Jen & Clare Flee the Western Hemisphere

Big or little, many people or few....communication with the guy who was trying to sell our group boat tickets for traveling down the Li River was a little confusing. We joined forces with 2 other pairs from our hostel (2 from NY, 2 from Canada) who were also wanting to travel from Guilin to Yangshuo on the same day as us. A raft down the river sounds nicer than a bus ride, so we grouped up with them. It can be expensive to take boats, but we managed a very cheap price and got what we wanted. It was a small (advertised as bamboo, but not quite) raft with 3 small bench seats. The ride was slow and leisurely, and the scenery was gorgeous. This region has karst topograhpy, which are these really strange little mountain cliffs that just stick up out of nowhere. Along the way we stopped at a little island that had cows grazing and water buffalo bathing in a pool of mud. Little did we know within 2 days we would look a lot like those water buffalo (check next blog entry for details). Anyways, after a few hours and then 2 bus rides we were dropped off at the bus station in Yangshuo. Our hostel was within easy walking distance, and very nice! Sunday we woke to rain outside, but were told by the hostel manager that the sun would come out soon. Once it lightened to a drizzle we rented bikes from him, and took off. We followed the road on our map that would take us by the Yulong River. That was a good choice. It really took us out to the countryside, and doing something active after so long felt great! The asphalt road turned to gravel and mud with large rocks thrown in. We were pretty much mountain biking after a while. One rain shower crept up on us and caused us to seek shelter under someone's eve for about 40 minutes. After it passed it was surprising how quickly it turned sunny and hot again! We had brought food to snack on but, needless to say, after hours of biking, we were really hungry. Quick showers and a delicious dinner of dumplings and rice ensued. A top-rate day in a great part of China.