Rafting on the Guadalupe...err, I mean Li River

I think I was able to post the Beijing pictures but since I can't see the blog someone will have to email me and tell me if it worked. We are currently in Yangshuo where we are surrounded by beautiful scenery. It's a nice spot but we're heading out tonight for our much anticipated 19 hour train ride. I'm sure the bunks will be plenty long for those tall men in our group (haha). The train ride is preceded by a 2 hour bus ride and followed by five hours more so it will be a long travel day.

Here's what we have been up to:

April 20 - Kunming

We flew back to Kunming in the morning and had the day to ourselves while the rest of the tour group went to the Stone Forest. It was your typical American day....we headed to McDonald's at Matt's request. Yes, we could tell he was finally feeling better because he was making demands for Big Macs and fries. The dipped cone I had for dessert really hit the spot. In the afternoon we did some shopping and went to...Wal-Mart! Hey, as long as we are here we figured we would check it out to see how it compares to an American Wal-Mart. It's in the city so it is four levels. Other than that there are definitely a lot of similarities....it had the clothes, toys, automotive, sports and all of the other sections you would expect. It was pretty barebones like in the U.S. except for the food area which was decorated with different facades in each section. It had fish tanks with live fish as it is customary for people to select their fish while they are still alive in China. Also turtles and frogs...I had to leave at the sight of the poor little guys.

That evening Mom, Dad and the Don went to a dancing and singing performance at one of the local theaters. They later reported that it was very well done but there was no leg room in the seat (go figure). Matt and I went out for dinner and were able to enjoy some duck served with the head intact. I guess that clarifies things if there is any confusion about what you are getting.

April 21 - Kunming

Our guide took us on a walking tour of Kunming. First stop...another temple. We have really seen a lot of temples now. This one was interesting because there was a Tibetan, Chinese and Thai temple all in the same spot. One stop worshipping. The Thai temple was built when Thai tourism to China picked up about 5-10 years ago. After the temple we continued on to the local food market where we saw every type of rice noodle imaginable, veggies, frogs, eels, chickens, etc. The poor little frogs make me sad. They are just so cute. On to the bird and flower market which was located on a nice shady street. Again, an interesting spot but I found the living conditions of the birds and fish to be pretty sad. They were packed into cages and tanks with very little room to move.

For lunch we had the famous "Cross the Bridge Noodles." It didn't go over well with our group. We were brought plates of unidentifiable food thought to be fish, chicken, herbs, quail eggs, nuts, chilis and other items that we couldn't even venture to guess the identification of. Everything is raw and they bring a hot broth to the table and you are instructed to start throwing the stuff in (meanwhile praying that it will cook so none of us are stricken with something bad). In the end, you toss in a big pile of rice noodles and voila! You have soup. It was pretty bad. We took several pictures to document this interesting process so hopefully we will be able to post them at some point.

We left in the late afternoon for out flight to Yangshuo. The plane was delayed so it was late and dark when we drove in.

April 22 -23 - Yangshuo

We woke up on Saturday to breathtaking views. Yangshuo is surrounded by beautiful, vegetation-covered limestone karsts. We rented bikes and rode them to a tributary of the Li River where we took a relaxing two-hour bamboo raft ride downstream. The scenery was stunning - almost magical. We had comfy seats to sit on and our bikes rode along with us! Every 20 minutes or so there was some excitement as we had to ride the raft over a small dam...it was a pretty good time. There were beer ladies all along the river (we were thinking we could do this on the Guadalupe River this summer if we need some extra cash). Some enterprising young people set up rafts with digital camera and printing and had a photo service set up. It's pretty funny to see a bunch of computers floating around on bamboo rafts. After the rafting trip we rode our bikes to a local house for lunch. Along the way we were accosted by women selling water and postcards. They are pretty aggressive and chased us all the way to the house. Then after lunch the woman serving us even whipped out the postcards! We hightailed it out of there and headed for Moon Hill. Matt, Dad and I climbed lots of steps to get to the "top." A lady selling water followed us the entire way up, fanning Dad most of the way. We found out that we could actually hike to the tippy top if we wanted to so Matt and I headed up through an overgrown path. We were rewarded with amazing views at the top. Our lady was waiting for us when we got back to the steps and she followed us the whole way down. Down at the bottom all three of us were drenched - the weather has changed dramatically since Zhongdian. Here in Yangshuo it is hot and extremly humid.

Our 45 minute bike ride home would have been fabulous if it weren't for the horn honking buses that passed by every 30 seconds. I believe I have gone deaf in my left ear. We all took a rest at the hotel before heading out to dinner. We were a little tired of the local fare so some of us sampled the local burrito, spaghetti and pizza. It was ok but it ain't Chuy's creamy jalapeno, that's for sure.

This morning we were up at 5:30 am for a 6am cruise on the Li River. It was a misty morning and the scenery was spectacular. Mid-way through the cruise we were pulled over by the police. Apparently private boats are illegal as tourists are supposed to use goverment-run boats. We don't know if a ticket was issued or a bribe paid but we like the way bribe sounds so let's stick with that. We did have to turn around and head back to the dock early but at that point it was pouring rain so not too big a loss. We brought our drenched selves back to the hotel and now have some time to wander the streets. There are so many shops in all the towns we go to that it is truly amazing they stay in business. Many of them are selling the same trinkets. Since we have limited space for purchasing maybe we'll spend some time at the massage place this afternoon - that takes up no space at all :-)

We're off to our big train ride at 5:30. When it's over we'll be getting on a 4 day Yangtze River Cruise. I doubt we'll have internet access so it may be a while before our next update.

Talk to ya later!