I'm back from Yang Shuo..Continued...III

The next day...Bikes again.

And...Hot air ballooning!


Again...very cheap...80 yuan. (10 bucks)
In America you can't even get in a hot air balloon for $10.



This was my first time in one of these things.




Because of the karst mountains, they couldn't just let us float around.
They kept us attached to a rope and took us up about 1,500 ft. or so for about 15 or 20 minutes.








Later on we ended up down by the Dragon River.
This is a spot were the bamboo rafts would pick up new customers and head on down the river.


It was a bit of a tourist trap.
They had a camel...you could get your picture taken with.


And what's a tourist trap without a monkey in a hat ?


Lots of bamboo boat traffic!


Later on we ended up in the middle of a goat stampede.



RUN FOR THE HILLS!!


"Did you see that?"
"Yeah, whatever."

Then a break at this little make shift shack.





We stopped at a local open air diner for some noodles and these Chinese people at the table next to us invited us to join them.



A few of them spoke English and were anxious to ask us questions about America and our experiences here in China.


They were so nice and wouldn't even let us pay for the food that we ordered.


Proud grandpa.


Here are some pictures I took after our cooking class the other day.
These are pig lungs.
Kelly told me they are a speciality of this restaurant.
First you flush them with a hose.


Then you cut them into chunks.
I'm not sure how you cook them but I think I'll pass on eating them.


In the evenings we would snack on some of the street foods available.
This guy was always busy...especially at 3 in the morning!


My favorite was sheep on pita bread.


Sheep kebabs, a Muslim speciality.


Denise was stocking up on the lichee's.


One afternoon we stopped by the Ti Chi school up river.
This is David. He is a chiropractor from New York.
He said he might be able to help me out with my frozen shoulder, so I gave him a shot at it.
He cracked and popped and twisted me back into shape.
It seems my alignment was off (spine).
I noticed a great improvement almost immediately.
But it still has it's limitations.


I could barely swing a sword!


Some locals near the school.


Next post, I get stalked by some long haired beauties in Long Sheng.




To be continued...

Jim

I'm back from Yang Shuo...Continued...II

After a while in the Jade Dragon Village, we decided to head down the road to a place called Shangri-La.
There are a lot of places called Shangri-La in China.
But not before grabbing a shot of the town water buffalo and her calf.


We caught some rain on the way, so we pulled over at a bridge and hung out under some trees until the rain subsided.



Shangri-La is kind of like a Chinese amusement park that features ethnic minorities and their crafts.
First they put us on a boat and took us around the park.
Being the only foreigners, we got our own boat and guide.


These guys were doing some ancient tribal dance.

Local ethnic music.


These beautiful ladies were weaving.




This woman was making silk ties.


These ladies were painting with wax. I figured they would die the cloth, and it would leave a design where the wax was.


More printing.


Bamboo carving.


They use these water buffalo horns to make combs.




Our lovely guide.



She says that it is good luck to hold hands while you cross under the bridge.


The next day we met this guy, Nir.
He is from Israel and has been traveling around China for a while.
WHAT A CHARACTER !


He loves shooting off fireworks!
So he invited Denise and myself to go firework shopping with him.
The more the merrier!


Let's see, it says, "Lite fuse and run like hell"!


These are the good ones!!


Between the three of us we bought about 60 lbs. of fireworks.
For about $15.


Now this is a serious case of animal cruelty!!


That chicken was making fun of him earlier.

And this dog thought he had it bad!
At least he can take his outfit off!



You can get a pretty good deal on fireworks here in China...but you gotta' haggle.


No, that's not a leg holster....It's a money belt.


This was the eve of the Chinese new year.
Nir was ready to do some damage.


That night.


Now, I'm not going to bore you with a bunch of firework pictures.
But let me just say one thing,"The Chinese LOVE their fireworks!"
Now, we hear fireworks going off all day long. But between 12 and 3 am...it was just crazy!!


This is Bindoo from Canada. He's one of our Monkey Bar buddies.


And so is this crazy guy, Wes.


Everyone was outside and having a blast!



Nir had a bottle of Bijo (rice wine) that cost about 7 yuan. (less than a buck)
This is what cheap Chinese Bijo does to your face.

The next day Denise and I decided to rent a couple of bikes and get a little exercise.
We went up along the river to the spot where the guy with the ferry was and parked the bikes.


From there we hiked up into the mountains following a small river.




When we got back into town, it was just more crazieness.
They had a small band and Chinese tiger costume that would go from shop to shop.




Okay...I bought a flute for 4 bucks.
He taught me how to play a tune and we had quite a crowd around watching the foriegner play the gourd flute.




Then this little sweety came along and sold us some necklaces and bracelets.


I jokenly hung a necklace from my ear, so she decided to do it right.


The flute guys playing music as they walked really set the mood.



Some shops would dangle bags with fruit and little red envelopes of money in them and the guys would make a human pyramid to reach it.






A few minutes after taking this picture the fashion police came along and gave this guy a serious beating. Then threw him into prison for life....Okay...they didn't really....but they should have!!


This guy and his girlfriend we met in Xing Ping. He is studying Ti Chi at a place up the river from Yang Shuo.


That night...More fireworks!
Do I look surprised?.....NO!!



One of my greatest experiances in Yang Shuo has to be the cooking class!
It cost 80 yuan(10 bucks) and took about 4 hours.
Our teachers name was Kelly.
We met her the next morning at about 10 o'clock at the Cloud 9 resturaunt and then proceded to the local market.
Kelly explained various things about the different meats and vegetables that we would be cooking with.



That's pork fat hanging behind her.


Dried Bamboo Rat....Mmmm!
We weren't cooking that...It just looked interesting.



The lady on the right is Donna.
She lives in Yang Shuo.
Her husband has been teaching English here for about 8 months now.
She was signed up for the class also.

Before we entered the market Kelly said to us" Be careful of your stuff...there are a lot of pickpockets around here".
A few minutes later, Donna noticed a few guys behind us trying to unzip my backpack while we were walking.
I never carry anything of value in there.
But if they need my gloves or ear muffs...They can have them.


Back at the resturaunt, they had cooking stations all set up for us.
We had a choice of 2 meat dishes and a vegetable dish.
We chose Sweet and Sour Pork, Gong Bao Chicken and Fried noodles with vegetables.
Donna picked Stuffed Green Peppers with vegetables and Pork.


Kelly would show us how to cut and prepare the vegetables and meats.


And we try our best to do the same.


Dangerous with a clever!

Donna mincing her pork and mushrooms.


Kelly made it look so easy.


Donna's husband Jim showed up and got to reap the rewards of Kelly's cooking.
We would cook one course, eat it, and then move on to the next course.


Round one, fried noodles with veggies.


Then back to the wok!


Round two...Sweet and Sour Pork anyone?


Donna shared her Stuffed green Peppers with us.


Thanks Kelly, that was great fun!

To be continued...again.

Jim