October break: into China

This week, I had a few days off of work for October break and a couple of Chinese holidays. So, yes, I took advantage of the time to travel. My friend Rachel was visiting from Denver, so I showed her around Hong Kong for a few days and then we went up to Guilin and Youngshou with three other friends. People here have told me over and over again, "if you're going to go anywhere while you live in Hong Kong, make sure it's Guilin.". I can now see why. It was absolutely beautiful with landscapes of countryside farms, winding rivers, and limestone mountains and cliffs shooting up out of the ground as far as the eye could see. Youngshou, a small town, is a bit of a backpackers destination, so we packed our days with activities and outdoorsy things, a nice change from Hong Kong. The weather was perfect...never too hot or cold, and I was unreasonably excited that it cooled off at night. It reminded me a bit of home and hanging out in the small Rocky Mountain towns of Colorado. I think it was a change I needed.

We started off by arriving in Guilin on Friday night, and then rented a boat to take us to Youngshou on Saturday. As are many things in China, it was a bit of a hassle to arrange this, especially as we weren't sure whether we were getting ripped off or not. But it all worked out and we were just slightly windblown after a 3 hour ride on the speedboat. When we got to Youngshou, we met up with our friend Michelle, who speaks fluent Mandarin. This turned out to be a much easier, more stress-free way to get around. I think it's the first time I've traveled with someone who's spoken the language. Michelle introduced us to some amazing Chinese food (my favorite being the dessert of fried bananas and apples in carmelized sugar, served blazing hot and then dipped in cool water right before you put it in your mouth.) On Sunday, we had hired a bike tour guide to take us through the countryside and villages around Youngshou. We biked all through the area, stopping for a few hours in the afternoon to take a tour of a cave with waterfalls, pools, and a "mud pool".

On Monday we bulked up on a big Western breakfast, preparing for a day of kayaking. I think this was the highlight of the trip for all of us. Canny, our bike tour guide, had arranged our tour, which turned out to just be a man who picked us up, lent us our kayaks, and told us to dock right before the bridge. So we looked at his rough sketch of a map and took off on our own, paddling down the river slowly and at our own pace. We stopped halfway at a waterside "restaurant", which was basically a covered dock with chickens running around. They served us some fresh cooked food and drinks from a cooler as fishermen came up to sell that day's catch. After a morning of kayaking, we rented tandem bikes and went out to "Moon Hill" to hike and climb to the top, which gave us a beautiful view of the valley. I didn't feel too guilty having three different Chinese desserts that night.

Our remaining time was spent shopping (of course), eating, hanging out in the backpackers haunts of Youngshou, reading on the balcony, and getting massages around town. Some friends here visit Youngshou yearly, which I could easily do as well... am now hoping to go back in the springtime!

pickled vegetables for sale on a bike
streets of Youngshou
"west street", the main street in town
The cave tour guide promptly instructed all of us to pose in front of this formation that looked like a christmas tree. He was sure that westerners would want a shot like this.
We swam around in the mud caves, and jumped into the pools to clean off.
Riding the boat from Guilin to Youngshou
hanging out in the kayak
entrance into the cave...had to take this rickety old canoe to get in there