Yangshuo Day 1

Theresa and I made it to Yangshuo yesterday afternoon. We stayed up super late the night before and to get up at 5am to catch a taxi to the airport. Our flight was of course delayed about an hour. We sat on the runway for what felt like forever due to the "high traffic." I thought... let's just start scheduling flights more efficiently, okay PEK? Anyways, we landed in Guilin around noon and I was immediately shocked by our scenery. I knew this place was going to be beautiful but I was not prepared for just how truly stunning the province is. We rode for about an hour and a half to our hostel in Yangshuo. After absolutely no sleep and a long morning of traveling, T and I took it relatively easy when we got in. We went to lunch and played Jenga and then hung around the hostel for a few. Around 5 or so we decided we wanted to go exploring so we strapped on our walking shoes and headed to West Street. West Street is basically a huge tourist trap of a night market. The walk there was (as this whole city is) beautiful. We walked along the Lijiang River and watched people fishing and swimming in the water. We went into a few shops along the way and eventually ended up on West Street. The street was severely crowded but was incredibly awesome. The town is built right under the karst mountains so there were shops literally built into the foot of the mountains. Seriously, this place is awesome. We did a little bit of shopping (I bought an amazing red dress) and we perused the different offerings at each place. There were tons of foreigners and we quickly realized just how good the local people are at English because of this. It seems to me like the city makes most of its money from tourism as everyone has a hand in foreign support. After walking down West Street we stopped for dinner. Theresa had a yummy meal and I had an okay meal. I ate some sort of breaded/fried eggplant. I cannot really describe what it was. After dinner we decided to head back to our hostel. While walking we heard a loud BOOM and immediately thought, "Fireworks!" We ducked through a little corridor and low and behold there were people across the river setting off fireworks. When they were done we continued towards 'home.' I had to stop to use the restroom so we walked through a little square (these are all over China near parks). There was a group of ladies dancing so we decided to join them. I have been watching the ladies in Beijing and also when I was in Wuhan and I have always thought the dances were so complex. I have been surprised by their beauty and how the all know the choreography. Well, T and I decided to try our hand at park dancing with these majestic ladies in Yangshuo. The woman in front of us looked back and smiled as if to say she appreciated us taking a part in their culture. When we were finished dancing we started walking back again. We went the same way that we had on our way to town and we figured it would be the easiest way home. All was going well until we realized we were headed into the pitch black abyss of the woods basically. Yes, there was a dirt road but there were no street lights or reflective arrows or anything at all that said, "Follow this brightly lit area where you can see all that is laid ahead of you and everyone will see you coming." Theresa and I locked arms and used our flashlight apps on our phones to light our path. We sang Justin Bieber, Celine Dion, and a few RnR favorites to keep from totally freaking out. The singing kept us relatively calm until I swear to God something jumped up behind us. I grabbed T's arm and looked behind me thinking, "Okay, this is it, this is how I am going to die." Thankfully our death was not surely imminent and I had apparently just been spooked. There was one point soon after the panic that I put my "flashlight" to the ground and realized I was about a half an inch away from stepping on a snake. Awesome. At that point there was really nothing short of a lion chasing me that was going to have me start cringing with more fear. We finally made it back to our hostel and the comfort of a semi-lit path.

So day one was really amazing and a little scary. Basically, I love it here. I would move here in a heart beat if I could. We had many more adventures today that I will blog about later. I wanted to get yesterday down before I forgot anything.

Also, my computer is a little under the weather right now. My power cord is broken and so basically it is SOL until I get a new one. I am blogging with Theresa's computer and probably will not upload pictures until I get mine back up and running. Sorry =( Check out her blog to see how incredibly beautiful this place in. You would be TOTALLY jealous.

Theresa's blog here!

Day 2 coming up soon!

Mandarin lesson:
Shānqū 山区 (mountain)