Chinese Transport

It seems that on this trip we have tried every mode of Chinese transport possible to get to our destinations.  There were the green taxi's in Shanghai that whiz around and make swift movements, squeezing into the smallest of spaces.

There were the underground trains, which were unbelievably clean and super efficient.  It was really easy to navigate your way around, provided you knew which stop you needed to get off at.

There were the Spring Airline Planes; China's budget airline.  Where the responsibilities of the flight stewards and stewardesses, were not only to make you aware of the safety measures on board, but also to take you through simple exercise routines.  Exercises were to loosen up the muscles, to get the blood circulating and to get the joints moving.

There has been travel on water; on big boats and bamboo rafts.  A mix of Western and Chinese experiences on peaceful waters.

There have been the bicycles and motorbike taxi's that have got the blood pressure up from fear of being hit.

The numerous buses and coaches that drive up winding roads at a snail's pace.  And last but not least, the Bullet Train that we took today to get to Beijing.  The number of people that were in the train station trying to buy tickets or boarding their trains was astounding.

The Manicured Paddies of Longji Terraces

For Baby Samuel who made his entrance into the world today.

The unwelcome sound of the alarm goes off.

It's 6am and we've only had 3 hours sleep.

A mini bus taxi picks us up at 7am to take us into town.

Stood at a bus stop, hoping that we're in the right place.

Watching others clean the mess that was left from the night before.

Our coach arrives, it's air-conditioned and spacious.

Standing around in a hall, waiting for our tour number to be called.

Our number flashes and there is a mad dash to get on the bus.

The bus travels at a snails pace up the winding road.

5 hours later we've made it.

But no time to stop.

We are raced up the rocky steps of the Longji Terrace to get to our restaurant.

Rice served in bamboo with some Chinese Pork and Greens.

Food cooked in bamboo is the local delicacy.

It is tasty, but not my favourite food on this trip so far.

Tummies filled, it's time to explore.

It's humid outside.

And simply walking works up a sweat.

The little streets are made of slabs of rock.

Buildings appear to be precariously held up on bamboo.

Chickens roam freely, unintimidated by the locals and tourists. 

The slabs of rock form a little path.

They lead up and through the rice paddies.

This part of the year the rice is fully grown and ready to be harvested.

The paddies up close look wild and overgrown.

But at a distance the paddies look manicured.

It's a field of yellow and green.

By the time we make it to the top, it is time to come back down again.

My legs begin to feel like jelly and shake with every step I take.

I'm only carrying a camera bag, there are the locals walking around with massive loads on their backs.

The little streets are full of workers and traders.

There are 3 men beating the hell out of some grain used to make bread.

Hard work in this humidity.

There are others which sit behind stalls.

Selling cured meats.

Bemused as they catch me taking their picture.

It's 4pm and it should be time to get back on the bus.

But the queues are horrendous.

And we have to wait a couple of hours for our bus to arrive.

There are children waiting with us.

Pointing at us to their parents.

And trying to speak to us in English.

Luckily this makes the time pass by more quickly.

Till we begin the long and winding journey away from the terrace.

To go back to Shanghai.

Time For A Cuppa

The mountains 12km north of YangShuo are covered in row after row of tea bushes and the odd Osmanthus tree.  The scenery of the plantation is stunning against the hazy backdrop of other mountains in the distance.

It is just after 1pm and we are donned in our straw hats, out in the baking sun, acting like plantation workers and picking our tea.

Our tour guide is Tien, a sweet girl whose English is perfect and her knowledge of tea is thorough.

She taught us that the best tea comes from baby leaves and that they have 7 people roaming the bushes, picking the perfect leaves to make either green or black tea.

We didn't get to see the processing part of the tea e.g. production of black tea, as that part of the plantation was closed.  But we did get to taste the result of our pickings in the usual Chinese tradition, overlooked by the bull frog.

The tea was different to what we have tasted in the past; a lot greener and fresher.  But it tasted better simply because we had picked it.

This tea tasting was like having a cuppa with friends.  The girls were very hospitable, even when it came to sorting out our grumpy taxi driver who was trying to wangle more money out of us.

