November 16, 2023

Day 9 (Pt. 1)

I wrote too much for this one day, so I am breaking it into two parts. This is the first part!

Today is the day that I go check out the famous Yangshuo! In China, there is a famous saying called “桂林山水甲天下”, which means that the mountains and the lakes at Guilin is the best in the world. I’ve known that saying since I was young, but I never cared to give it a gander. I am a history person, not much a nature person. I feel like only man-made history is worth checking out, so I never cared much about trees and grass and what not. Yangshuo, though, changed my mind.

After sending my nephew to school, me and my brother in law went to a local breakfast place which is packed with people. In any place, to be honest, no matter how dirty or crappy you think the restaurant is; if it is packed with people, then you will find good food. You might get diarrhea, but the food will be good. It’s not to say that I got diarrhea here, but as someone with extreme stomach situations happening on a regular basis, I have to be careful about this stuff; but the food here is so good I didn’t care.

The staff working inside the restaurant also didn’t speak Mandarin. Foshan is located in Guangdong, so a lot of older generations only speak Cantonese here. I tried to ask for an extra bowl in Mandarin, but the staff couldn’t understand me. Someone young did the translation for me. I honestly didn’t think I would need translation in Foshan; it is just funny.

The first dish is 皮蛋瘦肉粥, Century Egg Porridge, or as I like to call it, “Naughty Egg Skinny Meat Porridge” if translated word by word, is a Cantonese porridge item that took over the entirety of China. When people mention the word 粥, or porridge, the first thing they think of is plain porridge. Well, ask them to think again, and they will think of this one. This is my favorite porridge and I order it everywhere I go. The Cantonese people make the best porridge.

The second dish is 肠粉, Vermicelli Wrap, or “Intestine Pink”, is a common breakfast item. There are many iterations of the wrap, be it formal or informal. Formal ones I’ve already had on Day 6; this one is more casual. My brother in law likes spicy stuff, so he added the pepper. Otherwise, don’t.

The third dish is 冬菇蒸饺, Mushroom Steamed Dumplings, no funny name for it because that’s literally what it is called. Us from the North eat dumplings a lot, and we usually eat it by boiling it. The Southerners don’t eat dumplings as much and steams it on rare occasions they do eat dumplings. Either way, it’s good in my book.

My brother in law’s dealership is very close to the train station, so he drove me there 20 minutes before the train takes off. The “train” I took isn’t technically a typical train. In the North, we call it “高铁”, and in the South, they call it “动车”. They all mean the same thing. It is the bullet train that China has that is the best in the world. It is fast, it is cheap, and it is convenient. You can go anywhere in China with this bullet train.

I’ve never taken the bullet train before. Our family isn’t exactly poor, so anywhere I go I can just get a plane ride which is much faster. However, since Yangshuo, which is a part of Guangxi Province, is so close to Guangdong Province where I am starting off from, why not give the bullet train a chance.

The bullet train also has 3 classes of tickets. The 1st Class, the 2nd Class, and the No Seat Class. Since I’ve never taken the train before, I opted for the 1st class, which is only about 50 RMB more than the 2nd class. The ticket amounted to 260 RMB, roughly 40 dollars.

I carried a carry on baggage and a backpack with me, and the 1st Class was spacious enough to have knee room even if I have my suitcase put in front of me. I was also under the impression that first class is like the king’s class, where there’s a giant sofa for each 1st class passenger. I was wrong, as there are 4 seats in each row, 2 on each side. The seat is big though, and can lie down to about 140 degrees. I woke up too early in the morning to send my nephew to school, so I slept immediately after getting to my seat.

The trip was around 2 hours, and I woke up at the 1:30 mark. My brother in law said that he will pick one for me, and since I didn’t hear from him, I started to look for hotels. The hotels were nice, at least from the pictures. II've learned my lesson from picking cheap hotels, so I was extra wary not to fall for some significant traps that I may have skipped. My brother in law recommended a hotel with the cheapest room costing 600 RMB, about 90 dollars a night. It is kind of expensive for China, especially now at November that not a lot of people are traveling due to the weather. Therefore I started to look at hotels again.

10 minutes later, my brother in law sent me an order confirmation of the hotel he recommended. I thought he ordered the 600 RMB one, so I checked on the booking website to check out the room beforehand. However, the room he booked wasn’t the cheapest one, and since it was fully booked, I could no longer check the price. It is a very impressive room though, so I scrolled down to see what the next best thing is and it probably will have the same price. The next best thing is 1999 RMB a night. That’s 285 dollars! That’s too expensive for China off peak season. I asked my brother in law what he paid for the hotel and he wouldn’t say, and as I shared the story with my Dad, he got mad that my brother in law wasted so much money on me. That’s why I spent 10 minutes at the train station after the train arrived just to sort this thing out.

