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A nice morning start - 9am, our first visit was to the less visited areas of hilly rural landscape of Yungshuo, to see where the local farmers live and work.
The house quite large, had a family of four living there, as the children had moved to the city to work. One of the gentleman aged 69 was actually in the show the night before, he carried the bamboo boats, he was quite cheeky, showed us how he does weights each day, then showed us his bird that did flips when he told it too. The oldest lady of the house showed us through the home, had us grind tofu, pump water, and showed us the snake and centipede wine that was famously made in this area. The kitchen we saw and the bedrooms, along with the place that the coffins are kept in a back room for the elderly (an odd tradition but they arrange this as they get older). The experience was really friendly, gave us a warm feeling of how happy people can be with the most simple of lifestyles.
We had photos taken, and the eldest of the ladies, held your hand as you walked past or gave you the biggest of hugs when you had a photo with her. Lots of giggling, which just made you laugh, it was a really nice experience, probably one of the best days of the trip.
We were then taken to the rice fields, were we saw harvesting, water baffalos with their calves, and beautiful scenery as the fields are set amid limestone peaks, surrounded by meandering river ways, it provided an interesting contrast to the big Chinese cities we'd travelled from.
We stopped for lunch on the way back to Guilin, and then stopped at the South China Sea Pearl Exhibition Centre, an interesting museum of where and how the pearls are harvested in China, then we had a fashion parade of beautiful girls in stunning dresses, wearing the pearls they did harvest and set (Freshwater and Sea Pearls), a clever way to display pearls I thought, instead of a movie. Yep, we shopped here, amazing prices as you can imagine, because of the Chinese exchange and because of onsite wholesale shop.
The afternoon was a visit to the Reed Flute Cave, during the Japanese invasion in the 1940's it was used as a hideout, today it has tunnels winding through Guangming Hill, inside numerous rock formations, lit with neon lights. The caves were spectacular, your imagination had to run wild to give names to the formations.
We had a few hours at the hotel, our room this time had a view onto the river, we watched the locals swim across just before dark and early in the morning. We then all walked down the market street to a restaurant that served Western meals, just for a change from the daily chinese lazy suzi bouquets. I had beef, surprisingly very nice, although still had a touch of Chinese flavour, all cooked by a Chinese.
Our night finished with a visit to see the Cormorant Fishing, we all climbed on a boat to watch the fishermen set off on bamboo rafts, after dark (as the birds don't have good eyesight at night, so it stops them from flying away). It's amazing to watch, the cormorants wear collars to prevent them from swallowing the large fish, the birds swim just below the surface alongside the raft towards a light hanging from the bow. When the bird makes a catch, it returns to the boat and then fisherman retrieves from the bird's beak. We were surprised how big the birds were and the actual fish they caught, probably 20 to 30cms. When we returned to the shoreside, we had photo's taken with the birds and the fishermen, the birds are really healthy looking and live for about 25 years, but they only fish for 15 years, apparently the fishermen get quite attached to the birds as they train them from chicks, so they keep the birds, they joke and say they are on a fishermens pension when they do retire. Photos are not so good because flash could not be used, I did attach some so you could get some idea, the focus was on the bird, that is why the fisherman is blurred mostly.
Dad and I choose to walk back past the markets and along the main street back to the hotel to see how the locals enjoy a Friday.
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Mum Oh dear I am lost for words.Slide show amazing GREAT JOB SHARYN and THANK YOU.Love Mum xxxxooooxxxxooooxxxxooooxxxxoooo