Doing it on our own

When we talked about travelling to China, friends from Aqua Jogging told us about their trip with Peregrine Adventures.  We looked at the itinerary and decided it had the right mix of cities and countryside.  When we rang to book we were in for a disappointment.  The tour we had chosen had dropped the Yangshuo component.  It was part of another tour but the two could not be combined.  It was then we decided to do it on our own.  Researching Trip Advisor we found that the Phoenix Pagoda Hotel at Fonglou near Yangshuo was popular because the owners were very helpful with tourist information, had bikes for the use of patrons and were situated in a quaint rural converted farmhouse.  I still remember the excitement I felt speaking to Lily on the phone.  I was actually talking to someone in China!

The flight to mainland China was only one hour and ten minutes from Hong Kong and was quite spectacular. As we came in to land we could see water everywhere. The curving Li River, the flooded rice paddies and the strange karst formations gave the area a distinctly other-worldly look. The sky was quite hazy as several small factories were belching smoke and small fires were common.

Our taxi driver was holding up a card saying John and Linda. He drove for about an hour along a freeway through the weird karst hills with small settlements built in the flat land between. Almost all the flat land was cultivated but we did see quite a few deserted multi-storey houses. Finally, we arrived at Phoenix Pagoda where we were welcomed by and Lily and Jerry and paid our 300 Yuan taxi fare (about $60).

Our room was at the top of the hotel, (a restored farmhouse) on the third floor. Outside was a small balcony overlooking the rural village of Fonglou and of course the karst hills. Most importantly there was a large soft bed in the middle of the room where we thankfully sank into oblivion after 42 hours without proper sleep. This was not before dinner on the rooftop terrace. Jerry brought us local beer, spicy chicken, garlic broccoli and stir-fried pumpkin. Simple but very tasty.

The hotel had won an award for best restored farmhouse. We certainly get our exercise running up the stone stairs. The bed was on a limestone foundation, the floor and sink were of the same material. Lights, chairs, tables etc were all of bamboo. The wardrobe was a gnarled tree trunk attached to the wall!

Our first day was warm and hazy. After breakfast (freshly squeezed orange juice, muesli and eggs) we checked out the bikes and headed off to Moon Hill. The peace of our small village was left behind as we reached the highway. Fortunately, there were clearly marked cycle lanes although motor scooters used them too. Inside the entrance to Moon Hill was an area to leave our bikes, although we padlocked them for safety.

The climb up the 800 steps was good training for what lay ahead in Yunnan and the Great Wall. At the top we gazed around the area at the rivers, towns and karsts and talked to Australians and Spanish tourists about their experiences.

There was a restaurant near the entrance to the Moon Hill Park. It was rapidly filling when we arrived, so we ordered drinks and pork with vegetables. As I drank my iced tea John said, “Do you realise there is ice in that?”  This was my second slip up as I unthinkingly cleaned my teeth with the local water on the first day. I hoped those “Travel Bug” tablets would work! (they didn’t)

We enjoyed people-watching from our table. The manager, a small wiry woman with a 12-month old baby strapped to her back, was busy taking and giving orders, scrubbing down seats and tables, pouring hot water and refilling vacuum flasks. I have never seen such a human dynamo. She only stopped once for someone to retie her baby sling. The child woke up but seemed content to watch while her energetic mother raced around.

Terrifying Taxi Ride to Light Show

We arranged with Lily for a taxi to take us to the Impression Liu Sanjie Light Show. I thought it would be a good idea to go in early and eat at a vegetarian restaurant recommended by Jerry. We were warned the traffic would be horrific but did not realise our intrepid driver would charge full speed down the wrong side of the road. John and I kept saying, “she isn’t going there!” but she did. On one fearful occasion we were heading straight for a bus when our driver swung off the road, through a car park and back into the traffic again. She dropped us off at a hotel called The Green Lotus and agreed to pick us up at 6.40pm. 

As we walked towards West Street in the rain we realised we weren’t going to have time to order, eat and be back in time so searched for somewhere to eat close by. We sat down, said we were in a hurry and ordered some dumplings. Twenty minutes later they had not arrived so we had to leave. Our taxi was not waiting at The Green Lotus but after a few minutes a man arrived with a mobile phone. Lily from Phoenix Pagoda was at the other end trying to explain that he was the taxi driver’s husband and he would take us to the Light Show. The traffic was too bad for her to get to us. We walked in the rain for about 2 kilometres until we reached the theatre. Here we parted from our “friend” who for some reason sounded very angry when he talked on the phone to Lily. 

We then had to follow a man holding a sign which read “100”. He gave us tickets and waved us on. Just at the entrance a stall was selling snacks. As we hadn’t eaten we bought nuts and a Sprite. The woman suggested popcorn so John said “yes”. Five stressful minutes later it was still popping in the microwave. Thousands of people swept past and the music began. It was now dark and we had no idea where to sit. Fortunately, all the seats were allocated and women with torches found us our seats.

The Impressions Light Show is directed by moviemaker Zhang Yimou, the man who also directed the opening ceremony at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and several acclaimed films such as Hero. Six hundred performers, including local fishermen, take to the Li River each night with 12 illuminated surrounding karst peaks serving as a backdrop. 

