I was able to sleep in a little because the four of us had planned to take the bamboo raft at 10 am and then do the hike back.  This day was one of my favorite days of the trip!  Before we were able to board the ship (the raft) we had to walk a bit to the other side of the river.  Tada! We found the spot that is depicted on the back of the 20元 bill. 🙂 (although, on the money, there is much more water in the river.)

If the sky wasn't so hazy you would be able to see the skyline perfectly. 🙂

It was other-worldly. The temperature wasn't so cold and the sky got better as the day went on but it still felt like I was on another planet.

Tom is taking the photo. I'm peeking around in the back!

This man carries his cormorants with him. These birds are pretty special. They can dive underwater and stay there for a while fishing. The "fisherman" ties a string around their necks so the birds cannot swallow the fish. I like how he smiled for my photo! 🙂

The raft part of the trip was beautiful and peaceful.  There were many, many people on the river that day.  Most people were going downriver. We were heading upriver.  When we finally reached our drop off point we got off the boat and began our hike.  I was not a difficult hike. (not like the gorge)  It was relatively flat and the paths were mostly easy to find. 

We had a few minor obstacles:  water buffalo blocking the trail, many stray dogs, hundreds of people saying “hello, bamboo?” (okay, maybe only 15-20 but it felt like hundreds), and a chinese only menu at one of the villages. (I actually had to have the man read the menu to us so we could figure out what some of the food was.)  It was fun to converse with the locals without feeling like an idiot.  Tom, Radek, and Aga don’t speak Chinese so no one knew if my sentence structure was correct and the Chinese people didn’t care. 🙂

Here's what part of the trail looked like. Most of my journey was spent out of the cities. It was awesome!

It took us about four hours (including our lunch) to make it back to the hostel.  When we got back, I told the other three that I wanted to climb the peak for the sunset because this was my last night there.  They all had done it already but I successfully convinced them to join me.  🙂  This is what we saw:

Most of you have seen this picture because I sent it in an email. I still love it! It was an incredible view from the top of the peak. The hike up to the top was brutal and scary. I'm glad I did it though. My only wish was that the river had more water. This was definitely the dry season.

I want to go back! Who wants to come with me? 🙂

After coming back down from the mountains with our “torches” (this is what flashlight translates to…hehehe…), we spent some time in the hostel grilling some more ‘nian gao’ and enjoying each other’s company.  A great day in and around Xingping!

Day 10 – “You can’t get there from here.”

I was still on the train during this particular morning.  It was a 17 hour train ride from Kunming, Yunnan to Guilin, Guangxi.  I wasn’t able to sleep so long.  There is an unwritten rule on Chinese trains: When the lights come on in the morning, everyone must talk as loudly as possible and slurp their noodles even louder.  But I think this only applies to the Chinese people.  So, when the lights come on at 5:43 am, this means that I am officially awake. Even though there are only 24 people on the whole train.  (Ok–maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration…)  With the exception of this unnecessary noise, sleeper trains (hard or soft) are my favorite way to travel in China. 

I still had quite a few hours to go.  My train was scheduled to arrive in Guilin at about 12:30 pm.  (And it would get there at exactly this time. The ONLY thing that is on time in China are the trains. This is no joke.)  So, I spent some time listening to music, writing events from the past days, reading my BOOK, and daydreaming.  It was pretty fun to watch the scenery out the window.  This was my first time seeing the karst mountains.  I continued to stretch out in my bed and just relax. 

At about 9:30, a German couple sat at the table in the aisle next to my bed.  They were chatting away in German and playing a card game.  We mostly ignored each other until about 11:00. 🙂  I finally asked them if their stop was the same as mine. We figured out that it was, continued to make small talk for a bit and then went back to ignoring each other. 

The train finally arrived in Guilin.  I got off and went to see if I could buy my train ticket to Shenzhen (the city across the border from Hong Kong–I was due to arrive in HK the following Wednesday) for the following Tuesday night.  I was hoping to get another sleeper ticket.  At the counter, the man told me that there were no tickets.  🙁 Hmmm…. That’s not cool.  But, I didn’t let it ruin my day.  I just decided that if I had to take a bus, that would be okay.  Bus tickets are a little easier to get anyway. 

