I'm back from Yang Shuo

Hello everybody.

I just got back from my 2 weeks vacation.
Traveling in China this time of year is just CRAZY!!
This is the time of Chinese Spring Festival or the Chinese new year.
Everybody in China is traveling to see their relatives.
Many people work in different cities to support their families.
So the trains are bus stations are packed with people trying to get tickets to go home.
I was planning to go back to Yang Shuo. Train tickets were 450 yuan or so, and hard to get.
I managed to get a cheap plane ticket to Guangzhou. It is located in the Guangdong province near Hong Kong and Macau.
Then just a 7 or 8 hour trip buy bus or train to Yang Shuo.

I met a guy named Harry a few weeks ago online and he posted a comment on my blog saying if I was ever in Guangzhuo to let him know and he would show me around.
So I e-mailed him and told him I would be in town.
Harry gave me his phone number and told me to call him when I got into town.

When my plane landed, I called him and he told me to get on the number 2 bus and it would take me to the Garden Hotel, he would meet me there.


Harry helped me get a room and then we set out to see the town.


I was reading in Frommers about Guangzhou before I came, it said that Guangzhou was an industrial city, so I was expecting a very industrial and polluted city. Not the case!
Guangzhou is a very clean place with lots of parks and a beautiful river.





After walking around for a while we decided to have dinner.
This is the Canton area of China and some of the best food I've eaten.


After dinner we walked down near the shopping area of town.
Being an industrial city means a lot of stuff is made here and everything is cheap.
A great place to shop!
I don't buy stuff while I'm traveling...don't need more stuff to lug around!


The next day I got up about 6 am and walked around a bit before Harry called and we went out for breakfast.
Here is a shot from my hotel room. Lots of old Chinese houses.

For breakfast we had Dim-Sum. Harry says this is a traditional Chinese breakfast.


After breakfast we headed out to a local park/temple.
Harry is quite the photographer...he has a great camera with a couple of 20 lb. lenses.(kidding)
They just look like they weigh that much.



Inside there were Chinese ladies making silk blankets.

These bags are full of silk worms.

This is a huge ink well.


Tons of great artwork!!




Next we went to another park with people playing traditional Chinese instruments.


And some not so traditional instruments...This guy invented this giant flute.
I've never seen such a big flute!



Here's one of those 20lb. lenses.


Harry asking for directions...See all the camera equipment he has.




Thanks for showing me around your town Harry.
I had a great time!



Later on that day, Harry took me to the bus station to buy a ticket to go to Yang Shuo.
The trains were all booked up so a bus ride was my next best option.
They have what is called a "sleeper bus" here in China.
These are used for long trips across country.
My bus was leaving at 9:30, or so I thought.

That night, when I got to the bus station, after waiting a while, a Chinese guy came up to me and asked where I was going,"Yang Shuo" I said. the he started saying something in Chinese that I didn't understand, so I broke out the cell phone and called Harry to translate for me.
It seems the bus was canceled and he wanted me to go with him and he would get me on another sleeper bus. Harry asked if he was wearing a uniform and I said"no".
Harry said the he might be trying to con me and that I shouldn't go with him.
After a few minutes of Harry talking with a person from the bus station we decided the guy might be on the up and up so I went with him.
We got into an old van and 10 minutes later picked up two more people...Chinese.
One guy spoke some English and told me that everything was cool.
So we end up out in the boon docks and low and behold there was the sleeper bus.
This was my first time on one of these and it was an interesting experience to say the least.

The bunks are three wide and two high.
They are made for Chinese, so I barely fit in one...width and length wise!
Plus they played action movies with lots of gun battles and and Kung Fu for the first hour or so.
Kind of makes it hard to sleep!


