I began my spring break in the southern province of Guangxi, which borders Vietnam. We first flew into Guilin and took a horribly long bus ride(we were scammed) to Yangshuo. Once, in Youngshuo we stayed in a family run hotel more like a B&B outside of the town in a little village. You can see the hotel, its the white building in the right hand corner of the next picture.
The family was extremely nice, this was the owner's daughter, she loved to take pictures and hang out with us.
The first day we got there, we took a personal tour of a cave right up the hill from the hotel. I laughed when the lady gave us helmets, yet about five minutes into our hike, I realized US and Chinese safety regulations were much different, I hit my head about 10 times on stalagmites. They will tell us to climb down these ravines holding onto old ropes, it was quite exciting, and a bit nerve racking at the same time.
The famous local dish for the area is Beer Fish, if your thinking that's the head of the fish in the picture, you are correct. After eating for a bit Amanda says "I didn't just eat the eye ball did I", we still don't know if she did.
The backyard to the hotel just opened up into nature, it was absolutely amazing to wake up and drink some coffee while Hot Air Balloons floated bye, it seemed unreal.
Yangshuo is known for its "Moon Hill" a crescent shaped opening in the mountain, all the Chinese tourists take this picture below, so we tried our own attempts too. Amanda's turned out pretty nice.
I on the other hand can not keep a straight
face if my life depended on it.
The next day we took a boat cruise for an 1 1/2 hours by some of the locals. It ended up being one of the best things I have done in China, it was so peaceful and relaxing, and the best way to see the countryside.
Once again, Chinese safety regulations are a bit different, no one told us we were going white water rafting on bamboo boats, their explanation was to hold on and put your feet up!
After the boat ride they dropped us off in the middle of a farming village, it took a bit of time to track through the mud,
pretty cool though.
After the boat ride, we decided it was time to conquer the "Moon Hill" little did I know that a 45 minute hike up the steepest hill with four old Chinese women was what I was in store for. The women were amazing, I thought I was going to have a heart attack with the altitude and humidity, and they all carried drink coolers!
I was wearing my boots, which where terrible for hiking, and I kept slipping so my favorite lady held my hand the whole way down the mountain and kept fanning me as we went, I was cracking up trying to tell her that she didn't need to fan me,
no use though, she wouldn't stop.
View from the top, I cant believe I made it up, I'm pretty sure I set a new "step" record for myself. It totally had to beat the Duomo in Italy and the Cathedral in London.
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