Li River – The Kinetic Canuck

Tea and blogging: a fantastic way to end the day! After a long day of cleaning the new apartment, it feels nice to sit back and reminisce about our trip to Guilin 🙂

Tonight we are enjoying some red tea. It has a sharper taste and a darker colour

After the cruise, our tour guide lead us into the town of Yangshuo, which is roughly 2 hours away from Guilin. The small town might not seem like much on the map, but it became a very popular destination for backpackers and tourists in the 1980s and has continued to be popular now. There are shops everywhere and we were warned by Emily before getting out of the van, that people would try to trick us into spending money on unauthentic products (silk, pearls etc…) and that we should bargain…HARD! This was great news to me, because Dave and I are a stellar bargaining team 🙂 I won’t go into details because we bought many Christmas presents along this street, but we got several items for as much as 75% less then their original asking price. Even Emily was impressed, and she’s all about the bargaining!!

After using the washrooms (or as the British like to say: the toilet) and getting some iced coffee at KFC, Emily lead us to the sleepy riverside where a bamboo raft awaited us. The relaxed scene that greeted us was a fantastic shift from the chaotic atmosphere in Yangshuo. Soon we found ourselves drifting down the river, enjoying Guangxi’s stunning scenery.

After enjoying some delicious barbecued fish and a quick bump down a small rapid, we head back to the shore where Emily was waiting for us. By this point she’d learned that we are more adventurous than her average tourists, but still, she was surprised we’d eaten the fish. She told me: “I’ve decided that I consider you both Chinese. 95% of my clients don’t eat the fish. I’m glad you enjoyed it!” (and we did…half way home I was still talking about haha!!!).

Emily dropped us off downtown and gave us a quick tour of the area, showing us how to get to the night market and giving us tips on where to find the best deals. We spent the rest of the night buying Christmas gifts, having our feet cleaned by fish (a strange experience, but oddly awesome!) and having a nice outdoor dinner by the market.

These little fish eat the dead skin on your feet. It tickles like CRAZY at first, but once the nerves in your feet calm down, it's pretty cool. This was definitely the most interesting pedicure I've ever received! — These little fish eat the dead skin on your feet. It tickles like CRAZY at first, but once the nerves in your feet calm down, it’s pretty cool. This was definitely the most interesting pedicure I’ve ever received!

Emily’s job ended when we arrived back in Guilin, so the extra time she spent showing us around down town was truly above and beyond what she needed to do as our tour guide for the day. Most guides I’ve had in the past spend their time trying to get to you spend money shopping and telling you to book extra tours (they make commission if you spend money or buy anything at the market). Emily never once pushed us during either of our days with her, and for that alone she stands out to me as the best guide I’ve had. More importantly though, she was very friendly and open with us throughout the tour. We spent hours chatting together on the cruise and on our way to and from the sites she was taking us to see. She is incredibly thoughtful and even got us our favorite chocolates for the ride back (she knows I like chocolate with nuts in it, and that Dave likes anything that’s made of chocolate…). She and I exchanged WeChat IDs on the first day (that’s kind of like facebook in China) and have been in touch since our trip. The best text I received from her was a picture she took while at work: an English school in Guilin was hiring, and she wanted me to apply. I hope to live there one day so we can become better friends. She’s really a fantastic person and Dave and I were very fortunate to have her as our guide.

Stay tuned for my next post, where I’ll be writing about the Longshen Rice Terraces, The Sun and Moon pagodas and our last day in Guilin 🙂

I am sitting here sipping green tea with Dave. It’s a little past midnight, and there are fireworks going off in the distance. Such a wonderfully “Chinese” moment for me to write about our trip to Guangxi 🙂

Our Tea Set. Chinese tea is all about ritual. You begin by rinsing the leaves, to kill any bacteria that might be in them. You also sanitize the cups this way. Then you fill the big cup with water, and let the tea sit for a few moments. With your index finger on the lid, and your middle finger and thumb along the rim, you use the lid as a strainer and pour tea into the small cups. It's easy to appreciate the different flavors and tastes of the tea in these small amounts. It isn't just about a caffeine fix...it's about the time spent making tea, and drinking it with the ones you love :) — Our Tea Set. Chinese tea is all about ritual. You begin by rinsing the leaves, to kill any bacteria that might be in them. You also sanitize the cups this way. Then you fill the big cup with water, and let the tea sit for a few moments. With your index finger on the lid, and your middle finger and thumb along the rim, you use the lid as a strainer and pour tea into the small cups. It’s easy to appreciate the different flavors and tastes of the tea in these small amounts. It isn’t just about a caffeine fix…it’s about the time spent making tea, and drinking it with the ones you love 🙂

