june 26th
Arrived Chengdu! A very large city. Lotsa smog. They are very proud of the Panda research center. I think they just try to make it sound better then a panda zoo. And they do get panda sperm and inject it into other pandas to make baby pandas but you can also pay to hold a Panda and have your photo taken for about $150.
Took the brand new metro to different parts of the city For a cpl of days then decided to beeline it for Guilin.
At the airport we sat on the runway for a little more then an hour. Which is funny because the flight was only an hour. Landed around 12:30am and took a taxi to my hostel. I needed Guilin, it is quite touristy in the lazy walk around and eat food and look at the beautiful mountains around you kind of way. Climbed to the top of elephant trunk hill, for a view! Saw some crazy rock formations. Then took a trip to the Longji rice terraces. That's dragon spine terraces in chinese. The walk up was as interesting as the intricate rice fields that have been in this area for around 500 years ago, during the Ming Dynasty. The town weaves its way up filled with restaurant and little houses. It was funny to see these old Chinese men hauling other people up the hills on bamboo chairs
Also took some cool picture of the sun and moon pagodas in Guilen. And had a guilen noodle specialty.
July 6
Set out in a boat to Yangshou via the Li river. Took half the day. Got a nice hotel to myself with a balcony overlooking the creek the runs through the small town. It is a truly a one of a kind area. On my birthday met some expats and got pretty loaded. Lots of jamison shooting. I was to meet up the next day to go to a beach but just saw them long enough to change my mind and spent the day watching movies and t.v on my laptop. It was nice to just zone out on the boob tube.
Took a trip to the the dragon bridge and rode on a bamboo raft. Also had the pleasure of feeding some huge water buffalo and saw a comorand do some fishing for a guy. The scenery is so astonishing. It is hard to leave. But I am on my way to Vietnam so I will spend my last few days in Nanning then say goodbye to China. "Zai jian"!
