Yuangshou, April 16 2000
That was some kind of trip. Coming down from Hong Kong to Guangzhou first, then about 14 hours in the train to Guilin (South-East China). Got there in the morning and directly got a bus down to Yuanshou, a little village just south of Guilin.
It really is a beautifull village - it's right in the middle of these rock formations inbetween which farmers work the fields with their water buffalos. I've never seen the fields so green - just incredible!!
I got this Chinese guide, Sally, to lead me around the country and all of the Chinese villages for two days. This was great. We got a bike and rode for about 6 hours, real cross country. In the afternoon we had a great dinner in one of the
villages - it was a whole new experience for me to see these how these people live and work. Haven't seen any tourists around while biking the countryside.
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The couple of days of China that I have seen were really good (except for people spitting everywhere but I guess you get used to that!!) You have to bargain everywhere though. The last day I went biking around the countryside with Steve, this english guy from Newcastle. Had a real rough trip through the mountains and through the water. We actually got lost inbetween all these ricefield - so many field, it's just incredible.
Anyway, if you do get lost the farmers will try to get you on the right track again - with some sign language and stuff. Steve got unlucky in one of these markets we passed. They rolled his wallet & Visa card out of his backpack (yeah, guess it's not a good place to keep it there, but then again...). So far, I've got a good impression of China but I definately have to come back for a longer stay as it's such a huge country.
Next stop: Vietnam!
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