I said that I will try to post everyday, and I intend to keep that promise. I just haven’t been online because there was no Internet in our hotel room in Yangshuo. Can you believe that, NO INTERNET! No ethernet jack on the wall, nor was there even a wireless signal floating around. But other than that, Yangshuo was really nice. There were many shops in the area, and they are apparently famous for their GuiHua Cha (Osmanthus Tea) and their silver. I walked around with Alex and bought one souvenior. The next day (yesterday), we drove back towards Guilin, and visited the Reed Flute Cave. It was just pretty much any other cave, but with lights and a light show in the big part of the cave. Enjoyable, and nice and cool compared to outside. Then we visited the South China Pearl Museum, which as opposed to the other pearl place in Beijing, sells Ocean Pearls, which are apparently rounder, but more bred than natural. After saying bye to two of our group of eight, we were left with six and went to a Chinese Art Museum to learn about landscape painting, and I got my name carved on a stamp. Pricey at 180RMB, but at least it was done somewhat professionally. After that, we went to Yao Mountain, but because the cable car ride to the top of the mountain was 130RMB, I stayed behind with Alex to explore on our own. We ended up going to a random graveyard near the base of the mountain, and narrowly escaped from the insect filled site. The damage? About 6 mosquito bites, and I accidently knocked over a bottle of chinese wine on a grave, and apologized profusely in Mandarin. I blame Alex if I get haunted. After a quick stop at “the best rice noodle place in Guilin,” as our tour guide Jennifer called it, we were on our way to the airport. We checked in when the plane began boarding… so I guess we should consider ourselves lucky that we caught our plane back to Nanjing. And that was why I did not blog yesterday either – we got back to our hotel around 10 PM-ish, and I tried to do some homework before I went to sleep.
……….
So, I started this post before at 8:30 PM China time, and I saw fireworks outside my window and grabbed my camera, my wallet, and my watch and ran out of the room before I could finish this post. It wasn’t until I made it to the West Lake across from the hotel until I realized that I had taken the batteries out of my camera earlier in the day to charge. So no pictures or videos =[. After that, my roommate, got back from dinner and I, along with several other people in the program, went arcading on the Restaurant Street. 32RMB down the drain. And this is in addition to the 300RMB I spent earlier today at Walmart. AT WALMART!! On my way there, I did something American. I put my headphones on and listened to music during the train ride. Ah, reminders of NY.
Either it’s just me or this trip is getting expensive. You really need to be able to control your spending or you won’t last in China. I’ve already been flushed down the toilet and have hit my head on every bend of the pipe down to the sewer. I would have to say that the highlight for today was seeing the fireworks. It was rather odd because everyone else knew when it was over; two minutes after the last firework, the hundred-ish people standing near the gate to the West Lake, all jumped up in unison, clapped once, and disbanded. It was rather odd. I wonder if there is some sort of event going on today? Afterwards, I walked around the lake and watched some carnival games the locals were playing, like archery and throw a sack at some stuffed dogs. The prizes weren’t that great though, but the people all seemed like they were enjoying themselves. Especially the kids.
Side noted advice that I learned: Don’t pack your clothes away when they are still wet. It doesn’t smell as nice as it should afterwards. =\ Who knew!?
