We took a sleeper bus from Shenzhen to Yangshuo, about 10 hours by road. The bus wasn’t quite built for westerners, it had 3 levels with 3 rows of beds small beds (Josh and Matt didn’t quite fit). Although it was a bit claustrophobic we all managed to get some sleep on the journey and arrived at sunrise in Yangshuo. It was a bit early to check in at our hotel so we left our bags with reception and wandered the streets of the town. It’s hard not to be awestruck by the setting, quaint cobblestone streets lined with shops and cafes surrounded by endless karst peaks.
We walked along the Li River and saw a cormorant fisherman. It’s a long tradition that locals have used these birds as they have the ability to dive underwater for lengths of time looking for fish. The bird grabs the fish and brings it to the surface in its beak before eating it. The fisherman keep a string tied around the birds neck which prevents them from swallowing their catch and empty their fish in a basket. Although it’s an old tradition, you can’t help but feel sorry for the birds who are doing all of the work.
In the evening we had a great dinner and started a game of dominos. While we were playing we met Joe, a 10 year old boy from Shanghai. He asked if he could practice his English and after the initial ‘what’s your name’, ‘where are you from’, etc we asked if he wanted to sit down and learn dominos. Joe’s English was perfect, even knowing slang and jokes. We ended up hanging out with him for the next couple hours playing dominos and talking.
It brought some attention to our table and soon locals were coming over and watching the game, taking pictures. That’s when we met David Chin, a man from Guilin, just 1 hour from Yangshuo. He joined our group and then some guys from the US and Hong Kong stopped by to hang out. What was going to be an early night turned into a late one. The Chinese have a saying “Ganbei!” which literally means “bottoms-up”, you cannot refuse to finish your drink if said. Many hours later we said our goodbyes and promised to meet up with David Chin when we traveled to Guilin in the coming days.
The time in Yangshuo was relaxing. We took a long bike ride through the karst landscape, crossing rivers and passing through villages. We stopped to climb
River as it’s stage and the backdrop is anGreen Lotus Peak and Moon Hill taking in the views from above. We arrived back at our hotel with just enough time to get ready for the “Light Show”. The show uses the Li endless karst backdrop lit by lights. The entire show is performed on bamboo rafts and perfectly choreographed to the music. The show highlights the traditional customs of the local community and was beautiful to see.
We went to bed early as we were getting on a bamboo raft at 7am for a tour down the Li River. The area where we board the raft is the setting on the back of the 20 Yuan bill so we took a photo.
We boarded a small raft which took us along the river, passing karst mountains, local fisherman, water buffalo and villages.
We left for Guilin the following day and arrived in the early afternoon. We called David
Chin when we reached our hotel and he came by to take us for a walk around the city. Although much larger than Yangshuo, Guilin is very picturesque. The city is surrounded by a river which encloses the city in a circle. There are small walking bridges crossing the river throughout the city. We stopped at a noodle stand for some food,
David had planned for us to go to his friend’s birthday dinner so he didn’t want us to eat very much. We walked to a restaurant which looked like a banquet hall, but the tables were separated into individual serviced rooms. We sat down at a large round table with about 12 other Chinese guests. No one spoke English so we communicated as best we could, through David.
The stories that came up were funny, one man was saying his son doesn’t like America because of the war, Josh changed the subject and told him that his father fought against the Japanese and they all clapped, laughed and cheered. Then the food started coming…and coming…and didn’t stop. It was endless amounts of food, spicy vegetables, rabbit, beef, baby pork ribs, ducks feet, dumplings, soups, things we couldn’t even identify. It was a great dinner and then came the drinks. Large bottles of beer, wine and baiju (the local rice liquor). Now, we’ve had rice wines throughout south-east asia but baiju is definitely the hardest to drink. It’s over 50% alcohol and the Chinese love the stuff. If one person stood up and leaned there glass to you saying “Ganbei!”, you both had to finish what you were drinking. At one point in the night they wanted Josh to sing an American song, Josh refused and they would not let up on him so he asked if he could dance instead. This is one of those moments that you are really thankful to have brought a camera. The video is below. By the end of the night we were all great friends and it took about 10 minutes of saying goodbyes before we could walk out. We told David we would stop by his home to meet his wife and young son. It was a short visit over tea and we took a taxi back to our hotel, a great introduction to Guilin.
