Yang Shuo (and HK again)

Yang Shuo

Hong Kong Revisit

Exploring Yang Shuo was so fun. There were so many great crags scattered around the city. We got to some by bike, some by mini-bus, and a few with lots of walking after being dropped off. We climbed eight out of the eleven days we were there. I bought my first climbing rope there. we rented our quickdraws - and after a scary close call with a falling rock I broke loose - our helmets from a local guide shop. I pushed myself to new heights in my rock climbing while there, by on-sighting a few 5.9s and 5.10s, including a 27 meter high 5.10b that required a tricky traverse to get to the start. The precarious belay station thankfully had an anchor to prevent the a possible 30 foot fall to the ground below. I barely made that climb, and I felt really proud about achieving that grade. The stone in Yang Shuo is all limestone like in Thailand, except with different coloring and formations, since it is inland. The stone was generally a lot sharper. You really had to climb with precision and care, never slapping wildly. You had to feel each handhold carefully and place your fingers between a bunch of sharp spikes sometimes.

Some crags were very tough to locate, and were disguised amongst many similarly odd shaped karsts, and once we figured out which was the the correct one, we still had to find our way to the base of the climbs. One time we had to hike along a farm trail which was blocked by a timid water buffalo and then weave our way through a network of flooded farm fields on narrow raised paths, and then hike up a steep approach to the belay ledges. Many crags involved approaches that were steep, rocky, muddy, and loose. I wore sandals on one of these that I hadn't expected, and ended up gashing my foot pretty badly. Luckily, I could still climb, since it didn't hurt too much. But with how wet it was there during our stay, it was really inconvenient. It rained every day, sometimes all day. Thankfully we were able to get in a lot of good climbing at some of the unsheltered crags on the drier days. And on days that it rained non-stop, we either had a rest day, or we visited the Chicken Cave for some great climbing. It was once an air-raid shelter and fort, and now it is a really fun place to hang out with people from all over the world, climb, and watch the sheets of rain wash over the rolling stone hills and woods. A few days followed the pattern of: get up, get out, climb, hide from sun and eat, climb some more, then run and hide from the approaching thunderstorm, and head back to town in the rain. The one day we biked out to the crags involved a long, wet ride back. But it was worth it. As was enduring the 90°+ temperatures with 90% humidity. It was essential to only climb in the shade. Even light bounced off of the clouds would bake and burn us. On most days we would pack about four or five liters of water each, and go through it all. When I returned to Minnesota and went climbing at Barn Bluff in Red Wing that weekend, the difference was quite striking. The setting and the climbing weren't nearly as awe-inspiring, but the weather certainly was. I was climbing, and I was comfortable. Next time I plan an international climbing trip, I will carefully consider the seasonal weather of each region I visit. We were in Yang Shuo during its wet season, and we suffered for it. The river crested, the streets flooded, but it was all okay. We made it there, we climbed, we ate great food, we learned about a different culture, and explored a beautiful place.

One memorable episode involved a restaurant which had possibly the worst translations for their menu ever. When we were viewing their menu outside before deciding to eat there, we started laughing so hard that we could hardly breathe. We had to leave to avoid making too much of a scene, but we went back and had dinner there another night. I surreptitiously snapped pictures of all of the menu, to bring back and share. The "Diced Chicken of Explosion" was pretty good, actually. Very spicy. We avoided the "Honey Barbecued Manure" though.

Our hotel, the Bamboo Inn, was very pleasant. It was unfortunate that I couldn't post to my blog there, since I did have plenty of free time to do so. Scott and I ended up watching a lot of pirated DVDs they had there. It was not always clear what language we'd be getting though. The text in "Up" was in Russian, though the dialogue was in English. "Watchmen" switched to Polish for a few minutes at the end. We gave up on a few because they were Dubbed in Chinese with either no subtitles or Chinese subtitles, such as Scorpion King, which had a hilariously poor choice of voice actor for The Rock. A little girl wouldn't have sounded much less masculine. They had delicious breads baked fresh every morning which became our staple crag grub. The hosts were friendly, cute, and helpful, although they were rather overtly religious. They helped us arrange much more comfortable and humane transportation back. Same idea, but with much better execution than on the journey there. The last day in Hong Kong was fun, and we got to hike around and see some more cool stuff, including the famous laser light show. I was sad to say goodbye to Scott at the airport, as I had really enjoyed going on that journey with him. I had grown quite accustomed to the routine of exploring during the day, sharing all our meals, and reflecting on our experiences at the end of each day. I'm glad that I went to such a great effort to document this trip through my journaling, my blogging, and my photography. Since I have returned home, I have spent so much time reviewing the experiences of the trip. They will be cherished memories I can hold onto for as long as I want.

