There are times that this trip has been like travelling through the blasted wastelands of Fallout 3. There have been times that it is like being in a natural paradise. And then there are times like today, when you feel like a human sardine, squashed into the iron belly of a human transportation device, face oozing sweat and peoples comingled stench forming a miasma on the ceiling.
Its been a couple of days since i actually wrote anything of any worth, so it's time to update properly. I am now in Beijing, but before i continue i have to do a bit of a recap.
Whilst in glorious Yangshuo, Eve and I decided to go on a river cruise. Or rather a Bamboo raft cruise. At 2 o'clock in the afternoon, we were met by a lovely young woman who knew more english than the requisite "Hullo!!" and the extra "You buy!!!....?" This sounds bad, but there are only so many times you can hear these combinations before you feel like smashing something. So anyway... this lady proceeds to take us, escort etc, to the Yangshuo bus station, where we are told we have to take a bus to the river side village of Yuangdi. The bus was late as seems the norm in the area, and once it arrived we were quickly pushed onto the bus with the final words "Don't trust anyone!!!" (or something to that effect), ringing in our ears.
An hour later, through a combination of the afore mentioned blasted landscape and hilly paradise, we got off the bus, gaping in awe at the beauty of the Li River in all it's glory for about 30 seconds. I say 30 seconds because that is how long it took for a gaggle of old ladies (and some young that just looked old), to notice ignorant westerners and swarm to us like piranhas scenting blood in the water.
And so the game begins. I don't think i have seen a more persistent group of people in my life, and amidst cries of "Bamboo!!" and "You take!!" we tried to promptly flee. Yet they stuck to us like chewing gum on the bottom of a shoe, especially in this heat, as it never quite breaks when you leave off pavement, just extends in this tenuous link melding foot to concrete, or in this case, tout to prospective victim.
Somehow, by a complete fluke, we overcame this hurdle by bringing forth the pink receipt from my wallet like some holy talisman. It was like the effect of a priest in a horror movie when a shiny gold cross is pulled out and all the undead turn away aor whatever. They just stopped in their tracks. Finally the person, a youmg man, that was suppose to meet us appeared. Before we knew it we were ushered onto what could easily be described as a raft/boat thing. It could be described that way, but what it was in actual fact was several bamboo poles lashed together, with two seats sitting on the deck and a canvas on a metal frame, forming a roof. All of this powered by what seemed to be an oversized weed eater engine. Interesting. It just so turns out that this was exactly what i was expecting, and in all honesty it felt safer than most of the boats i have seen in this country.
We set off, the engine of the boat sputtering and the delicate tones of chinese techno bouncing off the hillside. It took a couple of seconds to realise that the techno was following us. It wasn't falling away because our boat/raft was emmitting it, like bad gas. I turned around and realised that this young man, that was driving us down the river, probably fell into the cool category of modern chinese culture. Fair enough. To tell the truth i sort of enjoyed it, it even made me feel a little like a rock star amidst the hoards of other tourists on their bamboo rafts upon the Li river.
The cruise was awesome, it would take to long describe it so i have uploaded pictures.
What was funny about this cruise though was an incident that happened about half way. Rain had been threatening for awhile, and finally, done with it's blustering, it decided to fall. Heavily. Cool. At about this point or a few minutes into it, we noticed a boat/raft, full of tourists waving at us. It took a couple of seconds for my slow mind to register the fact that these ladies weren't just being polite. It took the actual captain/driver of the other boat/raft thing, to start waving furiously in our direction with a wooden paddle, for me to put two and two together, and not just make four, but to realise that they had run out of petrol. In turn, Eve and I gestured wildly at our driver/captain, and he finally got off his mobile phone and noticed what we had. In short we tied that boat/raft side by side with ours and hobbled down the river to our destination. What started out as a peaceful techno filled journey, just the two of us, suddenly became a chinese screaming girly fest. Always be ready for surprises in China. Rest assured when you finally relax, something will ome along to shake things up.
Anyway, this is taking to long... so i will write part 2 tommorow.
