Yang Shuo

Well, you know that you it has been too long since your last blog update when you can't remember your username and password! haha

So here i am and im sorry for the delay (mom). There is so much to write about these last two months that my only regret is i didn't do it earlier because most of it has been forgotten.

Yang Shuo!

Okay, for those of you that do not know Yang Shuo is home to some of the most beautiful mountains in the world. The anomaly that created these mountains is original not only to china but the world as a whole. No where else have mountains formed with such a peculiar shape.

I was told that (millions?) of years ago the entire area was submerged in water. Over the course of history the waxing and waning of the formation of the icecaps caused the sea levels around the world to drop to what we see today. Thus the icecaps drained the area of its water and in doing so carved out the rock.

Yang Shuo is a small town that has no train station. It can only be reach by bus from Guilin which is only an hour away. Guilin is in the Guangxi provence which is in the South of China west of Hong Kong. From Ningbo to Guilin is a 23 hour train ride! I can honestly say that i have never been on a train so long in my life. And to tell you the truth it wasn't half bad at all! I was with my friends and colleagues Scott and Shannon and we boarded the train at 6:30 in the a.m. We had food, cards, Mandarin study material, and got a couple beers at every stop along the way... well, not EVERY stop. After this experience i feel that i truly could handle the 53 hour train to Tibet. A trip that i will definitely make in the future.

Knowing that you are going to be on a train for so long you just kind of mentally prepare for it. I have been on 12 hour train rides that we excruciating compared to this one. Travel on trains in China works one of four ways. You have hard seats, soft seats, hard sleepers, and soft sleepers. If you are really unlucky (or purchased your ticket late enough that the train is already full) then you can buy a standing only ticket. Hard seats are the cheapest and the worst way to travel. The lower end of Chinese travelers purchase these tickets and they are notorious for smoking (sometimes next to the 'no smoking signs' ) throwing all amounts of trash everywhere and even spitting... not out the window but directly onto the floor of the train. I wont even begin to discuss the bathrooms.

Soft seats are more expensive, less packed with people and generally the people are 'better' travelers. Then there are the sleepers sold only for overnight long distance trips. Hard sleepers have 6 bunks stacked 3 on each side. The lower bunk is the most expensive because you have enough head room to just sit if you like and a small table for drinks and cards. The top bunk is so close to the ceiling that it is no even funny. I have not had the experience yet of Soft sleepers (the most luxurious of travel means by train in china) but i hear that there are only 4 bunks per compartment and you have a door.

The first thing i have to say about Yang Shuo is how wonderful the people are. People in Ningbo
are very friendly but they are even more accustomed to foreigners down there. I think it has something to do with its relative proximity to Hong Kong. Here in Ningbo people will shout out 'hello' but its more of a cat call. Conversely, in Yang Shuo when they say hello they look you in the eye and from the tone of there voice you can actually here not just 'hello' but 'how do you do?' It was a welcome change.

There were tourists from all over the world during our visit. It was also during National Holiday so there were many Chinese tourists as well. I love seeing Chinese tourists because the tourism industry in China is still quite new. Only now is it becoming more and more common for people to use their disposable income for a vacation. They are just as excited to be there as we are and they too had very friendly hello's as we past each other on our rented bikes. In fact, when asking many native Chinese people where they would like to travel if they had the means a great number of them don't say a popular destination overseas. Many of them say that they want to go to all the beautiful places in their own country. And that was what i was witnessing in Yang Shuo. Foreign and native tourists alike all enjoying the beauty that surrounded them.

I have a decent camera (canon G9) but it could not come close to capturing scenery around me. If ever i needed a wide angle lens it was here. I will be sure to post the bulk of my pictures on facebook so be on the look out for that. I'll post the link (here) when i have it up.

Writing this now i am feeling a great longing for this town. It has a charm and energy that is truly serene. Obviously other foreigners felt as i do. I saw quite a few just working in the bars there! They actually got jobs so that they could work and stay legally long term so that they could some how perpetually extend their experience there. It must come at a great sacrifice too, at least financially. Working in a bar there can not possibly yield more than 2 to 300 USD per month.

The food in Yang Shou is divine! They had it all, from western style breakfast to Thai cuisine. To get a good breakfast in Ningbo... well, i only know of one place. It's an Irish pub and not only is it expensive its only so-so. Every place had eggs, omelets, sausage and crepe pancakes in 10 different flavers. Oh, and did i mention it only costs a paltry 3 USD? And that included coffee. Needless to say we ate our faces off down there.

This is Manny. We had rented bikes in town and stumbled upon his business outside of town. We had the perfect afternoon there. The upper level of this eatery (that he and his cousin built themselves) was completely open save for the roof and offered good food, coffee, the always enjoyable beer, and an astonishing view. Manual (here on the left) was a really interesting guy. We spoke to him for hours and his English (like most in this small town) was astonishingly good! I mean just look at his restaurants sign? How many Chinese people do you know that live in rural areas are familiar with The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy!? I have a video of Manny speaking about himself and his family. His English sounds a lot like the cadence of Bruce Lee. It was really cool. If i remember correctly he said that he spoke 7 other dialects and even he himself said that Mandarin was quite difficult. haha, so you know your in trouble when Chinese people say that Mandarin Chinese is hard. He also said that his family had been on this plot of land for 700 years. I could not even begin to fathom that! Long before the mass colonization that would come to be known as America the Tao family was working the land at this exact location.

In conclusion i will have to say that this trip to Yang Shuo completely changed my view of the Chinese. I got to meet and see so many different people and all of them nationally Chinese. Everyone was so kind and laid back and their English down there was just embarrassingly good. Quickly i will add that while we were sitting and enjoying a western style breakfast we were approached by a woman who asked if we would like her to be our guide. We responded that we were not interested in paying for a guide as we just wanted to rent some bikes and get lost around the town to which she replied verbatim, "Wow, Are you kidding me?" We were astonished at not only her pronunciation but one never hears such colloquialisms here in China BY the Chinese people in English. You would think that ALL of them had lived abroad for at least a few years because their English had such a wonderful rhythm and cadence. Most Chinese speaking English sound... Well, as we sound trying to speak their language.... like robots.

I can't wait to go back.