Gui Lin

Gui Lin

Gui Lin was a destination I had longed to visit for many years. I suppose my high expectations and romantic visions of it led to me being a bit disappointed with my time there. First off, the trip into town was not nearly as scenic as I would have liked, as we had to skip the popular train option in favor of the easily accessible overnight bus route. It wasn't quite the ride from hell we had had in Malaysia. No, it was more like being in the twilight zone. It was a "sleeper bus". Yeah, I did sleep a bit, but I can't quite understand how. They had strange movies playing, there was a lady in front of me heaving her guts out into one of the wastebaskets, it was bumpy as heck, I couldn't actually fit in the berth, as I was about a foot too tall for that, and there were headlights flashing through the cabin continuously. We stopped for dinner and a bathroom break after about six hours at a rest stop that was definitely a contender for the "filthiest rest stop in the world" designation. Once we finally got to the town in the morning, it was absolutely dumping rain, so of course we hiked around for hours looking for a place to stay. We did settle in and have a good time exploring the city, but it felt overly touristy, and the city sprawled throughout the hills and blocked the view of them in a lot of cases. I enjoyed a lot of things I did and saw there, such as exploring the reed flute cave and hiking up a bunch of hills in town. We took a tour of the most famous brewery in the region, but we passed on sampling their specialty wine. It was one of the most horrific things I have ever seen. Picture a giant tank filled with red liquid, some berries, and hundreds of dead animals which consisted of many snakes and several different types of mammalian fetuses (fetii?). I felt a bit ill for a while after that. We got shown around town by a nice guy who turned out to just want us to buy stuff from him, such as tea, art, and tickets to what turned out to be a very enjoyable youth acrobatics and dance performance. My fondest memory of the town was climbing around on some very cool rock formations, and then playing my recorder up on top of a huge hill with a great panoramic view of the landscape. The trip out of town along the river to Yang Shuo was also a definite highlight.

Kai Ping

Kai Ping

Kai Ping was a place I decided to visit after reading about it in my travel guide. It turned out to be pretty cool. The city itself was primarily about commerce, but there were a few fun things to do in town, the people were very friendly, and the sights outside the town were well worth the visit. I really enjoyed gaining a better understanding about the great extent to which China has been connected to the rest of the world for a very long time. An incredible amount of people around the world still feel rooted to China, even generations out. I was also glad to see how well the history of Kai Ping had been preserved. It was a fun place to explore. There are many interesting stories that I remember about Kai Ping, such as how when I ordered a "simple breakfast" at our hotel, they brought us a zesty seaweed salad, a pile of sliced pig's ears, some custard buns, and a huge crock of mutton and rice. After I learned that it was in fact the ears of pigs, I skipped that dish, but the rest was great. If that was simple, though, I wouldn't want to see complex. I had a good time chatting with the girls in the bakery. I just love Chinese baked goods. The traditional foods are a lot healthier on average than what you'd find at a typical western bakery. The commerce along the river was very cool to see, as not all of it was completely modern.

Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Hong Kong was a great place to explore. We rode the subway all over and saw a few of the major tourist attractions such as a the Lan Tau Buddha, went to a bouldering gym high in a skyscraper, explored a bunch of museums and shops, had some fantastic Dim Sum. I even got a hair cut and then played Street Fighter IV against some locals in an arcade. I mostly got trounced, but I had a couple nice rounds. The museum there had the best ceramics collection of the trip, with a good representation of the full history of Chinese ceramics. Very inspiring. I'd love to go back to Hong Kong on my next Asia trip. I didn't get a chance to hike up any of the mountains, so that would be one reason to go.