China, Yangshuo - Karst Country

The second I got off the bus, I was harangue by various scouts of nearby hostels, but plowed through them, and was approached by someone I assumed to be a cab driver. I told him where I was going, he gave me a price, and I followed him to his car. Except, he didn’t have a car. He had a motorcycle. Not a scooter. A motorcycle. I looked at it with apprehension, and suggested I find an actual cab. He told me he’ll drive safe, but I still wasn’t sold. Finally, he looked at me as said, ‘do I look crazy?’ And I had to admit, he didn’t, so in my desperate attempt to crawl into bed, I got on his motorcycle.

I’ve never been on a motorcycle before. I was a bit concerned because I had my bags with me, but since I had packed rather sparingly, I managed to get onboard without much hassle. Having never ridden a motorcycle before, I wasn’t sure of how and where to hold on, but he shouted, grab me like your boyfriend! So I did. Then he asked me if I had a boyfriend. I wasn’t too focused on the conversation he was trying to start, as I was trying to keep my eyes open against the rush of wind. To his credit, he did not drive too fast, and it was almost enjoyable. And then we ran out of gas.

He’d only driven about a mile and a bit when we sputtered to a stop. He murmured, oh, we’re out of gas. Having no idea what to do at this point, I continued to hold on tight as he restarted his engine. Luckily we got going again, and within moments he let me off a dark side street and pointed to a building, telling me that was my hostel.

I have to admit, by now I had some serious reservations about continuing down this unlit path. I knew he had taken me in the general direction I needed to go because I recognized a few of the landmarks that was indicated on my directions to the hostel, but for all I knew he could have called a few of his friends and was planning to ambush me. Paranoia aside, I continued in the direction he indicated, and, wallah! There lay the Outside Inn.

I mentioned this was a home-stay, so you room with a Chinese family in their home, along with a few other guests. It was highly recommended on ol’ trusty hostel.com, and I was looking forward to the low-key stay. The owner greeted me and said he had been planning on picking me up at the bus stop, which I hadn’t known, but as I arrived in one piece, it was fine. His wife made me some toast, pealed a pear for me, and handed me a big vat of peanut butter while I waited for my passport to be scanned and visa verified. In between all this I had assembled the clothes I brought for some much needed laundry, which cost me less than $1 to have laundered. I was warned though, because of the humidity, it would take up to 2 days for everything to dry.

The house was really an apartment, but they must own the whole building or something. After staying a few days I realized everyone in the owner’s family had some sort of responsibility, whether it was cooking or cleaning or organizing tours. They were a helpful bunch, and had the cutest little guy who was so charming with that little smile of his, and his occasional ‘mehow,' which means hello in Chinese.

The accommodations were just like any other hostel I’ve stayed in, except no western toilet, so sad! But the cooking more than made up for that. Everyday at 6pm, all the guests came back from their various excursions to eat a homemade Chinese dinner. There were up to 15 dishes, depending on the number of people who came, and I saw them preparing each meal hours in advance. Dinner was included in the price, and was definitely a reason to set an alarm on your phone to make it back in time. There were a couple of nights I had to peddle at top speed to get there by supper, but it was always worth the extra effort. I’m so mad I didn’t get a picture of all the food, it was all so colourful and tasty, but I guess I didn’t have pictures in mind once I saw what we were eating. It was all fresh fruits and vegetables, with every kind of meat, I was particularly keen on the duck.

I was worried about the food before I went to China, I thought it might be like Italy, where the pizza was not at all what I had imagined, and quite literally sucked when compared to American pizza. But everything I had was really good. It was a little different from the Chinese at home, but it was delicious and fresh.

So other than gorging myself, what did I do in Yangshuo you may be wondering? My first and 3^rd day there I rented a bike from the hostel and peddled wherever my legs would take me.

I went into town, which was about a mile away, and followed a nice path by the river, which eventually led to a few small farming communities, where I saw farmers in pointy-round straw hats and water buffalos working in the fields. Unfortunately, none of my shots with the farmers turned out, but you can see the countryside was pretty spectacular.

You can't see it in the picture, but this farmer had a leash for his cow. Very cute.

Another day I took a bus to some random village up the river and hired a boatman to carry me down the river in a bamboo raft. The boat ride was about an hour, where I had him let me off midway through, so I could hike the rest of the way.

I’m really glad I did this. As you can see, the views were amazing, and after a while, it was nice to stretch my legs and get a bit of hiking in. I guess it really wasn’t ‘hiking’ as it was a relatively flat, dirt road, but nonetheless, I walked 5 kilometers and got to see some pretty remote Chinese villages. Very cool indeed.

Downtown was pretty happening, and in the evenings, after I ate more than I should, I would walk it off by looking at all the shops and vendors. It was here I bought that jade sculpture of the water buffalo. And one night I got a haircut, my fro was totally out of control!

My last night I splurged on the light show because a few of the other guests talked it up so much. The same guy who did the opening Olympic Ceremony in Beijing choreographed it. The show involved over a thousand people with all kinds of props and cool lighting. It was set over the river, with karsts in the background, and the karsts would light up according to the dynamics of the show. I was worried it would be cheesy and tacky, but really, the lighting just accentuated the natural beauty of the area. There was one part where the people looked like they were walking on water, and another part with huge red ribbons that moved along the surface of the water. There were women from Yao Village who sang some of the traditional songs I heard while I was there, which was cool. Over all, it was really tasteful.

So yeah, Yangshuo was amazing. It was low key, which I wanted, with some spectacular sights and loads of fun activities. Definitely the highlight of my trip!