Down by the River

Every morning, an ambitious group of students meet at the river to read and practice their English. Even though I am not an ambitious student, I am one of the faithful river readers. It is a great place to get together with friends and meet new people. We met some of our closest Chinese friends there. In fact, many of the students did not know each other before the river, but are now great friends. Yesterday Timmy told me that before going to the river he did not have so many friends, and he was very shy. This is not the Timmy I know, he has many friends (he says he is almost famous), and is one of the leaders of the river group. Small Fish (no wonder he likes the river)  is the other main leader. After everyone reads or talks for a while, we all get together in a circle and shout our slogan: “NEVER, NEVER, NEVER GIVE UP!” Sometimes Small Fish will give a ‘talk’ (in Chinese, which I don’t understand…) and occasionally insert one of our names in between all the Chinese. Sometimes this can lead to confusion, but we’ve started to learn not to ask what he said, and just let it be.

There are many topics of conversation at the river, from skin whiteness, to the latest exam, to the weather, to life in America, to our Father. It has been a great way for my family to meet people and keep ongoing relationships with those students we know. He has really blessed us and given us many opportunities!

~Tanner

A Lesson on Thanksgiving

This week Jeff and I are teaching on the USA Holiday of Thanksgiving. Often we try to find interesting video or music clips to spark the students’ interest in a subject. This week Jeff remembered the wonderful Publix Thanksgiving commercials that we have both immensely enjoyed over the last few years, and downloaded a copy for use in our classes. One of our favorites is the one with the Pilgrim couple salt & pepper shakers. As the family begins their meal, many of them reach for the shakers putting the “couple” in distress as to when/if their mate will return. The climax occurs when the feared toddler grabs the man Pilgrim smashing him into the mashed potatoes repeatedly then dropping him on the floor landing before the awaiting family dog. As the “couple” is reunited, the commercial concludes with “There’s nothing like being together at the holidays!” (I always stopped to watch this one at home, and was delighted to obtain my own set of the shakers for our family.) Well after I played this one for my students, I decided to play the other one which Jeff also copied for me. He mentioned that it was one where the family members talked about what they were thankful for. I knew this would fit into the topic nicely, and I vaguely remembered it, but did not take time to preview it before class. So I started playing the clip and listening to the words…and began to get all choked up! This is another special commercial in which three different families are gathered around their Thanksgiving feasts, but before they begin their meals they are sharing what they are thankful for. “Every year on this day I count my blessings…we have so much to be thankful for…I should be thankful every day to have you guys in my life…I don’t tell you enough…this day is always so special…so let’s be grateful…for this incredible year…this wonderful feast…and each other…I love all of you!” As it has already said enough, it aptly concludes with the written words on the screen, “Let’s give thanks.” Actually I remembered later that every time I watched this one at home, I found myself getting caught up in the sentiments! So…I’m trying to regain my composure when my student looking teary eyed says, “I am far away from my family also, it is very difficult”.  Well then it hits me that I will truly miss being with my family for Thanksgiving (and especially for Christmas!) So…I again make an attempt to continue with class. As we get to the end, I have a slide to get the students to talk about what they are thankful for. I found it interesting the week before when I announced that we would be talking about being thankful and noticed many puzzled expressions. It occurred to me that in a society where most do not recognize a divine being, perhaps they don’t think they have anyone to thank. Also the Chinese believe that Americans say thank you too much. Our student friends tell us that they never say thank you to those closest to them since it would signify that they do not have a close relationship. Obviously this seems strange to our way of thinking. Back to class…So…when I ask this same student what she is thankful for, she says “You.”…going on to say how she appreciates me working with her to improve her English as she is not good with it. Well…again I have to seek composure, but instead reach for a tissue. She goes on to say how she is thankful for her parents who do not have much money, but have sacrificed so much to provide for her. We concluded the class with a line by line reading and discussion of the hymn “We Gather Together”. I even sang it to them. (I figured since they’ve probably not heard it before, they won’t know if I’m hitting the notes right.) My hope is that the students left with a good understanding of thankfulness. I know I left with a very thankful heart!