Guangxi is not technically a province, but a “Chinese Autonomous Region”, similar to Inner Mongolia and Tibet. Although Guilin was once Guangxi’s capital, it is now only its 3rd largest city. Still, it is a huge source of income for the autonomous region, as it is a very popular tourist spot. It’s easy to see why…

Guangxi borders the province where we live (Guizhou) to the East — Guangxi borders the province where we live (Guizhou) to the South-East

We arrived in Guilin at around 8am on Sunday September 28th. We took a bus to the wrong end of the city, and then took a cab to the hostel (oh the joys of the language barrier!). At first glance, our hostel was a tad intimidating. We had to walk down a back alley to get there, and our cab driver just left us on the side of the road. But once we were inside, we were very pleasantly surprised at the cleanliness to price ratio! We paid roughly $11 Canadian per night, and had a room to ourselves, with a comfortable queen size bed, a shower with hot water, and a flat screen TV. It was small but very comfortable, and the staff were very helpful with directions and suggestions for things that we should do while in the city.

We had to walk down this alley to get to the hostel. It was a tad disheartening at first, and made us wonder about the hostel we'd booked... — We had to walk down this alley to get to the hostel. It was a tad disheartening at first, and made us wonder about the hostel we’d booked…

mmexport1412961355584 — When we arrived in our room, our minds had been made up: this is the greatest hostel in the world! For $11 a night, we slept in a bed much more comfortable than the one in our current apartment. And we had air conditioning(!!!), which was nice, because Guilin is actually quite a bit hotter than Guiyang!

After some lunch, we hopped on a bus, got a little lost, and then hopped onto another bus, to get to Reed Flute Cave. I’m no expert on caves (I’ve only ever seen one and it was this past summer), but Reed Flute Cave has to be one of the most beautiful caves in the world! The stalactites and stalagmites were enormous and took so many beautiful shapes. The Chinese are also very big on lighting up their caves, adding colour to the formations, so you can better see why certain areas are named as they are.

Beautiful formations, lit up with red lights. These took thousands of years to form. Nature is so cool :) — Beautiful formations, lit up with red lights. These took thousands of years to form. Nature is so cool 🙂

After wandering in this enormous cavern for quite some time, we found our way to the gift shop, where we unexpectedly purchased a painting by an artist whose work is done solely with his hands and fingers. We typically try not to buy much at gift shops, because items tend to be greatly overpriced, but the painting was gorgeous and well worth what he was asking.

mmexport1412997297093 — Our Tea Set. Chinese tea is all about ritual. You begin by rinsing the leaves, to kill any bacteria that might be in them. You also sanitize the cups this way. Then you fill the big cup with water, and let the tea sit for a few moments. With your index finger on the lid, and your middle finger and thumb along the rim, you use the lid as a strainer and pour tea into the small cups. It’s easy to appreciate the different flavors and tastes of the tea in these small amounts. It isn’t just about a caffeine fix…it’s about the time spent making tea, and drinking it with the ones you love 🙂

The following two days of our trip were spent with a tour guide. Emily Cai met us at the hostel at 8:10 am Monday morning, and helped us order some Baozi (Chinese steam dumplings), before heading to the port where our Li River Cruise was set to depart.

Steam Dumpling — These delicious steam dumplings can be filled with pork and mushroom (my favorite), a variety of vegetables, and even sesame paste. They are a cheap and delicious breakfast 🙂

We were put on the “Lao Wei” boat, which felt incredibly strange to both Dave and I. The occupants were mostly retired Europeans, who were all either shocked or horrified when we told them that we actually live in China. Some of them were so scared to try Chinese food (that had actually been heavily westernized for the sake of the western pallets on the boat), that they brought Wonderbread sandwiches along in little brown boxes. Among the snobby tourists, we did find a few like minded people. We actually sat at a table with some German retirees, who were taking a tour all throughout China. They spoke some English, and Dave had a chance to practice a little German, but they were very lighthearted, friendly people, who enjoyed the food and wanted to learn some Chinese to make their stay easier. We both enjoyed teaching them how to say “Binde” (cold) so they could stop miming the world ‘cold’ when they ask for beer at restaurants (Beer….brrrrrrrrrr….).

The sights were incredible on this tour! The mountains are rugged and take so many interesting shapes. The four and a half hour cruise made it easy to see why Guangxi is such a popular tourist destination. The beauty there is even on the Chinese 20rmb bill, and we passed the mountains that are on the currency 🙂