Yangshuo - April Fools Day 2007

As Corey says, the Karst hills around Liuzhou are beautiful, and the hills around around Guilin are even more beautiful, but the hills around Yangshuo are the most beautiful of all. You are surrounded by them. There are so many of them. On April Fools day Corey and I took a boat trip from Guilin to Yangshuo. This boat trip cost us 230 RMB or about US$30 but that was only because Corey bought my ticket. If I had bought it as a foreigner it would have cost me 500 RMB. I was the only foreigner on our boat and there was no english guide, but that was ok. Corey said he didn't listen to what they were saying anyway.

There is always a string of boats doing this trip on the weekends. My friend Ray taught me the phrase "ren hai ren shan" which literally means "people sea, people mountain" and they say it when it is really crowded. As many people as the sea is wide and the mountain is high. That is what the boat trips to Yangshuo are like every day. Look there is a snake of boats going down the river.

The weather was beautiful and the temperature was perfect. With the new sunglasses that I bought the day before, I was all set to enjoy the views as we cruised down the river. The cruise takes about 4 hours.
Along the river you can see some villages and see the people who live by the river. They live in such a beautiful place. I wonder if they appreciate it or just take it for granted and think everybody in the world has such a beautiful home.

The karst hills are so beautiful and go as far as you can see in every direction.

The river is the Li Jiang (Li river)This is the top of our boat. It was very pleasant sitting here watching the scenery go by.West Street in Yangshuo. There are many foriegners who vist Yangshuo and go shopping on West Street. Corey did lots of shopping for his wife and kids.

I tried smelly douf (smelly tofu) on the street side cooked by these two women. It doesn't smell very good, but it actually tastes pretty good when they put some spices on it.

Apparently Chairman Mao really liked smelly douf. We actually have something in common??? I love buying stuff on the streets like this and trying new things. It is fun trying to talk to the locals. Corey did most of the talking this time, but it was still fun. They were asking him how to say smelly tofu in english and lah jiao which is hot chilly peppers.

After that, we went to Moon Hill which is a famous hill in Yangshuo. It has a huge hole in the hill. I had been there with Joel before, but since I lost all my pictures when I destroyed my hard drive, it was a good chance to replace some of them.

We walked up and stood in the hole, then went to a viewing point where we saw this cute little old lady fanning some sweaty germans. She has such a cute smile. When you get to Moon hill, there are about 20 little old ladies that follow you up the mountain wanting to sell you water for twice the normal price or want to be your guide. I tried to tell them we didn't need water or a guide. But Corey just bought water from them and told them they could go back down the hill and didn't have to follow us all the way up.

We climbed right to the top. We were on top of the moon! And we sat there talking and enjoying the views. Corey called his family members in China to tell them he was in such a beautiful place and I sent text messages to my friends Mike, Scott and Ray. It was a pleasant end to a pleasant weekend.