After trying to plan ahead (and not succeeding) I decided to work on getting to my destination for the evening.  Before I left on my trip, I found a hostel in a small town (not touristy) that I wanted to stay at.  It was close to the river and not at all like the hostels in the touristy Guilin or even Yangshuo.  Guilin is super touristy, Yangshuo is more of a backbacker haven, and Xingping is located on the Li River right between these two cities.  Some people say that Xingping is on it’s way to becoming the new backpacker place.  Maybe. Maybe not. 

While I was still in Guilin, I was trying to decide if I should go find a bus or if I should try to take a bamboo raft down the river to Xingping. 🙂  Bamboo raft was definitely my first choice!  So, I ran into the German couple who wanted to go to the same part of town as me and we shared a cab.  The bus that we wanted to take was not coming, so after 30 minutes of waiting, we caved.  They reached their hostel, I reached the “Tourist Wharf”.  I went to the window to see if I could get on a bamboo raft to Xingping.  The lady spoke very limited English so I asked her in Chinese.  She kept responding in English “tomorrow!”  “But I need to get there today.” “Tomorrow!” “Isn’t there another boat that goes today?” “Tomorrow!”  (This was like 1:00 pm)  Clearly, we were not getting anywhere, and, from the looks of it, I would not be taking the bamboo raft to Xingping.  So, I WALKED all the way back to the bus station (right next to the train station) to see if I could get a bus to Xingping. 

When I got to the window, I asked the woman about Xingping.  All she said (in English) was “No, Yangshuo.”  I took this to mean that I could get on the bus to Yangshuo and then, when I got there, I could take a bus to Xingping.  Okay, that’s closer than I was.  So, I bought the ticket, got on the bus and about five minutes later we were off.  (Yes, that is how fast things work in this country.  There is not really the concept of planning ahead.)  About 2 hours later, I was in Yangshuo at the bus station.  Now, to get the bus to Xingping you just hop on the local bus and pay when the bus is already enroute.  Okay. Whatever.  I got on the bus and there were a few empty seats.  I chose one next to a mother and her very small child.  Not the wisest choice but at least I had a seat.  The way buses work here is that in order to maximize profit, you cram as many people on the bus as possible.  The trip from Yangshuo to Xingping was supposed to take about 45 minutes, but because of stopping every 2 minutes to pick people up, it took about twice that. 🙂

I finally got to Xingping and found the hostel.  The name of the hostel was This Old Place.  It was pretty cute and very close to the river.  The views from the balcony were awesome.  It was here–as I was checking in–that I met Tom, who would become one of my traveling companions for the next week.  I was asking the Chinese girl behind the desk what there was to do at night there (because it was about 5:30 pm) and she said, you can climb the peak next to the hostel and watch the sunset.  (“You guys can go together!” she said to me and Tom. We looked at each other strangely and then he went climbing and I went for the shower.)  I wasn’t looking to doing anything strenuous at the moment.  I was looking for a shower and then something relaxing. I mean, I had just arrived at my destination after two days of trains and no showers.  I got to my room and discovered that there was heat! 🙂  So far, this was the first place I stayed that had heat in the rooms!  (Another thing you should know about China is that in the south, they don’t have heat and they don’t use insulation.)  I took my time showering and then found my way back to the lounge/common room area.  I ate some pizza (really good pizza) at the hostel, which was the only food they offered. 

Tom eventually returned and sat down with me at the table.  We chatted for a bit.  I found out that he is from Cologne, Germany and is studying Finance in Hong Kong.  He was on a week long break from school and had also just arrived at the hostel that evening.  We continued chatting and eventually met Radek and Aga, a Polish couple teaching in Shanxi Province.  The four of us decided to share the bamboo raft up the river the next day (it’s cheaper with more people) and then hike the 20ish kilometers back to the hostel.  The rest of the evening, the four of us just hung out and had a beer.  (I discovered that I am unable to keep up with Germans and Polish people in beer drinking–oh, who am I kidding…I’ve never been able to drink very much!  This is a good thing.)

The fantastic four! From L-R: Tom the German; Radek; Me; Aga-Radek's wife. The four of us spent about a week traveling together. It was awesome! This picture was actually taken at the end of our travels together. This was right before Aga and Radek left on a bus and Tom and I got on an Airplane to Hong Kong.

It was that first night at This Old Place that we also met Norman!  Norman is the happiest Chinese person I’ve ever met. (Actually, he is probably the happiest person I’ve ever met.)  All of us spent that evening making ‘nian gao’, which is sticky rice smashed together into sort of a cookie.  You grill it and then add sugar.  It was pretty good. 

Norman, the happiest person I've ever met.