It was very impressive,  like an Olympic Games opening ceremony on water with the precision only the Chinese are capable of. We had good seats in B section and marvelled at how so many people could be organised every night (twice tonight as there were two performances) in boats, on land and on water.

Getting out was not so bad. Towards the end of the performance people started standing up and moving towards the entrance. John wanted to get out before the crowd so I reluctantly followed. Our driver was waiting at the designated spot and again we walked about a kilometre to the taxi. The traffic wasn’t as bad this end of town and we were soon home.

Terrifying Tuk-Tuk Ride

The hotel was full of families and children were running up and down the stone stairs, singing and talking loudly.  Who would have guessed that we had arrived in Tomb-Sweeping weekend where people from all over the country return to the town their ancestors are buried.  

During Qingming, Chinese families visit the tombs of their ancestors to clean the gravesites and make ritual offerings to their ancestors. Offerings would typically include traditional food dishes and the burning of joss sticks and joss paper. The holiday recognizes the traditional reverence of one’s ancestors in Chinese culture. Wikipedia

We ate in that night, but not on the rooftop terrace because of the rain. We pre-ordered our dinner so that when we arrived at 6.30 it was served immediately. The specialty of the area was its beer battered fresh-water fish but ours was baked with some sort of sauce on it. It was not the best fish I had eaten but Jerry was so enthusiastic about it I felt like Mr Bean and wanted to hide some in my bag or the sugar bowl just to please him. The vegetable dishes were great – grilled capsicum and eggplant with bits of pork. We drank the local beer which is quite yeasty and not bitter.

In the morning we decided to go into Yangshuo by taxi. We were told the traffic was still chaotic but went anyway. The driver dropped us near West St and we enjoyed looking in the shops and the market. 

We found an interesting lunch venue. On offer, along with frogs and snails was “beef with four bacteria”. I definitely gave that one a miss. My mushrooms and lamb love hearts had me wondering but I ate it anyway. What part of a lamb is its love heart?

After lunch we were walking through a market when suddenly all the stalls were lifted off the ground and people began running in all directions. Some men in uniform swaggered past. They were not police as we thought but some sort of equivalent to traffic wardens. They certainly frightened the locals.

Getting a taxi home was harder than we imagined. We were offered a beaten up old tuk-tuk and warily accepted, showing the driver our hotel card. We then had a ride even more terrifying than last night’s taxi ride. It was almost gridlocked traffic from town to the turnoff to Fonglou but our driver not only drove along the wrong side of the road to the annoyance of oncoming buses but he careered down the bike lane forcing cyclists and walkers out of the way. A few times I thought we would land in the ditch beside the road.

Of course there were no seatbelts and the only airbags were the two of us! We cheered as we pulled up outside our hotel and paid our hefty fee of 60 yuan ($12).

River Rafting Trip on Yulang River

We had another misty day. I would have liked to see the karsts against a blue sky but at least it was not raining. Lily arranged our river rafting trip on the Yulang River. We were picked up by taxi and driven to a place upriver called Yima where the rafting began. Our raft was made from bamboo and had a double seat tied on it with two flimsy life jackets attached. I stepped on board first and thought it was going to sink when John climbed on too. Our cheerful boatman with a long bamboo pole steered us downstream. We went over a number of weirs where we had to put our feet up to avoid being drenched.

All the time the tall karst rocks towered around us on each side with many strange formations. At the entrance we were offered a flowered headband, plastic bags for the feet and a water pistol. We declined all three but saw other people putting them all to good use. 

It was about half an hour’s walk back to the hotel from the bridge along the edge of the same road we had driven in the tuk-tuk. The traffic was not nearly as bad today. Beside the road was a Banyan Tree which was in a large park filled with Chinese tourists. Many of them had dressed up in traditional costumes and were parading around and posing for photographs.

John sat on a buffalo for a photograph but turned down the offer to pose with brightly dressed monkeys.  They were trained to sit holding little batons over their shoulders and if someone tried to take a photo without paying they were ordered to turn their backs. I felt so sorry for them.

Birthday Cake Before Dinner

We ate lunch on the rooftop terrace of the hotel followed by another bike ride where we managed to avoid the rain. Jerry announced tonight’s dinner was on the house as it was for our birthdays. We ordered beer and peanuts, to be followed by pizza and finally fresh fruit and icecream. We were the only people dining in tonight but hardly had we started on the peanuts when the pizza arrived. We were really enjoying the pizza when in trooped Jerry, Lily, the cook and the security guard with a birthday cake.  They stood around the table and sang happy birthday. Then they sat down with us and started eating the cake, presenting us with ours first. I wasn’t sure whether to eat the pizza or the cake but shortly they left to go and have their own meal.  We happily returned to the pizza.

That was our last day in Yangshuo.  We were flying to Kunming the following day to join our Peregrine Adventures tour group. We were so glad we hadn’t missed out on this picturesque part of China and especially the genuine concern and care from our hosts, Lily and Jerry.