Yangshuo, China (阳朔), Part II

 So where did I leave off...yes on our way to Yangshuo from Guilin...

So now that you've met the cast of Showbiz Inn, the adventure began the minute we checked into Showbiz Inn and we were DAMN HUNGRY. So we roamed around West Street...the most infamous street on the South Side of China. It is probably the only street you'll ever set foot on in Yangshuo and the only one you need to be on as it contains the both the quintessential Chinese souvenirs for the daily tourist (day) and seemingly endless night clubs for those young party goers. I don't know if we were being cheap or it seemed delicious (because we were so damn hungry), but we saw a huge sign with a bowl of noodles that led us into some local's house. This could've been dangerous as we walked up the pebbled walkway towards the "restaurant," but a nice old lady came to greet us at the door. And so we sat down and looked at each other like "What the crazy are we doing here?" But hey...if you want the full Yangshuo experience...you better eat in a Yangshuonian's household. We ordered a bowl of noodles, two lamb buns, and another bowl of mother-trucking-100%-salt noodles. I am a Yelper, so I would've given this place two stars...one star for the cheapness and one star for the nice, old lady. The food was...let's just say we were hungry and it filled us up (although it did give me some stomach troubles later on...).

Homemade Noodles from Local's House

I think eating in some local's house was the most interesting part of Day 1 as Aston went back and knocked out afterwards, while I went exploring...in circles...taking pictures of Chinese trash cans and chickens. Not that interesting, so we'll fast forward to the night.

So if you're ever around the Guangxi province, you should definitely check out the Liu Sanjie Impression show at night. It's a live light show with the largest "natural theater" set on the backdrop of the Li River. We bought our ticket from the Showbiz Inn Hostel for around 200RMB (30USD) and we were seated at the very very top. But because the security really isn't that tight and the show is situated in the dark, you really can move around if you want to (if there are open seats). Now what is the story about? I can't really tell you that because I was confused myself (maybe you can wiki it). What I got out of it was several different stories (love, hardship, and bamboo rafts). Aston said it best, "this would probably be the coolest rave in the world." 

Anyone want to rent a telescope to watch the show?

So as we left the stadium, it was a mad dash to the exit as Chinese people always want to be the first to leave. None of that waiting around and reminiscing over how great the show was. JUST GET ME HOME NOW. And so we tried to look for our driver. He looked Chinese. And that was all we could remember. I can't remember how we tracked down our driver as everyone looked the same, but I think we found this Jamaican girl who was on our bus and thank god she was on our bus or we wouldn't of been able to find our way back.

As soon as we got back to the hostel, we were mad tired as we had done a lot of traveling earlier on in the day, but we decided to check out the rooftop bar...oh that so famous rooftop bar they were raving about...And so we checked it out and from that night, our real Yangshuo experience would begin. 

And before I proceed onto the latter part of the night, I just want to mention our dorm mates (who I never got a picture with or remember their names) as we lived in a 6-bed dorm room. There was a 24-year old girl who bunked on top fo me and was coincidentally from San Francisco as well and attended UC Davis. There were two other British girls who were party animals and great to chat with. There would also be an older white American dude who would later join us. Oh and I almost forgot (because she was a ghost) this other American girl who only stayed for one night, but she probably only said 4 words to us : I am from America. She kind of looked like a younger version of the nanny from the Brady Brunch, and I think Aston had a crush on her?

But yes...back to our night atop Yangshuo at the rooftop bar. After the light show (it was about 10PM), we unenthusiastically walked upstairs to be greeted by a few people playing pool and a hippie bartender who didn't seem to belong. We headed straight to the bar for a few drinks to loosen up and it was awkward for the first 20 minutes until the bartender suggested we play beer pong. And from that point and a few drinks later, we all became as close as friends could be in Yangshuo. I think we ended up playing only one or two games of beer pong, but we definitely had rounds and rounds of shots. So they had this drink called "Death Shot" which is basically a shot of Chinese white liquor (二锅头erguotou) for 5 yuan. There was this guy from Beijing (we named him erguotou) who demanded we drink with him because he thought he was a hot shot from Beijing and so we bought a whole bottle of it and killed it. This stuff, as cheap as it is, will give you the worst hangover ever; you literally get what you pay for. We ended up playing darts and pool the entire night until about 4AM and then we called it a night. We had a long day ahead the next day, so sleeping at 4AM was definitely not the best idea in the world.

The next morning (5 hours later), I had to drag Aston's drunkass out of bed because we had planned a long day to see the "real" Yangshuo. And I had told Tong Tong to meet us downstairs in the lobby at 10AM. After a brief and miserable lunch to rid ourselves of that "erguotou," we rented our bikes from our hostel and rode off into the beautiful countryside. And might I say...riding in the Yangshuo countryside is probably the nicest

bike riding experience you will ever get. Luckily for me, I didn't have much of a hangover, but Aston's day was marred by the aftermath of ERGUOTOU. We rode for hours...bypassing several small villages...venturing into unrideable paths...enjoying the sound of wind and the endless fields filled with yellow flower...and eventually taking a 2-hour bamboo raft down the Yulong River. My ass was swollen for the next few days, but it was worth it.

