Guilin-Li River Cruise_Longsheng Rice terrace and Dao Minority group
24/02/2005
On the same morning I arrived, I booked and took the river Cruise tour to Yangshuo. The weather was so really bad, we could hardly see anything. I met a gentleman from Wales, and a Spanish-Dutch couple from another tour, which was nice. We went to the upper part of the cruise, the view was impressive, the water was so pure that it reflected the images of the limestone-mountains/hills through it, it looked like the area of Halong bay in VN...there were a lot of bamboo trees along the river, and some small huts, I noticed the smoke from those little houses, some children, ox...The whole scenery was very peaceful, cold weather, dead tree, smoke coming out from houses, little boats...gorgeous. I meant any poet could easily come up with a poem...
There were several some small commercial boats which two Chinese guys on them, they tried to connect to the cruise with a rope, and then go along, trying to sell Chinese antiques (??) to us. Bob went from one place to another, I guess he travelled to many places and owned a house in the Philipines that these things were just normal for him. But the Sovel (the Spanish younglady) laughed alot, she told me that her Dutch husband was in HK for business, so she joined him for the trip, but the weather was so bad, it was also her first time in China. The tourguide on the cruise was explaining every part as the cruise went by, "this hill looked like a woman carries her baby, but pls use your imagination" ;-), Sovel did not understand any word from the tour girl for her accent, so I just repeated what the girl said to her...I noticed Sovel's husband owned a Sony T1 camera, and most of the people in the Italian group owned a Sony camera ;-)) funny
Time for lunch, we had lunch on board, very good food otherwise, I like it although Sovel complained that the fishes have so many bones ;-). I exchanged my e-mail address to her, think I have to write to her soon.
The tour ended around 1pm when we arrived Yangshuo, I just walked a bit there, then took the bus together with the Chinese tour on the cruise back to Guilin, Sovel and her husband continued the tour with their tour guide although she was a bit worried to leave me alone since I didn't have any tour guide with me ;-)
The bus took about 1h or so, I went back to my hotel, called David, I booked my ferry ticket for Guangzhou-HK (yes, I wanted to try the ferry as well since I already took the train when I came), and asked for the Longsheng rice terrace tour, it would be for the day after. David came, and I asked if he knew any good place to try local foods in Guilin (there were quite a few good ones listed in the travel book but I would anyway ask for a local opinion). He said he would pass by to pick me up for dinner, so I just walked around the city, it's rather small but very green and clean. Although David told me to be careful at night, if I went out in the evening, it would be better that I brought no bags or else.
Around 7.30pm, I met David at the hotel reception for dinner. We went to a very nice restaurant, and David's girlfriend, Li joined us. She is very nice, and they also like me very much. She worked for the ticket office in Guilin train station, and is also a shopaholic ;-), she doesn't speak any English, but I learnt some Chinese words from David, so I just teased her with David ;-), she is also very shy. David is 37 years old, and Li is 33 or something but they both look so young!! We ordered alot of foods, especially noodles!! Gosh, there were many kinds, and they made from rice...I learnt how to say Boyfriend or girlfriend in Chinese-Nan pong dau/Nu pong dau, maidan-bill, xiao jue-young sister, Shaomei-lady, Meili/piaoliang-beautiful, chauba-let's go, hou sheng mi-peanut, bu tung-don't understand, bu tru tao-don't know...etc. I had a lot of fun with them that evening. After dinner, we went to a massage place, I had foot massage and David and Li had a back-shoulder massage or something...A young guy was doing a foot massage for me, he was very good, although also laughed a lot when I couldn't stand the pain...
We walked back to the hotel, talked. David said he just bought a new mobile phone, it costed him 800 yuen (80E), a Nokia...and he was happy because the price was dropped when he bought it. I noticed that David and Li didn't show their affection in public, I don't think it is forbidden but it's just the culture. They didn't hold hands, I would just say they were friends rather than dating, but David was asking me if on the female point of views, I could see Li loves him. Of course, she does, I told him, and teased "so when are you gonna marry her then? maybe when I am back next year, you guys have your own tour operation"He said, "only if she wants me" ;-))) That was very sweet!!