-Cathy

Hangzhou Half-Marathon

My adventures in Hangzhou continued with the half-marathon race on November 8th. When our German teacher neighbor told me in September about the event I was immediately interested. The age restrictions limited Tanner to a short race of only 4 miles which didn’t interest her or Cathy. I set up a Jeff Galloway-style training schedule that would give me the necessary mileage build-up from the 5km runs that Cathy and I customarily do on Monday, Wednesday and Friday – as we have been doing together for years. Although I would have preferred to have a few more weeks of notice for my training routine, it worked out fine and I was blessed with good health and no injury. I ‘treated’ myself again to using the ‘run-walk-run’ technique for the bi-weekly long runs. This method was very forgiving in that it provided a two minute walking break after every mile of running – yet also prepared me to run the complete distance on race day. (Thanks to my friend Clark Miller for re-introducing this to me a couple of years ago.) I think the training was as interesting as the actual race because it took me to many new places. My long training runs were in the direction away from downtown where we had not been before. I discovered suburban ‘villages’ and towns, hillside cemeteries, numerous creeks and rivers, upscale residential communities and so on. I also enjoyed the morning ‘local life’ of fishermen cleaning their catch of fish and turtles at the river’s edge (reminding me of Cap’n John Clinebell and his able ‘crew’), women washing vegetables in preparation for market, school children boarding the bus, road and building construction, etc. These attractions often gave me reason to pause in wonder and consider His majesty. My presence often resulted in friendly smiles and incredulous looks at the foreigner running along wearing only shorts and t-shirt.

When race day came, I was pleased that Cathy and Tanner decided to participate by bringing some student friends along to ‘cheer me up’ as they put it! Since the race was on Sunday morning, they decided to come to the start so that they would still have time for our usual Sunday morning celebration. We were all pleased that this group was interested in joining our weekly get-together for the second time! It was great encouragement having a personal cheering section as I ran by the 1km marker!

The race started and ended at the spectacular Yellow Dragon sports stadium where the opening activities with traditional Chinese entertainment were exhilarating. The route featured the lovely scenery of West Lake, one of Hangzhou’s best-loved attractions. The event was well organized and most satisfying. It was a special blessing to enjoy one of my favorite pastimes at this annual event while here in China. It was also fulfilling to complete the 21km distance in 1:58 – slightly ahead of my goal and #400 in the field of 1,300

~ Jeff

A Halloween Night Out

We thought about having a Halloween Party for some of our students, but then we realized how difficult it would be to find items which are not common here so we opted for A Halloween Night Out. Tanner started texting some of our Chinese student friends to invite them to join us on an excursion to Pizza Hut for dinner, and suggested that they wear a costume. We had heard that the waiters/waitresses dress in costumes there for Halloween, and thought it would be fun to dine there with some students on Halloween night. Upon receiving the message, many of them responded that this would be their first Halloween party so they were very excited. They said “We don’t have such clothes to dress-up, so we don’t know what to wear.” Also many wanted to invite their friends who are very nice. We told them all to meet at the bus stop at 4:30 pm. Tanner quickly put together a pirate costume, and Cathy added some “ears” to a headband to be a cat with her black shirt. Jeff decided to go as a runner in his running attire. When everyone finally arrived at the bus stop, we were a group of 14 with only our family in costume. As we rode the long bus ride to downtown, everyone was excited about the evening ahead. At the end of the bus line we still had a 4 block walk before arriving at Pizza Hut. The restaurant was crowded, so we began our wait out front. We were disappointed to find that the staff was not decked out in costume as they had been earlier in the week, but they let us use some of their costume items to dress up the students for pictures. (Why would they wear costumes during many nights in October, and not wear them on Halloween night???) All of the students enjoyed taking turns dressing in the witch’s hat and cape or devils horns for pictures. Our fellow teachers and friends, the Hardins, were also there with their three young children dressed in costumes for Halloween. The hostess finally seated us at a large table arranged for our group, and we began putting together our order.  Many of the students were not very familiar with pizza so we made suggestions of ordering cheese pizza, but the majority requested a meat pizza. When the Hardin children came by our table to say goodbye, the students surprised them with candy they had brought along to give to the children for trick-or-treating. The students were delighted as we passed out Halloween napkins (which we had brought from home) to everyone to add to the festivities. Timmy said the pizza was “out of this world!” After dinner we shared our Halloween bag of candy corn and pumpkin mix with our friends. (Many thanks to the Clinebells for sending us a bag of this seasonal treat.) They were especially enamored with the little pumpkins. Many of the students decided not to use their napkin or to eat their pumpkins in order to keep them as mementos of our Halloween evening. Before we began the long trek back to our campus, the students willingly agreed to let us pick up a few items (peanut butter and cheese) at the nearby Trust Mart, then graciously helped us in carrying them back. Obviously this was not the usual American Halloween Night activity, but we all left with fun memories of sharing the evening together!

