Almost Home
Trip Start
Apr 02, 2006
1
10
Trip End
May 02, 2006
Yangshou,
China
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
After 24 hours of traveling by overnight train and buses we got to Yangshou - the tourist town! We were so happy to see streets filled with cafes, bars and shops, we even started off with an American Breakfast (well, pretty close anyway). Yangshou is on a river and is surrounded by huge limestone mountains - a very picturesque town. The first afternoon Scott and I went for a walk thru the back roads of the town seeing some village homes, farms and even women out on the road killing a chicken on the sidewalk. Dinner.
Li River Cruise
Later that afternoon we went for a cruise down the Li River. It was an adventure just getting there as we took a city bus that literally had a woman holding a chicken on it! Then we hopped in a tuk tuk with no handrails for a bumpy ride down to the river bank
China-A View from Every Window
. Alas, we were on our long boat that was equipped with wooden chairs just the right size for preschoolers. We each grabbed one and enjoyed the scenery as we made our way down the Li River - the backdrop for all of the paintings of China. It was beautiful! We even stopped off to get our picture taken two cormorant birds on a pole. The Rainy Bikeride
The next morning greeted us with rain, but we decided to head out on our bike ride thru the countryside since it seemed to clear a little bit. We negotiated our way thru the busy streets and combated all the honking with our own bells on our bike. Once we got to the countryside the scenery was amazing! We passed thru rice patties complete with water buffalo's plowing, country homes and all kinds of farmland with the beautiful green limestone mountains as the backdrop. This part was great until the rain really started coming down, and we were on dirt roads (again with bikes that had no breaks or shocks). We rode for a few hours and then stopped for lunch at a cafe to try and dry off. Luckily our guide called us a van to pick us up and take us back to our hotel for a shower.
Cooking Class!
After our shower the entire group - including Scott - headed out to the country for a cooking class where we each prepared our own dinner. The building looked a little shabby, complete with buffalo cruising down the street, but the kitchen was open air and we each had our own wok and very big knife. We whipped up 5 dishes and enjoyed our dinner outside at a table set right by the garden. Aside from being eaten by mosquitoes it was a beautiful setting. I don't think Scott will take up becoming a chef, but he did great and I now have one picture of him in an apron.
The next day we boarded another overnight train to get us down to Hong Kong. We're almost home!