25/02/2005
Weather was very nice, sunny and warm
In the morning, David came together with another girl, she would be our guide the whole day. So, I left with her to the bus station, there was a minivan with full of tourists waiting for us there. Her name was also Li (??), she was also very shy, and was all the time apologying for her English. There were two Brits guys who happened to come from VN, an American-Portuguese lady, a Chinese girl with her father (I think), a French guy (from La Rochelle, Sebatien;-)), another Asian looking girl, but she is French, and her African-American boyfriend, apparently, Sebastien travelled with them...
The trip took about 3h or something, and then we climbed up. The field was amazing, and from time to time, the Dao people came to us to ask if we wanted to have a picture with them (the women are famous for their long hair, I think 190cm long). They are very short, but I think they are hard workers. David later told me that Chinese government are in favour of having educational improvement for minority groups. The thing is-if you want to enter to a university in China, you have to pass an exam first, this exam will determine whether you are able to enter the university of your choice, and also is to limit the amount of students entering. So, if there are more students who apply into a specific university, the grade that determine the entry will be high...But for the minority case, the government will tolerate with a lower grade to pass than a city student for example.
Anyway, I had a sort of homemade Tibetan Cheese sandwich at a cafe on Longsheng at the break, which was not bad at all. I talked to Amanda abit (American-Portuguese), she is a cool lady, traveled in most of places, and speak quite good Chinese. She was in Hanoi during the NEw Year, she told me, and of course the traffic in Hanoi almost gave her a heart attack although she was brave enough to rent a motorbike to ride there on her own!!
We continueed to climb up, it was nice when again I met Sovel and her husband on the way, she was so happy to see me, was really hugging me and said "oh, you are alive" ;-), and then turned to her husband "look, she is alive" ;-)). She was on the way down while I was climbing up, she said "it's nice today, non?", I agreed, after we said good bye as she was flying back to HK that evening otherwise we could have a beer, so I said I would write her when I was back to Belgium..and maybe she would come for a beer in Brussels instead ;-).
We finally arrived at the top of the field, me and Sebatien were trying get a picture of a Dao's kid, the kid was very cute, his cheeks were a bit red because of the cold, and with his winter clothes, he looked cute...Sebatien was quite excited when he succeeded to get the child's picture that he said to the kid "Oh, I love you" ;-) and showed me the picture. Picture was very good! "So, you spoke French", Sebastien asked, I said "not good, but I understand, so where in France you're from", " West, La Rochelle, do you know?" he said, "have been there last year with my uncle, I love that place, especially the old port", "oh, whenever, you go there again, let me know" ;-)), and I got his e-mail address, cool!!!
We took a break on the hill, and I breath in the fresh air, and enjoyed the view, the field looked as if there was no end, likes large steps of a stair. I supposed the harvest ended, so now people were working on the field with the buffalos, and the wheat or rice field was in yellow colour...The two Brits were ready to move back, so we started going down.
On the way back, the Chinese girl that travelled with her father (??) asked me where I was from, I told her Yue Nan, she said "nice country, also beautiful", she suddenly made her voice sounded like a rooster's crow, and then her body language showed like she was going to sleep. I didn't get what she meant at all, so Amanda joined in, I laughed so much after Amanda turned to the girl to ask her some Chinese words, and turned to me " is there any special chicken died in VN?"...I figured out the girl meant the bird flu that was happening in VN. Me and Amanda laughed a lot, and I have to admit that the girl was using very good body languages, amazing!!
On the way back, the tour girl, Li gave me a dried plum to try, tasted so good, and she told me it's help when someone has carsick or feeling dizzy on the bus...Amanda also said that...good to know, tasted good anyway ;-)
We arrived Guilin, I went back to my hotel while others were either on the way back to Yangshou for a nite bus to Sengzhen, or to Kumming like Sebastien. I bought a ticket for an evening Chinese ballet and acrobatic show...