The next day we received the following kind email from one of the students:

Hello sir:
Tonight we  really  had  a  very  unforgetful  Halloween day, don’t you  think so? I also  want  to  say  thanks  to  all  of  you. Both  you  and  Mrs  Hendrick  are  very kind  and  easy-going, and Tanna assuredly is a very  nice  girl  to get  together! And  I  also  took  the candy  whose shape  is  kind  like  pumpkin, I  want  it  to  stay    longer    with  me ; )
GOOD  DAY!
Nalis

p.s. If you get a chance to see the photos, you may agree with us, that we’ve never seen such a nice Pizza Hut in the USA.

An American Treat

Last week we were blessed with a wonderful visit with our American friends: Bobby, Bonnie, Emily Ann, Allie, Sara Grace, and Hannah Ray  AND  Jake and Shelly Hendrix. It was a highlight to be with them on Sunday morning to “meet together”! Per our request they came laden with a large bag full of special items from the US…including bags of pretzels for Jeff & Tanner and Comet for Cathy. (We had been unable to find a good cleanser here!…and bags of pretzels are small and costly!)  Since they had all been here 15 months prior for a year, they knew our situation very well! (As many of you know, the Rays’ sharing of their year’s experiences in China were instrumental in our call to China.) Over lunch we enjoyed hearing them recount many of their previous experiences and relationships. That evening Tanner took Emily Ann back to our campus for a sleep-over. We made it back just in time for the campus “Beautiful Girl” contest. It was fun to see the girls decked out in hip western looking outfits posing on the stage, but we lost interest as we could not discern the content of their speeches. (Obviously our Chinese is slow in progressing.) When we got back to our apartment Tanner insisted on keeping jet lagged Emily Ann awake to watch a teen Chinese (or maybe Korean?) series. The next day T&EA had an interesting dress-up and jumping activity (The pics may be good future blackmail material!) before hosting a Skype party with some friends back home. After lunch we all headed downtown to join everyone at the Ray’s hotel to watch the younger children swim. Our dinner at Banana Leaf together was a nice time to celebrate Hannah’s birthday. When the restaurant band came around to sing a song for our table, the adults rejected their request to join them, instead sending up Tanner and Emily Ann for La Bamba.

Later in the week Tanner gladly took the Ray’s invitation to spend the night with Emily Ann at their hotel. (She had worked hard all week to get ahead on her math!) Bonnie took the girls for a foot massage and later Tanner enjoyed a wonderful bath in the hotel tub. (We only have showers in our apartment.) Throughout the visit, we were especially encouraged by times of sharing  and praying together.

On the Ray’s last night in Hangzhou, we accepted their invitation to join them at their hotel for a special firework display over West Lake. Our students had told us about the firework display planned for Sat night, saying that it would be spectacular, but much too crowded to attend! (The firework display was an annual show for the 10 year Expo.) We knew going downtown would be difficult, and hoped that we would be able to find a way back to our campus that night. After we took the one hour bus ride downtown, we waited 45 minutes for the next bus to take us to West Lake. Finally giving up on the bus, we walked for 30 minutes before we found a cab to take us closer to the lake. Battling the thick crowds (and one time being carried by the crowd), we walked the remainder of the route to the hotel. Finally arriving at the hotel, we found that the Rays had been unable to get a cab, so a friend was bringing them as far as possible since many roads were closed for the show. We enjoyed the mammoth firework show over West Lake as we waited on our friends. It was staged at various locations around the lake with some displayed low on the water and others filling the sky. After a long walk, the Rays finally arrived at the hotel. We spent a few more precious moments with the Rays before leaving them to get ready for their long trek back home. We then took off walking for many long blocks to find a bus home. After finding the bus stop for our #213 night bus, we watched and waited for over an hour as multiples of our bus continued to pass by with passengers literally crammed to the door. Realizing our lack of progress, we took a new plan to cross over and take the #213 bus in the opposite direction. After reaching the end of the line, making our way through crowds, finding another #213 bus, being pushed by anxious passengers into a bus ready to load, making the one hour bus ride home, we were relieved to finally arrive back at our campus just after midnight! It had been a long week, but we rested with many memories of the special treat of visiting with friends from home!

