Guilin to Weizhou

After my last entry my plan was to make my way to Hainan island - a 16 hr ferry ride into the South China Sea. However, the boat schedule was different (again because of the Spring Festival) so I decided to stay in Beihai, the port city. My first day I went to the beach and met Xiaolin - a very friendly local - who eventually invited me back to his family (*see picture) home for dinner after spending the afternoon talking at the beach. Such a good experience, I went to the market and watched them barter for dinner ingredients (a dinner for 7 ended up costing probably $5). Xiaolin was the only member of his family who spoke english but everyone was very welcoming, offering me fruit and local snacks the entire time. The next day I went to the local park where a fair was happening - lots of small rides and carnival games. I won a small stuffed animal in the ring toss, but gave it away (as my backpack is rather stuffed). After dinner I took a picture in the park (see picture...) Now I have arrived in Weizhou (see 3rd picture) which is a beautiful island 1 hr from Beihai. Today I will rent bicycles with a Chinese guy named Lancer who speaks very little english... it will be a challenging day, but I am sure to get a good price on anything I buy. To give you an idea of the size of the island, I am not sure if there is a restaurant on it, and I hope to circumnavigate by bike.

Only 5 days until I catch my flight to Beijing to meet Stephen. Jealous?

Happy New Year!

So I have finished my time in Yangshuo, I spent my last night with an American, and a French family - we went for drinks at a local pub. Very nice people. Last night was the Chinese New Year's Eve, but apparently they do not do any sort of countdown or parades like I had expected. Myself and an Englishman George went out for a self-cooked hot pot meal (I tried Chicken foot, well just the toe and nail - it was like eating chewable bones) and then bought a few beers and some fireworks to set off. We stumbled upon some locals (see picture) who had much better fireworks and also invited us in to play some cards and have a beer. They were very friendly and all spoke english because of University. So New Years was nothing like I expected but it was great nonetheless. The other photo is from a cave we went to during the day. It was completely lit up with (typical chinese) neon lights which looked very cool reflecting off of water. The names and stories given to stalagmites and other rocks were hilarious - centipede frightened by magic mirror was my favourite... Tomorrow I'll take a long bus ride and an even longer ferry ride to reach Haikou - hot weather!

Today I rented a scooter for $15. It was so much fun to be amidst the traffic - vehicles on the road range from old-fashioned wagons traveling 10km/hr to buses traveling quite a bit faster. I got off the main road pretty quick and found a winding paved road that went into the hills all through orange fields and tiny villages. I climbed off the road up a hill and tried out my new watercolor paint set - the lid of my water bottle served as my water dish... pretty makeshift. These two photos are looking either way from the bridge out of town. Postcards basically. Tonight I will try and find some cormarant fishers (they fish using birds whose necks have been tied so they cannot swallow the fish...) They take you out on the boat and fish while you watch, should be interesting.

No need for words

We exchanged hellos, took a photo, laughed, then parted

View from the top of sketchy stairs

Wednesday

This morning started off with another bike ride through the country roads. I got more adventuresome this time and wound up lost in the middle of an orange field on a path no wider than both my feet. So i picked an orange and made my way back to the road. Cycling back into town I noticed some kids playing basketball. Shooting around turned into a 5 vs me game - they were very impressed that I could slam dunk.

Afterwards I found an internet cafe and after some technical difficulties I was able to talk to Holly over Skype. Perfect way to cut the day in half. Then I went to the local park and found some Chinese labelled stairs that actually went to a great lookout at the top of a hill - I'm hoping to post some photos but it doesn't seem to be uploading right now... On my way out of the park I saw some kids practicing Martial Arts so I sat down for a moment to watch. An eldery man asked the instructor if I could participate, and after some gesturing I did. I stopped when they began some moves that required crazy flexibility but I got a few good pictures and a video. There was a band a woman singing in the background so if the audio comes through its a perfect video. I have since come home and because I was the only guest around for dinner I got to eat with Wei and his family. Their main dish was pork foot (which apparently is great for the liver) but I pretty much stuck to the dishes they prepared for me. Now I will wander into the city to do some night shopping - I am hoping to pick up some paints and a paintbrush. I am getting artistic in my free time...

Afternoon bike ride

Guilin to Yangshuo Province

I have arrived safely in Yangshou at Wei's Culture House. It is a family run hostel, amidst family homes (the picture is a view from my (shared)balcony). Last night was interesting - arriving at 12pm in Guilin I assumed I would have to take a taxi to my hostel and probably be overcharged. However, on the plane I met a student Jack Allen and he and his friend basically walked me to the door of my hostel after taking the local bus with them. Its amazing the pleasure I'm getting out of not being ripped off yet, I guess it makes me feel a little bit less like a tourist. Arriving in Yangshuo, I called Wei and he came and picked me up on his scooter - that was fun. This afternoon I am going to rent a bike from the hostel and take it along some country bike trails. The weather here is warm, but there is overcast today so the view is not as beautiful as it could be. I am hoping to get some good pictures this afternoon, it should be fun on a bike with no backpack - I guess there is no possibility of blending in so this is as close as I'll get.

Maybe I'll do a blog

So I've been in China for 8 days now. For the moment I have decided to try a blog rather than sending group emails. I'll probably end up doing both inadequately. 

What have I learned so far... I can count (once you can count to ten you can count to 100), I can say: do you speak English? I want to go to the skytrain, I don't want, waitress, and a couple kinds of meat. Although so far all the meat tastes rather similar, I don't know what part of the animal the cuts are but it is consistently 90 percent fat. 

I've met some helpful people around the school. I'm living with the vice principal (temporarily) who has been very generous - taken me out for dinner etc. The school librarian Stan is great, he also owns a western restaurant in the local village. So far he has lent me another book to read, and offered to take me out golfing eventually. Apparently the top golf course in China is nearby, we will however be playing on a oceanside 9 hole course. It does have an island green though...

It's been pretty quiet so far, I'm leaving for Guilin on Sunday then heading to Yangshuo province - if you google image it the pictures are amazing. There I plan to rent a bike for a few days and relax - where I'm staying offers tai chi, calligraphy and painting. After that who knows, my only plan is to fly back to Beijing at the start of February. I'll try to post a few pictures soon...