Moon Festival

After New Year's, the second most celebrated event in the Chinese calendar is the Moon Festival.  As a result a lot of people were on holiday today.  YangShuo's streets were literally swarming with people and to get anywhere you either had to walk, cycle or get a motorbike taxi.

Tonight we had tickets to see a Light Show, which meant that we had to get motorbike taxi's.  There are 2 things I need to point out:

1) I was wearing a skirt, which meant I had to sit side saddle

2) There was no helmet

I spent the entire journey to the Light Show, clutching on for dear life to the jacket of the driver, counting down the minutes till we reached our destination.  Time seemed to move in slow motion, particularly when the driver decided to weave between 2 cars and completely cut off another car, which missed hitting us by what can only have been a fraction of a second.

Teacher on the other hand was the complete opposite.  When I felt brave enough to actually look up, I saw her whiz past on her motorbike taxi, completely unfazed and touching up her make-up.  I wish I had a picture, but that would have meant letting go of the driver to fish out my phone from my bag, which wasn't going to happen.

The Light Show was one of the most bizarre experiences on this trip so far; the Chinese singing was quite high pitched and sounded like cats wailing.  Yet the depiction of the legend of the moon goddess, Chang-O, was visually stunning:

Legend has it that there was a hero named Yi who was excellent at shooting.  His wife was Chang-O.  One year the ten suns rose in the sky together, causing great disaster to people.  Yi shot down nine of the suns and left only one to provide light.

An immortal admired Yi and sent him the elixir of immortality. Yi did not want to leave Chang-O and be immortal without her, so he let Chang-O keep the elixir.

But Feng Meng, one of his apprentices knew this secret.  So on the 15th August in the lunar calendar, whilst Yi was hunting, Feng Meng broke into Yi's house and forced Chang-O to give him the elixir.

Chang-O refused and instead swallowed it and flew into the sky.  Since she loved her husband and wanted to be near him, she chose the moon as her residence.  When Yi came back and learnt what had happened, he felt so sad that he displayed Chang-O's favourite fruits and cakes in the yard as sacrifices.  Others learnt about this and as they were sympathetic, they also put up fruits and cakes as a sacrifice.

Leap of Faith

Teacher's wise words, "It's better to be moving than to be stationary" were heeded as we crossed the chaotic streets of YangShuo on our rented bikes.

N.B. Don't let the emptiness of this road fool you.

These pictures were taken at our retreat before we got to the madness of the town streets 

The theory being that the Chinese are able to navigate better around something that is moving, because they can predict the direction.  For me it was a leap of faith; pedalling my bike behind Teacher in the hope that we get to our destination in one piece.

Our destination were the caves that were located about an hour by bike outside the town of YangShuo.  Fear aside, the trip was actually fun.  Teacher was in charge of the map.  You would hear her shout out (in Mandarin) from time to time at the locals to check that we were going in the right direction.

The cave that we went to was one that was recommended to us, called Golden Cave.  It was a cave that had formations of Stalagmites and Stalactites, as well as a Mud Bath and Hot Springs.

Our tour guide through the cave was a lady called Lucy.  I expected her to provide an explanation of how the caves were formed and a bit of a history in terms of how old the caves were.

What we got was a description of what the different formations looked like; anything from breasts, to elephant ears, to sea animals.  A little amusing as we were more than capable of coming up with our own interpretations.

The 'education' part of our tour ended when we got to the Mud Bath and had a chance to literally muck about.  The Mud Bath was surprisingly cool, which made getting into the Hot Spring more refreshing.

Lunch was a pit stop at a cafe on the street to try the local dish; Li Fish cooked in Beer.  It was spicy and tasty, although I wasn't able to eat much; I got put off by the Chickens that wandered in and out of the kitchen and the area where the dishes were being washed.  When I caught one of the staff feeding them the left overs it was enough to diminish my appetite.

The bike ride ended with a stop at Jianshu Temple.  Randomly the key attraction here were the 2 hard back turtles.  Their reason for being in the temple was lost on me, but nevertheless they were very cute.