Yangsuo, July 4-6, 2004
You can see my photos of Yangsuo here: http://tinyurl.com/3tyjc
I'm in China in a beautiful spot called Yangsuo. There are tall karst limestone outcroppings towering over everything here. They form a sublime horizon to the river with its constant bamboo raft traffic, bigger boats moving up and down.
I took a trip this morning on this river and came back early enough to rent a bike and explore about 35 or 40 km on it, thru this same scenery, along the river, nice trails well trodden with water buffalo, interesting people encounters on the way ...
So, back home to my clean laughably bargain room, 50 yuan with a/c AND a fan (which I insisted on to drown out street noise), I had a shower because I'd got muddy and sweaty, but still had the bike, so thought where can I go to chill out.
I thought, the river. Earlier in the day I had been walking over there and seen a waterfall with a bathing steps and girls in blue silk washing clothes and a man with fishing cormorants sitting in his bamboo raft. I went there.
There was a restaurant there overhanging the river with a good view of it at sunset so I went in. It was classy, A/C, excellent view of the river and the jagged karst peaks all around and the people swimming and the buffalo on the grassy opposite bank.
I ordered a beer and kept the menu. I decided to go for a Caesar salad with bacon, which was delicious, a meal in itself. By the windows at sunset I watched the colors go on the river like the Mekong at sunset from the tables where you can get beer on the banks in Vientienne, and you wonder where else it could be so tranquil. As the sun set the waitresses brought candles and set them on each table.
Then I asked for a bill for this excellent treat of nature and civility. Would you believe $3 ??? This is partly the reason I think China is wonderful.
Tuesday July 6 was a rainy day in Yangsuo. I decided to make it an off day. I went to a cafe where the rain had driven all the tables indoors and had three cups of good strong coffee and used the free Internet all morning. Back at my hotel I had a shower and came out to the lobby. It was still drizzling out. The bikes were all lined up outside and if it were sunny I'd grab one and head to some of the interesting rock formations here.
At the time it seemed like I'd never get there because I was planning to go to Beihai tomorrow. I'd sort of worked out an itinerary in my head, all day travel to Beihai on the 7th (it's on the south coast of China), a day in Beihai as guest of one of Yaodong’s students on the 8th, then travel to Liuzhou the 9th to meet Yaodong at long last, and hang out with him till the evening of the 11th when I planned to take a night bus back to Zhongshan. I’d spend a day there and then get over to Hong Kong in time to make my flight back to Abu Dhabi on the 14th.
The sun came out at about 3 p.m. There seemed time to go for a bike ride somewhere. Bikes were only 5 yuan a day so it wasn't a big decision. I selected one and headed west, having gone east the day before. I knew the name of a town a kilometer up the road and by uttering those two syllables I got pointed to a road that turned out to be a pleasant paved lane along a tributary to the main river. I biked alongside lush agricultural land always with the signature mountain formations in every direction. It was a mellow feeling, well worth getting out on the bike. Eventually I came on a group of men fishing by a half-moon old stone bridge. I stopped and took pictures, asking permission first, gathering from the incomprehensible replies that it was ok. One of the guys even walked over to what looked like a cave entrance and had me photograph him there. He looked at the result in my digital monitor and seemed pleased with it.
Biking just a little further on I came to where the paved road ended in a small park and so I backtracked to a set of bamboo houses by the river where I paused for a beer. I noticed a lot of bamboo rafts in the river and I realized that this place must be a tourist put in point. Eventually someone came over and asked if I wanted to take a trip. At least that's what I thought he said. I pulled out my map and asked him where to. He pointed waaayyy down river. I asked him to write a price (numbers when written can be mutually understood), which was several hundred yuan. So I picked a spot not far downstream and pointed there. He studied this a second, or rather they did, as a crowd was beginning to gather, and I asked him to propose a price. He wrote what I thought was 80 yuan and I countered with 20. He and his friends had a good laugh at that. I went up to 30, 40, maybe even 50. More laughter. Finally, I said ok, 80, let's go. I quite fancied the idea of a river trip at that point. He wasn't having that either. He wanted something like 200. It was all very good natured, but it wasn't happening. I finished my beer and went off on my bike.
