Our flight (about 1 1/2 hours from Shanghai) landed in Guilin on Saturday morning. Guilin is the main city of the province and boasts the origin of the Karst mountain range, with the Li River running through the city The mountains are not particularly high, but they are so numerous and bizarre crazy looking that you feel like you have landed on the moon. I didn't take this picture, but it definitely gives you the visual.
Two highlights of the day: a visit to a Tea Plantation and a trip to the South China Pearl Museum.
At the Tea Plantation, we learned about the traditional Chinese tea ceremony and had the chance to taste a variety of teas from the area. That woman back there is Fei, our tour guide in Guilin.
At the Pearl Museum we learned about the harvesting of Oysters and saw a pearl pried from an oyster right in front of us. After a short lecture about pearls (...the majority of the world's cultured pearls come from Southern China), you are ushered into this crazy ballroom where you sit for a 10 minute fashion show (just the 5 of us in a room that could accommodate 100 or more) with music playing and models strutting down the runway in ball gowns showing off all the beautiful pearls. Very weird. And then, you are ushered into the showroom with case upon case of pearl jewelery. They are very proud here that Bill and Hillary Clinton visited this museum (Hillary bought a strand of black pearls), as did Nancy Pelosi...and now all three Shue girls own cultured pearl earrings from China.
Sunday morning we woke up to rainy skies, and headed out for a 2 hour drive to Longshen. This area is sort of a hub for about 10 ethnic minority groups - the largest are the Yao and the Zhuang. The drive was maddeningly slow due to all the traffic, and we wound up and around mountain roads until we literally had to stop because the roads were too full for more cars to pass. So, we boarded a local bus for the last leg of the journey - standing room only - not knowing that we were literally getting on the death bus. Off the bus went up the mountain, packed to the gills with Chinese tourists and 5 Shues. The cocky driver picked up steam to barrell upwards, and swerved around mountain curves with steep cliffs and no guardrails on a rainy foggy day (think the pacific coast highway at 60 miles an hour, raining, swaying, old bus, gears shifting, Shues screaming). Non-plussed, the Chinese passengers swayed with the bus around each awful turn. I have never been in a situation that felt so precarious, and I imagined the small squib in the New York Times: "Another tour bus plummets off mountain road in Southern China. 35 killed, including 5 American tourists." It took a while to recover from that ride. At the top of the mountain, we were greeted by Grannyish-style Yao village women who jostle to win the prize of carrying your bags on their back for the last 2-3 kilometers up to the inn through small villages and past trails lined with local crafts...no cars allowed. This was pretty bizarre to see and a cause for a lot of laughter about overpacked bags, but their livelihood depends on this business...so off the bags went on the back.
Arriving at the Li-An Lodge in Pin An village was like arriving to a little slice of boutique, down comforter, chinese design heaven. A small (16 rooms) hotel, the Lodge was built and is owned by an American Chinese man named Keren Su, famous as a photographer and incredible historian and curator of all things Chinese. Each room is designed and decorated according to a theme and its historical roots (calligraphy, blue and white porcelain, celadon, ikat...), and the traditional style Lodge sits above the famous and scenic Lonji rice terraces that snake out around the mountain offering the most incredible views from every window. Our weather was disappointing, but the lodge itself was the most memorable, unique little hotel we have ever seen and is not to be believed. We kept hearing that it was a "special" place, but we weren't understanding what that really meant until we arrived and felt it for ourselves.These pictures show the view out the windows of the Lodge. It is hard to say enough good things about this place.
Leaving Longshen, we drove about 2 hours to Yangshuo, a hub of outdoor enthusiast adventure in China. The Karst peaks continue to Yangshuo, and the rain followed us too. But if there's anywhere to vacation in the rain, this may be it.
Cooking school - a highlight for all of us. The Yangshuo Cooking School overlooks the Li River - each of us assigned to our own station -- cleaver, ingredients and gas fired stove top. We made steamed chicken with mushrooms in those little bamboo steamers, egg wrapped pork dumplings, eggplant yangshuo style, and stir fried pork with vegetables. The other people in the class were a few recent college graduates from the U.S. who are teaching English in Shenzen for the year.
Rock Climbing -
Caving Exploring inside the limestone mountains, mudbaths and a natural hotspring -
Kayaking on the Li River -
Mountain Biking - definitely a best of the week event, especially for Jeb who had a no fear policy off road. Unfortunately, this landed him in the bushes a few times.
This trip has definitely inspired us for future adventures. Home on Saturday muddy, suitcases loaded with wet clothes and ready for a vacation from the vacation.
