國庆節: Part 2- Huangshan

Wednesday night, 8 of us got on a train headed toward Huangshan. The ride was a glorious 12 hours of cramped spaces and uncomfortable sitting. It was only soothed by the constant games of Big 2 and delicious tubes of peanut butter. We left at 10pm so I was able to catch sunrise from the train, because I couldn't for the life of me sleep. We had planned to climb a mountain right when we got off the train, but that wasn't a good idea because none of us had much sleep and it was to be a several hour climb. Instead we randomly got into some people's cars and they brought us to their little hotel and set us up with some rooms and a tour. It was already mid-afternoon at this point so we drove an hour to a river and got to go rafting. Rafting was immensely fun. The initial struggle for the raft itself started the fun and being dragged off by the flow of the river continued it. We stayed til dusk, when all the mosquitos came out to feast and were rightly bitten to shreds. We got back to our tiny hotel and had a rough night before knocking out. We were rudely awakened in the morning at 7 and then driven off to a mountain. We paid our admission to get into the designated mountain tour area and proceeded to walk around and take a few pictures. It was a very nice place with a river running through it. We were then carted off to another mountain/forest area. This was the place where they filmed Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (臥虎藏龍). There were many small waterfalls and pools of water amdist a forest of bamboo. A very serene place despite all the tourists. We took a great many funny photos and I bought some tiny mountain kiwis that were delicious. We then went back to the hotel and had lunch in the city around it. We had some mountain people food that consisted of some strange bamboo root and meat. We then had to cut our vacation short and hop on a bus to get back to Shanghai. The bus was at 4 30pm ish and we got back to Shanghai at around 2am. We were exhausted to say the least. In comparison, the Guilin trip was way better, but we do plan to go back to Huangshan to climb the real mountain before we leave Shanghai. Hopefully after midterms, definitely. It's been a tough couple of days afterwards for reasons I will not mention here. But I now know how blessed we all are to be healthy in mind, body, and soul. I miss everyone back home, especially my family. So drop me a line so I know who's out there! Also, a second typhoon has rolled in with strong winds and crazy rain. I had the distinct pleasure (*sarcasm*) to be able to run through pouring rain in leather flip flops and glasses. Good stuff. Anyway, bye kids.

Guilin and Yangshuo: Beautiful Mountains, Climbing Waterfalls, Fun

It's National Holiday, so we have an entire week off. A group of us have already come and gone to Guilin (桂林) on a 4 day 3 night trip. We got on an airplane at Hongqiao Airport at around 10am and arrived at noon. The first day we went to Elephant Trunk Hill and climbed a steep hill. It was super hot and humid. We then went to another scenic park where we bought oil and watercolor paintings (pretty and cheap. ) We continued on to a cave area that had a bunch of buddha carvings and a cool rock formation that looks like it's hanging, but only because it was used to test swords. We then ate and went to our hotel. It was a nice hotel and two of us shared a room. After that, we went to downtown Guilin (Guilin is a small city so it wasn't very far or large). We saw the river side lit up, which was very beautitul and a hotel that had a water show (Bellagio-esque) and a waterfall that came down off the side of the building (very cool). Went to the night market in the area (not as cool as Taiwan), drank coconut juice (delicious), and our one white guy in the group was mobbed by little girls who wanted to hug and kiss him (amusing). Went back to the hotel room and knocked out.

The second day, we started out early to get on a ferry that took us down the Li Jiang river to Yangshuo. There's a Chinese saying that goes, "Guilin is the most beautiful under heaven, but Yangshuo is even more beautiful." Kind of doesn't make sense, but I guess I get the point. It was definitely an amazing, albeit long (4 hours) boat ride, all the mountains surrounding the river were picturesque. The boat we were on had a bunch of Portuguese tourists, a few English, us Americans, and, about, 4 Chinese tourists. Nice. We got to Yangshuo, got off the boat, and were plopped in a tourist trap. We walked to the hotel, rented some bikes and took a ride through the countryside. Best bike ride ever. I feel like I saw so much just by taking an alternative way of transportation. Lots of farm land, animals of burden, rock climbers, and just amazing views. We got back and ate dinner before going to see a show. The show was Liu Sanjie, directed by Zhang Yi Mou (director of Heroes and a bunch of other Chinese movies). The production was incredible. It was right on the Li River with mountains in the background and had a few hundred people in the cast. The lighting and everything was done so well, I was just amazed at what people can do. It was a story that featured the many ethnic minorities in the area (Guilin is in Guangxi province, an autonomous region run by the minorities, Zhuang, Yao, Miao and something else). We then took a walk around the city and bought some souveniors. Got back to the hotel and knocked out again.

The third day I'd have to say was the best. I did so many things I've never done before and saw so many things I've never seen before. We road a while through the countryside. Then took a short bamboo raft ride to the area with many waterfalls. We got grass sandals and helmets to climb waterfalls with. We climbed many a-waterfall, just about the funnest thing I've ever done, for real real. I wish I could do it all the time, with my straw sandals (which were so comfortable, I think I'll wear them in Shanghai). After lunch we went to this tacky park/zoo, which was a disneyland knockoff, only because it had extremely weird disney characters all around. We saw a red panda (cutest thing ever) and a bunch of other animals (that don't compare to the panda). We then went to a cave with a bunch of carvings and a windy tunnel. When we walked to the top of the hill, the breeze was wonderful and the view was great (entire city). After dinner, we went ktv-ing with some of our other schoolmates who also came to Guilin and our tourguide (really cool guy, about the same age as us). I sang my heart out and made a complete fool out of myself, but it was lots of fun. Got back super late and KNOCKED OUT.

The last day we started off by going to the Reed Flute Cave (I know lots of caves, but this one was actually a cavern), not unlike the Carlsbad Caverns. Just amazing what the earth does, the rocks were insane and we just had a lot of fun dancing in a cave. We then went to the rice terraces after going through a small rural village, where we ate. In the restaurant that we ate at, the local waitresses (ethnic minorities) gave us rice wine (very tastey) and had us drink with them. This is where we saw first hand, many different minorities. The Yao grow their hair super long, never cutting it, and comb it up in a pile on their heads, very cool. We went up to the rice terraces in a little bus, the driver was bumping techno music and driving extremely fast on the mountain roads (scared the crap out of me). We hiked up the mountain when we got to the village and went through the village on the side of the mountain that grow rice on carved out parts of the mountain. Amazing AMAZING scenary and very eye opening being able to see how ethnic minorities really live. Lots and lots of walking. Also bought a woodcarving and a bunch of little souveniors, including a wooden sword. We barely got back in time for dinner and had to rush to the airport. The airport in these rural areas are very different and no one cared that I had a wooden sword sticking out of my backpack. We were all very sad to leave Guilin. This was definitely one of the best trips I've ever gone on. I saw and experienced so many new things. If anyone every gets the chance, they should definitely visit Guilin, it's just amazing what is on this Earth.

Sorry the post on my amazing trip is so bland, I'm very tired, which is good because that means I used all my energy to play. We're leaving for Huangshan (黃山) later today (Wednesday) and have to go through a 12 hour train ride. It's going to be fun. I love China again. LOVE IT.