All Aboard King Long

The normally picturesque drive from Guilin to Yangshou surely had to be foreshadowing the rest of my Yangshou adventure.

After a turbulent landing in pouring rain - with fellow passengers yelping in either terror or delight with every bump in the flight - we exited the airport to catch our chartered bus: King Long. The bus driver's breath smelled of alcohol, and the 2 hour drive through flooded streets was accented by 90's German techno music, King Long innuendos, and the non-stop beeping of the bus's horn. According to our guide, there is no "Drivers Education" like we have in the U.S. People teach themselves, and honking the horn is fun.

After a long travel day, the weary crew was excited for an evening of drinking watery beer on the 5th floor patio of our hotel overlooking the stunning backdrop of limestone mountains as the floor above us sheltered us from the peaceful patter of the rain.

That peaceful rain continued and continued and continued all night long and we woke up on Friday the 13th to a flooded Li River beginning to creep up our street. Being a trooper (and since the famous Li River cruise would likely be impossible and Tibet and Chengdu were already cancelled) our guide Andy decided that despite less-than-desirable conditions, we should continue with the day's planned activity: A bicycle ride through the countryside surrounding the Li River.

Our journey got off to a rough start. In order to get to the bike tour starting point, we had to tread through knee-deep flooded streets filled with cockroaches, snakes, and surely some sewage back-up which we tried really hard not to think about. Thankfully, the tour group has been vaccinated against everything under the sun - Hepatitis A and B, Typhoids, Rabies, Yellow Fever, etc.

Finally we got safely out of the watery street only to have to cycle through town - probably one of the dumbest moves I've made in my day. Hang-gliding and paragliding: No problem. Cycling through China: Dumb. The streets were filled with pedestrians, motorcycles, trucks, cyclists, dogs, etc. driving every which way through roads speckled with flooded water. Some of the motorcycles were speeding through the flood in delight, spraying the sewage-y cockroach-y water on anyone lucky enough to be close by. Apparently the last flood in Yangshou happened 50 years ago, and this was sort of a fun adventurous holiday for locals with electricity off and school cancelled.

Adding to the "fun," our guide Andy appeared to have a crush on the local guide leading our cycling trip. And instead of being the designated rear of the caravan like originally planned, he zoomed ahead to be near the other guide, leaving several of us to navigate the madness on our own. I suppose with China's surplus of 20 million bachelors (resulting from the one-child policy starting in the 80's and a son being the one-child of choice), the man probably needs to take what he can get and I probably should have made a bigger effort to more speedily dodge children and rivers allowing him more time to flirt with the lady-friend.

Once we got out of the city, the roads were flat and peaceful and he countryside is absolutely stunning. The limestone mountains stretch from China down through Vietnam, and it was tempting to stop at every turn and take a photo. (So as a compromise, we only stopped at every other turn.) The land used to be covered by ocean, and mountains formed by wind carving through crevices. Suddenly that madness all became worth it. We road along rice paddies and were greeted with smiles and waves of friendly Chinese farmers despite most of their crop being ruined.

Returning to the city was even more eventful, with the water-level now rising from knee-deep to mid-thigh deep (Gross). For many Chinese, it was up to waist deep. Wading through the water was dumb the first time and really dumb the second time. At all costs, I was determined not to find myself (and my new SLR camera) compromised and let the water rise up any further. Fortunately, a very nice Chinese woman held my hand through a scary part and guided me across the shallower area.

After making it back to the hotel safely and soaping myself down, my roommate Rita and I headed down to a restaurant overlooking the "new" river, which was close to all the action. We had some fried noodles and curried vegetables, and watched the ever-entrepreneurial Chinese launch water taxis and floats to help spectators cross the road for a whopping 200 yuan (30 USD). By the end of the day, the price had dropped to a more reasonable 10 yuan (1.50 USD).

On the first day of our tour, our guide told us always to remember "TIC." After several failed guesses to what this acronym meant (including Tour-guide Is Correct), he told us the answer - "This is China."