Merryland and Bungee Jumping

Saturday, a group of 10 took a trip to Xinan, about a 2.5 hour private shuttle van ride from Yangshuo to Merryland, an amusement park. I mainly just wanted to go for bungee jumping. It was only at a height of 50 m (164 feet) and you were hooked at the waist, but it was still pretty fun. Most people just jumped off waist up...but not me. I decided I needed to get my money's worth, so I dove off head first and did a front flip. Much more exciting in my opinion. This was a also a celebration for Mark's leaving. He's also another good friend of mine, and I'll miss him as well. Here are some pictures...The first one on the right is of the entire group- from left to right: Esteban, Cher, Mark, Joey, Justin, Linda, Me, Rabbit, Fran, and Tina...


Justin before going up...





Linda jumping...















Me and Justin on the tower...





On the van headed home...
















Me after jumping...

Mark giving the thumbs up...














Mark jumping...

Mark, me, and Esteban...






So, that's it. You're completely caught up. I'm just laying here on the computer, hanging out in my apartment, and glad to be finished updating. We finally got some cooking supplies from the school, so maybe I'll whip up some dishes before too long. Eiki's birthday is tomorrow, so I'm sure I'll have plenty more stories for you in no time. Hope you enjoyed the posts!







More to come...

Darcy

If there is one downfall in this job of mine, it's having to see some of your best friends walk out of your life and leave you wondering if you'll ever see them again.

Darcy's last day in town was last Wednesday. So, for about 5 straight nights we had "Darcy going away" celebrations. Darcy is from Guilin, but works in Shenzhen. He's 31, and say he's my older brother, or ge ge, and I'm his di di, or younger brother. Over the past 5 weeks or so we became really good friends and are part of a tight nit group of friends that spent everyday together. Since he's the oldest, he usually makes most of the decisions, same as it is in America. He always pays for meals, picks up beer tabs, etc. One night at the alley bar we refused to let him pay for any of the beer. He sneaked off just before we were leaving, saying he had to use the bathroom, then when we went to pay for the beer they informed us that it had already been paid for. This is the type of guy he is, and the more time I spent around him the more I liked him and the better friends we became.

So, on Wednesday night, the final night of the celebrations, we all had dinner at City and City. Of course, Darcy picked up the check, but this is Chinese tradition as well. Much MUCH different than that of America. When it's someone's birthday here, or someone is leaving, that person pays for everyone, instead of the other way around like we are accustomed to. Here's a picture of all of us, from left to right- Esteban, Fran, Eiki, Darcy, Tina, Rabbit, Justin, and Me.

Me and Darcy....

We proceeded to have a long night at various places, Alley Bar, Kaya Bar, dancing bars etc.

So, at the end of the night we all said goodbye, and you could tell that it was pretty hard for Darcy to leave. In fact, he's been studying here at Omeida for 6 months now. It's obvious that the students can also get emotionally attached to their friends here just as we do. I hope he makes it back to Yangshuo someday to visit, or maybe I can make my way down to Shenzhen. I already miss hanging out with the guy.

More to come...

St. Patty's Day

We celebrated St. Patrick's day at the Alley Bar, our usual hangout. Since I've been in Yangshuo, I haven't seen as many tourists in one place as there were in the bar that night. We were really confused as to why. But then my friend Yogev came over telling me how he'd walked down West Street yelling to every foreigner and passing our flyers. Here are some pics. This is Darcy, Adva and Yogev from Israel, and Esteban....

Here's Eiki and Cici...

Me, Joanna, and Eiki...

and Darcy mingling with the tourists as always...

Xingping

So it's been awhile since I've done an update, and I apologize about the delay. I've received hoards of E-mails and complaints from everyone, telling me how life doesn't exactly have that kick and flow to it without being able to read my blog. Maybe I should start a suggestion box. I've been pretty busy lately, and have, regrettably, not gotten much sleep over this past week and a half. Everyday is the same but always with something new. Wake up early, stay out late. So the next few blogs should catch you up to now...


