Finding our Chinese Happy Place: Guilin & Yangshuo

We left Chengdu on an overnight train headed to Guilin.  Unfortunately, it was the least pleasant stretch of train travel that we’ve had in our 2 ½ months of travel so far.  The train was old and did not feel very clean.  After eating a simple dinner in the train dining car, I started having stomach issues.  Stomach issues + Chinese squat toilet on a dirty train = unpleasant times. 

After 26 hours on that train, we were quite happy to arrive in Guilin.  Our main objective was to visit the Longji Rice Terraces (also called the Dragon Backbone's Rice Terraces).  These terraced rice fields were constructed about 650 years ago and are located a couple of hours north of Guilin.  The terraces resemble a dragon's scales, while the summit looks like the backbone of the dragon.

We took a cable car up to the top of the summit, which gave us a great bird's eye view of the terraced fields.

The crops were starting to change from green to yellow as harvest time approached.  The colors and swirls of the landscape were breathtaking.

After getting some lunch at the top (or, in my case, watching the family eat since food and I were still not getting along), we started the hike back down the hill.

We stopped to sample this guy’s product (honeycomb?), which was delicious…. 

(Side note:  We were super excited about this sweet treat until the trip home, when our driver reacted quite forcefully when he saw Colin put some in his mouth.  He motioned for Colin to spit it out the window and then, gesturing emphatically in a motion that indicated something billowing from his abdomen, mimed what meant either, 1.  The stuff would make our stomachs fat; or 2.  The stuff would give us stomach problems.  Not interested in even the slight potential of more stomach problems in the family, we decided to take the cautious route and stop eating it.)

Continuing our hike down, we also saw pepper plants and peppers drying in the sun.

We also examined rice plants up close, impressed at how many little rice grains were on each stalk.

And we stopped for a rest in a small village before ending our hike and heading back to Guilin after a beautiful day in Chinese rice fields!

With our quick stop in Guilin over, the next day we headed south to Yangshuo.  Yangshuo would quickly become one of our most favorite stops…….only to also be one of our shortest.   

When I booked our stay at Yangshuo Outside Inn a couple of weeks ago, I had no idea how much the family would be craving the calm and quiet it offered by the time we arrived.  Yangshuo Outside Inn was not only a comfortable and friendly inn, but it was SO. CALM.  We could feel the chaos and sensory overload of large Chinese cities melting away as we spent our first evening surrounded by crickets chirping and relative darkness.

After dinner, Emmett and I went to watch a local man fish using comcorants.  These are aquatic birds that local fisherman traditionally used to catch fish in the Li River.  

The fishermen tie a rope around the birds' necks so that they can swallow smaller fish but not larger ones.  When they catch a larger fish, the fisherman brings the bird back to the boat and has the bird spit the fish into a basket.

It was really cool to watch the birds diving under the water, chasing after fish.

The next day, we borrowed bicycles from the inn and headed out to explore.  The scenery around Yangshuo is spectacular, with karsts (limestone peaks eroded over many, many years by water) everywhere.  And it was fantastic to be on bikes!!!

We cycled to a bamboo raft loading point on the Yulong River.  This was one of the best experiences of our entire time in China--the landscape was spectacular and the river was so peaceful.

The boys dipped their feet in the river and we all sat back and watched the scenery go by.

A couple of times we went down what the boys called "rapids"....not exactly white water levels, but on a bamboo raft they still felt a bit uncertain.

After our bamboo raft ride, we cycled to the Golden Water Cave nearby.  It was pretty touristic with lots of artificial lights and gift shops along the cave route.  However, the boys thoroughly enjoyed climbing through a tight spot that the guide called "The Rebirth Canal".

From the caves, we cycled to nearby Moon Hill and climbed to the top.

The views at the top made the upward climb completely worthwhile.

By this point, Colin had pretty much had it with the physical exertion (and it was really hot and humid) and splayed himself on the rocks......this picture pretty much sums up the family situation at this point:

Despite this picture, we managed to get the whole family back down the hill and started the bike ride back to our inn.  It was almost sunset, and we got a few last pictures of the surrounding landscapes.

We played pool back at the inn and had a great dinner outside, socializing with guests from Germany and The Netherlands.  We've started to encounter a lot more Dutch/Belgian people, and it's always a great chance for 3/4 of us to practice our Dutch.

Of all the places we visited in China, Yangshuo was the one where we could have spent a lot more time.  We have enjoyed the sights of the cities in China, but the natural beauty and relative calm of Yangshuo were reinvigorating.  While our few days in this area were ultimately too short, our time there taught us an important lesson that a balance between city sights and country calm is particularly important for us as we travel for a long time.  And if we ever go back to China, we know precisely where we'll be headed.....