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2 trains, two taxis and a bus ride later we arrived in beautiful beautiful Yangshuo! I had a rather embarrassing situation where I started jabbering away at normal volume about how annoying the man next to me was, coughing and fidgeting all the time (no one here speaks English remember so I felt safe) and also he left his flask and went for a wonder and I mentioned how there could be a bomb in it..random I know! Well a you can imagine I was rather shocked when the man came back as we arrived and asked me in perfect English to 'please pass him his flask'...great..I was sitting next to one of the only English speaking Chinese men in china! The fact he knew the word for flask added to my humiliation and I was laughed off the train by everyone in my customary bright red.
Anyway after nearly missing our bus to Yangshuo (Vivian and I wanted to stock up on sunflower seeds), we finally arrived yesterday morning and were very happy to pile into our first hotel room for 5 days! Yangshuo is just so stunning and I think the most beautiful place I've been in the world. It's surrounded by huge Avatar style mountains whilst being completely flat in between and it's so peaceful and pretty. That evening some of us opted to do a cooking course and were taken to a market first to look at the different veg, duck necks and spit roasted puppies which was interesting to say the least. We also opted for cool Chinese masks to protect ourselves from bird flu, much to the amusement of our teacher who basically thought we looked like plonkers! We then were driven into the countryside for the class where the school was on a farm in the middle of nowhere surrounded by mountains and was wonderful! We cooked pork stuffed vegetables, braised Aubergine (we can't get enough of this either..it's AMAZING), beer fish, chicken with cashew nuts and Chinese cabbage with garlic. It was sooo yummy and we had great fun wielding humongous cleavers and cooking on mini outdoor stoves. My favourite was the Aubergine of course and I actually think I could make that at home but the beer fish was really delicious too. The key ingredient is definitely oyster sauce but you mustn't use it without water or it'll ruin your wok :) basically I know what I'm taking to Uni in September: a wok, a metal spatula with sides, a cleaver, chopsticks and oyster sauce..gone get some strange looks!
This morning we woke up early and walked to rent bikes so we could cycle out of the town and see more of the scenery. I don't want to bang on about it (yes I know I already have) but its soso so pretty, just like the rural china you imagine and see in films. I took a zillion photos and videos and was especially happy when everyone allowed me to put on my music in my backpack and I played Oklahoma's 'Oh what a beautiful morning' which completed my happiness wonderfully! We cycled for a couple of hours and then stopped for lunch, a drink and a swing in the swinging chair (we know how I love those too) whilst looking at moon rock which is a large natural hole in one of the mountains. A scrummy lunch of lemon chicken (found some Brandon but supposedly it's more a western dish), braised Aubergine (told you we're obsessed) and rice later, we set off for the golden caves.
When we got to the mud caves we were very happy that it was warm enough to be in bikinis (oh yes, that's another wonderful thing about Yangshuo..the shorts are out and it's 30 degrees again!!). We had a 45 minute tour of the caves first which were beautiful and our guide George was very dedicated to his job, only problem was the German tourists trying to take sneaky shots of us in our swimware..awkward!! We sunk into the mud baths which are buried deep within the caves and were really cool and all natural so kinda tricky to get in and really oozy and yucky to touch! We were soon submerged but we did have the awkward situation where the different mud levels meant that you floated really high, couldn't stand easily and basically spent the entire time looking like beached whales flailing about trying to put our feet on the squishy floor..photos will be great! We then spent 30 mins in the mineral hot springs also in the caves and emerged into the sunshine feeling very revitalised. We cycled back with bikinis and swimming trunks tied onto the backs of our bikes..an interesting sight for the locals..and had to treat ourselves to some shaved ice (Taiwanese specialty) on our return.
Tomorrow we're going to have an hours calligraphy class in the morning before we set off on another bus and taxi to catch our last night train to Hong Kong!! YEY will be allowed on all websites again! People are much friendlier and less gross here so must be a city thing?! Loving china and currently my favourite place I've been so far :) also reading Wild Swans by Jung Chungfor the 3rd time at the moment and its great fun reading about her experiences in the places I'm visiting :)
Loving comments from everyone and sorry I can't reply individually but really nice to hear from you all! Snapchat not working here either which is very irritating so will hopefully reply to everything in Hong Kong :)
Lots of love, Flo x x x
- comments
MWE A great blog - glad its going so well. Don't forget how to cook....you can do it for us in a few weeks time (with or without aubergine!) D
YKW Such good reading Floey!! The photograph you've attached is beautiful, and I cannot wait to see more of your glorious mud baths! xx