28 May 2008
Yangshuo: Li River
Posted by Andrew under: 3. Yangshuo; 0. Home China Page .
We started the trip to Yangshuo by flying into Guilin and driving to the town for about an hour and a half. The humidity was apparent the moment we stepped off the plane. And even more impressively, the gorgeous pinnacles like karsts in the distance.We started off our Yangshuo experience in the local town with a quick bite and drinks and had to drop off our luggage at Kelly’s Cafe because the single road leading to our Li River Retreat would be over-run with market sellers and tourists, making it inaccesable until after 5, which I would get to know firsthand the following day. We had a little time to explore the nearby scenary and talk to a travel agent regarding our future travel plans to Hangzhou, since the sleeper car we were hoping to book was no longer available.
A beautiful young woman, Phiona, came to collect us for our authentic cooking class with a trip to the fresh market - here we got to see where all the local produce and meat supply both the restaurant and locals. Growing up in Chinatown, many items were quite familiar: roast duck and chickens hanging on hooks (including live ducks, chickens and rabbit), squid and octopus, as well as whole roasted pig, fish of many varieties, frogs and turtles. We were then led carefully and with warning that no photographs were permitted, to the display of whole dogs hanging in the distance. Although we had been warned that this was a staple of Chinese cuising, it was still shocking and upsetting to see, although we tried to accept the cultural differences and not be too judgmnetal. Nevertheless, Zach, who has trouble eating whole cooked chicken, wondered aloud how he would consume any meat, two legs or four, for the remainer of the trip. Phiona, herself, acknowledged that she never ate dog either.
Of note was the hugest cucumber we ever saw (see the normal sized meat cleaver next to it), larger than any watermelon I’ve seen with my own eyes. There were pails and pails of eels and other squirmy things in freshwater; hard and soft varieties of tofu; lots of dried peppers and chillies; rows of leafy green vegetables and lettuce stalk (what’s suppose to be in chicken and cashews but is replaced by celery). But no bugs or fried insects, seems like the rural life is quite civilized really.
After the market tour, we were herded to a class with about 12 others from New Zealand and Brisbane, Australia. One woman was also an “overseas” Chinese. A young lady lead our class while the Phiona assisted us in prepping and cooking. Our menu consisted of: steamed stuffed vegetables, chicken and cashews, eggplant, beer fish (local specialty) and stir-fried vegetables. Very simple to make as she instructed us on how to cut, chop, and dice. Zach has learned the art of using a cleaver without cutting himself now. All the menu items were great but the steamed stuffed vegetables were a stand out. We got to sit down and have our dinner with a few bottles of local beer and a view of the adjoining farm: oxen, chickens and all.
After class, we met our guide for the next two days, Lilly Lu. At first she struck us as superhyper, but over the two days to follow we came to love her, and to call her, much to her chagrin, Mama Lu, because she was so maternal to the three of us (and learned the phrase “mamma mia” from Italian visitors). The Li River Retreat is like any hotel situated in the woods, quite buggy but functional; hardly the tough lifestyle we were experiencing at the Commune on the Great Wall or the Holiday Inn in Beijing. There were no phones or TVs and wifi was spotty at best. The restaurant food was quite good and they walk it to the outdoor seating area from the kitchen beyond the reception area, though there was only a single chef and food was exceptionally slow coming out. However, the location, riverside and away from the hustle and bustle of West Street, was charming and peaceful.
The next day was exciting: we toured the countryside on bikes and took two river raft tours. The first river tour was beautiful but overall not as inspiring as the second one, which was on the Li River with huge mountains rising up all around you in shapes of animals lumbering through the woods or with a facade of 9 horses, racing across the mountainface. Like Thailand, on the smaller raft ride, there were platforms in the river where they sold beer and snacks or photos they took of you in your raft. One thing about digital photography is that there is probably less waste - they don’t need to print up the pictures anymore and can just delete the ones they don’t sell and save in production costs!
Along our bike tour I spied Red Cross tents and wondered why they were there. Lilly told us that they were still helping the people affected by the snowsotrms this past winter. Gosh, China has been hit with quite a few problems and as auspicious as 8/8/08 is for the Olympics, the Gods are not completely happy.