Down the road was a fork with a road sign in Chinese characters. Points on the map were written in English and Chinese. Comparing these, I was able to figure out which forks to take.
I had turned up a dirt road to take an alternate way back in order to make a loop return to Yangsuo. I stopped next to a man to make sure I was headed the right way and he indicated that it would be raining soon and where was I going to shelter on that road. I got out my pancho and put it on since the rain started that moment. Further up the road I chose an unmarked fork into a valley and was warned off it a hundred meters further on by a pair of women carrying burdens and making very negative signs and noises. They pointed me back the way I had come and swept their arms in the direction of the other fork. It was starting to rain in earnest now but I biked on. My pancho was keeping my essential documents and camera dry, and my pants and boots would dry later. The rain poured down and I passed locals squatting by the road sheltering under their umbrellas, waiting it out. The rain shrouded the limestone peaks now, and the land seemed to blend with the river rippling to my right as I cycled along. There was no other traffic on the road. Occasionally I passed shops where people were sheltering, presumably with things to eat and drink, but I didn't know how far I had to go, and it was late in the day. I was fine, it was deluging with rain, the bike was in good nick, and I was keeping mostly dry.
I didn't stop till I reached the main road into Yangsuo. There was a kind of inn there and I wheeled my bike inside and hung my pancho on the open door. I ordered a cold beer and watched the rain play itself out while trying to ignore the kung fu cops video blasting out of the TV, being watched by no one in particular. When the rain let up I cycled into town, had a shower, and cycled back to my favorite restaurant on the river to watch the sun set and snap pictures of the mist playing cats paws on the mountain ridges. The river was in flood now. All kinds of flotsam was being swept down it from upstream. I watched the boats as they navigated into the current, held position with engines running, then cast off and drifted downdstream into the flood, wheeling about, regaining control of direction, and floating by under my open picture window at disconcerting speed.
I'm in China in a beautiful spot called Yangsuo. There are tall karst limestone outcroppings towering over everything here. They form a sublime horizon to the river with its constant bamboo raft traffic, bigger boats moving up and down.
I took a trip this morning on this river and came back early enough to rent a bike and explore about 35 or 40 km on it, thru this same scenery, along the river, nice trails well trodden with water buffalo, interesting people encounters on the way ...
So, back home to my clean laughably bargain room, 50 yuan with a/c AND a fan (which I insisted on to drown out street noise), I had a shower because I'd got muddy and sweaty, but still had the bike, so thought where can I go to chill out.
I thought, the river. Earlier in the day I had been walking over there and seen a waterfall with a bathing steps and girls in blue silk washing clothes and a man with fishing cormorants sitting in his bamboo raft. I went there.
There was a restaurant there overhanging the river with a good view of it at sunset so I went in. It was classy, A/C, excellent view of the river and the jagged karst peaks all around and the people swimming and the buffalo on the grassy opposite bank.
I ordered a beer and kept the menu. I decided to go for a Caesar salad with bacon, which was delicious, a meal in itself. By the windows at sunset I watched the colors go on the river like the Mekong at sunset from the tables where you can get beer on the banks in Vientienne, and you wonder where else it could be so tranquil. As the sun set the waitresses brought candles and set them on each table.
Then I asked for a bill for this excellent treat of nature and civility. Would you believe $3 ??? This is partly the reason I think China is wonderful.
Tuesday July 6 was a rainy day in Yangsuo. I decided to make it an off day. I went to a cafe where the rain had driven all the tables indoors and had three cups of good strong coffee and used the free Internet all morning. Back at my hotel I had a shower and came out to the lobby. It was still drizzling out. The bikes were all lined up outside and if it were sunny I'd grab one and head to some of the interesting rock formations here.
