On our way to Guilin for a mini holiday! -- please note the contrast in sky color to those in Beijing...
View from the plane: and the green is so much greener too!
but you can't entirely rid yourself of home -- first restaurant on the tour -- Beijing food!
Day 1: Explore Guilin Inside Ludi Yan (Reed Flute Cave)
Apparently this local was exhausted from his hour-long trek through the cave
On our way to Diecai (Folded Brocade) Hill -- it got its name because the rock formations are all folded over one another, resembling the folds in a silk brocade
minority girls posing outside on the pavillion
hitting the drums of good fortune
Nearing the top of the hill
cave
farmland down below
View from the top of Bright Moon Peak -- you can see the whole cityscape from up there
Guilin city
Wandering around town -- electric bikes...you'd never see that many in one spot in Beijing
break time
pagoda in Fir Lake
playing a game of leap frog
street food!!!
i see a bellyyyyyyyy
tea shop where we tried the local flower tea - osmanthus
dry-braised lamb hotpot
Guilin center square at night
street outside our hotel
Osmanthus Flower River at night
Day 2: Longsheng Pingan Rice Terraces ...despite the torrential downpours and landslides
landslide that nearly wiped out our road
Pingan terraces
climbing our way up through the rain
these fields coil up for 880 m and were built during the Ming Dynasty -- about 500 some years ago
requisite jumping photo
higher, danielle, higher
Zhuang minority village -- the Zhuang are the largest ethnic minority group in China
ladies cooking bamboo rice
eating in a zhuang village home -- seaweed soup
pork and some sort of veggie melon
duck and celery
bamboo rice -- sticky rice mixed with meat and corn then smoked in a bamboo tube
bringing coke to the villagers
little lost duckling
more bamboo rice
zhuang ladies -- they never cut their hair nor wash it with shampoo, only the mountain waters -- but they usually tie their hair up in towels
Dong minority homes
farmer
fresh rice sprouts
Dong women
tour guide Lu Peng (Oscar)...yes, i made him jump too p.s. skip over the next four photos if you have a weak stomach
Danielle's not too sure about this dinner decision...
dog
danielle's first bite
river snails -- which i specifically said i never wanted to try (despite everything else i've ever eaten) just 3 days before the trip
so goes that self-promise...
time for Guilin's most famous dish -- Guilin Rice Noodles - Oscar promised that this hole-in-the-wall was the best place in town
oscar showing me what to do...
ta-da!!!
Day 3: cruise along the Li River to Yangshuo Village
"we have to prove we're on a boat. let's take a picture" - danielle
my first picture of the boat cruise: the on-board kitchen!
people crashed into our boat...
only to try to sell us stuff!
other peddlers
the karst mountains of guilin
and so begin the barrage of megan-and-mountain shots
line of cruise boats
on the back of the 20 RMB note is a scene of guilin's mountains...
and despite the rain, here we are!
special face
we've arrived in Yangshuo village
quick drink before heading out for a bike tour of the village
tandem bike...good thing i wasn't steering -- my first attempt nearly landed us on a police car's roof!
main road
wonder how mickey would feel about this...
west street in "global village"
lake adjacent to west street
leaving the main tourist area...
nightmare tunnel...picture pitch black, trucks on either side, and 2 screaming girls
this is what was on the other side of the tunnel though -- well worth it
Li River
inappropriately clothed
bridge looking over yangshuo
pasture in the distance
sunset at Sanjie Liu
sunset over the mountains
narrators
Impressions of Sanjie Liu -- Red Chapter : Sanjie Liu is a fairy singer in Zhuang Minority legends. A movie produced in the 1960s told her story -- which is now produced in a section of the Li River surrounded by the cliffs. The production shows impressions of life along the Li River through folk songs and dances.
children
Blue chapter
with Yangshuo's signature dish -- beer fish
we ate sooo much
Day 4: Cooking class in yangshuo ..on the way to the market to buy supplies
the market....so big
our teacher is on the right picking out some veggies
protector of the rice
chicken in a basket
meat market
this woman threw dog meat at danielle for taking a picture...RUN
you can even get an IV at the market!!! (talk about sterile conditions)
people in the village...
favorite picture
don't mess
danielle's deep-frying
we made beerfish...
...and guangxi kung pao chicken...
notice danielle's dish sliding off the plate -- "your sauce is too thin, too thin" - teacher
and sweet and sour pork
