Yangshuo (2)

So, I spent a very nice Saturday, drinking coffee, wandering around, taking photos, reading my new book (picked up a second-hand in a cafe), eating a massive burger... It was great. I also had a long rest in the afternoon and watched some cctv9 (the English language channel which we don't get at PXC). To be fair, it was boiling hot outside and I'd had a bad night's sleep the night before...

I finally met up with my friend, Jared, later in the evening (after some very bad directions from me - he had no mobile and had to call me from a phone on the street). I got to choose the food, so we had pizza - yum! Rachelle arrived at about midnight and we all went to bed. Rock and roll. Anyway, the hotel we were staying at was nice - very very clean and also quiet. We were all tired and ready for a good night's sleep.

Next day we took a boat trip on the Li River (see photos). The type of boats that are common on the river are a kind of fake-bamboo raft with a canopy and an outboard engine, driven by one person. There are also seats on them. The river is really very busy with tourists and some of them take the bigger cruise boats all the way from Guilin. We had to take a bus to a nearby village called Xingping and we also spent time wandering round there after our boat trip. It was quite peaceful (despite the hoards passing through, or around, for their trips on the river) and we had a lovely lunch in a quiet restaurant which served both Chinese and western food. We also all bought watercolours of the local landscape.

In the evening I had pizza again and we ended up in a bar by a small river / canal, drinking Chinese red wine. There were a couple of Chinese guys playing the guitar and singing live. It was great - just the right kind of music, relaxing and really quite good. The only thing that detracted from the evening was the local animal-life: huge cockroaches playing nearby and a couple of enormous rats that cantered past. Great.

Next morning we hired bikes and set off to explore the countryside. I didn't get very far before my chain slipped and one of the pedals cut into the back of my leg, which was nice. We eventually got going again and made it into the rice fields which were bright green, the stems quite tall already. Several local women tried to tell us the way, even though we hadn't really decided where we were going!!! We also got really muddy as it had rained the night before.

We went back to Yangshuo at lunchtime so I could get changed and catch a bus to Guilin to get my train back to Pingxiang. I had MacDonalds for lunch (I know!) but mis-ordered somehow and ended up with two burgers!!! Oops. The train waiting room in Guilin was roasting and for some reason I decided not to pay the 5 yuan to sit in the air-conditioned one. Interesting decision.

Anyway, I made it back in one piece and finally arrived home at about 4am. Got a couple of hours' sleep and then up again at 8am for class.