Trip to Dazhai

So we’re in a 13-passenger van and guess how many people are squished inside? Oh, I don’t know, maybe 21 or so. Come to think of it, we didn’t even leave until the lady was sure there were ‘enough’ people. So here we are riding along through the beautiful mountains (I’m reading Tom Sawyer), when we start to see them. They were everywhere. The Long-Hair-Ladies. We heard about The Long Hair show from people in Yangshuo, but these were everyday ladies with their hair wrapped up on their heads and tied in a huge knot directly above the forehead. We kept seeing more and more of them as we drove on and sure enough it turns out they live in the village where we’re staying.

We pull into an area full of LHL (Long-Hair-Ladies) who all want to carry your luggage in their baskets on their backs. Let me tell you- they are persistent! We get off the bus/van and a flock of LHLs start jabbering away at us and trying to put our bags in their baskets. They walked with us all the way to the village and every time we would set a bag down they would try to slip the basket underneath! When that didn’t work, some would even hold a hand on your bag as you walked!

When we get to the actual village, its getting kind of dark, so we want to go straight ahead to our hotel, the only question is, where is it? We know better than to ask one of our LHL followers because they’ll just send us to their hotel, so we find a man who works in a little shop who points us on up the road. We walk awhile and its getting darker, so we ask another person who points us still onward. Now we’re a little confused. The Lonely Planet said “just over the bridge as you enter Dazhai and on your left,” and it has been a while since we saw the bridge… We keep asking until we get to the end of the road and there are stairs that go up into the rice terraces! They then point us there! We say no and turn around, thinking we’ll find a place down in the village. We ask one more person where to go and he tells us in English it is behind us! One of the LHL pulls out a card and says (in Chinese) that it’s the place we’re looking for. The man looks at it and shows us that the characters are the same and the phone # is the same as our book, so he says her place is right.

It’s a simple-and-small but clean place with a shared bathroom for the whole floor. (When I say bathroom, I mean a squatty potty and a shower head. That’s it…no sink.) The owners speak no English, so its up to their 10yr old niece and her friend to get us what we need. The whole time we were there we paid for our dinner, bargained for scarves, and got directions from a 10 year old.

The next morning we get out bright and early to go for a hike up into the terraces. It was beautiful. There were amazing views and it was a beautiful day. We veered off the path a little (a lot) and actually climbed on top of one of the smaller terraces. We could see all around us terrace after terrace and more terrace. There was no one else around. It was incredible and hard to believe that real people had actually cut all these terraces into the mountain. We learned a lot about rice too.

When we got back down from the terraces, we had zhutong fan (rice barbecued inside bamboo) for lunch which was pretty good. We walked around the little village a bit, and then finished off our stay with buying some handmade scarves from the lady at our hotel. We then headed back out the way we came, and almost missed the crowded bus, but they yelled and waited for us.

Of all the places we had visited over the fall break, Dazhai was my favorite.

-Tanner

…and then there were 50!