Since my brother in law wouldn’t cancel the booking, and he refuses to tell me the price, I had to head to the hotel. I called a Chinese uber and went to the hotel.

Hotel Name: 妙在山野民宿 (阳朔遇龙河千古情店) (miào zài shān yě mín sù) [Miaozaishanye Hotel]

Address: 广西省桂林市阳朔镇铁岭村91号 (Guangxi Province Guilin City Yangshuo Village Tieling Village #91)

There was someone who carries my stuff all the way to the hotel. Which was nice.

The hotel is a new hotel that opened in 2023, so everything is new. The road that connects the main road to the hotel is new too, new in the sense that it is not yet finished. It is a very muddy and slippery tiny road that makes passing through extremely difficult. Every car I see that tries to pass through this little road slips a little bit, and the river is right there, so one tiny mishap, we will all be submerged under water. This road will take an important part of the story later.

The hotel is very fancy, not in the sense that it has marble carvings everywhere; just modern and new and clean. That’s my standard for the word “fancy”. The staff working at the front desk welcomed me and recognized me because my brother in law called in advance and let them know that I will be coming. Since I was under the impression that my room is 1999 RMB, I could’t wait to check it out; but first, I asked the staff what the price of the hotel is. They were smart; they told me to check the prices from the booking website; but I let them know that I can’t see them because my room type was fully booked. That’s when they revealed to me that the room costs about 1000 RMB a night, or 140 dollars. It’s definitely better than 1999 RMB, and is close to something I can stomach. Still, that room looked way too awesome from their ads, so I couldn’t wait to check it out.

It was indeed awesome. It has a 270 degree panoramic view of the mountains that surrounds the hotel, a bathtub right on the left corner of the floor-to-ceiling windows, 2 sofas facing the giant windows, a giant bed, and it has a projector. Yes, a freaking projector. To be honest with you, I have never been in such a fancy hotel since I was in a presidential suite with my Dad in Las Vegas when I was 13-years-old. Since then, I have always been in cheap hotels of my choosing because I didn’t want to waste money on somewhere I am just going to stay one night at. That’s why I went with the cheap ass hotel on the night I went to Shenzhen in Day 5. If my brother in law didn’t book the room for me, there is no way in hell I would spend that kind of money on a hotel room in China that’s off peak season.

BUT, this hotel severely changed my mind about money and the concept of spending. I will elaborate on it later, it is very important, after all.

I wanted to stay in the hotel for entire time I’m in Yangshuo, but that would be stupid. As I entered a hotel, I saw a scooter rental place right near the entrance. My brother in law told me to rent one because it is very convenient. So I did. The price for renting the scooter a day ranges from 30-50, depending on where you are renting and if the owner likes you or not.

The guy who carried my bag to the hotel lobby sits at the scooter rental place, not sure if he has a stake in the business or not. He asked me if I came to Guangxi alone, I said yes. He then asked me if I needed a prostitute for the night in case I am lonely. Well, that’s really nice of him to ask, but the owner of the scooter rental place rejected him for me.

Suffice to say that the owner likes me. My price was 40, and the security deposit was 200. The owner asked me if I have experience riding scooters or not.

Scooters are very common in the Southern part of China, because it is for one, cheap, and for two, very convenient. If you buy a car, you need to find a place to park, and for most part of China you have to pay for a parking space. For scooters though, since they are so small, there’s no need to find a giant parking space for it and you can literally park it anywhere that has scooter parking. In the North, though, it’s less common. There is not much winter time in the South, and basically 0 winter in Guangdong and Guangxi provinces, so it is safer to ride a scooter there. In Dalian, where I’m from, though, the roads are much more windier and the winter more severe — sometimes there are ice on roads. Cars can barely drive on the roads, let alone scooters that only have 2 wheels. One mishap, your neck snaps.

So when the owner asked me if I have ridden scooters before, I said no. The facial expression from the owner said it all. But I reassured her that I know how to ride bicycles and I have ridden electric bicycles before thanks to Uncle John, who I met in Korea a few days ago. Still, riding such a powerful little thing can still be scary, and I had to constantly use my feet to make the scooter stay up.