Josh had to fly back to Shenzhen for work but we went back to Yangshuo for an extra night before heading back to Shenzhen on the sleeper bus. We are now back in Shenzhen and booked our rail ticket to Beijing. The train will take about 24 hours to reach Beijing and will traverse through six of China’s provinces. We’ll post again from Beijing.
Datong was a nice detour on our China travel itinerary and a cultural experience for both of us. We arrived at the train station thankful that we had the hotel name written down in Chinese for the taxi driver. Checking in at our hotel was the first of our challenges, no one at reception could speak English but they ended up tracking down one girl who could help us. Little did she know she would become our interpretor for the next few days! The hotel had 3 restaurants so we entered one and sat down for the next challenge…the paper they gave us to order food was all Chinese characters. We walked out of the restaurant a bit embarrassed and really hungry, trying to figure out what we should do for food. The waitresses hurried off and found the girl who helped us at reception and brought us back to the restaurant. We were getting our first hot pot so she asked us what types of things we like…we ended up getting beef, mutton, vegetables, mushrooms and fish. They bring out a big pot with oil based broth and hot peppers, along with all of the uncooked ingredients. They put the pot to boil in the middle of the table and you add the ingredients and cook to your liking. It was a great meal.
We wanted 
to see the two main historical sites in Datong, the Hanging Monasery and Yungang Grottos. The Hanging Monastery is about 2 hours from Datong City and was built in 491 AD. The monastery clings to the edge of the cliffs, more than 50 meters from the ground. It’s amazing that this place has remained intact for as long as it has. People hanging from ropes on the cliff built the monastery, crossbeams were half-inserted into the rock as the foundation. Inside the monastery are symbols from Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism. It is so peaceful inside. 
Afterward we went to the Yungang Grottos, 53 caves with over 51,000 Buddhist statues carved into the sandstone. The Buddha statues range in size from 2 cm to 17 meters high and took some 40,000 people to complete over 50 years (built in 453AD). The Yungang Grottos have survived war, natural disasters and the Cultural Revolution with only some damage. It’s a beautiful site to see and you can walk through all of the different caves.
We left Datong by
train to Xian (only 16 hours) and went to see the Terracotta Warriors. The Terracotta warriors date from 210 BC and were only discovered in 1974 by farmers digging a well. There are over 8,000 soldiers and 700 horses, each soldier representing a single man, with the site still being excavated today. We enjoyed Xian for the short amount of time that we spent there. We stayed in the Muslim quarter, which has a series of small streets with souvenir shops and food vendors. The food is incredible and the possibilities are endless, you can just walk down the street and eat small bits from different vendors along the way. 
After 2 nights in Xian and left for Chengdu, another 16 hour train ride. We decided to travel China completely overland so we’re starting to get used to the long train/bus rides! We went to see the Giant Buddha in Leshan, a 71 meter high Buddha carved into the cliff (built in 713 AD). Other than that we have been enjoying the Sichuan food, known for 
being very spicy. We discovered the Sichuan pepper, which numbs your entire mouth, allowing you to tolerate the spicy dishes. Our main purpose for coming to Chengdu was to get to Tibet. Unfortunately, the process is difficult and expensive. The only way to get into Tibet is by obtaining a permit, a full itinerary is required outlining each days activities and you must have a guide with you everywhere, sites, dinners, drinks, hotel. The guide holds your permit and if you are found without him you will be promptly deported. It wasn’t the way we had wanted to travel Tibet; we rarely even make hotel bookings so drawing up a full 10 day itinerary just isn’t our style. I guess we can’t do anything about it though. We found some people to travel with to lessen the expense of the guided trip and plan on traveling for 10 days through Tibet including an overnight trip to Mount Everest. We are currently waiting for our permit to arrive and if all goes well, we will be boarding a train tonight, which should take about 48 hours to arrive in Lhasa! We’ll post again from Tibet.
