From Guilin to Lijiang

We decided to spoil ourselves from here on, and instead of taking +20 hours bus rides, we are going to fly!

Unfortunately, there weren't any available tickets to Lijiang (where we wanted to go), so we had to settle for a ticket going from Guilin to Kunming, which is about 8 hours drive from Lijiang.
We headed to Guilin airport, happier than ever!



At the airport, we found clerks to be very busy and working actively:



We arrived to Kunming, and had to go through the typical hassle at the airport, where an official information officer told us that to get to the bus station we need to take their minibus (which cost 40 per person), while our guide specifically said that a taxi cost no more than 15....
Anyhow, we went to the bus station to buy tickets from Kunmin to Lijiang, and when we got there we discovered that there is a sleeper bus that leaves in two hours. We thought about it and then decided to take it to save a day. That was a mistake...
We waited in the bus for nearly an hour (after the alleged departure time). During which, we discovered that the bus was infested with flies and cockroaches.
We escaped from the bus in the last minute, went to complain about the horrible conditions at the ticket office and exchanged our tickets for an early express bus (which we hoped, was without the extra stow-away passengers on board).

We woke up next morning, went again to the bus station and were very happy to find a good bus that took us to Lijiang.
The way from Kunming to Lijiang is AMAZING!!!! going through the beautiful city called Dali.
Maayan spent most of the time trying to take pictures during the ride:


After 8 hours we finally arrived to Lijiang. We went to the old town area, where we found beautiful old houses with Chinese architecture. Note the mountain at the background, it is 5400m!!! The town itself lies at 2400m.







We found a nice cosy little guest house with a nice window view:

and a good place to eat breakfast:


We roamed the streets (truly, a labyrinth):

In each street there are dozens of small shops that sell anything from scarves, bags from Yak leather, bells and spectacular carved paintings.
Maayan hassled the shop keepers and inquired how to play a Chinese game:

while Shay found interesting people to photograph:

Here is a typical street with shops on both sides:

And some beautiful wood carved pictures:

We ate at a nice restaurant with an inner yard that had the symbol of long life.
The circular one represents the heaven, while the square represents the earth, and they are connected. Just beautiful!

Typical conversation between Maayan and a random Chinese waiter:

M: "I'll have the banana pancake."
W: "No."
M: "No?"
W: "Yes."
M: "So banana pancake."
W: "No."
M: "No banana pancake?"
W: "Yes."
M: "OK, then ehmmmm..... a Yogurt Musli."
W: "No."
M: "No?"
W: "Yes. Egg."
M: "Egg?"
W: "Yes. Egg."
Shay: "Just get the chicken."
M: "I'll have the chicken."
W: "Yes."

The missing chapter

It seems that when Mao was working on re-educating the Chinese and publishing his little red book, he either forgot or somehow missed sending to print the chapter about manners.

The Chinese not only spit in the street, they use the street as their privet toilet - really.
When you see a pile of shit in the street it is more often than not human, and not canine or otherwise.
Curb your dog? Curb yourself should be the signs here.

Dragon rice terraces (Longji "near" Guilin)

Maayan's legs still itched and she could not move away from the AC (Mazgan), so Shay left her there and went to Dragon rice terraces. It was supposed to be 1.5 hours from Guilin. But, as we all know, a 1.5 hours drive in China is not 1.5 hours... It took nearly 4 hours, which included several bus transfers (a.k.a, connections?), transfer of a pig to the roof top of the bus, and a stop due to a car crash that fell into abyss.



Arriving at the dragon terraces, Shay saw some lazy ass local tourists which were carried by the local farmers to the top of the terraces:

Shay continued to the top (without being carried!!!), and arrived at viewpoint 1:


But, he also lost his way, so he had to rent a guide to take him through the maze of terraces.
They went on, going from one viewpoint to the next:


The guide, leading...

A curved terrace?

And after three strenuous hours, they arrived to viewpoint III:


Shay managed to take the last bus from the terraces to the nearest local town, only to find out that there were no more buses back to Guilin (where Maayan was). It was only 19:00, but the doors of the bus station were closed!
What to do? what to do? thought Shay to himself.
No buses, no way to contact Maayan...
After some questioning, Shay managed to find a brave Taxi driver to take him back to Guilin (note, its a 2 hours drive!) for a bargain price of $15.

It was one hack of a ride, notably because the taxi looked like this:

Groups? Sets? (CoSets?) in China (no words needed)

Yangdi to Xingping hike

A spectacular 24km hike along the Li River, says the Lonely Planet guidebook.

We started at Yangdi, a tiny place with nothing but a ferry to take us to the other side of the river. Before starting, the bus driver showed us the map of the hike. As you can see, we had to cross the river several times before reaching the end:

Many small bamboo boats are roaming across the river. Actually, the ONLY phrase the locals can say is "Hello, Bamboo?", and EVERYONE is asking you, whether it is a lady selling food, or a person working in a store!


We crossed in a ferry, a bit larger than the bamboo one:

And with unbearable heat, we started our hike.

Notice the new bags we bought in Guilin. They were pretty cheap, weigh almost nothing and have a good back system. Excellent for short hikes.

The scenery is breath taking!



After hiking for about one hour, we reached a local village.

where an old lady (literally) jumped out of her house and offered some fruit:

Along the way, the most common view is of crops that are being dried.

We mainly encountered rice, corn and red peppers. They are dried on large concrete platforms.

Local people are extremely poor. Notice the clothes drying as well:


Moving on, one can not be impressed with the landscapes:

Just as we were thinking about preparing lunch (i.e., noodles), we found a lovely local restaurant.

We eat one of the local specials - Beer fish (p.s., we know how to cook it already!)

A local boy pointed us the way, and was glad to be photographed:

Shay also got a new backpack, and its yellow! (well, portions of it)

Roughly at that time, we stopped to take a break near the river. There were several tiny black bugs that flew around us, but we paid little attention, since they didn't seem to sting us.

Oh, how wrong we were.... (continue reading...)



Finally, we reached a gorgeous place and decided to make camp. It was near a tiny local restaurant, and the people did not understand where we landed...

Near by, there was a stream and both of us took bath in the wild. How refreshing in the unbearable heat!

We talked to the owners of the local restaurant and Mai showed them the bug bites we got in Xiamen. They laughed and showed us the local medicine they use as bug repellent. We took a picture to buy one in the future...

During the night, we discovered that the tiny black bugs did actually bite us, and that their bites are much more painful than regular mosquitoes. Shay's elbow and back were covered by several dozens bites, and Mai legs as well. Oh, the horror, the horror! If you want to see, continue reading...

Anyhow, we got up next morning, and continued the hike:

Crossed the river once again:

Went through some more tiny villages,

And finally reached Xingping, where we took a minibus to Guilin. A minibus, mind you, that actually hold more than the capacity of a regular bus!

Back in Guilin, we realized how bad the bug bites were. We couldn't MOVE!

Notice, the following pictures are not for the faint of heart...

(Note, this is just a small portion of the leg. We spare you the rest...




Mai went to search for Anti-Histaminim, but found something only the next day. She sufferred all night and got almost no sleep.