After many weeks of having just a handful of students in my classes, last Thursday evening they just kept coming in! As they entered many came up to the front to let me know that they would like to join the class. I had been having students complete an information card, so I kept handing out cards as more new students arrived. I began to wonder how I was going to handle this large group. Over half had been there before, so I didn’t want to bore them with new introductions. I quickly decided to divide and conquer! I sent all new students to the back to fill out cards, I assembled another group which had not yet selected English names to complete the task (It is very difficult to pronounce their Chinese names so selecting English names is very helpful!) and  I got a group going in the front working on role plays about conflict resolution. Amazingly it all began to work out! Gradually as the card and name groups completed their tasks they also began to work on role plays. Many of them came up with clever role plays of conflicts with a “win-win” resolution. After the break (Our class periods are two 45 minute sessions with a 5 minute break in between.), I divided them into groups to discuss a “Deserted Island Survival” situation. I found one language savvy student to make an announcement to the class in Chinese (so there was no misunderstanding) that there was a limit of 35 students for the class, so if they wanted to remain in the class they should register soon online to get themselves on the official class roster. (Although the week before there were over 35 students in the class, there were only 7 on the official role.) I counted 50 students in the class even after a few left at the break. WOW…that’s too many!

btw  Jeff had over 55 in class that evening!

-Cathy

Sweet Osmanthus

Home Sweet Home. The sweet fragrance of the osmanthus blossoms has been wafting throughout the campus for the past several weeks. The wonderfully strong scent permeates both indoors and outdoors with the climate conducive to enjoying the fresh air with open windows. We had not noticed before this that so many of the lush green trees covering our landscape are the favored osmanthus, or ‘tea olive’ as we sometimes called it in the past. We are told that indeed the Chinese make a tea using the flower of the osmanthus plant. 

On special days at home we would occasionally enjoy the sweet smell of our two ‘tea olive’ shrubs when they were flowering. So we are especially enjoying this sweet smell of home!

Chopsticks

As we have lived in China for nearly two months now, we have grown accustomed to most of the local eating habits.

Using chopsticks came much easier for us because the Japanese friends renting our house prepared us well. For the two weeks that we shared living in our house prior to our departure, our friends would often prepare supper to include our family. These meals typically were Japanese or Chinese traditional dishes that we ate with the usual Asian utensils – chopsticks, a flat-bottomed soupspoon and a small bowl. This provided us with practice that was to prove invaluable!

Upon arriving in China we began to adjust our American ‘table manners’. In China it is customary for people to eat ‘family style’ with their dining party – everyone shares the food that is served. When dining at a restaurant it is expected that the party will order one dish per person and this will more than feed the group. So, at the outset ‘family style’ takes on an enhanced meaning as the dining party discusses what dishes shall be ordered to satisfy everyone’s palette. Of course this includes a discussion of the food  (meat, vegetable, and types thereof), method of cooking and spice factor. For the sake of brevity this article omits the often humorous-often frustrating banter ensuing from how to order the agreed-upon dishes using the Chinese language, which is typically necessary).

You could consider placing the order and receiving the food successful if the majority of the dishes served were as anticipated – or if not, would be at least edible. It has been our experience that the ordered dishes are brought to the table somewhat happenstance. When our family orders, we will usually receive one dish at a time that we begin eating promptly – it could be meat or vegetable. Occasionally there is a ‘caboose’ dish – one that is served so late that it sometimes is forgotten (when eating with a large group), and that hopefully will still be enjoyable this late in the meal. Steamed rice is usually served with the ordered food – either in a large bowl to be shared or small individual bowls.

We have enjoyed eating many times with groups of our friends. Restaurants often have private rooms for these dining parties that make this a special setting. Large tables usually have ‘lazy-Susan’ (apologies to Susan) tops that make it easy, and sometimes challenging, to share the food.

It is commonplace for diners to bring their own beverages to a restaurant, including bottled water, tea or soft drinks. Many people, including our family, carry hard plastic drinking bottles with water chilled in our home ‘frig’ nearly everywhere we go – including the classroom. Of course drinks can be purchased at the establishment at a higher cost.

Eating the food can be a hoot, although some of the novelty is beginning to wear off for us. Imagine everyone sitting around food dishes clustered, and sometimes stacked, at the middle of the table. The diners have only a small bowl, and a small plate for ‘discards,’ and the pair of chopsticks at the ready in their hand. Chinese table etiquette directs that everyone use their chopsticks, or soup spoon, to obtain their serving from the common food dishes. Many will put an amount for a bite or two into their small bowl, or sometimes on top of their rice serving. Most, however, will more efficiently snatch a bite with their chopsticks from the common serving dishes – why bother with the extra step of putting into your own small bowl? This more common strategy often occurs as the food is spinning past on the ‘lazy-Susan’ – thus requiring certain proficiency with the chopsticks. Keep in mind too that whatever foodstuffs drop onto the table are ‘off limits’ per the local custom – not to be eaten. (The Chinese consider the tabletop unclean, and perhaps it oftentimes is.) So, picture this setting with everyone having chopsticks poised ‘at the ready’ and taking turns (usually) snatching morsels from the served food! Sometimes the image of so many feeding birds comes to mind!