Later that night, it became the norm (even though it had only been one day) to head up to the rooftop bar expecting to see the original cast of people. And we did. Another friend popped up too (our new dorm mate), who was an MBA student from the States. Aston ended up talking to him the entire night and by the night was over, he was knocked out in bed. Tong Tong really wanted to go clubbing and I guess we did too (but we were so tired), and so we ventured into the infamous West Street at 2AM only to find a few clubs still open. And so we entered the remaining club open in a street filled with darkness at 2AM to find a few European dudes and a gang of wasted middle-aged Chinese men. It seemed pretty lame at the beginning but it turned out to be pretty fun. We met this guy from Switzerland (Swiss Eminem), who insisted on having a rap battle with me and Aston. And that is what we gave him. The worst rap battles in the history of Rap, live from Yangshuo. It consisted of a lot of head waddling and tough looking faces, while words came out in incomprehensible English and some bad Chinese as well. And what was worse...there were only about 4 songs on the DJ's playlist...as the Black Eyed Peas' "Time of my Life" kept playing on repeat for the next hour. But hey...it was the only place open at 3AM. And this was Tong Tong's last night, so we wanted to spend it with her. And so as the night died and 4AM came around the corner once more, we said our goodbyes and told Tong Tong we'd say good-bye in the morning before she left. And the next morning would be quite a surprise...

Swiss Eminem + Tong Tong

The next morning was very similar to the one beforehand. Hungover and did not want to wake up. When we finally woke up, we decided to go look for and say good-bye to our good friend, Tong Tong. But the problem was that she was not picking up her phone, and she wasn't waiting for us in the lobby like usual. After about an hour of unsuccessful searching, we had lunch at a nearby restaurant hoping to spot her walking by. When that didn't work out, we decided to check her hotel (where we dropped her off last night). The hotel manager told us that she was STILL in her room and so we went up and knocked on her door (well Aston did). Expecting to see a hungover Tong Tong answer unresponsively to the knock on the door, instead we see Michael's (the hostel owner) bright and shining face answer the door. The next 7 seconds reigned of extreme awkwardness and silence and you could see Michael's usual smile turn upside down into an oval-shaped "oh my god, what are you doing here" type of smile. We told him we just wanted to say bye to Tong Tong before she left...but what was he doing there?! Needless to say, we did not suspect anything between them two but we were a bit shocked. It was just awkward and so we hurriedly made up some excuse to bounce. It was awkward, confusing, and funny at the same time. We definitely had some good conversations about it afterwards...

And so our final day in Yangshuo would continue...without Tong Tong. We decided to rent bikes again (SO PAINFUL but cheapest option) to get to this Water Cave. I've seen a bunch of caves in Guilin before so I my expectations for this "Water Cave" wasn't too high, but those expectations changed as well even before we entered the cave. In order to get to the cave, we took a 30 minute van ride that was probably the bumpiest ride of my life. And in addition to that, we were squeezed in a mini-sized van filled with about 10 people; I felt like a clown in the circus riding in one of those clown cars. During the ride there, we befriended another group  of Americans who were also heading towards the Water Cave. It was two dudes (one of them looked like Chuck Norris) and their 3 adopted sons. And the entire time, the dad was trying to politely tell Aston to stop cussing in front of the kids. But they were very cool about it. The cave itself was very different than other caves I had seen before (where they are all lit up and illuminated by colored lights), but this one was all natural and seemed to go on forever. We took a small boat into the cave through an opening that barely fit us as bats swooped in and out. Once we got in, we got a grand tour of the entire cave, and the tour guide would randomly point out that this section looks like an elephant or this piece of rock looks like a T-Rex or something. And we would all stare at it for a few seconds and then say...WOW I SEE IT (even though some were kind of BS)!. After the tour ended, we changed into our swimsuits to relax in their natural hot springs. A much needed break from the craziness of the past few days...

Chuck Norris to the Right.

I forget what that is supposed to be...some Alien nest egg I think...

And so we did a bunch of other things like hiking up the Moon-Hill cave only to reach the top and see nothing and we did go back to the rooftop bar once more...only to see TONG TONG there AGAIN (because she missed her train). There are a million more things I could say about this trip to Yangshuo that would match the length of the Odyssey itself, but I will leave it at that. Yangshuo, for me in retrospect, was one of the best trips I've ever had. Everything fell into place and the things to do there are countless but I enjoyed it so much mainly because of the people I was there with. I write this lengthy blog entry as a reminder of the happiness and joy that came from this trip and hopefully many years down the line, I will still be able to relive those few days in Yangshuo as vividly as I can now.