On the same morning I arrived, I booked and took the river Cruise tour to Yangshuo. The weather was so really bad, we could hardly see anything. I met a gentleman from Wales, and a Spanish-Dutch couple from another tour, which was nice. We went to the upper part of the cruise, the view was impressive, the water was so pure that it reflected the images of the limestone-mountains/hills through it, it looked like the area of Halong bay in VN...there were a lot of bamboo trees along the river, and some small huts, I noticed the smoke from those little houses, some children, ox...The whole scenery was very peaceful, cold weather, dead tree, smoke coming out from houses, little boats...gorgeous. I meant any poet could easily come up with a poem...
There were several some small commercial boats which two Chinese guys on them, they tried to connect to the cruise with a rope, and then go along, trying to sell Chinese antiques (??) to us. Bob went from one place to another, I guess he travelled to many places and owned a house in the Philipines that these things were just normal for him. But the Sovel (the Spanish younglady) laughed alot, she told me that her Dutch husband was in HK for business, so she joined him for the trip, but the weather was so bad, it was also her first time in China. The tourguide on the cruise was explaining every part as the cruise went by, "this hill looked like a woman carries her baby, but pls use your imagination" ;-), Sovel did not understand any word from the tour girl for her accent, so I just repeated what the girl said to her...I noticed Sovel's husband owned a Sony T1 camera, and most of the people in the Italian group owned a Sony camera ;-)) funny
Time for lunch, we had lunch on board, very good food otherwise, I like it although Sovel complained that the fishes have so many bones ;-). I exchanged my e-mail address to her, think I have to write to her soon.
The tour ended around 1pm when we arrived Yangshuo, I just walked a bit there, then took the bus together with the Chinese tour on the cruise back to Guilin, Sovel and her husband continued the tour with their tour guide although she was a bit worried to leave me alone since I didn't have any tour guide with me ;-)
The bus took about 1h or so, I went back to my hotel, called David, I booked my ferry ticket for Guangzhou-HK (yes, I wanted to try the ferry as well since I already took the train when I came), and asked for the Longsheng rice terrace tour, it would be for the day after. David came, and I asked if he knew any good place to try local foods in Guilin (there were quite a few good ones listed in the travel book but I would anyway ask for a local opinion). He said he would pass by to pick me up for dinner, so I just walked around the city, it's rather small but very green and clean. Although David told me to be careful at night, if I went out in the evening, it would be better that I brought no bags or else.
Around 7.30pm, I met David at the hotel reception for dinner. We went to a very nice restaurant, and David's girlfriend, Li joined us. She is very nice, and they also like me very much. She worked for the ticket office in Guilin train station, and is also a shopaholic ;-), she doesn't speak any English, but I learnt some Chinese words from David, so I just teased her with David ;-), she is also very shy. David is 37 years old, and Li is 33 or something but they both look so young!! We ordered alot of foods, especially noodles!! Gosh, there were many kinds, and they made from rice...I learnt how to say Boyfriend or girlfriend in Chinese-Nan pong dau/Nu pong dau, maidan-bill, xiao jue-young sister, Shaomei-lady, Meili/piaoliang-beautiful, chauba-let's go, hou sheng mi-peanut, bu tung-don't understand, bu tru tao-don't know...etc. I had a lot of fun with them that evening. After dinner, we went to a massage place, I had foot massage and David and Li had a back-shoulder massage or something...A young guy was doing a foot massage for me, he was very good, although also laughed a lot when I couldn't stand the pain...
We walked back to the hotel, talked. David said he just bought a new mobile phone, it costed him 800 yuen (80E), a Nokia...and he was happy because the price was dropped when he bought it. I noticed that David and Li didn't show their affection in public, I don't think it is forbidden but it's just the culture. They didn't hold hands, I would just say they were friends rather than dating, but David was asking me if on the female point of views, I could see Li loves him. Of course, she does, I told him, and teased "so when are you gonna marry her then? maybe when I am back next year, you guys have your own tour operation"He said, "only if she wants me" ;-))) That was very sweet!!