At the time it seemed like I'd never get there because I was planning to go to Beihai tomorrow. I'd sort of worked out an itinerary in my head, all day travel to Beihai on the 7th (it's on the south coast of China), a day in Beihai as guest of one of Yaodong’s students on the 8th, then travel to Liuzhou the 9th to meet Yaodong at long last, and hang out with him till the evening of the 11th when I planned to take a night bus back to Zhongshan. I’d spend a day there and then get over to Hong Kong in time to make my flight back to Abu Dhabi on the 14th.
The sun came out at about 3 p.m. There seemed time to go for a bike ride somewhere. Bikes were only 5 yuan a day so it wasn't a big decision. I selected one and headed west, having gone east the day before. I knew the name of a town a kilometer up the road and by uttering those two syllables I got pointed to a road that turned out to be a pleasant paved lane along a tributary to the main river. I biked alongside lush agricultural land always with the signature mountain formations in every direction. It was a mellow feeling, well worth getting out on the bike. Eventually I came on a group of men fishing by a half-moon old stone bridge. I stopped and took pictures, asking permission first, gathering from the incomprehensible replies that it was ok. One of the guys even walked over to what looked like a cave entrance and had me photograph him there. He looked at the result in my digital monitor and seemed pleased with it.
Biking just a little further on I came to where the paved road ended in a small park and so I backtracked to a set of bamboo houses by the river where I paused for a beer. I noticed a lot of bamboo rafts in the river and I realized that this place must be a tourist put in point. Eventually someone came over and asked if I wanted to take a trip. At least that's what I thought he said. I pulled out my map and asked him where to. He pointed waaayyy down river. I asked him to write a price (numbers when written can be mutually understood), which was several hundred yuan. So I picked a spot not far downstream and pointed there. He studied this a second, or rather they did, as a crowd was beginning to gather, and I asked him to propose a price. He wrote what I thought was 80 yuan and I countered with 20. He and his friends had a good laugh at that. I went up to 30, 40, maybe even 50. More laughter. Finally, I said ok, 80, let's go. I quite fancied the idea of a river trip at that point. He wasn't having that either. He wanted something like 200. It was all very good natured, but it wasn't happening. I finished my beer and went off on my bike.
Down the road was a fork with a road sign in Chinese characters. Points on the map were written in English and Chinese. Comparing these, I was able to figure out which forks to take.
I had turned up a dirt road to take an alternate way back in order to make a loop return to Yangsuo. I stopped next to a man to make sure I was headed the right way and he indicated that it would be raining soon and where was I going to shelter on that road. I got out my pancho and put it on since the rain started that moment. Further up the road I chose an unmarked fork into a valley and was warned off it a hundred meters further on by a pair of women carrying burdens and making very negative signs and noises. They pointed me back the way I had come and swept their arms in the direction of the other fork. It was starting to rain in earnest now but I biked on. My pancho was keeping my essential documents and camera dry, and my pants and boots would dry later. The rain poured down and I passed locals squatting by the road sheltering under their umbrellas, waiting it out. The rain shrouded the limestone peaks now, and the land seemed to blend with the river rippling to my right as I cycled along. There was no other traffic on the road. Occasionally I passed shops where people were sheltering, presumably with things to eat and drink, but I didn't know how far I had to go, and it was late in the day. I was fine, it was deluging with rain, the bike was in good nick, and I was keeping mostly dry.
I didn't stop till I reached the main road into Yangsuo. There was a kind of inn there and I wheeled my bike inside and hung my pancho on the open door. I ordered a cold beer and watched the rain play itself out while trying to ignore the kung fu cops video blasting out of the TV, being watched by no one in particular. When the rain let up I cycled into town, had a shower, and cycled back to my favorite restaurant on the river to watch the sun set and snap pictures of the mist playing cats paws on the mountain ridges. The river was in flood now. All kinds of flotsam was being swept down it from upstream. I watched the boats as they navigated into the current, held position with engines running, then cast off and drifted downdstream into the flood, wheeling about, regaining control of direction, and floating by under my open picture window at disconcerting speed.
send my regards to Yaodong, please.
Hugs, Maria from Colombia ;)