Last Saturday a large group of students took a trip to Xingping, an ancient village outside of Yangshuo with beautiful karst and river scenery. So much so that the Chinese government decided to have it put on the back of the 20 RMB note.

I nearly missed the bus that took us all to Yangdi. After a long night of the weekly Friday KTV karaoke, it was hard to wake up for the 9 a.m. appointment at the bus station. But, I made it just in time, probably with a little baijou still on my breath. There were two different groups from Omeida heading to Xingping: our group had around 20 students and teachers, along with Uncle, and we would take the bus to Yangdi, bamboo raft down river, then hike the rest of the way to Xingping. The other group would cycle a differnt route, and take a short bamboo raft to Xingping.

The bus trip to Yangdi was just short of 2 hours, stopping and picking up people every chance there was. It was another old village with yet more breath taking surroundings. We all got on the bamboo rafts and headed down river a ways to start our hike.

About half-way through the hike we ran into someone of a road block, or trail block. There were some people sitting in the middle of the trail, claiming that we should pay 15 kuai per person to pass. This really created a stir amongst Uncle and some of the students. I heard a few Chinese cuss words and thought I might actually see the first scuffle since I've been the country. But, unfortunately, nothing came of it. We decided not to pay the 15 kuai, backtrack a little ways, and take a bamboo raft a couple hundred yards around the people.

The following are a few photos I took along the hike...

Here's me and Jon, one of my 2A students, and Justin.

This is me, Mark, and Justin.

This is me and Darcy...

We had lunch outside at a small restaurant on the bank of the Li River. Because of lack of time, we ended up taking a bamboo raft the rest of the way to Xingping to make it before dark. The trip along the river was amazing. But, a beautiful Saturday afternoon, and the first sunshine we'd seen in a few weeks brought out tons of Chinese tourists. It comes along with the territory though. A spot along the river inspired the idea for the cover of this cigarette box...

When we got to Xingping I spotted a few students from the other group, here they are in their bamboo raft.

We took a quick look around town, snapped a few photos of the area of the 20 RMB, and headed towards the climb. The view wasn't as good as I'd hoped for, the sun was behind the scene making everything pretty bright and hazy. Next time I'll try and make it there before noon for better pictures. Compare this picture to the one at the top of the 20.

So, we proceeded to take a hike to the top of a karst in Xingping that provided excellent views of the surrounding area. Check out the sign...

This picture is what we were greeted with at the top...















I definitely recommend this trip. I think it would be easier if you were a faster hiker, and not in a group of 20 mostly casual walkers. We're thinking about going back pretty soon for an overnight trip- camping, swimming, etc.



More to Come

Social Night BBQ

Last night's social night theme was BBQ. Here are a few pics. One is of me, Marty, Esteban, Justin, and Francisco. Marty is my Aussie roommate, Justin and Francisco are teachers from California, and Esteban is from Ecuador trying to find a teaching job in Yangshuo.

This is me and Joanna, one of my 1D students.

The one below is of me and Patience, a chinese teacher.

Solo TV Tower

I decided to take a quick trip up the tv tower karst today by myself. I figured I could use the exercize and I thought the views would be better today than they were the first time I went. They were a little better, but it was pretty cloudy and even rained a little on me. It only took around 30 minutes to get to the top and less than 20 to get down this time. I guess doing it in the middle of the afternoon is much easier than trying it after a long night like I did the first time. The first picture is of me enjoying the view, along with my

Liquan beer and a chocolate bar. The others are of the town and two tombs near the trail.

I'm Official

There are four rock climbing shops in Yangshuo, and after having some store owners laugh and say no way when I asked if they had my size shoes for sale, I found some at the last shop I stopped at. My room for bargaining for them was none since they knew that I couldn't find my size anywhere, and that I didn't want to order any since I wouldn't be able to try them on first. So, here are my new shoes, light blue with neon green laces. They're super retro looking, but I actually kind of like them. They're only last year's stock, so they were obviously made this way and not just pulled out of the time drawer from a 1980's rock climbing box.

