After our final buffet breakfast on the cruise, our luggage was taken ashore by some remarkably strong porters using rope and bamboo back braces. Not only did it save us a task, but it was also genuinely impressive to watch. With us and our bags back on dry (well actually, very rainy) land, we headed for the train station for another long travel day. Another bullet train brought us into Yangshuo right around 3:00 PM.
We headed to our hotel to drop off our bags before our tour guide Michael took us on an orientation walk around town. Yangshuo is a countryside resort town known for its dramatic mountain landscape and stunning scenery. On the slightly less charming side, it is also known for the local tradition of eating dogs, which is one regional delicacy I don’t think we will be trying this trip.
One local dish we did try during our group dinner was beer fish: a local white fish cooked with light beer, tomatoes, peppers, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, and oyster sauce. It was very tasty, though it had a few too many bones in it for my liking. Adam was a fan, though. He has definitely been the more adventurous one out of the two of us on this trip, fully embracing the local culinary mindset. So far, he has sampled a whole assortment of pig parts, including ears, tongue, and stomach, as well as duck gizzards and various other unexpected organ meats. Michael mentioned that snake is also popular around here if we wanted to give it a go, so maybe that is up next on Adam’s plate. Michael even joked that he knows Adam and Eve could not have been Chinese, because if they were, we would all still be in the Garden of Eden. According to him, the moment they saw the snake, they would have eaten it before it ever had a chance to mention the apple.
After dinner, we walked over to West Street, the bustling pedestrian centre of town and a bit of a tourist trap that we managed to fall right into. We had a nose around the stalls and spotted a small mahjong set. Having enjoyed playing it the other day, we decided to buy one. We managed to haggle the shop owner down from 300 yuan to 230 yuan (around £23). Feeling pretty pleased with ourselves, we turned the very next corner only to see rows of stalls selling the exact same set, with Kathy from our tour group picking one up for 90 yuan (around £9). I would like to think she is just a world-class negotiator, but I think we are just total rookies.
We spent a bit more time wandering around looking at all the different shops, and I even bought an ice cream that turned out to be frozen yogurt. Scammed again. I really should have seen that coming given how common lactose intolerance is across Asia.
Once we were done perusing, we headed back to the hotel where Michael laid out the plan for tomorrow: a five-hour bike ride. Hopefully that includes plenty of stops along the way. If that is not knackering enough, we have also signed up for every optional excursion available during what was supposed to be our relaxing downtime. I suppose we can always relax when we get home.
Will tell you all about our next adventure tomorrow.
Lots of love,
Alice x