bamboo raft....Li river..Yangshou
CHINA | Thursday, 24 February 2011 | Views [580]
Thursday 24 feb
We are here in Yangshou......again....nice n warm in my bed and loving free wifi in the room.....no more internet cafe.........cool bananas....although, internet cafe's was a place to meet fellow travellers and just to check out everyone. Here there doesnt seem to be any internet cafe's as such......everyone is travelling with there notebooks or using there phones.....technology....how it can change......forget postcards these days....anyway keeps you posted anyway.
By the way while i remember......if your waiting for us to post stuff on Facebook......forget it.....no can do from China!!......its a no no here.........part of the Government control on websites
no Facebook or twitter or any of those......i guess im lucky i can get onto yahoo.......another interesting thing is, on the tv especially the news.....you do not see anything of whats going on in the outside world of China.......tv programs ...only documentary's that are talking about China......havent seen any U.S, english or any other country programs. So will have to post photos on fb when i get back.....or email a couple.
Ok.......so our bamboo raft ride down the river
yep bamboo raft......are you having the vision of a tranquial relaxing float down the river.....on a raft made out of bamboo with a canopy for the shade.....agh yes peaceful, just cruising along looking at the beautiful scenery.....of these amazing limestone peaks jutting out of the earth........yes i have that vision.....
until.......
i boarded our raft............ha........bamboo raft my foot
hello......only bamboo thing on that raft was the chair that the girl in front of me was sitting on!!!
of cause we are in CHina.....what does China make well......of cause plastic!!
actually we laughed, big joke on us.......the bamboo raftsare actually.......plastic pipes joined together with a wooden flooring, chuck on some steel poles and a plastic sheet for the shade and a couple of wooden chairs....and lets make 2 of them made out of bamboo so its bamboo raft.............and then throw on a noisy whipper snipper engine for the motor..........and while your at it.......mother nature you can add in a bit of.... rain and a realy realy thick fog!!.....and then we have it. Our expensive boat ride down to Yangshou......i could of taken the $2 bus ride that takes an hr....
After all of that I am glad we chose that route......to see the river and the peaks in the thick fog was a different experience.....very eery....kinda reminded me of the mist of avalon.....and your waiting for something to happen just ahead.........but to see the tops of peaks kind of appearing out of the fog right on top of you was pretty cool.....and seeing a fisherman down stream standing on his "bamboo" raft....his is actually bamboo.....was something out of a painting......i guess in a way quiet magical......if it was sunny and clear .... i would of had a totally different experience. All along the river are these huge limestone peaks jutting out of the water and land which tower over top of you. With the fog it feels very Avartarish.....if thats a word......i have read somewhere a long while ago that part of the movie Avartar....where the mountains are in midair......was inspired from around here somewhere and i can see why with all this fog around......hopefully i will get to see it also when its clear weather....as these peaks surround Yangshou..
We stopped at a random place out of the middle of nowhere on the side of the river for lunch....enjoyed that....rice....and steamed wild vegies......finally steamed vegies!!....for less than $2.
Anyway it took most of the day to ride down the river and get to Yangshou.......
ok im off for breatill the next timekfast and for some exploring....will tell you about this place later
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