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TRAVELS IN CHINA 2002

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Along the Li River - Guilin to Li Pu and Yang Shuo

The next day we are scheduled for a full day excursion along the Li River by boat to Li Pu and, ultimately, Yang Shuo. I imagined something like our Ning Ming trip, last year. We started out with a breakfast of fried noodles in a roll-up-door stall on roll-up-door-stall street. The next stall over was closed up tight, but someone had locked a cat inside and its constant wailing made me wonder if it knew something I should know about my victuals. I have been here enough to know that Yuening would not let me have food that is questionable but, still, my chopsticks would halt their mouthward progress every time that pitiful wailing sounded. The Western myth of some devious Chinese sneaking cat meat into one's meal has a toehold , even as we joke about it over our noodles; forget it. If you want cat, you will have to order it off the menu - and it is available some places.

We tried to get a coffee (liquid CPR, for me), but it was closed until 0800, which is when our bus is scheduled to leave. I stumbled along to the bus' departure point, 3 blocks away. I assumed we were heading for another dilapidated chicken bus, like last year's Ning Ming trip. When we finally arrived at the loading point, I was surprised to see a clean 25-seater waiting for us. We got on while Yuening topped to talk to the driver for a minute. After squeezing into a seat along with Paul and Liang Xi, I noticed that Yuening had disappeared. Liang Xi does not know where she has gone. I don't think much of this because the troops seldom have the General's big picture, but I get a little apprehensive when we are sitting there at 0805 with every seat full but hers. At 0807 Yuening trots up with 2 cups of Mickey D's coffee in a plastic tray, along with 4 cream containers. I know that a good general takes care of the troops, but this grand show of Chinese host-ness is a little much, even for me. The coffee was damned good though. I shared a cup with c confused German fellow that had mentioned to his companion that all he needed was a little coffee to make this a great trip. I think Yuening saved 2 lives that morning.

We drove off through the city of Guilin and into the countryside. Guilin is surrounded by mountains that look like cypress knees, sort of tall conical shapes rounded on top. These are the famous mountains you see on the walls of every Chinese restaurant in America; they are mist-shrouded and mysterious; they are very Chinese mountains and there are millions of 'em. We finally came to another terminal where there are about 100 busses parked and Yuening heads off to buy some more tickets for whatever comes next. While we were there, she rescued the German fellow and his girl-companion who had no Chinese and were having difficulty getting the right tickets. They looked a little uncomfortable when Yuening asked for some money, but I reassured them that the best thing to do is give her what she asks for and everything will be fine. When Yuening returns with tickets for all, we down a Chinese cup-a-noodles and walk over a hill towards several large tour boats, maybe 100-passenger models, rafted together at a quay. We walked down the levy and crossed two boats, entering the third.

These boats have a main passenger deck that is outfitted like an old-fashioned cruise liner, with two rows of linen-covered tables across straddling a center aisle. Soft seats, all with a great view of the river, greeted the six of us (the young couple had now joined us for the trip) for our journey down river. I asked Yuening where our seats were and she motioned us astern where we climbed a discreet stairway to the upper deck where there was a small room atop the boat that could seat about 15 people. This glass-enclosed penthouse had a wonderful view of the whole area and was the first-class section; leave it to the general.

As we pulled away, the flagship of our 7-boat fleet, ours, of course, led the procession downstream towards Li Pu, our first stop on the way to Yang Shuo, which is a tourist destination in northern Guangxi Province. We passed all of that beautiful scenery on clear water that was as shallow as 2 feet deep. The mountains were reflected in the water and we could see the depths and the heights as one; this was one of the most pleasant journeys I have made in China. Along the way we talked with the couple that Yuening had rescued and discovered that they were foreign students at the college in Nanning where Yuening taught. They were on an around-the-world homeopathic medicine thingy of some sort. They wound up accompanying us for 2 days, taking advantage of Yuening's bargaining skills along the way.

The river trip lasted about 6 hours, punctuated by a 3-course lunch served in the 1st-class cabin, and we arrived in Li Pu about 1500. After walking the 3-kilometer gauntlet of hustlers selling every imaginable kind of souvenir, we took an electric golf cart to a huge bus lot where Yuening consulted a piece of paper and guided us to our small bus for the trip to Yang Shuo. Along the way, a hustler had attached himself like a limpet to the young couple with us, trying his best to convince them that he has the best deal in town. After consulting with Yuening, they decided to ignore him until the bus is ready to leave and he had to get off.

The trip down-river was beautiful, but the rest of the day was spent going from one tourist trap to another in an endless series of bus loading and unloadings. After the first 3 stops, I could not stomach one more public toilet, one more picture taken with a camel (or pony or peacock or any other type of animal), one more cave, one more Buddhist temple. I stayed on the bus and snoozed while the rest of our band saw the sights. We finally arrived in Yang Shuo, where the bus stewardess, who had by then become one of Yuening's lieutenants, guided us to a very clean, very modern and very cheap hotel that ran about $10 per night, per room.

