A PICTURE OF YOUR FAVORITE MEMORY

A PICTURE OF YOUR FAVORITE MEMORY
Sorry for always talking about China and what a great time I had, but it was the most fun I've ever experienced and it definitely shaped my life. My favorite memory was my week long vacation in Guilin, Guangxi, China. Everything about this place was mystical and captured my soul. Seeing a picture of the mountains still will take my breath away. I always say that I left a part of my heart in China, well, I know I left some pieces in Guilin!

Isn't it amazing? I'm no Richard Webb so I apologize for the poor quality of my photographs.

Getting to this magical land was not fun (30+ hour train and hour long bus ride) but it was so worth it for me. We stayed in Yangshou on West Street during the Moon Festival so we were joined by people from all over the world! Guilin had some sweet shopping but the best part was the outdoor activities. We rented mountain bikes and rode them to the Li River to bamboo rafts on our first day.

Here you can see we strapped down the bikes and sat in little bamboo seats while we were guided through the beautiful scenery.

After our journey down the river we hopped back on the bikes with the mud caves as our destination. The ride was long but the view was incredible. I got off track a little bit and ended up biking at least a mile in the opposite direction into an unsuspecting village. I'm pretty sure the people had never seen an American before because the whole town came and surrounded me on my bike. They were touching my hair, skin, and eyelashes like I was some freak of nature. I couldn't help but think, "They are either going to eat me or make me their deity, I've never seen people look at me this way!" Luckily, one of the Chinese guides found me and redirected my path so I didn't have a chance to find out what my future was in the crazy village. Finally, we got to the mud caves after biking, hiking, and carrying our heavy bicycles through rice fields. We then hopped in boats and went through the water into the caves. After a little hiking we came to pools of mud and we're welcome to jump in and play around, which we did.

We washed off and explored the caves. I love China for so many reasons but in the caves they let you kind of do whatever. At the Timp Caves in Utah, they'll shoot you before you can accidentally bump up against something. In China, it's like "here, hang from this stalactite!" Gotta love the Asians and the lack of conservation.

The next day we went rafting down a little river and some rapids, it was way sweet and Suz and I got some pretty hilarious pictures out of it. We were soaked and loving it! We sang Nsync and Backstreet Boys songs the whole way down to entertain our foreign friends, just trying to rep for the USA. That night we went fishing with a fisherman and his fish-catching-and-swallowing birds. It was super cool to watch, even if I was a little terrified of the bird and its possible diseases. 

Here is our fisher friend and his incredible underwater diving bird. This guy would steer the little raft with one foot and control the birds with his hands. The birds had their throats tied off so they wouldn't swallow the birds when the picked them out of the water and into their mouth. Awesome.

Next day we rented bikes to go visit a market, which supposedly was having some type of special day (it wasn't). Our group got separated but it was fun nonetheless and I got to eat this:

Yep, that's some tasty dog

And do this:

After our long adventure we found a Tai Chi school and paid them a visit. They were so gracious and brought us food and let us watch demonstrations. They could have easily kicked off  my head but they chose not to, and for that I am grateful. We took some pictures with them and then headed back into town. We ate at some  little outdoor place and did a little shopping. 

The next day we visited some rice terraces about three hours away. They were amazing and so were the people. It was a fun hike and so cool to see their culture and the minority living in this area.

There were lots of other good times had in Yangshou and Guilin but you get the gist. I hope I can go back soon, I would love to explore some more and try to get better pictures this time! I highly recommend this trip to anyone thinking of visiting China :)