25/02/2005
Weather was very nice, sunny and warm
In the morning, David came together with another girl, she would be our guide the whole day. So, I left with her to the bus station, there was a minivan with full of tourists waiting for us there. Her name was also Li (??), she was also very shy, and was all the time apologying for her English. There were two Brits guys who happened to come from VN, an American-Portuguese lady, a Chinese girl with her father (I think), a French guy (from La Rochelle, Sebatien;-)), another Asian looking girl, but she is French, and her African-American boyfriend, apparently, Sebastien travelled with them...
The trip took about 3h or something, and then we climbed up. The field was amazing, and from time to time, the Dao people came to us to ask if we wanted to have a picture with them (the women are famous for their long hair, I think 190cm long). They are very short, but I think they are hard workers. David later told me that Chinese government are in favour of having educational improvement for minority groups. The thing is-if you want to enter to a university in China, you have to pass an exam first, this exam will determine whether you are able to enter the university of your choice, and also is to limit the amount of students entering. So, if there are more students who apply into a specific university, the grade that determine the entry will be high...But for the minority case, the government will tolerate with a lower grade to pass than a city student for example.
Anyway, I had a sort of homemade Tibetan Cheese sandwich at a cafe on Longsheng at the break, which was not bad at all. I talked to Amanda abit (American-Portuguese), she is a cool lady, traveled in most of places, and speak quite good Chinese. She was in Hanoi during the NEw Year, she told me, and of course the traffic in Hanoi almost gave her a heart attack although she was brave enough to rent a motorbike to ride there on her own!!
We continueed to climb up, it was nice when again I met Sovel and her husband on the way, she was so happy to see me, was really hugging me and said "oh, you are alive" ;-), and then turned to her husband "look, she is alive" ;-)). She was on the way down while I was climbing up, she said "it's nice today, non?", I agreed, after we said good bye as she was flying back to HK that evening otherwise we could have a beer, so I said I would write her when I was back to Belgium..and maybe she would come for a beer in Brussels instead ;-).
We finally arrived at the top of the field, me and Sebatien were trying get a picture of a Dao's kid, the kid was very cute, his cheeks were a bit red because of the cold, and with his winter clothes, he looked cute...Sebatien was quite excited when he succeeded to get the child's picture that he said to the kid "Oh, I love you" ;-) and showed me the picture. Picture was very good! "So, you spoke French", Sebastien asked, I said "not good, but I understand, so where in France you're from", " West, La Rochelle, do you know?" he said, "have been there last year with my uncle, I love that place, especially the old port", "oh, whenever, you go there again, let me know" ;-)), and I got his e-mail address, cool!!!
We took a break on the hill, and I breath in the fresh air, and enjoyed the view, the field looked as if there was no end, likes large steps of a stair. I supposed the harvest ended, so now people were working on the field with the buffalos, and the wheat or rice field was in yellow colour...The two Brits were ready to move back, so we started going down.
On the way back, the Chinese girl that travelled with her father (??) asked me where I was from, I told her Yue Nan, she said "nice country, also beautiful", she suddenly made her voice sounded like a rooster's crow, and then her body language showed like she was going to sleep. I didn't get what she meant at all, so Amanda joined in, I laughed so much after Amanda turned to the girl to ask her some Chinese words, and turned to me " is there any special chicken died in VN?"...I figured out the girl meant the bird flu that was happening in VN. Me and Amanda laughed a lot, and I have to admit that the girl was using very good body languages, amazing!!
On the way back, the tour girl, Li gave me a dried plum to try, tasted so good, and she told me it's help when someone has carsick or feeling dizzy on the bus...Amanda also said that...good to know, tasted good anyway ;-)
We arrived Guilin, I went back to my hotel while others were either on the way back to Yangshou for a nite bus to Sengzhen, or to Kumming like Sebastien. I bought a ticket for an evening Chinese ballet and acrobatic show...
posted by Vagabonder @ 2:58 PM
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