Francesca and Henk-Jan's Backpacking Trip!
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Impressions Of China
The 29th of June certainly got off to a slow start. Francesca and I mulled over our decision to stay in Yangshuo for another day, since the Impressions show had been canceled the previous night due to high water levels in the Li River. We ended up staying and found out the show was definitely on for that evening. We still had to figure out the best way to leave Yangshuo the next day, so that was our first goal for the morning. We ended up finding out it would be easiest to just go to the bus station and ask around, since buses would leave regularly for Guilin.
As we were walking down the main street Francesca and I were halted by a few Chinese high school students that wanted to ask us a few questions and practice their English. Since we hadn't done our good deed for the day we sat down with them and told them what we thought of the area. They were very excited to actually have someone to talk to and naturally wanted their picture taken with us.
This amusing experience was followed by food. I'd seen a recommended restaurant called 'Cloud 9' in the Lonely Planet and took Francesca there. When we walked into the restaurant it was entirely empty, which felt like ultimate bliss in ever-crowded China. I felt adventurous and ordered the braised dog meat in garlic pot (hope that doesn't offend anyone!), which happened to be a local dish. Francesca got a sweet and sour chicken, along with some dumplings to share. The dog didn't taste bad at all, kind of similar to chewy mutton, but I mainly ate it for the novelty of it. Francesca's chicken was great and she was really happy with her choice. During our meal another couple came in, with a camera crew following them. We wondered what was going on, and figured out that they were shooting a promo for the restaurant's cooking courses. Sounded like a pretty cool job!
Francesca wanted to explore the city more, since she noticed it had changed so much since her last visit. We walked down the entirely new streets, loaded with souvenirs and restaurants and felt sad that Yangshuo was losing its charm. Once we reached the river and looked out over the awe inspiring horizon we instantly felt better. The peaks in the distance just looked majestic, and the reflections in the water only added to the surrealism of the whole situation. We were rudely awakened by the incessant hawkers, offering tours and food in their broken Chinglish. We eventually fell for their words and the heat, and purchased some ice creams and water. Then we made our way back down the main street, popping into some of the weirder looking stores. One stood out in particular: a shop selling matches. The whole place was selling matches in boxes in all shapes and sizes. The boxes had the strangest and most shocking pictures on them! One I found particularly disturbing is the one listed below. I don't think you have to be able to read Dutch to understand this is still culturally a no-no.
We returned to the hotel, relaxed for a bit and got ready for 'Impressions,' the show Francesca had raved about since the beginning of the trip. We were picked up and brought to the show grounds, where we joined a bunch of Chinese people and stood around for a long time, aimlessly waiting for something that could not be explained to us in English. Francesca took the time to buy some snacks, whilst I rented us a pair of binoculars to watch the show with. After a while we finally got moving and went inside. We were handed some raincoats (just in case) and guided to our seats. Francesca was surprised to see the grass previously used as a seating area had been replaced by a concrete seating area. We were very happy with our seats and anticipated the show eagerly.
The Yangshuo Impressions Light Show definitely turned out to be 'something else.' The performance utilizes the natural surroundings to create a spectacular outdoor theater which is the largest of its kind. The Li River itself is the stage and twelve mountains serve as the backdrop. The theater is designed to blend, merge and work with the natural environment. The crowd sits in the dark as the mountains light up, creating a gorgeous display of light and sound.
Francesca and I watched in awe as the 600 (!!!) actors played out different scenes from daily life in and around the Li River. The story was hard to follow, since it was all in Chinese, but the visual aspect alone was more than enough to become fully engaged. For a good 90 minutes we watched the lights and fires flicker in the distance, always surrounded by the ever-present peaks. I hope the pictures give you an inkling of what it was like to be there...
After the show Francesca and I made our way back through the crowds and found our van's driver. We were taken back to the hotel and packed up our bags for departure the next morning.
