Escaping a Typhoon

So time has flown by but, September 19-22, was my first vacation time this semester! My group and I decided that we would make a trip up to Yangshou and Xingping for the weekend. However, what started as a 4 day Vacation had turned into a 6 day vacation... Typhoon Usagi hit the city I'm teaching in this semester and the ILP directors did not want us to travel back to Zhongshan until the storm had passed and we could see how much damage had been done. We were originally suppose to leave Sunday Morning.... And we ended up leaving Tuesday Morning. An extra two days on vacation, was a pleasant surprise, but I'm just grateful that the storm wasn't as terrible as it was predicted to be and that me an my group are safe and sound.
<< Picture of my group and our backpacks ready for the weekend >>

So Yangshou.... Yangshou is a gorgeous town. I love it. We stayed at West Lily Hotel/Hostel, the owners are the nicest people and helped hooked us up with some amazing deals to go and do all the things we wanted to do while here in Yangshou. On Wednesday night, my group and I took a sleeper bus. Sleeper Buses are pretty cool. I think I prefer taking a sleeper train because I am too tall for the bed on the bus and I slept cuddling with my backpack... But it was a fun experience and I'll probably end up taking more sleeper buses during my adventures so I just make the best of the sleeping conditions, take some extra drowsy Dramamine and knock out for the ride. Haha Once we arrived in Yangshou, we took some motorcycle taxis to our hotel.. And even though the hotel was closer than expected and the taxi driver ripped us off and made us pay 15 yuan (for two people) I didn't really mind because the bus dropped us off at a random gas station and not at the bus station and I only had directions to the hotel from the bus station.. So basically, I didn't mind paying the motorcycle $2.50 for getting us to the hotel quickly and saving us a lot of stress and we probably never would of found the hotel with them.. Plus it was 4 am when we arrived and I was just ready to get to a bed and get some good sleep.

So, once we got to our hotel/hostel. We all knocked out for a couple hours and Thursday was an amazing day. Once we all woke up, we rented some bikes from the hotel and biked through the country side of Yangshou to the Mud Caves. It was a beautiful ride and the Mud Caves were really cool. We got an English Speaking tour guide who walked us through the caves and pointed at different stalagmite and stalactite and asked us to "use our imagination" when she was explaining what it looked like. There were a few buddha ones and some turtles and "maternal love" and some of them looked more like "father love" according to our  tour guide. Yeah I'll let y'all figure out what those ones looked like...

Anyways, part way through the cave there was a rebirth hole... Basically it was a tiny hole that you crawl through and when you come out the other side you have been reborn.. It was intense.. And not everyone had to do it.. But Autumn, Annemarie and I all got down on our hands and knees and, at the end, pushing ourselves on our stomachs to make it out... It was hard. But I did it with only a few battle wounds..
After that part, we finally made it to the mud part. We all jumped right it and covered ourselves in the mud. Autumn and I went all the way under and got completely covered in Mud... Who knew playing in mud would be so much fun. ;) 

After the Mud Bath, we rinsed off and in the next part of the cave there were some hot springs. It was nice and relaxing and the perfect temperature for a hot spring. :) 

After we left the Mud Caves, we grabbed some grub and then started biking back to our hotel. On the way to the Mud Caves we took the long country road way. However, on the way back, we took the short more in the town way. So, on the way back back we saw some people rock climbing and we pulled over to see how much it was and what the big deal was. Autumn and I decided, what the heck why not?! I have never in my life been legitimately on the side of the mountain rock climbing, I've only ever done rock climbing at the little fake
things at the fair and what not.. And have never been able to make it to the top.. So I was really nervous and was kinda afraid that I would fail within the first 30 seconds and have wasted the money in even trying.. But that wasn't the case. It was intense holding onto the mountain and maneuvering my way up to the top but it was easier than I thought it would be and before I knew it I was almost to the top. But the higher I got the harder it became with less places to grab and pull myself up.. But with some guidance of the Asian guy holding onto my dear life, by they ropes, I made it, donged the dong, and had everyone watching clap and cheer for me as I descended down the mountain. It was a great feeling of accomplishment and I definitely want to do more rock climbing in the future.

