Travel China Planner

Crossing the border at Shengzhen herded through scanning machines and filling in forms so they can trace me if I bring in the Swine Flu. Just make it to the bus and manage to get all my things on in time. Driver comments on the size of my luggage and asks if I didn’t wish that I played the violin. We laugh and I sleep on a bus with beds all the way to Guilin, arriving just in time to catch Bradford at his apartment on his way to work. He makes me comfortable and heads off to teach a class of university students.
Sit on his couch sipping green tea.

Later take a wal
k around campus. Loudspeakers blaring Chinese pop muzak and intermittent disk jockey’s singsong voice flowing out across basketball courts and classrooms.

Jackie comes home and lends a friend’s bicycle for me to use. We pedal around Guilin while he shouts interesting facts at me over his shoulder about the things we’re seeing along the way.

We climb a hill and look out over the city. Get a real view of oriental jutting peaks and mist like an oil painting. The folktale says that the hill we stand on was once one of two wild horses, tamed in the valley and tied to the spot by a local god who wanted to use them for their labor. I glance at the second horse in the distance and I’m sure I can make out the shape of its rocky head.
Trying to take it all in as scenery flashes by at bicycle speed while electric scooters overtake noiselessly.

Get lost in underground shopping maze amongst row after row of clothes and shoes and resurface in a park with a marble map of the world under my feet, big cities pinpointed by large round dots. Take a picture of Cape Town, then get our backs massaged for twenty yuen and drink freshly blended soy beans.

Next morning eat brownies from Brad’s freezer and get on bikes for a tour with a difference.

Climb a large hill with spiral stone staircase winding steeply upward. The stairs end and we continue toward the peak on a slippery mud tail. At the top on ankle-twistng rocks enjoying a panoramic scene. Decide to create our own path homeward and end up on sheer rock faces with camera swinging dangerously around my neck and gettingclothes and skin torn by thousands of tiny thorns. We make it back to the bicycles just before sunset.

Eat a great bowl of steamed vegetables and rice at Brad’s apartment and fall asleep and dream about hills and horses and bicycles.
Play guitar with Brad in the morning and drink filter coffee.

YangShuo village with stone walkways and pagodas perched on rocky outcrops. Bamboo rafts on the river Men using birds with strings tied around their throats to catch fish like they’ve done for a thousand years. One of them agrees to let me take his picture for 5 yuan.

Rice farmers up to their knees in water are reflected in their paddies along with the mountain and the sky. Rain drips onto their shoulders from their broad-brimmed hats.

On the train to Shanghai old ladies gossip and babies cry. Strangers overhear each others conversations.

I left Guilin early on Monday morning having already booked myself on a early morning river cruise from Guilin to Yangshuo.

I did feel a little self conscious once I got on the bus to take us to the ferry wharf though. I was the last person to get on and once I stepped aboard the bus everyone suddenly stopped what they were doing and looked up at me, the lone foreigner.

I was a little unsure of what to expect once on board the boat as conditions were a little cramped to say the least and I was praying that this wasn’t going to be the case throughout the journey down the river. There were three young University students travelling on the boat.

Half an hour past and right on cue we all shuffled outside with our cameras at the ready. Unfortunately once again the weather wasn’t ideal. The sun was out but seemed to be hiding behind some clouds which created a hazy effect.

It wasn’t long before we were cruising down the river at a leisurely pace. This was the Guilin I had been expecting. It’s very hard to describe just how beautiful it was and it really is one of those things that is best experienced first hand. The scenery at times was quite often breathtaking and as the boat wound its way down the river every corner provided another surprise. My finger was working overtime on the camera button. The boat took us past local people farming on the banks, water buffalo’s patrolling the fields and endless limestone peaks. Every so often a fisherman would pass by on a bamboo raft.

Eventually the boat came to a stop in Yangshou, as I was the only person going to be staying in Yangshou I struggled off the boat last with my backpack.

Mr Wei was immediately helpful and I was introduced to his whole family, I took no time in asking one of them how to speak some of the local dialect and had them in fits of laughter with my lame attempt at the local lingo! One of the excellent aspects of staying here is that Mr Wei and his family prepare dinner for all the guests and they all sit and dine together. I say dinner, it would be better for me to say banquet as there was so much food on offer and all of it absolutely outstanding.

There are plenty of things to do in Yangshuo but perhaps the best and one of the cheapest is to hire a bike. I was up early the next morning and had arranged with an couple I had met the previous day to take a bike ride along the Yulong River (Yulong He) We decided to go for the slightly more expensive option of mountain bikes (10 yuan per day) as opposed to the local bikes and were immediately thankful once we got on the rock paths along the river bank. The only disappointing aspect was once again the weather which again was hazy.

We biked our way up to the small village of Baisha and took in the Dragon Bridge (Yulong Qiao) The guide book had once again built it up to be something worth seeing but having seen it I’m not so sure.

The ride back though was great as we kept pretty close to the river and the small tracks weaved their way through the green fields. The scenery was pretty special at times and it was just nice to peddle along at a leisurely pace surrounded by this spectacular scenery. The fresh air was also a bonus! The round trip took about five hours and both my legs and more so my bottom were feeling the effects of the ride the next day.

I decided to spend the next day just wandering around Yangshuo. The centre is inundated with people selling various souvenirs and I managed to pick up a few bits and pieces here and there, once again testing my bargaining powers to the full. I’m afraid to say Greg that yes, the song came out on two occasions!

Yangshuo itself seems to be suffering from what all beautiful places in the world do and ever increasing number of tourists. In the city centre construction seems to take place 24 hours a day. The main street in Yangshuo is a horrible mix of touristy shops, loud bars and eager locals trying to entice you with all number of things. The main street ‘Xi Jie’ is also known as ‘foreigner street’ which in itself tells you a lot about the place.

On the way back to the hostel I popped into the local farmers market, I wish I hadn’t. Initially it was okay it was just when I moved to the ‘live animal section’ that it became a little distressing. You name the animal it was probably there. I saw one women purchasing a duck, the loud scream after I had walked past I can only assume was the sound of the duck going to meet it’s maker!

In the evening it was back to Xi Jie and one of other hostels nearby, the famous “Monkey Jane’s” for a few beers on the roof top overlooking the river.