09 November 2007
China Part IV
Our flight to Yangshuo was uneventful and once we arrived Karl and I were quite unhappy to find that the temperature was 33C. The end of September is still quite hot in that part of the world. We are talking sweating while doing nothing hot. Thankfully, the van that we took from the airport to our hotel was very air-conditioned and very large (for China).
By this point my cold was getting to the point where I had to blow my nose every other minute. Once we settled into our rooms...sidetrack... we opted for the rooms without air-conditioning although Karl and I thought hard about it. We did have ceiling fans and mosquito nets over the beds so it was real safari life... end sidetrack... we went down to the hotel gazebo for drinks and dinner. As it turns out we never made it out of the gazebo. After many many beers and a very nice dinner we once again got into a political/economic discussion. Once again Lynn and I started off together, but quickly diverged. Then it turned into 3 on 1 for the next 3 hours. I felt bad for Lynn but there was nothing mean spirited about it.
Yangshuo has some of the most interesting "mountains" that I have ever seen. They are called Karst and are limestone projections that are nearly completely individual and separate from each other. Paul lead us out on a walk/hike thru the area. We got to see some very poor Chinese people and got a real feel for how the people in China outside of the big cities live. Our hike took us thru actual Chinese rice patties, we saw water buffaloes, and a super old Chinese man sitting in a pass between two Karst mountains smoking down on something.
One of the best parts of the trip came near the end of this hike. We came to this river that had a very small damn. While we were not very confident in the cleanliness of the river we still got in for some swimming and cooling down. I found that if you sat on the damn just right then the water would pour over you shoulders and down your back and act as a cool and refreshing message. I think we spent nearly an hour in the river, before hiking back to the hotel.
Upon on return Karl and I had a beer and a coke, and then Paul ordered a banana shake for all of us. After a shower we got a taxi to downtown Yangshuo. There we had dinner, bought gifts (and really tested Paul's haggling skills again), had many beers and generally finished out the Yangshou experience.
The next day we played it cool again before catching the van back to the airport. Once we were 40 minutes out of the hotel we realized that one of us had forgotten our passport. After a 20 minute return, during which someone from the hotel drove to meet us, we were back on our way to the airport. It seemed to take forever, at least to me. The flight to Beijing was a rare one-stop trip. So we flew for about 90 minutes and then landed again before continuing on to Beijing. We didn't do all that much once we got back to Beijing. After getting back to the hotel (the same one from the start of the trip) we went out for dinner (and beers, of course). After eating dinner in a small, hot, smokey restaurant where the food was great we found a "bar" that was staffed by the original Chinese beatnik.
Paul and Karl rode with me to the airport and it was sad to leave but I was glad to be getting back to Kate and Charlotte. Once I got to Japan I was able to catch most of the Japanese Grand Prix (the third different time I have been able to see an F1 race in the country that it was being run in) and chatted with a British guy who was living in Singapore.
On my flight back to Detroit I was able to sleep quite well and had a nice little conversation with a guy who has been working in Shanghai for years.
That is the short four-part version of my Chinese experience. ¶ 20:49
By this point my cold was getting to the point where I had to blow my nose every other minute. Once we settled into our rooms...sidetrack... we opted for the rooms without air-conditioning although Karl and I thought hard about it. We did have ceiling fans and mosquito nets over the beds so it was real safari life... end sidetrack... we went down to the hotel gazebo for drinks and dinner. As it turns out we never made it out of the gazebo. After many many beers and a very nice dinner we once again got into a political/economic discussion. Once again Lynn and I started off together, but quickly diverged. Then it turned into 3 on 1 for the next 3 hours. I felt bad for Lynn but there was nothing mean spirited about it.
Yangshuo has some of the most interesting "mountains" that I have ever seen. They are called Karst and are limestone projections that are nearly completely individual and separate from each other. Paul lead us out on a walk/hike thru the area. We got to see some very poor Chinese people and got a real feel for how the people in China outside of the big cities live. Our hike took us thru actual Chinese rice patties, we saw water buffaloes, and a super old Chinese man sitting in a pass between two Karst mountains smoking down on something.
One of the best parts of the trip came near the end of this hike. We came to this river that had a very small damn. While we were not very confident in the cleanliness of the river we still got in for some swimming and cooling down. I found that if you sat on the damn just right then the water would pour over you shoulders and down your back and act as a cool and refreshing message. I think we spent nearly an hour in the river, before hiking back to the hotel.
Upon on return Karl and I had a beer and a coke, and then Paul ordered a banana shake for all of us. After a shower we got a taxi to downtown Yangshuo. There we had dinner, bought gifts (and really tested Paul's haggling skills again), had many beers and generally finished out the Yangshou experience.
The next day we played it cool again before catching the van back to the airport. Once we were 40 minutes out of the hotel we realized that one of us had forgotten our passport. After a 20 minute return, during which someone from the hotel drove to meet us, we were back on our way to the airport. It seemed to take forever, at least to me. The flight to Beijing was a rare one-stop trip. So we flew for about 90 minutes and then landed again before continuing on to Beijing. We didn't do all that much once we got back to Beijing. After getting back to the hotel (the same one from the start of the trip) we went out for dinner (and beers, of course). After eating dinner in a small, hot, smokey restaurant where the food was great we found a "bar" that was staffed by the original Chinese beatnik.
Paul and Karl rode with me to the airport and it was sad to leave but I was glad to be getting back to Kate and Charlotte. Once I got to Japan I was able to catch most of the Japanese Grand Prix (the third different time I have been able to see an F1 race in the country that it was being run in) and chatted with a British guy who was living in Singapore.
On my flight back to Detroit I was able to sleep quite well and had a nice little conversation with a guy who has been working in Shanghai for years.
That is the short four-part version of my Chinese experience. ¶ 20:49
