Yangshuo Round 2

Hello friends and family. Long time no see. Life here has been incredibly busy, and as a result, the blog has suffered. After weeks of no posts, I have returned with a new adventure to tell you all about. As a side note, we only have a week and a half until we come home! Our time here has flown by.

When we went to Yangshuo at the beginning of the semester, we knew that we wanted to return. The city is so beautiful and picturesque that you can’t help but love the place. For a time, we weren’t sure if we would return. Luckily, we found a time to make it happen, and I’m so glad we did. This trip to Yangshuo was my favorite of all of our trips in China. While each trip we have taken was full of excitement and wonder, this one was incredibly relaxing, which we desperately needed.

Jordan, Natalie, Laurel, and I arrived in Yangshuo late Friday night. After checking in at the hostel (Sudder Street Hostel - I highly recommend it), we got settled, and then went out for some dinner. Upon arriving, we learned that our hostel offered bike rentals for 10 Yuan, and after 5 p.m. the bikes were free. Naturally, we decided to get use out of the free bike rental, so we hopped on the bicycles and rode into town. It has been years since I’ve rode a bike- probably about seven years to be precise. I think the last time I rode a bicycle was in 2010, when I was in Vienna, Austria. It would seem that all of my recent biking adventures have been majestic to say the least. Luckily, I was able to ride the bike without incident. Admittedly, I struggled a bit. However, I think I could blame that on the fact that my bike was entirely too large for me, but I digress. Despite the bicycle made for a giant and my utter lack of practice, we made it to a restaurant. We went to Lucy’s, a diner we frequently visited the last time we came to Yangshuo. When we finished eating, we rode our bicycles through the frigid night air, exploring parks, and dodging traffic. It was a great start to our trip. Upon returning to the hostel, we had a great surprise- our bed was soft! It was soft by American standards. We haven’t slept on a soft mattress in four months. This was the best we had slept in a long time.

The view from our hostel

The next morning, we decided to step up the adventure factor, as one does in Yangshuo. That day, we rented electric scooters from our hostel. We lucked out because the scooters were only 50 Yuan for the day! 50 Yuan = $7.50 USD. Jordan and I shared one scooter, and Natalie and Laurel shared another scooter. Initially, none of us were very good at driving the scooter. Blessedly, our hostel was located on a quiet, empty street, so we were able to practice with minimal fear of getting hit by a car.

Once we had the hang of driving, we ventured into town. Somehow, we survived driving in China. Jordan has a lot of experience driving outside of the US, so he was a pro. Once in town, we parked our scooters near West Street, and went out in search of souvenirs. Part of our group’s motivation to return to Yangshuo was for the souvenirs. Each one of us were in need of gifts for family, and Yangshuo is the place to find those gifts.

Cute little lady selling flower crowns

After a couple hours of shopping, we were famished. With a stroke of luck, we found an Indian food restaurant. Now, I love Indian food, but I am hesitant of all spicy/ethnic foods found in China. One bad experience with food poisoning will make you hesitant of all food in a country. Despite my hesitation, we tried the Indian food. It was amazing! I didn’t realize how much I had been missing Indian food until I tasted that Chicken Tikka Masala. The food was incredible. This was probably the best tasting food we have had since being in China. As an added bonus, no one got food poisoning!

With full bellies, we returned to the hostel to empty our backpacks. Once that was done, we embarked on a scooter adventure. Rather than venturing further into town, we took the scooters out of town, where we found farmlands. The area outside of Yangshuo is gorgeous. Rolling hills of farmland are everywhere. Most of the farmers there farm Mandarin Oranges. The orange groves dot the hillsides, and farmers and their children scurry about through the fields. It was amazing seeing the tiny villages, filled with crumbling houses. Being there really puts life into perspective. As we continued along, we reached the Lijiang River. The area surrounding the river was gorgeous, so we stopped to take some pictures there. Everything in Yangshuo is so incredibly serene. We could hear birds chirping, and the rustle of the wind in the trees. I had forgotten how quiet a place could be.

After a while of adventuring about, our scooter batteries got low, so we had to return to the hostel. The rest of the evening, we wandered through Yangshuo, taking in the small amount of time we had left there.

On our final morning, despite the small amount of time we had before we needed to check out of our hostel, we rented scooters again. I think the short-lived freedom we had experienced the day prior was enough for us to crave the scooter bliss once more. Our quartet rushed off in the morning, in pursuit of adventure. We again wandered into the countryside of Yangshuo, this time exploring a new village. This village shared the same beauty and simplicity that we had seen the day before. We were in a constant state of awe and joy as we rode about through the quiet hills. On this day, we had to go up more hills than anticipated, which quickly drained our scooter’s battery. Seeing the imminent peril we were in, we backtracked, trying to coast our way back to the hostel. There were a few times when the battery got incredibly low- so low that the battery signal was blinking at us. Luckily, when we got off of the scooter, and walked alongside it for a few minutes, the battery would recharge itself. Somehow, we were able to make it back to the hostel.

Little villages

For the rest of our day, we wandered around West Street, finding the last of our souvenirs, and taking in the charm that is Yangshuo. We were heartbroken to leave that place, knowing that we may never return. However, we can feel at peace, knowing that we have incredible memories of our time there.

This most recent trip to Yangshuo was the best time we have had since being in China. Our time there was relaxing, exciting, and stress-free. We’ve realized that we have overworked ourselves in China, and haven’t taken as much time as we should have to enjoy the simple beautiful moments. As our time in China is coming to a close, I have begun to reflect on our time here. Although much of our time was stressful, crazy, and sometimes upsetting, we have also had some amazing experiences here. I know that as time goes on we aren’t going to remember the small stressors of our days, we are going to remember the times that we rode scooters through Yangshuo, or danced in the park with the locals, and hiked on the Great Wall. We will remember the children we learned to love, and the people who made our time so wonderful. For now, there’s no need to dwell on what has happened, or what will come. For now, we are going to make the best of the days that we have left, because a few months from now we will miss the adventures that we had here in China.