Too many words would be necessary to write about our further adventures of discovering, poking and prodding, and ultimately eating a little of some unknown tidbit.

Chicken Foot

Everyday in China is an adventure…

~ Jeff

Stepping out of Hangzhou

Stepping out of our familiar Hangzhou surroundings for the holiday break was a bit intimidating, as we had become so comfortable with getting around and ordering food, It would have been easier to stay and explore our lovely city, but we’re glad we decided to  take the plunge! (After all we’ll have many more chances to discover more of Hangzhou, and many of our students have offered to be our guides.)

Before we arrived in China we had asked our Chinese friend in Atlanta for her suggestion of the most beautiful area to visit in China – without hesitation she told us to go to the Guilin area. At the further recommendations of our American veteran teaching friends, we had decided to continue on beyond Guilin – heading south for the smaller but similar town of Yangshuo. Upon arrival in Guilin, we were repeatedly told to stay there because Yangshuo was too small and we would never find a room. People laughed when we told them we did not reserve a room ahead. We began to wonder if our friends’ advice would prove too risky with the excessive holiday crowds, and Tanner began to fret! On the bus ride to Yangshuo, we were praying that we would find a comfortable and safe hotel room, and of course God delivered so much more than we asked for or imagined! As we  made our way to the hotel we selected from the Lonely Planet (LP) guidebook suggestions, we were already being asked to “come and see my hotel…good price for you.” After lugging our bags up 5 floors, we all began coughing at the first room the hotel rep took us to as it was above the cooking area below and reeked of chilies! We then followed her through the crowded  shopping street to another of their locations and up 5 more flights to another room with a wonderful view of the Li River and the majestic peaks beyond! Tanner’s face lit up, and we all agreed  it was a good room for us when we saw the ‘western toilet.’ After bargaining the price down to within the range we had hoped for, we settled in and headed out in search of dinner.

The variety of western food in Yangshuo was a treat as we were beginning to miss our familiar American food! Every restaurant advertised  “pizza, burgers, spaghetti, shepherd’s pie…even hand-dipped ice cream”, but we were surprised to find much higher food prices. Around our campus we had become accustomed to eating breakfast for $1 each, and lunch or dinner for $1-3 each. We could not believe the cost of food in this touristy area for a full western breakfast at $3 each and their regional dinner favorite of a beer fish dinner at $4 each…Jeff even got to pick out the Carp fish from the live tanks! (It is funny how Chinese we’ve become in our thinking about food prices!)

One of the best ways to see the famed karst peaks is by a river raft trip, and there are people everywhere  ready to ‘sell you (a trip) down the river.’ Ladies speaking minimal English approached us asking “ride on bamboo raft?…my husband’s raft…very good price for you.” After scouting out the going rate for a raft trip during the holiday season, we set out on a local bus to the small nearby town of Xingping where trips began for the portion of the Li River which LP described as “arguably the most stunning.” Setting out in the early morning for the bus station, our hotel clerk was surprised that we had not obtained tickets for the raft trip ahead and strongly suggested against this method, but then he did not know how perseverant  we were at finding the best price! Ladies running, pushing and shoving to “greet” us as we exited the bus was a humorous sight! There was quite a system going as each lady assigned herself to the exiting passengers, then proceeded to sell us a trip down the river with limited English. “Bamboo river raft trip…very good price”…they would tell us the price…we would say, “too much”…they would say, “what price you want?”…we would tell them a price lower than the lowest we found in the city…they would say, “no…too low…boat with mauder“.(We finally realized they were saying ‘motor,’ which we already knew). This banter would continue back and forth as we exchanged our proposals of trip time and costs all the while we were continuing to walk steadily through town to the river. Ultimately we would not budge from our target price and walked away. Then we would hear, “Ok lady,” and upon agreement of the price she passed us off to another lady who spoke no English, but politely directed us down a very long pathway to the makeshift boat dock. (Obviously English skills are a prime resource to be used only during negotiations, so the original lady must return to the bus station to seek other customers.) We boarded the bamboo raft (which turned out to be made of PVC pipe about the size of large bamboo pieces) with a pilot who spoke no English and began our voyage upstream. The scenery was spectacular as promised, and we sang out with, “…when I in awesome wonder consider all the world thy hands have made…” as we snapped off multiple pictures during the 90-minute roundtrip journey.