On the 30th Francesca and I caught the 9:30 AM bus to Guilin. We'd read the trip would take us roughly one hour, but we ended up in a 'slow bus,' which means it stops for everyone, to the point where the isle is crowded entirely as well. Luckily we had good seats in the front, so the two hour drive wasn't that bad. When we arrived in Guilin we were a little unsure about our location. I tried to figure it out, but were soon enticed by a little place that said 'hotel bookings.' We were hoping they'd be able to help us out. The employee unfortunately spoke no English (why!), but managed to call someone to pick us up. We didn't mind walking with this guy to his hostel, which was part of the Youth Hostel International chain. The room was spacious, and for $15 a steal.
The bags were quickly left behind in the room, as we made our way to Yiyuan, a restaurant just across the river that had been recommended to us. I first tried to order the 'beer fish,' a local delicacy, but after I'd been led to the back where the fish was still swimming, and I heard the rather steep price I opted for something else. The 'pong dua' (spicy chicken) and sweet and sour chicken were both delectable, so we were perfectly fine with our choices.
A little walk away we found the only tourist site worthy of our time in Guilin: the Sun & Moon Pagoda. Set in the middle of the city in the middle of a park in the middle of a lake, the two pagodas seem very out of place in an otherwise grey and dreary city. We bought entrance tickets and headed for the first of the two Pagodas. The octagonal, seven-storey Moon Pagoda is the more traditional of the two pagodas, and decorations looked more ancient. We climbed all the way to the top for a nice view of the surroundings and headed back down to the basement, to cross through the underground tunnel to the 41 meter high Sun Pagoda, the world's tallest copper pagoda and one of the few pagodas in the world with an elevator. Since we are lazy people, and the climb of the first pagoda had already drained our energy we took the elevator to the 7th floor. We still had to climb a few steps to the top, but found the view well worth it once again.
On our way out of the park Francesca and I crept behind a little waterfall and some rocks for some cool pictures. We took one last look at the twin pagodas. We were
sad we couldn't go see them at night, since they're lit up in yellow and white light during the evenings. Instead, we headed back to the hostel to do some research for Xiamen, our next stop and Shanghai, our destination after that. We had found out finding a hostel was nearly impossible and hoped couch-surfing would be possible. We were very happy to be accepted by some cool-sounding people! We even found a host in Xiamen and were all set for the following days.
In the evening I headed out for food for Francesca and got her a meal from KFC. On the way back I also picked up a noodle soup, some steamed buns and a slice of watermelon for myself. All of that cost me no more than $2. Ah, gotta love these prices! The evening ended calmly with a movie and some bag-packing, before arranging a taxi to the airport the next morning.
As we were walking down the main street Francesca and I were halted by a few Chinese high school students that wanted to ask us a few questions and practice their English. Since we hadn't done our good deed for the day we sat down with them and told them what we thought of the area. They were very excited to actually have someone to talk to and naturally wanted their picture taken with us.
This amusing experience was followed by food. I'd seen a recommended restaurant called 'Cloud 9' in the Lonely Planet and took Francesca there. When we walked into the restaurant it was entirely empty, which felt like ultimate bliss in ever-crowded China. I felt adventurous and ordered the braised dog meat in garlic pot (hope that doesn't offend anyone!), which happened to be a local dish. Francesca got a sweet and sour chicken, along with some dumplings to share. The dog didn't taste bad at all, kind of similar to chewy mutton, but I mainly ate it for the novelty of it. Francesca's chicken was great and she was really happy with her choice. During our meal another couple came in, with a camera crew following them. We wondered what was going on, and figured out that they were shooting a promo for the restaurant's cooking courses. Sounded like a pretty cool job!
Francesca wanted to explore the city more, since she noticed it had changed so much since her last visit. We walked down the entirely new streets, loaded with souvenirs and restaurants and felt sad that Yangshuo was losing its charm. Once we reached the river and looked out over the awe inspiring horizon we instantly felt better. The peaks in the distance just looked majestic, and the reflections in the water only added to the surrealism of the whole situation. We were rudely awakened by the incessant hawkers, offering tours and food in their broken Chinglish. We eventually fell for their words and the heat, and purchased some ice creams and water. Then we made our way back down the main street, popping into some of the weirder looking stores. One stood out in particular: a shop selling matches. The whole place was selling matches in boxes in all shapes and sizes. The boxes had the strangest and most shocking pictures on them! One I found particularly disturbing is the one listed below. I don't think you have to be able to read Dutch to understand this is still culturally a no-no.