We arrived at Moon Hill, this wondrous small mountain with a hole naturally carved through it and over looking the entire valley. The experience was quite something as it took about hundreds of steep steps to reach the partial summit (under the hole) and another 5-10 minutes to climb to the top (above the hole). As with any tourist spot, there are people selling trinkets and libations but here they are elderly woman, as old as 60, who climb the summit with you the entire way! Three followed us (one for each of us) and we were amazed at the feistiness and fitness of these women though one did drop out after a quarter of the way through. Water is Y10 ($1.40) at the bottom and Y20 as you reach the top. Lilly, our guide stayed below but told us that they would follow us and that we really couldn’t do anything about it. Sometimes these women make the trip 4 or more times a day! Still, they were quite friendly and we learned a little about them and their family (in our broken Chinese and English way) and in the end we bought postcards and water from them. Zach and Andrew’s private “guide” fanned him the entire way up and down Moon Hill (poor Reg). Unfortunately my battery ran out and no one else carried their cameras that day so we have no pictures of these ladies.
Afterwards, Lilly took us to a great local restaurant that served a hot pot, specifically a duck dish that was absolutely delicious - spicy with an amazing broth. We would repeat that experience with fish at a different place the next day. The difference would be that we’d have “normal” sized chairs instead of the pre-school sized ones at the first place! PS. You think Chinese restaurants in NYC are dirty? DO NOT go behind the “curtain” at these places! Lunch for four at each place cost 60 to 80 Yuan, approximately $9 to $11, tip included!
In order to replace my camera battery, I had to bike my way from town back up the mountain to our Retreat but through the day market, which fills up with tourists that are deposited there by the large river boats. You cannot cross the path by car or bike and must make your way on foot. We were warned about this and hence our cooking class when we first arrive in town. It’s amazing how crowded it truly was and how the tourists couldn’t care less that you are trying to make your way.
The next was our last full day in Yangshuo and we took a cave tour that had a mud river running through it and a crawl space that we’d have to cross, which made us a little apprehensive and we decided on the smaller tour (1-1/2 versues 3 hrs). We switched out of our shoes and into these plastic slippers that seemed flimsy but worked great and even more importantly, a hard hat. It’s amazing how cool the cave was and how much work it was climbing through it was. The cave had beautiful stalagmites/tites in all sorts of amazing shapes: donuts, breasts, hands, feet, a throne, etc. Zach and I endulged in a mud fight worthy of Alexis and Krystal! Reggie opted out, claiming he “didn’t like cold water.” (Yeah, right! but if it was a mud facial at the Canyon Ranch Spa …)
Finally, we were off for our final challange, rock climbing on the amazing karsts of Yangshuo. We had selected a small Chinese outfitter, Black Rock, and were pleased that we had one-on-one support for the most part for our training and climbs. We attempted three climbs, each progressively more difficult, ranging from 15 M to 30 M, which none of us completed but successfully and proudly attempted. There were a few scrapes and bruises along the way, lots of laughter and comraderie with our Chinese guides and fellow climbers (two girls and a guy from China), and lots of mosquitoes and dirt. Evertyhing needed to make a man feel like a young boy again - fantastic!!
After rejoining Lilly for celebratory drinks and a Chinese pizza, while watching sunset over the Karsts and a “Live Aid” style concert in support of Earthquake Relief that we made donations to; then we shopped for buns for our early morming trip to the airport ( 6:15 pickup) and said a sad but affectionate goodbye to Mamma Lu and exhausted farewell to Yangshuo.
Yangshuo, we came, we cooked, we biked, we hiked, we crawled, we climbed and we rocked!
I have so many great pix that I decided to make them available here:
>Yangshuo pix<
Quiz: The road to the Yangshuo airport is paved with:
A] copious amounts of cow dung
B] one-lane, two-way road
C] not paved at all
D] good intentions
E] all of the above
UPDATE: Zach has yet to use a squat toilet on this trip! (Amazing what chanting “I’m not there yet” can do to your GI system.)
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