“If you thought the Li River was drop-dead gorgeous, you ain’t seen nothing yet…Just rent a bike and get out there.” Reading this in LP, we set off to take in the smaller Yulong River the next day by bike. After reaching a bargained price with a nice lady for three bikes and grabbing some mystery snacks (guessing the contents from the pictures) at a small grocery store, we took off with map in hand in search of more beauty! Gradually we recognized others who seemed in search of the same destination which proved extremely helpful as the map required much conjecture to determine the appropriate route. We had been told that the designated bike trail was actually too bumpy (an understatement) for cars, but they didn’t tell us it could also be a narrow gulley cow path, or the edge of a rice paddy. After 2-½ hours we finally found the old Dragon’s Gate Bridge and took a rest along the river bank for our lunch snack. With high hopes of finding a simple pathway along the river on the other side of the bridge, we took off again to discover a trail even less traveled and marked as we wove along rice paddies and small villages…even through one resident’s backyard. At some points we had to walk the bikes as the rocks were too large or the path was too narrow or had hazardous drop-offs alongside. Often we would have lost the trail if not for the occasional painted red arrow or a villager’s pointing direction. After two hours of this grueling ride, Tanner was frazzled and jumped at the alternative of heading  back to town when we happened across a bridge we recognized. (In Tanner’s defense we must admit that she had developed a very bad rash as we left Hangzhou, and the heat was bringing out large welts on her arms and legs so she had good reason to be uncomfortable.) Highlights of the ride included taking in the beauty of the lovely surrounding mountain peaks and river, coming upon two water buffalo cooling off in the water with the male snorting as Cathy approached taking pictures, and Jeff accidentally leading us off the path and up a steep incline until a villager pointed for us – indicating another missed turn.

Before leaving Yangshuo we couldn’t pass up a morning swim in the Li River! (As we had heard that many of the Chinese rivers were not suitable for swimming, we didn’t want to miss the opportunity to swim in a clean river in China.) We had been advised that swimming was only safe in early morning or late afternoon to avoid the boat traffic The water was cool and crystal clear! Afterwards we decided to head up north of Guilin for a day exploring the “awe-inspiring” Dragon’s Backbone Rice Terraces. After three bus rides for a combined 6-hour trip we finally reached our destination of “the laid back Yao village of Dazhai with its trickling stream and genuine rural allure”(LP). For more on Dazhai pick up with Tanner’s article as she was quite taken with this lovely place.

Leaving Dazhai we took two buses to return to Guilin for a final night. We arrived in town finding a hotel just prior to nightfall. We were delighted when the hotel clerk agreed to meet our suggestion of a reduced room rate. Following a LP suggestion we found a nice place to eat dinner along the  Li River after we crossed the “world’s scariest, wobbliest wooden bridge”. (See pictures for proof.) We took in the night market for additional bargaining followed by a stroll around one of Guilin’s four lakes to view the Sun & Moon Pagodas with brilliant night lighting. We were disappointed the next morning to find that Elephant Trunk Hill was only accessible by paid admission. Our impression of Guilin was tainted by the apparent enclosure (thus requiring admission fee) of many of the majestic peaks within the city versus the natural surroundings we found in Yangshuo. We took a boat tour of the four lakes which featured a variety of bridges styled after various bridges from around the world (including SF’s Golden Gate). As our holiday time came to a close, we were all ready to head back to Hangzhou and our familiar apartment! We were blessed to receive a text message from a brother in Hangzhou offering to pick us up in his car in order to avoid a two-hour multiple bus ride to get back to our campus.