We returned to the hotel, relaxed for a bit and got ready for 'Impressions,' the show Francesca had raved about since the beginning of the trip. We were picked up and brought to the show grounds, where we joined a bunch of Chinese people and stood around for a long time, aimlessly waiting for something that could not be explained to us in English. Francesca took the time to buy some snacks, whilst I rented us a pair of binoculars to watch the show with. After a while we finally got moving and went inside. We were handed some raincoats (just in case) and guided to our seats. Francesca was surprised to see the grass previously used as a seating area had been replaced by a concrete seating area. We were very happy with our seats and anticipated the show eagerly.
The Yangshuo Impressions Light Show definitely turned out to be 'something else.' The performance utilizes the natural surroundings to create a spectacular outdoor theater which is the largest of its kind. The Li River itself is the stage and twelve mountains serve as the backdrop. The theater is designed to blend, merge and work with the natural environment. The crowd sits in the dark as the mountains light up, creating a gorgeous display of light and sound.
Francesca and I watched in awe as the 600 (!!!) actors played out different scenes from daily life in and around the Li River. The story was hard to follow, since it was all in Chinese, but the visual aspect alone was more than enough to become fully engaged. For a good 90 minutes we watched the lights and fires flicker in the distance, always surrounded by the ever-present peaks. I hope the pictures give you an inkling of what it was like to be there...
After the show Francesca and I made our way back through the crowds and found our van's driver. We were taken back to the hotel and packed up our bags for departure the next morning.
On the 30th Francesca and I caught the 9:30 AM bus to Guilin. We'd read the trip would take us roughly one hour, but we ended up in a 'slow bus,' which means it stops for everyone, to the point where the isle is crowded entirely as well. Luckily we had good seats in the front, so the two hour drive wasn't that bad. When we arrived in Guilin we were a little unsure about our location. I tried to figure it out, but were soon enticed by a little place that said 'hotel bookings.' We were hoping they'd be able to help us out. The employee unfortunately spoke no English (why!), but managed to call someone to pick us up. We didn't mind walking with this guy to his hostel, which was part of the Youth Hostel International chain. The room was spacious, and for $15 a steal.
The bags were quickly left behind in the room, as we made our way to Yiyuan, a restaurant just across the river that had been recommended to us. I first tried to order the 'beer fish,' a local delicacy, but after I'd been led to the back where the fish was still swimming, and I heard the rather steep price I opted for something else. The 'pong dua' (spicy chicken) and sweet and sour chicken were both delectable, so we were perfectly fine with our choices.
A little walk away we found the only tourist site worthy of our time in Guilin: the Sun & Moon Pagoda. Set in the middle of the city in the middle of a park in the middle of a lake, the two pagodas seem very out of place in an otherwise grey and dreary city. We bought entrance tickets and headed for the first of the two Pagodas. The octagonal, seven-storey Moon Pagoda is the more traditional of the two pagodas, and decorations looked more ancient. We climbed all the way to the top for a nice view of the surroundings and headed back down to the basement, to cross through the underground tunnel to the 41 meter high Sun Pagoda, the world's tallest copper pagoda and one of the few pagodas in the world with an elevator. Since we are lazy people, and the climb of the first pagoda had already drained our energy we took the elevator to the 7th floor. We still had to climb a few steps to the top, but found the view well worth it once again.
On our way out of the park Francesca and I crept behind a little waterfall and some rocks for some cool pictures. We took one last look at the twin pagodas. We were
sad we couldn't go see them at night, since they're lit up in yellow and white light during the evenings. Instead, we headed back to the hostel to do some research for Xiamen, our next stop and Shanghai, our destination after that. We had found out finding a hostel was nearly impossible and hoped couch-surfing would be possible. We were very happy to be accepted by some cool-sounding people! We even found a host in Xiamen and were all set for the following days.
In the evening I headed out for food for Francesca and got her a meal from KFC. On the way back I also picked up a noodle soup, some steamed buns and a slice of watermelon for myself. All of that cost me no more than $2. Ah, gotta love these prices! The evening ended calmly with a movie and some bag-packing, before arranging a taxi to the airport the next morning.
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