Later that night, after a good nap, we hit the town and explored West Street. West Street is the popular street with tons of restaurants and shops. We ate some dang good western food and bartered our socks off. We also went to a Kissing Fish Spa! When I lived in Weihai, I laid in a pool full of the kissing fish and had them nibble on my whole body, but I had never done just my feet and I was excited to show my group what it was all about. It tickled soooooooooooo much, but after about a minute I got used to it and got over the fact that there were little fish nibbling the dead skin off my feet. It felt good and my feet were super soft after. 

The next day, Friday. We went to The Longji Rice Terraces. It was my second time going because I went to Guilin, the rice terraces and Xingping when I went on vacation with my Weihai group.... But not Yangshou.. Anyways, it was a long day we took the 3 hour bus ride there and then spent a few hours at the terraces, which were gorgeous. This time I spent more time in a Village and on the outskirts of the terraces but I still saw some gorgeous views and ate some bamboo rice. Basically they cook the rice inside bamboo. It was pretty delicious. :)

<< Rice Terraces and the Village >>

<< Bamboo Rice >>

Saturday and Sunday, we spent in my favorite little village. Xingping. I love Xingping. It's such a majestic, enchanting little fishing village. We stayed in This Old Place Hostel, which I stayed in last time as well. It's such a rustic, urban and adorable hostel with super friendly staff and really delicious brick fired pizza... Soooo good. 

While in Xingping, we took bamboo rafts down the Li River.
It was so much fun and the views were AMAZING. Seriously, I can't get enough of the mountains here. At one point, we stopped off onto some man made rocky islands in the middle of the river and I got to be a cormorant fisherman. Basically, I just got to hold some cormorant birds on a stick.. so I guess technically I didn't take the birds to go fishing, but still it was a neat experience. We also hiked up one of the mountains to catch the sunset and caught some even more AMAZING views. The hike was incredibly difficult, but SO WORTH IT. The view of Xingping, the river and the sunset were breathtaking. Before leaving Xingping, we ventured across the river and walked for about an hour, with really crappy directions, and after doing charades for a bit found what we were looking for. The Nunnery/Monastery. It was actually pretty creepy. A random chinese monk guy came out and was EXTREMELY HAPPY and kept motioning at us and then turning in a circle.. I'm pretty positive he wasn't all there.. but, It was really funny, and why we followed him, I don't really know. We followed him into a cave behind the place and we saw a lot of Buddha Idols and some bats. We then walked through the main area of the Nunnery, it was really old and run down and it was basically just a lot of idols and we even got to see some legit monks, so that was pretty neat. After that interesting experience, we headed back to the hostel, had one last amazing pizza and headed back to Yangshou.

<< Bamboo We Found Leaning on the Path >> 

 << Some Monks at the Nunnery/Monastery >> 

<< Our Kinda Creepy Guide >>

The next day, Monday, in Yangshou, we didn't do much. None of us budgeted for an extra few days on vacation, having to pay for our food and hotel and what not, so we basically just napped and chilled that whole day. That night, we went to get some dinner and ran into a few other China ILPers from our city, just in a different group. They were shocked to find out that we had been clubbing yet, so we went club hopping. IT WAS SO MUCH FUN. I already always feel like a celebrity because people are constantly taking pictures with me or of me, but nothing compares to going clubbing and having people cheer for you while you're dancing and having random drunk Chinese, Men and Women, want to dance with you and offer you free shots and beer. We didn't drink, and it wasn't a big deal to the people offering it to us. The clubs loved us and it was so much fun to dance and laugh. The clubs were basically just a bar with a bunch of small circle tables all around with a really small elevated dance floor, some even had a pole. It was tons of fun and even though I was dressed in a T-shirt and shorts and was pretty wet because it had been raining, it didn't matter. That was a great way to end a great vacation. That evening, after we got home, we got permission from the ILP directors that it was safe to travel home as soon as possible. We hopped on a sleeper bus the next morning, and after a longggggggg ride, watching weird Chinese movies and with a bus driver who beeped his horn every 5 seconds, we made it back safe and sound to Zhongshan. Sad to leave Yangshou and such a great weekend, but happy to be back and ready to teach the next day.