Yangshuo Day 5

I must admit that this day pretty much began as my least favorite day in paradise. I mean, you know, if there are bad days in paradise. First up on our agenda was a bamboo rafting tour on the Li River. A woman came to meet us at our hostel to show us where the raft port was so that we would not get lost on the way… while we rode our… bicycles. I knew it was bad news bears as soon as God decided to create a rainstorm while we were getting our bikes out for the trip. We had to wait for the rain to let up before we each climbed aboard a bike and began following our lady on her motorbike. I quickly realized that the phrase, “It’s like riding a bicycle,” is not exactly true. I am pretty sure the last time I rode a bike I was maybe 13 and that’s pushing it. Yes, I remember when popping wheelies was the cool thing to do and riding with no hands for the longest made you a champion and races downhill into on-coming traffic was simply the usual. However, apparently if it has been longer than a decade since summer-lovin on your two-wheeler, well, it’s not exactly easy. I was weebling and wobbling all over the road. Every time a car, bike, pedestrian, or leaf passed by me I thought I may fall over. I gripped my handlebars with all my might and prayed that I make it to our destination. As soon as I realized we would be pedaling straight through the thick of the city I had to stop to admit to the driver that, “Wo bu zhidao to ride a bike.” She quickly called a man (I think maybe she called the bamboo raft driver) and I spoke to him for a minute. I told him that I did not know how to ride a bike and he assured me that I did. Well, thanks for knowing best I guess. So we continued on. When I say we rode through the thick of the city… I mean it. There were horns honking, chickens crossing, people shoving, babies wailing, the whole freaking she-bang. Oh, and this is a city with no traffic lights, stop signs, and very few crosswalks. Yes, basically I knew death was imminent for me. This is it I thought (more than once). My life flashed before my eyes as I trembled my way through the herds of people trying not to fall over. When we made it to our final turn across a road so busy I would not feel comfortable throwing a paper airplane across, I thought it would be best for me to walk my bicycle to the end. And so I did. When we finally made it to our bamboo raft I let out a sigh of relief and settled onto the raft with a life-jacket and, unfortunately, my bike in tow. On board our “bamboo” (actually made mostly out of painted PVC pipes) raft was myself, Theresa, our semi-English speaking driver, and the driver’s young son. The four of us headed out onto the open sea river. The guide pointed out a few things to us along the way but we mostly sat quietly while we took in the beauty of our surroundings. Even though the landscape was stunning, I still had something lurking eerily in the back of my mind. Oh shit. I have to bicycle back home from here. I kept hoping the ride would not take as long as it did. That maybe we could just go a few minutes and then call it a day. Instead we made it a pretty decent way into the Liugong Village. Oh great, we are not even in the same town anymore. Wonderful. We shook hands with our driver and carried our bikes up a few hundred stairs where we met a nice lady at her restaurant/home. She helped us park and lock up our bikes and we ordered some lunch. While waiting for our food we explored the village for a few minutes. The village was basically a bunch of dilapidated buildings and pathways. We saw many-a chickens crossing the road. Why you may ask? Well, to get to the other side, of course. After exploring we went back to eat our hen hao chi (delicious food) and use the restroom. Even though the bathroom smelled of roses and elderberries it was a squatter surrounded by just a room of concrete and located in a creep-tastic basement. Thank goodness I did not see any spiders. This was certainly a place for them to hide. After lunch we unlocked our bikes, were pointed in the direction of Yangshuo, and hopped on to our lovely seats while we rode through the countryside of China. The ride through the village and into Yangshuo was long but unbelievably beautiful (just like everything else here). We noticed a sign when leaving the Liugong Village stating that Yangshuo was 16 kilometers away. So we rode at least that far on our bikes and really a few more kilometers back to our hostel from town. This time riding the bike felt a bit more familiar (since I wasn’t riding through China’s rush hour) and I was able to regain some feeling in my hands as I loosened my grip on the handlebars. I had to take a few short breaks when my legs started to cramp up from riding uphill or when my bum started to feel like bruising was going to be a permanent state of being. However, I actually enjoyed the ride and the scenery. This time when we got to the middle of the city we walked with our bikes. We walked them pretty much until we were on our rode “home.” I was pretty happy to return my bicycle at the end of the trip but I was also left feeling like I would like to start riding more often. Surely your butt gets used to the pain after awhile? When we got back to the room, Theresa went out to use the computer and watch some TV and I took a small nap. Afterwards we ate dinner and then watched a movie on the TV in the common room. We decided on Coraline because neither of us had seen it. Well, let me just tell you, if you are a parent with snotty kids you need to sit them down and make them see this movie. It was quite possibly the scariest kid’s movie ever. It will  make children appreciate their parents soooo much more. After being sufficiently freaked out we came down to our rooms and called it a night. We had to get up early for the adventure that awaited us today.

Mandarin lesson:

Zìxíngchē 自行车 (bicycle)