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

Long Shen was such a beautiful place, I could have spent a week there.
I'll probably come back here again some day.


I mean, look at this place!!!


After hiking up and down these amazing mountains for two days we decided to make our way to Guilin.
So we headed back to the cabin where our hosts were preparing the chicken for this evenings dinner.


At least here you know where your chicken has been.
Not on the floor of some fly infested poultry factory.


But we weren't going to be able have dinner here tonight.


We had to catch an 11:00 am bus to Guilin, so it was time to pack up, and head down the mountain.



The bus to Guilin was full by the time we got there and we would have to wait 2 hours, or hike the rest of the way down and catch another bus in a different village.
We opted not to wait.

This rope/cable bridge was swaying back and forth...a lot!
Made it very difficult to take a picture!


This bridge was just very cool!
Again, build without nails or bolts.


The piglets would chase the puppies and then the puppies would chase the piglets.
They would all end up as dinner some day!


This little piggy went to the market...and so did all the rest of them.


When we got to the village, not a bus in sight.
A car or van would pass by occasionally and Denise would try to flag one down, to see if we could catch a ride to another bigger village.
Nobody stopped.
Eventually, she just stood in the middle of the road, but even then, most vehicles had people in them and had no room for us.


Stranded in paradise.


Eventually we caught a mini-van to Guilin.

That's where my buddy Jerry met us and hooked us up with a nice hotel.

The next day I too a trip to a local park.
Elephant Hill Park.
It was a great park next to the river.
Their is a hill in the shape of an elephant...supposedly?

A bit of Chinglish.


A view from the inside.


A view from the outside.


And so many steps to the top of the mountain.


Plus the traditional Chinese costumes for the tourists.



You can even go fishing there.




While I was walking around, Jerry called me and asked me if I wanted to play badminton with him and his wife....SURE. I haven't played badminton since I was a kid.

So he met me at my hotel, with his sister, wife and stepfather and we headed off to play.

That take this sport very seriously here!


I was kind of surprised when during a break Jerry's step father lit up a cigarette.
You can smoke just about anywhere here.
Then he started playing while smoking.
You gotta love that!


I played Jerry's sister and wife, while him and his step dad played for blood.
Then I played against Jerry for a few minutes and he cleaned the floor with me.
But I had a great time.

Then we all headed over to his parents house for dinner.
Mom, Dad....uncles, aunts, cousins...



And his sister. She is studying law in Beijing.


The next day I got up early and headed to the airport for my flight back home.
Being the busy season, I couldn't even get a train to Shanghai and the bus would have been a hard seat only...for 27 hours...I don't think so!!

Anyway, while waiting at the airport, guess who I ran into?
My old buddy Adam.
His parents came to China to visit him and travel around a bit.
They had just spent a few days in Yang Shuo and Guilin.
Adam has taken a job in Shanghai working for an American company.
They make floor covering of some sort.
It was good seeing you again Adam...I'll give you a call when I'm back in Shanghai.


So that concludes my nearly 3 weeks traveling around China.
I had a week to recover from my travels before classes began.
This week I'm back to teaching...
I have the same classes and kids.
It seems they missed me as much as I missed them.
It's great to walk into a class of 50 students and have them all start clapping and cheering.

By the way, the other day the headmaster of my school took me to a Kung Fu school about 20 minutes away by car.
They had a new teacher that has been in China for about 18 months now and was going to begin teaching there.
Her name is Irene and she is from the Philippines.
The school was the most interesting school I've ever seen in my life.
It wasn't just to teach Kung Fu. It was a school for all age kids that taught all the usual subjects.
Math, Science, English...
But it also incorporated Kung Fu into the curriculum.
It looks like a traditional Chinese temple.
This is Irene and my buddy Forest.



Irene...She's so small. In her last school she was often mistaken as a student.



This school in so so incredible!!
Almost makes me mad that I've been in Changxing for 8 months now and haven't seen this.
I'm going to bring the new Americans here as soon as I can!


It's also situated right beside Ti lake.
Unbelievable view!!



I want to thank all my new friends that I met this month...
Here are a few that I can remember.

Harry, Kobe, Denise, Nir, Bindoo, Wes, all the crazies at the Monkey Bar, Claudia, Staci,
Marko from Italy, Paul Pan and his family, Ricky and his wife, Dr. Lilly, David the chiropractor,
everybody at the Ti Chi school, everybody at Drifters Cafe', all the wonderful people that I met in long Sheng, Liao Chao Mong who runs the cabin in Long Shen and Jerry and his family, Eric, Owen (new guy here in town), Joy and Iren.

Jim