oh, are the kids craving some more jerkied rat? Can you blame them?
With our appetites shot, we boarded the bus to Ping'An. It was small and overcrowded, and when we entered the park, everyone without a seat had to duck down to evade security (seriously). Once inside though, we were able to see a completely different side of China than what we experienced in the market that morning.
Gone were the dried rodents. They were replaced by massive rice terraces, and a 400 year old minority village situated inside them. Ping'An is mainly done as a day trip out of Yangshuo or Guilin, but I'm glad we spent the time there. Because it was really nice to take it all in at a leisurely pace.
Aside from the terraces, Ping'An is also known for its minority residents: The Miao (pronounced... you know... like the cat noise). The Miao women are famous for their long hair, so of course they have figured out a way to charge tourists money to see it. The Miao women now have their hair up in buns, but for a short fee they'll let down their locks so you can take a gander. After being harassed by at least two dozen Miao, we finally caved to see what it was all about. But when one or two of them women reached into their basket to pull out hair extensions, I had to fight the urge to push them off the rice terrace.
Having been scammed, we returned to the hotel where we were unsurprised to see that the beautiful rice terraces get basterdized at night with hideous neon lights, and blaring techno music for no particular reason. Ahh, China.
Afterwards, we departed Ping'An to Guilin to catch our flight to Shanghai. If only we payed more attention to the weather forcast though, then we may have noticed a teeny tiny little typhoon that was going to be hitting Shanghai...
Tune in next time for the exciting conclusion!
- Shawn
2 comments:
are you actually telling me that smuggling in China is reduced to, "DUCK!"
I prefer to think of it as "simplified and perfected to..." instead of "reduced to..." but yeah... basically.
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