We are now in China on our Imaginative Traveller 'China Discovery' tour. Our Irish guide, Kirsty, is a lot of fun. She first went to China to teach English and fell in love with the place so now she is back as a guide. Our group is great, too - very international!
Last night we went to see an interactive light show/musical performance by the director of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. It was phenomenal!!! I have never seen anything like it. We went to a huge outdoor theater. The show was set on the river itself surrounded by the unusual limestone peaks characteristic of the area. The cast included thousands of people of all ages. They have been performing the show nightly since 2004 and it is always sold out. It told the story of two peasants in love, living across the river from each other. It involved typical activities of the locals like cormorant fishing (they actually use the birds to catch the fish for them - they put collars on them so that they cannot swallow the fish), farming (complete with live water buffalo helping to plow the fields), etc...and the scenes represented various times of day. My favorite was the night scene when hundreds of people with little twinkling lights came out on bamboo boats followed by an enormous glowing moon with a dancer dancing across it as it rocked back and forth over the water. It was amazing! They also had one scene with over a thousand children dancing out onto wooden platforms with reflective costumes. It looked like the costumes had lights sewn into them and they could be turned on and off in time with the choreography. The effect was really incredible - especially considering the sheer number of women and children involved in it. I am going to attempt to download some of the video I took, but I may have to wait for a better internet connection. It is pretty slow right now. The director of the show is also choreographing the Opening Games for the Olympics. Judging by the performance last night it should be pretty amazing. I will certainly be tuning in to that...
We are in Yangshuo at the moment, a really cute little town. It is the first stop for travelers coming from Hong Kong so it is a little bit touristy, but it has been a nice introduction to China. We took an overnight train to get here from the border of Hong Kong. We slept in hard, narrow bunks, six people per cabin and everyone ate Pot Noodles (Top Ramen) for dinner. It was exciting though and both Stephen and I managed to sleep pretty well because we wore our earplugs. Toilets over here typically involve squatting over a hole in the ground which is especially difficult when you are on a moving train - it is probably good for my quadricep muscles though.
We have taken a Chinese lesson so I can now say 'Hello, how are you?', 'I want coffee' and 'I don't want that'. The last phrase is especially useful when you are being chased down the street by over-enthusiastic street vendors. Stephen and I have also had an hour long massage and reflexology on our feet for about the same price we would have paid for a Starbuck's coffee in London. We feel like kings and queens over here...
Yesterday we took a journey down the Li River in a bamboo raft. Today we rented bicycles and cycled through the countryside with views of the rice paddies and unusual limestone formations typical of the Yangshuo area. We finished our bike tour at the 'Half Moon' peak and left our bikes under the watchful eye of our tour leader while we climbed to the arch at the top of the peak followed by at least 10 women attempting to fan us while we walked for money...I took pity on the one who had been fanning me the entire way up and paid her entirely too much for a bottle of water. Oh well - the fanning was nice as it was really hot and humid. It was funny, though because some of them couldn't keep up with us and kept asking us to slow down so we wouldn't be too tired :-)
Finally, we ended the day with a Chinese cooking lesson. I learned to make three dishes. They are pretty labor intensive, but it was really nice to have all the ingredients set up in front of us. We made a spicy chicken dish, a mushroom beef dish and pork dumplings. The food was excellent. First, out cooking teacher took us through the main local market to buy all of the ingredients. It was interesting to see all of the farmers there with their fresh produce. The horrible part was the meat section where they had live animals that were then slaughtered right there. I waited in the vegetable section while most of the group went to check it out. They also had dogs and dog meat. Our cooking teacher said the only thing they don't eat with four legs are tables and chairs. So - yes they eat dog and it is quite expensive! There is a certain breed they use just for food.
Anyway, on a lighter note, our food was delicious. The best part of the cooking was eating the meals we had prepared.
We are in Yangshuo at the moment, a really cute little town. It is the first stop for travelers coming from Hong Kong so it is a little bit touristy, but it has been a nice introduction to China. We took an overnight train to get here from the border of Hong Kong. We slept in hard, narrow bunks, six people per cabin and everyone ate Pot Noodles (Top Ramen) for dinner. It was exciting though and both Stephen and I managed to sleep pretty well because we wore our earplugs. Toilets over here typically involve squatting over a hole in the ground which is especially difficult when you are on a moving train - it is probably good for my quadricep muscles though.
We have taken a Chinese lesson so I can now say 'Hello, how are you?', 'I want coffee' and 'I don't want that'. The last phrase is especially useful when you are being chased down the street by over-enthusiastic street vendors. Stephen and I have also had an hour long massage and reflexology on our feet for about the same price we would have paid for a Starbuck's coffee in London. We feel like kings and queens over here...
Yesterday we took a journey down the Li River in a bamboo raft. Today we rented bicycles and cycled through the countryside with views of the rice paddies and unusual limestone formations typical of the Yangshuo area. We finished our bike tour at the 'Half Moon' peak and left our bikes under the watchful eye of our tour leader while we climbed to the arch at the top of the peak followed by at least 10 women attempting to fan us while we walked for money...I took pity on the one who had been fanning me the entire way up and paid her entirely too much for a bottle of water. Oh well - the fanning was nice as it was really hot and humid. It was funny, though because some of them couldn't keep up with us and kept asking us to slow down so we wouldn't be too tired :-)
Finally, we ended the day with a Chinese cooking lesson. I learned to make three dishes. They are pretty labor intensive, but it was really nice to have all the ingredients set up in front of us. We made a spicy chicken dish, a mushroom beef dish and pork dumplings. The food was excellent. First, out cooking teacher took us through the main local market to buy all of the ingredients. It was interesting to see all of the farmers there with their fresh produce. The horrible part was the meat section where they had live animals that were then slaughtered right there. I waited in the vegetable section while most of the group went to check it out. They also had dogs and dog meat. Our cooking teacher said the only thing they don't eat with four legs are tables and chairs. So - yes they eat dog and it is quite expensive! There is a certain breed they use just for food.
Anyway, on a lighter note, our food was delicious. The best part of the cooking was eating the meals we had prepared.
Photos include the stunning karst mountain scenery and Stephen crammed into the middle bunk on the train attempting to play his guitar.
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