The following morning, after another poor night of sleep, Michael and I headed out on rented bikes and a guide (about 5 bucks for everything) around the outskirts of Yangshuo checking out all the natural wonders. We were planning on going up in a balloon this morning but the rain was still threatening and there was a lot of mist. I also wanted to try some sport climbing, but, again, the rain. Around noon time, we got a call from the Zhao family who invited us to lunch back in Yangsuo and then to accompany them to Guilin for an evening. We accepted.

(l-r) A view outside of Yangsuo, Lunch back in Yangsuo (all sorts of crazy things for lunch. See the snails? You gotta suck ‘em out of the shell – haha!!):

Turns out the Zhao family had quite an entourage with them: rivate bus with driver, interpreter (only Japanese – for the husband of the daughter), and photographer. We went to another river cruise which featured several little villages, some of them quite primative. I thought it felt kinda funny boating past them – this boat full of about 20 tourists. Some pictures:

The photographer doing his work while Nancy, the interpreter, looks on:

Back in Guilin, we had an excellent dinner, wandered around the city, which is much bigger than Yangsuo, and went to another show, this one called something like “The Dragonback”, whose name references the sharp peaks of the area. So, there were artsy dances and captivating music that depicted the history of the area. (I especially enjoyed the song about pounding the rice. ) Again, the cast for this production was huge and the sets were elaborate. The most impressive performances were the artistic acrobatics, which included one man (or woman!) balancing five people above them, or a woman standing on one tip toe balanced on a man’s head! Crazy!!! How?

After expressing much gratitude to the patriarch (myself included), the “young folks” headed out to a club, which was the loudest one I’ve ever been in. Aside from the music being unbearably loud (my chest vibrated from the bass) and the cigarette smoke, the drink was this wine and soda concoction, which I drank only sparingly of. I really liked the snacks though – fruits like peeled apples and pears, berries, and watermellon slices.

(l-r) Western girls hired to dance at the club (how did they end up getting this gig?), part of our group: