Two Bus Rides and a Boat
Trip Start
Oct 07, 2008
1
11
15
Trip End
Oct 25, 2008
Moon Hill Village,
Guangxi Zhuang,
China
Saturday, October 18, 2008
As the passengers continued to board the bus, the lady who worked on the bus and collected the fares had people sit on the front platform and the raised section. When as many people as possible were squeezed in there, she pulled out short wooden stools to place in the aisles of the bus for people to sit on. Some of these stools had been strategically placed on the roadside and she would pick them up when needed and place them on the bus for people. At one point, a police officer stopped the bus, got on and counted the seats. The woman who worked on the bus told the extra people to get off--everyone without one of the regular seats. They all got off but I noticed that the ones sitting on the platform left their stuff on the bus, so I figured out what was going to happen. And it did. The lady told them something as they got off and pointed up the road. The bus started going again and then stopped. The people who had been booted off the bus were running toward the bus. They caught up with us and hopped back on. I was thinking that we hadn't traveled that far up the road and the cops must have known what was happening but the young man sitting on a stool next to me, who spoke some English, indicated that this happened all the time.
We kept on picking up and dropping off people until we arrived at YingPing. A woman Wei Wei had arranged to meet me there came up to me but she spoke Chinese only so I wasn't sure if she was the person I was supposed to go with. She called Wei Wei so that I could confirm it with her over the phone. She told me which vehicle to get on to get to the boat. I made it to the dock. After a discussion with a British man, his mother, their Chinese guide, and a woman Wei Wei sent to meet me at the dock over whether we could share a boat or not, they boarded their boat and I boarded mine.
This boat was a raft but larger than the one I rode in yesterday and it was powered by a motor. I liked this boat ride a lot more than yesterday's. The Li River is beautiful. It is surrounded by mountains. I also liked that the boat moved faster. On the round trip, which took about 1 and 1/2 hours, I took an insane number of pictures. Everywhere I turned there were mountains of all different shapes. The fog surrounding some of the mountains gave them a ghostly appearance. I saw many birds, water buffalo, and people who lived or worked around the river. Like yesterday, the man steering the boat spoke to me in Chinese as he pointed out things that would make for good photos.
Like at all the tourist spots, I was part of the scenery. People on several of the large tour boats carrying Chinese passengers waved at me and yelled "ni hao" and "hello" and probably some other things as they passed me by. I waved back and said "ni hao." I'm so popular!
Once I finished my cruise, I got a ride back to the bus station and hopped on the bus back to Yangshuo. This time I wasn't fortunate enough to get a seat. All of the regular seats were taken and the front part that was presumably for luggage was full of people. The lady who worked on the bus set a small wooden stool out for me near the front of the bus and I sat down. At first it was just uncomfortable, then it became painful. Then even more people got in. It was packed! As we drove back to Yangshuo, we kept picking up more people. No matter how many people got on, there was always a way for everyone to squeeze in. It was the opposite of the clowns coming out of the car. Old ladies would get on the bus and squat on the floor. Squatting is common in the area, as it was in Xi'an. People squat as they wait for the bus, as they wash clothes, and of course squat toilets are the norm. But still it can't be pleasant having to squat on a moving bus. From what I observed, here as well as on the subways and buses in Beijing, neither men nor women give up their seats to the elderly or to anyone else for that matter. When a seat on the subway or bus opens up, it's up for grabs. I was sitting there wondering if I should offer my seat to one of them but as I didn't want to make myself stick out anymore than I did, I stayed put, though squatting may have been more comfortable than that stool!
When I got back to the bus station I called Wei Wei's husband from a pay phone to tell me how to say the name of Moon Hill in Chinese to the bus driver. I couldn't understand how to say it over the phone and he offered to pick me up, but I was determined to make it back on the bus. Luckily there was a girl near me who spoke English, so I put her on the phone. They had a 3-minute conversation. I noticed again that things that seem simple still require a lot of discussion in China. After he told her my stop, she told the bus driver. I followed her, but the lady running the pay phones yelled and ran after me! In my haste I had forgotten to pay her. After I paid, I got on the bus and was dropped off at the entrance to Moon Hill.
After I walked back to the hotel, I ordered the specialty in the area, Beer Fish. It was a whole fish, served with yellow and red peppers. It was delicious! There was so much that I couldn't eat it all. I feel like I'm the only one in China who wastes food. I ate everything else they served me at the hotel so I hope it's okay. I just couldn't eat one more bite.
While I ate Wei Wei told me that her husband was going to town to pick up their daughter (this time in the truck) and asked me if I wanted a ride. I said yes. In the truck I asked him if one person usually eats the whole fish. He said yes. I was surprised because I'm a charter member of the Clean Plate Club, but that was a lot of food!
After I got to town I sat outside in a less crowded area, people-watched, and caught up in my journal. Then I decided to walk off that fish I ate for dinner. At about 8:00 pm I went to the supermarket on West Street to buy some water, a Snickers, and a large brown envelope. A lady who worked there asked if I needed help. I asked her if they sold envelopes. She didn't understand the word so I took out my indispensable Mandarin phrasebook/dictionary and showed her the characters in Mandarin. As I was talking to her at one end of an aisle I noticed two teenage girls that had been following me. When the woman told me that they didn't sell envelopes, she tried to get the girls to help me (maybe they knew English) but they were dumbfounded, just staring at me and giggling. It was very bizarre. Then I said ni hao to the girls, they said hello and resumed their giggling. The lady then wrote down in Chinese characters the name of a store down the street that sold envelopes and gestured to me which direction I should go. I walked in that direction, checking the characters on my paper with the store signs, but after awhile I gave up and headed to tthe taxi stand. As I was leaving West Street, I ran into Cherry and Susan who were chatting with two other English-speakers. I said hello, they practiced their pleasantries with me (For example, "Nice to see you again"). Then I caught a cab.
The cab that drove me back didn't drive me all the way down the street to the hotel because off the main road, the streets are very narrow. I'd heard that some cabs do this and I can see why. But it was dark and I was out in the country! I mean it was pitch black darkness. I took pictures as I walked and realized that I could keep the pictures showing to use as a flashlight. I passed the house with the dog that always barks when I passed by but in the dark it was spooky. Thank goodness I had remembered the turns I had to take (left at the blue sign, left at the grey building).
When I arrived Wei Wei was reading with her four-year-old daughter. The girl was so cute with her little book, repeating the words with her mother. They had a TV program on that taught English, but the words "fifteen, sixteen, and seventeen" were mispronounced on the show. Later, a girl came out singing "Sally's wearing a white dress, white dress....all day long!" But she wasn't wearing a white dress and there was nobody on the screen with her. Then another girl came out wearing a brown outfit and they both started singing "Sally's wearing black shoes, black shoes,...all day long!" But neither of them was wearing black shoes. I just didn't get it!