After a quick clean-up, we met up downstairs at the hotel with the bus stewardess and the couple from Nanning. The stewardess led us to Jimmy's Café and Bar where, despite my misgivings about such touristy places, we had one of the best meals I have had in China; everything from wiener schnitzel to stir-fried eggplant was washed down with wonderfully cold local beer. By 2230, after a little shopping on the market street, we were all ready for bed and retired to the hotel.

The next day we were off for a breakfast of noodles at a stall near the local market, where they had every kind of food imaginable. They also had many caged dogs that were being slaughtered and butchered with the expected screams and yelping that accompany such activities. I can understand and accept many things about foreign cultures, but I don't have to like them. Slaughtering dogs, even those raised for meat, is definitely a "don't like" in my book.

We rode a chicken bus for an hour to our next destination. It was cold and the bus windows were all loose and rattled so loudly that an incredible din assaulted us the whole way, making conversation impossible. When we climbed hills and braked, the windows would slide open and let the cold wind in to blast us in a miserable way.

At the next town, we found a taxi to take us 30 minutes to the day's attraction - a cave tour that Yuening wants to go on. For 2 -1/2 hours we wend our way up and down dripping concrete stairs through the cave complex, finally arriving at a subterranean river where we were transported by boat through the well-lit caverns and tunnels the outflow at the other end. It was alternating between stiflingly hot and damp cold the whole way, and I was happy to see the sun at the mouth of the tunnel. At the conclusion, we boarded a small, unsafe looking monorail for the trip back to where we started. I know that this touristing and spelunking was fascinating for Yuening and Liang Xi, but the Li River cruise and watching the people of Guangxi were the true highlights for me.

I highly recommend the boat trip on the Li River. In Yang Shuo, the Lian Fa Hotel (86-773-882-5217) is great - and inexpensive. Jimmy's Grill and Bar (101 West Street, 86-773-882-1254) is about 4 blocks away. The people are friendly and the food is great. I didn't note the cave tour's name or location, but you can get directions in Yang Shuo. A 1-1/2 hour bus ride will put you back in Guilin, where you can get a hotel room for about $15 or less.

The next morning in Guilin, Paul gets up with the faintest imaginable tinge of light on the horizon, like some bespectacled chicken greeting the dawn; it is 0630. Now I know why they strangle chickens instead of just ending their days humanely. He runs the hot water for 1/2 hour to see if a shower is in the cards before we leave; it isn't. We had breakfast at McDonald's before taxi-ing to the terminal for the dreaded bus trip back to Nanning. I am surprised to find that a bus leaves every 15 minutes for Nanning, and when I see it pull in I know that I am in the presence of one of the heretofore mythical "good" busses that I have heard of many times but have never actually seen with my own eyes. The baggage goes underneath, the seats are clean, the stewardess passes out bottled water and snacks and, best of all, there are no chickens or pigs aboard as we roll out in luxurious smoothness for our 5-1/2 hour trip to Nanning. All this apparently thanks to Daewoo bus manufacturing of Korea.

The road, from end to end, was like a small interstate with a thin concrete divider. We glided along at between 40 and 60 miles per hour, watching a movie on an overhead screen near the front. As we went, I suddenly saw a sedan overturned and horribly smashed across the opposite lanes; apparently this had just happened because the wheels were still turning. A man writhed in pain on the wet pavement next to the wreck, but I could not tell if anyone remained inside the vehicle. Several cars and trucks had stopped on the other side, apparently to watch the show until the blockage was cleared; no one was attempting to help the man or anyone else that may have been involved - they ll stood off a few yards and watched him suffer and bleed. Because it's China, that's why. I doubt I will come again to a place where a man suffers and likely dies while onlookers watch and discuss the show. These are harder people than I can contemplate in a reasonable way. Acceptance of cultural differences is one thing, but everyone has to set limits as to what is "different" what is unacceptable in any time and place. My limit was reached that day on the way to Nanning with a bus full of people that looked the other way. I have been told before by a friend that life is cheap in China and after that day I am a believer. When we got to Nanning, I ate, showered and went to bed to sleep away that day of rain, mud and sad stories.

CHINA TRIP 2001 TAIWAN TRIP 1999

(1) U.S. TO CANTON (2) CANTON (3) NANNING, REPRISE (4) WEDDING TALK (5) REALLY DIFFERENT (6) ONLY ONE!

(7) CUSTOM CLOTHES (8) HIGH GROUND (9) MUGGED (10) TO GUILIN (11) LI RIVER (12) WEI'S CLASS

(13) THE BIG DAY (14) WEDDING ALBUM (15) HEADING HOME

THERE ARE MANY GRAPHICS ON THESE PAGES - PLEASE BE PATIENT AS THEY LOAD!