Biking, bamboo rafting and meeting Sherry in Yangshuo
27/02/2005
That morning, I took the express bus at 9am to go to Yangshuo, and David recommended and arranged a hotel there for me. It belongs to one of his friend, Jimmy and Jimmy's girlfriend (who turned out to be a Belgian). He also asked one of his friend to show me arround...
When I arrived in Yangshuo's bus station, Mike (David's friend) picked me up, we went to the hotel to check in, and I met Sherry's sister at the reception. The hotel was very clean, and very nice as well, it has an European touch (just by looking at the curtain, the setting, furnitures, lights..). I picked up the ferry ticket that David sent me for Guangzhou-HK. After checking in, I and Mike went to have breakfast, Yangshuo noodle (YEh!!!), only 2 yuen, and so good. I rent a bike and went to the village with Mike, we did 25km that day, to the Moon Hill, and 1000 Buddhas cave (the cave was very dark, very natural, full of mud, slippery slopes, plus they want to save energy, so the light was turned on only for me-I was the only visitor ;-), but still not enough light. Despite that, the guy who showed me the inside was very good in moving inside, he is used to show tourists. Although the name is 1000 Buddhas cave, but just of few of the limestones look like a buddha...well again "use your imagination")
I enjoyed the cave because it was a bit like I was going to a mine or something, and had to use robes to climb up and down to avoid falling down. It was quite dangerous to be inside. Also, the cave located in a small neighbour in the village we were, so, it was nice to see every house had their own green vegetable little garden, some very cute Chinese dogs, and curious eyes of the children looking at me. There was one group of children that reminded me of my childhood, they were trying to make a fire place, very young ones like around 7 or 8 years old, I asked Mike if they were trying to cook something, he said they were trying to make a fire to warm themselves up ;-(. But they reminded me of when I was used to also make a fire together with my friends in our neighbour (once used to be very green, now is full with big cimented houses!) at lunch time to cook something, especially VNese pancakes ;-).
I didn't know Yangshuo was famous for its grapefruit, apparently Yangshuo's soil is very good for this pomelo tree, and everywhere, I saw plenty of them. Even Sherry's house has them. Since I love this fruit, Sherry even tried to get home from downtown Yangshuo to go to her place in the village to pick them for me.
After the bike ride, Mike asked me to write my impression of Yangshuo in his guestbook, and insisted that I should write it in French ;-). So, I managed to write a short paragraph.
I walked on West street (it is a foreigner street!!!-plenty of cafes, pizzas, a lot of European restaurants, and of course plently of Westerners) after saying bye to Mike, trying to buy a mask, and a silk top for Cristine, thought she would like it. But it is very bad to shop here although the price is cheaper but we need to be very good in bargaining...didn't buy anything.
It started to rain, so I went back to the hotel, wanted to take a shower, but the water was freezing, so I called Sherry's sister and asked if she knew...I just needed to let the water on until it got warm, it took at least 10 till 15 mins or so...I asked if she knew any good places to eat beerfish in Yangshuo (fishes from the Langjia River that are cooked with local beer-delicious!!). She said if I could wait her sister (Sherry) would come with me to show me a real place to eat beerfish. That was how I met Sherry.
The rain stopped, and Sherry was waiting for me, and she was such a sweet girl!! She worked at the hotel also as the reception to save money, so she could go to school again to learn English with an American, and she was all the time trying to speak to me, and although I have to guess a lot, I enjoyed her company. The place where we went to have dinner was on the New West street, I told her to join me for dinner, and we ordered beerfish, stuffed snails..etc, I had an excellent dinner with great company! I asked Sherry about the mask, and she told me she would help me to bargain. So, what we did, we walked to shops, I had to keep quiet, and only she talked ;-). We managed to buy the silk top for Cristine, but with the mask, I didn't like any of them, or the one I like the wood was not good quality, too soft or also they could be too expensive. But Sherry told me her friend owns a shop, so she would check out for me if they had any nice masks.
It was still raining, so cold, also getting late, plus Sherry had to be on night shift that night, so I went to my room, watched Chinese Kingfu movie on TV.
28/02/2005
I checked out at 12am, and invited Sherry again to have lunch with me since she finished her shift, we had rice that was cooked in a earthen cookware, with vegetables, so nice. After I went to a supermarket bought a bottle of water and cookies for my night train back to Guangzhou. I gave Sherry a chocolate bar, she was thrilled.
I was back to Guilin train station around 3pm in the afternoon, so I just went in, waited for my train. This time I was in the same compartment with three Chinese girls and one of them had a child. God, I was completely exhausted the day we arrived the next day in Guangzhou for the whole night they were eating, opening doors, and talking constantly with the light on!!!
01/03/2005
I arrived in Guangzhou and took a taxi to to the harbour to catch my ferry. After about 3h, I was in HK harbour city again ;-). I went in a restarant to have dim sum again, and then took the metro to Mongkok area to visit the bird market that I hadn't managed to see before. It was not as impressive as I imagined it should be, probably because we used to have this kind of market in VN (although now I think we manage to eat them all ;-), only in some big Buddhism festivals, some people bring cages full of small birds inside for people to buy to free them-well, good for your karma)
After that I went back to downtown Kowloon to buy Chinese films ;-), bought a couples of films of Anita Mui, and the guy at the shop was saying one of the actor that I know is called "HK Jim Carrey" (well, if you see the Chinese film that was out some time ago of a guy/monk who played football very good, that's him)
I met Ada (a colleague in Sony)'s father to pick up some stuffs that her family send to her, then went to the airport. At that time, I couldn't wait to surprise my mom...
The flight was at 9pm in the evening, so I was a bit early there. I walk around, and then decided to get a rest at the gate, reading my "Lord of the flies" book (btw, Cris I finished your "Susan's diary" book only in one night, it has very good ending ;-)).
Boarding at last, VN airline ;-)
That morning, I took the express bus at 9am to go to Yangshuo, and David recommended and arranged a hotel there for me. It belongs to one of his friend, Jimmy and Jimmy's girlfriend (who turned out to be a Belgian). He also asked one of his friend to show me arround...
When I arrived in Yangshuo's bus station, Mike (David's friend) picked me up, we went to the hotel to check in, and I met Sherry's sister at the reception. The hotel was very clean, and very nice as well, it has an European touch (just by looking at the curtain, the setting, furnitures, lights..). I picked up the ferry ticket that David sent me for Guangzhou-HK. After checking in, I and Mike went to have breakfast, Yangshuo noodle (YEh!!!), only 2 yuen, and so good. I rent a bike and went to the village with Mike, we did 25km that day, to the Moon Hill, and 1000 Buddhas cave (the cave was very dark, very natural, full of mud, slippery slopes, plus they want to save energy, so the light was turned on only for me-I was the only visitor ;-), but still not enough light. Despite that, the guy who showed me the inside was very good in moving inside, he is used to show tourists. Although the name is 1000 Buddhas cave, but just of few of the limestones look like a buddha...well again "use your imagination")
I enjoyed the cave because it was a bit like I was going to a mine or something, and had to use robes to climb up and down to avoid falling down. It was quite dangerous to be inside. Also, the cave located in a small neighbour in the village we were, so, it was nice to see every house had their own green vegetable little garden, some very cute Chinese dogs, and curious eyes of the children looking at me. There was one group of children that reminded me of my childhood, they were trying to make a fire place, very young ones like around 7 or 8 years old, I asked Mike if they were trying to cook something, he said they were trying to make a fire to warm themselves up ;-(. But they reminded me of when I was used to also make a fire together with my friends in our neighbour (once used to be very green, now is full with big cimented houses!) at lunch time to cook something, especially VNese pancakes ;-).