I thought the bus ride was going to take about 10 hours or so. It did stop every 3 hours for a pee break though.
Anyway, I finally got to sleep and before I knew it the bus stopped again. I thought it was another pee break because it was about 5am.
It seems with the good traffic the trip was only 7 hours.
So at 5am I get off the bus and am greeted by a Chinese guy who spoke some English and he said he could take me to a hostel...or so I thought!
He actually took me to a crappy Chinese hotel where nobody spoke English.
He said it was 140 Yuan a night and I told him I could get one for 80.
We bickered back and forth for a while, and being 5am and all, all I wanted to do was sleep. So I agreed to stay to nights for 100 yuan a night.
At least I could go out the next day or so and find a cheaper, better place.

The next day (after a few hours of sleep) I called my friend Kobe from Hangzhou.
He was in Yang Shuo for one more day so we met up and went mountain biking.
Here's Kobe, we met a few weeks ago in Hangzhou at the English corner.


We got our bikes and rode around a bit and then took a break for lunch.
Kobe hasn't eaten much Western food and wanted to try something new, so I took him to one of my favorite places to eat in Yang Shuo, "Drifters".
They make a pretty decent spaghetti carbornara...(for China).


Then it was back down the old water buffalo trail towards a village called Xing Ping.



At one point we had to cross the Li River. This old man and his wife run the local ferry.

Kobe negotiated the price, (5 kwi) and we were off.

And then we were back before we got very far to pick up this lady.


He asked me if I wanted to give it a try...Like I want to end up downriver?


I think Kobe enjoyed the ride.

The old man's wife asked Kobe a few quetions about me (I could just tell) and when I asked him what she said. He said "I don't know". It seem her dialect was so different (Canton) that even a Chinese from up North couldn't understand it.


Then it was back on the trail again. We didn't see one tourist on the rout we were taking.
But we did get lost.
That's just part of the fun!


We were heading for Xing Ping but ended up in Fu Li. I hate when that happens...LOL


So here, Kobe is asking for directions. Still having trouble understanding what the heck they are saying.

The odds are, they couldn't even read. Let alone, read a map.


We were out of water and lost out in the sticks, when we met this guy who was kind enough to give us some water and good directions to town.

Once back in town, Kobe had to run catch a bus for Guilin so he could spend the holidays with his family.

Thanks for hanging out with me for the day Kobe. Sorry I couldn't get there sooner.
I'll give you a call next time I'm in Hangzhuo.



While I waited for Kobe to check out of his hostel, I noticed this hotel sign that said"ROOM AVAILABLE", next to the hostel.
I enjoy staying at hostels for a day or two, but I was planning on being here for a week or two and needed a soft bed. You don't find soft beds in hostels here in China.(or hotels)
This place was great!
Big room...soft bed and cheap.
The Western toilet was a plus!

Noticed the shower is positioned above the toilet.
If you ever pee in the shower, this one allows you to poop too!...LOL

You can't beat this for 60 yuan a day.(8 bucks)



When I went to check out of the Chinese rip off hotel/hostel that I was in at first, the guy at the desk (who spoke NO English) tried to act like he didn't understand what I was saying when I wanted my 50 yuan deposit for the key back.
He got the con-man on the phone that brought me there in the first place.
He asked why I was checking out?
I told him that I had found a nicer place for 60 kwi.
"Okay...you pay 60 and stay here!!" he said .
"Nope!"
"Okay...you pay 50"
I told him that after screwing me into paying 100 kwi a night for the first night, that I wouldn't stay there for free!
"Ohh...you stay, and we drink beer tonight and I get you pretty Chinese girl for cheap!"
My reply"You speak English right? What part of NOPE did you not understand?"
"Now I'm going to give the phone the the guy and you tell him to give me my 50 kwi, Okay?"
"And if the guy doesn't give me my 50 kwi I'm going to call the cops!"
That did the trick!

The next day I decided to rent an electric scooter.
After riding around all day with Kobe the day before, my legs and butt couldn't handle a little mountain bike seat again.

I rode to a little town about 30 minutes away called Fu Li.
This is the same place Kobe and I rode through the day before.
I wanted to check it out a little closer.
This guy had his own little scam going.
"One kwi" to watch the scooter he said.
Then when I returned, 20 mins. later it was two kwi.
What's 12 cents? He looked like he needed it more than I.






To be contiued tomorrow.

Jim