We went back to wine bottle today, and for the second day in a row the weather was great. I was with Francisco, Jon, and Justin. The routes today were super hard, a 5.10D and 5.11-way over my head, which is the reason I didn't finish either one. But I still got some practice in, learned some techniques, and learned and actually belayed Fran and Justin. Here are a couple pictures of Jon. These show a little more of the aspect as to how high it is. You'll definitely need to click and enlarge in order to find him on the wall.

Also, another picture of just the surrounding countryside.

Guilin

A few of us took a trip to Guilin on Saturday, the city I flew into from Beijing. It has an estimated population of around 1.3 million and is the only city near Yangshuo with any size. But, all the students say Guilin is a really small city with only 1 street. Maybe for Chinese standards, but it's a much bigger city than what I'm used to.

Justin was wanting a new laptop, so he invited me, Francisco, Eiki- a student friend, and Tao- the IT guy at Omeida, along with him. The completely full bus ride there took about an hour and 45 minutes. Tao speaks local dialect so we got tickets for 10 kuai apiece. This sort of upset Eiki because he said he paid 40 kuai one time because he speaks the northern dialect of Mandarin.

*As a side note- there are usually three prices given in Yangshuo- the highest is to the foreigner, middle is to the Chinese tourist, and the cheapest price is given to the local person.

So, anytime the bus driver needed a smoke break, which was more than one occasion, he pulled over for a break. We stopped several times to pick people up from the side of the road, and many other times at bus stops in the small villages between here and Guilin.

We got off the bus and onto a city bus once we arrived in Guilin. Of course, there were no seats and since I'm the giant American, I stood with my neck bent because the ceiling on the bus was about 4 inches shorter than I am. This caused a stir of laughter from the Chinese on the bus, as well as amongst my friends. Sorry I don't have a picture.

We went to a shopping center where Tao has friends that work for a computer store. This place was crazy. Floor after floor of computer stores, cameras, speakers, etc. It was like a Best Buy on steroids. I found a 220 V ac adapter for my camera battery charger, they wanted 65 kuai, I gave 50. It seems strange, but you can even bargain at these types of stores as well. Justin got the price of his computer down a few hundred kuai, Fran bargained for an 8 gig jump drive, and we also got a version of the new OS Windows 7 (more than likely pirated).

While we were waiting for them to load the english version of the operating system, Eiki and I went 'eye shopping' as he called it. It was good to finally see a part of China where I'm the only foreigner around. Everytime we walked by people Eiki would say, "watch watch watch, all the girls look at you." He said it was because I was a very tall and handsome white man. I liked the compliment, but I thought it was just because I was the only foreigner there.

While we were walking around, Eiki's dog nose senses started going crazy and he smelled something that he said he must have. Here's a picture of the street food vendor we ate at with small birds and squid on skewers. We had the squid and spice, very good.











Here's another picture of Eiki over looking the Li River with mountains in the background.














Here's a picture of Justin on the bus with his new laptop.

The ride back wasn't as bad, it probably only took an hour or so. We only stopped a few times at bus stops to let people off. So it ended up being a long day, but it was good to get away from Yangshuo for awhile and see a little of the city life. I think next Saturday we're going to do the opposite and head out to Xingping. It's considered one of the most beautiful places in China, so much that it covers the back of the 20 kuai bill.

Rock Climbing 101

Me, Jon, Francisco, and a student, Bill, all went out to wine bottle today for what would be my first time to climb. It was only around 40 °F and raining on and off, so my hands had a tough time adjusting at first. Jon was our lead climber, and since there were 2 inexperienced climbers, we only had time to get in 2 lines for the day. Here are a few pictures...you'll probably need to click to enlarge them so that you can see the climber.

These first 3 are of Jon setting the line for the 5.8.

These next three are of me on the 5.10B line.

And the last two are of Bill.