Remember the muddy road that I mentioned earlier? Yes, since I just got the scooter and was still kinda nervous riding it, the muddy road did not help. It had deep tire tracks so the road wasn’t even, and once I tried to balance myself by planting my feet into the ground, I planted my feet into mud. This is what my shoes looked like just after going through the muddy road at the hotel’s entrance. Suffice to say it did not contribute to a good traveling experience.

However, once I’ve gotten onto the main road, everything becomes easier and the ride a lot smoother. My brother in law recommended that I get their “螺狮粉”, a local vermicelli noodle soup that smells stinky because it has sea snails in them. I rode to the one recommended by the front desk staff, with traffic lights and everything. Here everyone drives a scooter, so the cars are extra careful too, don’t need to worry at all. Just don’t cross the street with red lights on and you’ll be fine.

Maybe I should put up a few tips here for people who want to rent out the scooters.

1. Never cross the street when the traffic lights are red.

2. Never cut the traffic; stay in the right lane at all times. If you are in the only lane, that’s totally fine, the cars will pass you when safe.

3. Don’t panic and stop when there’s a car behind you. They tend to stay close, so if you are a person that panics a lot, maybe the scooter isn’t for you.

4. The scooter is heavy, don’t think you can try to lift it up.

5. If you are not on the scooter and plans to push it forward, turn the ignition off. If you even turn the knob a little bit, the scooter will ride off without you.

6. Riding a scooter without a driver’s license for motorcycles is illegal, but the police won’t care. As long as you don’t do anything crazy, you shouldn’t worry.

7. Remember where you put your scooter. There may be many scooters at where you decide to park, and they all look very similar.

8. Remember to take the keys with you when you park your scooter. People won’t try to take your unattended scooter in contemporary China, but it’s still nice to be careful.

Yeah that’s all the tips. Riding a scooter is fun, though, I would hands down recommend it to people who have experience riding a two wheeled transportation. However, since I have never ridden a scooter before, I made mistake #4 and #5 while trying to park and it was bad.

After I arrived at the noodle place, I missed the first scooter entrance to get it on the curb, so I moved forward and proceeded to try to lift the scooter up. Now, I’m a buff dude, I can lift most stuff deemed heavy by girls; still, I could not for the life of me lift the scooter. It was to goddamned heavy. When I decided to just push it, I forgot about turning off the ignition like how the owner taught me to; and the scooter tried to take off without me. I tried to catch up to it, and trying to keep it balanced; that’s when it took off even more and scraped my leg. It hurts, but it wasn’t too bad to keep me off my course.

I learned my lesson, turned the ignition off, and pushed it onto the curb through the next scooter entrance, and got into the restaurant.

Restaurant name: 螺把爷柳州螺狮粉 (蟠桃路店) (luó bǎ yé lǐu zhōu luó shī fěn) [Luobaye Liuzhou Sea Snail Vermicelli Noodle]

Address: 桂林市阳朔县西街蟠桃路135号 (Guilin City Yangshuo Prefecture West Street Pantao Road #135)

The restaurant is by no means a clean restaurant. It has flies flying all over and this must be where the locals eat. The staff who recommended it to me only mentioned that they have good vermicelli noodles here, not how clean the place is, so I didn’t really care. I ordered their Most Recommended one, and the owner put all the stuff in quickly, and just 5 minutes later I was eating lunch.

螺狮粉 is a very famous vermicelli noodle, and I have never once had it in a restaurant. They have prepackaged convenient noodle type ones I’ve had at home, but I’ve never had it in person. I never quite understood why people said it was stinky until having it in person. The sea snail smell gets to ya.

It is quite delicious though, and I can see why the front desk staff recommended it to me. It smells bad, but it tastes good. There are sea snails at the bottom of the bowl that you can’t see, and you’re supposed to suck on their openings to get the sea snail meat out. I stopped trying after 2 because it was too much work and I had other places to go to.

Dirty restaurant, good food.

After lunch, it was time for me to visit the famous 百里画廊, or Hundred Miles of Painting. It’s not literally human-made painting, but hundred miles of mountain, and it is an attraction where you need either a car or a scooter. Scooter is better because you get breathe in all the fresh air. I’ve never been there before, and since I am not the biggest nature guy, I’ve never cared too much to read about the nature attractions in China, so I did not know that 百里画廊 is not just a separate campus for tourists; it is just 10 miles of road surrounded by surreal mountains and lakes. I wondered around the entrance to 百里画廊 for a while and couldn’t seem to find the entrance, and then it came to me that maybe I need to drive in a little bit to see, so I did.

I stopped by a bridge to take this picture. This is where the people get off the bamboo raft. The raft journey starts from 漓江, Li River, and ends here. I didn’t know that because I didn’t do the research, so I didn’t get to ride the raft all the way down the river. The mountains are absolutely gorgeous though.

