In and around Yangshuo

I spent a few days in Yangshuo right after my Guilin days. You've already seen that I floated down the river to get there and how beautiful the water and mountains were on the way so let's see what Yangshuo is like. While in Yangshuo I stayed in the dorm of an English school and traded teaching an English class and doing English corners for a free bed and lunch and dinner. Not a bad deal. Being on the road so long, I've met many ex-pats who were English teachers and it's been something I've considered doing, as it lets you immerse yourself into the culture on a much deeper level. So this was a good intro experience.

Yangshuo is a town known for being full of backpackers from all over the world. Usually cities full of ex-pats can be a bit too overwhelming or a bit too much, but Yangshuo manages to maintain a really laid back and happy feel. And while the rest of china is cashing in on any sort of tourism, Yangshuo's prices still have remained pretty cheap.

One highlight of my stay here was that I was given my chinese name, 高华 pronounced Gāo Huá, and meaning tall magnificent. I'll take it! :)

Yangshuo is known for it's beer fish, the dish on the left. However, it's more of a western fusion dish and most of the locals don't or wouldn't eat it. I tried it but truthfully wasn't the biggest fan.

Yangshuo in the morning. This was a lake in the center of the town.

A few of us went to a local cave known for it's stalactites, hot springs and mud baths. this was the entrance, you had to canoe your way in.

Leaves covered in drippings and turning to rock on the outside.

stalactites.

This was a cool looking "scene" formed naturally from the rocks. I forget exactly what it looked like and of course a camera doesn't work too well in a dark cave.

more stalactites and a huge pole like one in the middle.

this one looks like a dragon. if you look to the far left of it you may be able to see it's face.

crossing a set of very cold pools

Having fun in the mud bath

For some reason none of the chinese on the tour would come in with us but all the foreign travelers had a ball getting dirty.

Yangshuo's famous Moon hill, a hill with a huge hole in the shape of a half moon

Yanghshuo sunsets from a pagoda on top of one of the hills.

The view of Yangshuo from the other side of the pagoda.

The sunset with me trying to be creative and using the pagoda window as a frame.

A vendor pulling sugar candy

ginger coffee. putting ginger in crappy coffee. would have been better with good coffee :)

Delicious dumplings. Lonely planet recommended one dumpling place, I couldn't find it but found this one. The reason i went is that they had a huge sign outside saying "Not the place mentioned in Lonely Planet but we guarantee you'll like ours just as much." I thought this was so clever of them and probably true. The dumplings indeed were great. the ones on the left were a shrimp and the right ones were what I really wanted to try. Melon and mutton. the melon was actually more of a zucchini but it tasted great and slightly different than what I expected. It was at this dinner that I received my chinese name.

A great breakfast of xiaolongbao and tofu skins in chili sauce.

Tour of a Yao Minority Village

After the rice fields we went to see a village of the Yao people. The Yao people are one of the 55 minority groups of China, mostly they are known for their long hair. The village was tied into our rice fields tour package and though not a highlight of my trip so far, it was fairly nice to visit. Though like most things in China, it was overly dramatized and touristy.

Getting out on our boats to cruise around the village.

Bridge over (non) troubled water

Villagers saying hi and one is showing us her long hair.

ladies do a dance and song for us travelers passing by on the river.

A totem pole of some sort.

A religious altar and tablet.

beautiful and sort of freaky masks. sort of reminded me of the Lama masks of Tibetan Buddhism.

view from the top

A little folk dancing, done with baskets on their backs.

folk dancing sans baskets but with twirling cloth.

This little kid was adorable. His mic wasn't on but he kept running around trying to steal the show.

A view over the land.

You'd walk down the path and there was this bamboo drum stick post where you'd bang each bamboo drum with a stick and make a lot of noise. not sure the point but it was sort of fun.

the girl ahead of me hitting, what seemed like, an endless line of these bamboo drums. It got old quick.

Getting a demonstration of the hair tying that the Yao ladies do. notice on the right there are two batches of hair. When the Yao ladies turn 18 they cut there hair and this is the first batch. The second is that they pick up all their hair that ever falls out and make the bunch from all that hair. pretty nuts

A closer look at the two bunches of hair.

One has been tied in, now the other is being readied to go in.

She grabs the wooden comb and begins the turban wrap.

wrapping.

smoothing it out.

It's all done. Notice the comb has been put into the hair to keep it in place.

True love

That's a mighty big cock.

The bridge and water wheels right before you leave the village.

Li River Cruise

I am borrowing the following summary of the Li River cruise, that I took to get to Yangshuo from Guilin, from a webpage that summed it up better than I would have been able to.

"The Li River cruise from Guilin to Yangshuo is the centerpiece of any trip to northeastern Guangxi Province. Gorgeous Karst peaks give you surprises at each bend of the limpid river under the blue sky. Water buffalo patrol the fields, peasants reap rice paddies, school kids and fisherman float by on bamboo rafts. With its breathtaking scenery and taste of a life far removed from the concrete metropolis, the scenery along the Li River become one of China's top tourist destinations."

We cruised down the river, a bunch of random thrown together travelers from the same hostel. The boat ride was beautiful and peaceful and I promise you these pictures don't do it justice at all. I'm not going to write to many explanation in this post. For the most part it's all about the nature.

Our vessel of sailing. A "bamboo" raft that actually was made of PVC instead of bamboo but painted to look like bamboo.

I though the color of this red butterfly was beautiful especially contrasting on the blue bag.

water buffalo grazing around us.

Lunch of yummy fish heads.

The view from where I was sitting.

This is apparently a famous view. you'll see why in the next picture.

A cigarette box with the former view on it.

our hero!

Another famous view. This scene is on the back of the 20 yuan bill

You dirty rat...

Well, not so dirty, especially after you burn the hair off and then cook it. What am I talking about? Well in Guilin one of the local specialty foods is bamboo rat. Bamboo rat is a little different than the rat we know in the states. It looks more like a possum than a rat, though still not the cutest rodent in the world.
I met a local guy in Guilin through couchsurfing who knew of a spot to eat rat, so away we went. I wasn't too worried about getting the plague but I was worried about it tasting very nasty. Let's see what happens...

The bamboo rats in the cage, we get to pick the one we want to eat.

This is the guy we picked. notice in the right bottom corner you also see some turtles. I really wanted to try turtle here but didn't get the chance... maybe in the future.

up close and personal with the future main course.

Looks a lot different here, no? Tasted delicious, really I'm not just saying that. It had sort of a slight mutton taste but not too overwhelming but also a little taste of rabbit. Very boney which can be an annoyance but that's most foods in China. They really had a nice spice in the marinade. to the right were some very tasty and spicy Guilin mei fun (rice noodles).

All in all I'm glad I got the chance to eat rat. The only negative is that it's surprisingly expensive for what it is but I guess a lot of delicacies are this way.