Our last Vacation

It was gorgeous! Our last vacation was set two weeks before our 

planned arrival in America. We were heading to Guilin. Tim helped 

us find a bus to Nanchang so that we could get on our train. The 

bus was full, as usual, and we sat on stools in the isle way most 

of the time. Some Chinese people are a little too comfortable with 

strangers. This one older man kept leaning on me with like his legs 

or his arm and it was really freaking me out. I just wanted to gag 

but I tried to be polite and hoped that was just a Chinese thing. 

They should be used to being that close to strangers with their 

packed buses and crammed trains.

The Train ride was alright. We met a handsome young man that we 

named Tanner. He could barely speak a lick of English but he taught 

us how to play a Chinese version of scum.He played and played it 

too. Then another boy joined in. We named him Alex. He was crazy 

and full of life. He knew more English than Tanner but still 

struggled. It was a good time playing "musical chairs" with 

everyone that night.

We didn't get much sleep but we were off the train early that 

morning and off to find our hostel. The itineraries were left at 

our school so we had to do some adventuring out. We made it to one 

hostel that let us use their Internet to find our real hostel. 

There was an older gentleman with greying hair but he seemed fit 

and like he had travelled many places. He was also looking for the 

hostel we were going to. His confidence in knowing the direction of 

our hostel and his 'map' gave us incentive to follow him. He was 

rather cheerful and friendly. Well it turns out he apparently has 

had plenty of experience but he shared more than needed. I am not 

sure if he has heard of TMI but that is what he was spilling. We 

were suddenly creeped out and could not wait to find our hostel! We 

could not read the map and it was not adding up. The street was not 

very busy so we asked an elderly couple. The old man lead us 

through some back alley ways until we came to our hostel.

 
 
We met Lizzie, a senior high school girl graduating soon, and she 

helped guide us around town. We tried the special Guilin rice 

noodles and those were delicious! We spent most of the day shopping 

and looking around. The next day we took a bus on some very 

beautiful back roads to the Li River. We climbed aboard the 'bamboo' 

rafts that were really made or PVC pipe shaped a bit like bamboo 

and bamboo benches to sit on.

The river ride was gorgeous! The 

green mountains were sprawling across the land. We saw a bride and 

groom taking pictures on one of the small beaches and was not that 

so romantic? It made our journey so precious. To be honest though, 

I did sleep most of the way. The scenery did not change too much 

over the few hours we had on the river. I was exhausted.

*We made it 

to the city and had another small adventure finding our backstreet 

hostel, had some more noodles, and went shopping. West street was 

just one big shopping street.

 
 
We spent plenty of time there and even met another group from ILP 

along the way. That night we went and watched the cormorant fishing. 

It was really neat. An old Chinese man took cormorant birds, which 

are mean looking duck like birds, and trained them to fish. They 

have a string tied to their neck so they cannot swallow all the fish 

they catch and then the man can use the rest of the fish. He did it 

with a spot light in the night. After about 20 or 30 mins, we 

stopped and the guy let us hold the birds on our shoulder or arms. 

I did not let them but some of the other girls did.

 
 
The next morning we rented bikes and went to a mud cave. That was 

probably my favorite part, not the mud cave but the bike ride. I 

had a pink retro road bike. 

The traffic is crazy in China but we 

just had to become one with the traffic and then it was fine. I got 

to relax. The view was incredible. The mountains were everywhere 

with green foliage just streaming down them.

 
 
The mud cave was probably the biggest disappointment. It was an 

amazing cave but the mud part was not really mud. It was mostly 

just dirty water with a little mud build up. It was also awkward 

with our guide and another guy taking our pictures just watching us. 

That was a time I wished we had a bigger group so that it did not 

feel so strange. In that cave, they also has hot springs. Those were 

amazing. I have never been in a hot spring in a massive cave. That 

was a pleasant treat.

 
 
We took our time going back to the hostel on our bikes and did any 

last minute shopping for the night. Ashley and I found the two 

cutest shops! The first was just like an American boutique. It was 

adorable. We fell in love with it. Then right across the way, was 

another fantastic store. It was more scrap booking, earthy and 

indie-retro. Ashley bought four brown polka dot mugs. They were too 

good to pass up. 

 
The next day we went to the rice terraces. It was a long ride and an 

interesting one too. There was a tourist trap along the way. They 

took us to 'the Long Hair Village' where all the ladies have long 

hair. Then they tried to get us to pay 60 yuan to go to a little 

show they put on. They said that was to get into the village as well. 

The 5 of us and about 6 other people decided we did not want to. 

After a while, we managed to go into the village with no problems. 

No one asked us for money or anything. We knew it was a tourist 

trap then, if we did not already.

 
We had bamboo rice at a local restaurant which was an interesting 

dish served right out of bamboo shoots. We had an hour to hike up 

the mountain and look at all the terraces.

Then we had an hour to 

make it back to the bus. It worked out almost perfectly for Bryndi, 

Nicole, and I. We took our time coming down and got to talk to some 

nice people. Ashley and Kim made it just in time. They had gotten 

lost and taken the wrong way. They had to run most of the way down. 

We got back to the bus and rode it to Guilin. We got on a train and 

headed back to Nanchang.

The train ride was awesome! We met more really cool people. We 

played cards with Bruce Tu, who named himself after Bruce Lee, and 

we named the other guy Lewis. They were excited to practice their 

English and hang out with the foreigners. Bruce wrote an adorable

letter in Ashley's journal. It was like a journal entry from him.

Tim finally did us right and got us a school van to meet us at

the train station. Our favorite driver, Arnold, picked us up.
  
Arnold was our first driver in China. We have a special bond
 
with him. It was a pleasant trip, all the way back to our school
 
where we taught only about an hour and a half after arriving

back there. We love China. :)