Now to the point I tried to make earlier about nature. Like I said, I am a history guy and not a nature guy, and I didn’t really want to come if my brother in law didn’t insist. However, once I was surrounded by nature, surrounded by all the gorgeous mountains of Yangshuo, I couldn’t help but slow down.

When you’re visiting a historical site like the Military School I visited a few days ago at Huangpu, you feel the urge to walk faster so you get to see everything that is on display. At Yangshuo, though, all you want to do is sit there and watch the mountains. You would want to slow down, take a gander at all the mountains that surrounds the road, and breathe. It is a very new experience as I’ve never cared much about mountains in general. We have mountains in Azusa too, but it’s bare and ugly. This one, though, is pretty.

Seeing where the people get off the raft was not fun, so I kept riding and went to the 大榕树景区, or the Great Banyan Attraction. Like I said, I didn’t do any research, so I had no idea what the hell I was going to see but paid the ticket for it anyways. The ticket was for both the 大榕树景区 and the 月亮山景区, the Moon Mountain Attraction. I forgot how much but it wasn’t too expensive and seemed like a great deal.

There is a famous Chinese movie that was filmed here called 刘三姐. I would translate it as Liu Third Sister, as that’s what her name meant; but I think the translating team at China thought translating her name phonetically to Sanjie Liu would make more sense to foreigners.

Sanjie Liu is a fictional character, or rather mythological character that was first pictured in the Tang Dynasty. She doesn’t have a specific ethnicity, as she existed in folklores all across Southern China. However, since the film dedicated to her was filmed in Yangshuo, Guangxi, so most people think she is ethnic Bourau. She is known for her singing and her IQ, and is a great symbol to all the people in the South. I’ve never seen the movie since I am way too young for a movie that was filmed 2 generations ago, but I’ve nevertheless heard of its name.

大榕树景区 is one such place dedicated to the movie, as a movie attraction. It was where the movie was shot, after all. There are many posters of the movie around the entire entrance of the attraction.

I walked to the Great Banyan Tree, and it was indeed big. It was very well protected, in my opinion. On the stone work it wrote: 大榕树下走一圈，财富千千万, which roughly translates to “Walk around the Great Banyan Tree for one circle, you will have all the riches”. There are many iterations of the same slogan such as you will live to 99 or what not, but the general idea is that you have to walk around the Banyan Tree for at least one full rotation. Normally I wouldn’t believe in such superstitious nonsense, but since I’ve already paid for the ticket, might as well actually do it, you know.

After seeing the tree, there’s another place where you can take the bamboo raft. It is not included in the ticket, and costs 20 per ride, which is about 3 bucks. It might sound like a rip off to the locals, but I’m here to have fun, so I didn’t really care. The trip itself is very short, all it does for you is to get you across the pond to the other side where there is more stuff to see. Not too much stuff, but some stuff is stuff, I’d rather see everything before I go.

I asked the guard if there is a way to come back, because I parked my scooter near the entrance. The guard said that there is no way to get back and you have to abandon your scooter here. He was joking, of course, but I didn’t realize that at first. There is a way to walk back from the other side of the pond, so I bought my ticket and got in.

Everyone was supposed to wear the safety jacket, but seeing my size and my possible buoyancy that comes with that size, the lady who sells the ticket handed me a broken life jacket and said you don’t really need to wear it, just wear half of it because of the regulations. Which was fine, I mean, I can swim.

Getting on the bamboo raft though, was kinda scary. You’re floating on water with no rails or anything, and any sudden moves that you’re not ready for, you may fall into the pond with all your electronics going with you. No one on our raft would dare to sit, I wanted to sit, but I didn’t want to be the one that is sticking out, so I didn’t at first as well.

Taking the raft is very peaceful. You float on the water to such a beautiful scenery, I couldn’t help but feel relaxed to my very core. By the end of the raft ride, I was tired of standing, so I just sat on my butt while the others still stand.

Soon, we got to the other side of the pond. There’s nothing much to see here, just where the movie was shot. There is a big wall with a locked door on it that said “Sanjie Liu’s Old Residence”, but I am guessing that’s where they shot the movie since the real Sanjie Liu is fictional and is from the Tang Dynasty. Behind everything is just normal people’s homes and a very sad looking restaurant that doesn’t have any customers. I am not sure if the restaurant is empty because it’s off peak season, but either way, it was hidden behind so many stuff there’s no wonder why there are no customers here.