I didn't know Yangshuo was famous for its grapefruit, apparently Yangshuo's soil is very good for this pomelo tree, and everywhere, I saw plenty of them. Even Sherry's house has them. Since I love this fruit, Sherry even tried to get home from downtown Yangshuo to go to her place in the village to pick them for me.
After the bike ride, Mike asked me to write my impression of Yangshuo in his guestbook, and insisted that I should write it in French ;-). So, I managed to write a short paragraph.
I walked on West street (it is a foreigner street!!!-plenty of cafes, pizzas, a lot of European restaurants, and of course plently of Westerners) after saying bye to Mike, trying to buy a mask, and a silk top for Cristine, thought she would like it. But it is very bad to shop here although the price is cheaper but we need to be very good in bargaining...didn't buy anything.
It started to rain, so I went back to the hotel, wanted to take a shower, but the water was freezing, so I called Sherry's sister and asked if she knew...I just needed to let the water on until it got warm, it took at least 10 till 15 mins or so...I asked if she knew any good places to eat beerfish in Yangshuo (fishes from the Langjia River that are cooked with local beer-delicious!!). She said if I could wait her sister (Sherry) would come with me to show me a real place to eat beerfish. That was how I met Sherry.
The rain stopped, and Sherry was waiting for me, and she was such a sweet girl!! She worked at the hotel also as the reception to save money, so she could go to school again to learn English with an American, and she was all the time trying to speak to me, and although I have to guess a lot, I enjoyed her company. The place where we went to have dinner was on the New West street, I told her to join me for dinner, and we ordered beerfish, stuffed snails..etc, I had an excellent dinner with great company! I asked Sherry about the mask, and she told me she would help me to bargain. So, what we did, we walked to shops, I had to keep quiet, and only she talked ;-). We managed to buy the silk top for Cristine, but with the mask, I didn't like any of them, or the one I like the wood was not good quality, too soft or also they could be too expensive. But Sherry told me her friend owns a shop, so she would check out for me if they had any nice masks.
It was still raining, so cold, also getting late, plus Sherry had to be on night shift that night, so I went to my room, watched Chinese Kingfu movie on TV.
28/02/2005
I checked out at 12am, and invited Sherry again to have lunch with me since she finished her shift, we had rice that was cooked in a earthen cookware, with vegetables, so nice. After I went to a supermarket bought a bottle of water and cookies for my night train back to Guangzhou. I gave Sherry a chocolate bar, she was thrilled.
I was back to Guilin train station around 3pm in the afternoon, so I just went in, waited for my train. This time I was in the same compartment with three Chinese girls and one of them had a child. God, I was completely exhausted the day we arrived the next day in Guangzhou for the whole night they were eating, opening doors, and talking constantly with the light on!!!
01/03/2005
I arrived in Guangzhou and took a taxi to to the harbour to catch my ferry. After about 3h, I was in HK harbour city again ;-). I went in a restarant to have dim sum again, and then took the metro to Mongkok area to visit the bird market that I hadn't managed to see before. It was not as impressive as I imagined it should be, probably because we used to have this kind of market in VN (although now I think we manage to eat them all ;-), only in some big Buddhism festivals, some people bring cages full of small birds inside for people to buy to free them-well, good for your karma)
After that I went back to downtown Kowloon to buy Chinese films ;-), bought a couples of films of Anita Mui, and the guy at the shop was saying one of the actor that I know is called "HK Jim Carrey" (well, if you see the Chinese film that was out some time ago of a guy/monk who played football very good, that's him)
I met Ada (a colleague in Sony)'s father to pick up some stuffs that her family send to her, then went to the airport. At that time, I couldn't wait to surprise my mom...
The flight was at 9pm in the evening, so I was a bit early there. I walk around, and then decided to get a rest at the gate, reading my "Lord of the flies" book (btw, Cris I finished your "Susan's diary" book only in one night, it has very good ending ;-)).
Boarding at last, VN airline ;-)
posted by Vagabonder @ 11:07 AM
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