After leaving the raft behind, we hiked maybe a mile down a thin road to the village of XingPing where we’d catch another bus to take us the remaining distance to Yangsuo, a popular tourist town. As we walked along the road, I marveled and gawked at the scenery and setting around me. It felt like stepping back in time one century…except for one thing: the cell phones. You cannot escape the cell phones. I’ll have to write a post on this in the future and collect some supporting photos on this topic – how the Chinese love their cell phones.

XingPing:

The outskirts of XingPing looked like a movie set from an old Chinese Kung Fu movie. The only additional anachronisms (the cell phones are always present) were the items being sold, like pirated DVDs. In the central part of the town, near the bus station, the setting became more familiar. We hopped on a bus just as it was pulling out of town. Of course, there was no room again and we were packed in again. In addition to the driver, there’s someone who goes around collection money. There’s no tickets that are given out, you just give him your money (like 5 yuan, or 75 cents). I suppose he just memorizes who has paid. Of course, he wouldn’t forget me, the one “ghost” (or “gui lao”, a derogatory term for foreigners). I couldn’t see much again except for crouching down as best I could. At one point, I recall crouching down to get a view and saw an official basketball game in progress on a cement court right on the edge of the road with no seating for the crowd. In the background, there were more limestone towers. What a visual treat! Some minutes later, we pulled into Yangsuo. The assistant barked something at us in Chinese and motioned for those of us standing to crouch down low. Apparently, there were policemen around who would have fined the bus for accepting too many passengers. What a joke.

“West Street” in downtown Yangsuo.   Nice place:

Yangsuo – what a great town! It reminds me very much of places like Boulder or Vail – fun small towns that are loaded with shops, places to eat, bars, etc. There were plenty of foreigners here too, but I had little desire to speak to them for some reason, maybe it was just a general vibe I picked up on that I didn’t care for. Or maybe it was the pair of young American guys who were cussing loudly and walking around like roosters. Bah! We found a cheap hotel, ditched our stuff, and headed out to look around some more. We found a little bar where I ordered one of the most hideous cappuccinos of all time when a Chinese family came it. We ended up striking up a conversation with them, only a couple spoke reasonable English and I spoke my unreasonable Chinese with the others. It turned out that we’d spend a lot of time with this nice family for the rest of the trip.

We ended up going with them to an outdoor evening show featuring five hundred performers and lots of spotlights illuminating the towers in the distance. It was quite beautiful and the music really stuck with me. That reminds me, I need to try to hunt down a recording of some of these traditional songs from the region. Later that evening it rained hard for a long time and we ended up staying out very late waiting for the rain to stop (it didn’t), and eating a long leisurely dinner.

Ever had “Drunk Duck”?   I did have some snails later on.   Not too shabby.