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Tim and Debbie's Travels....
Hi,
Sleepy backpacker village as billed by Lonely Planet Yangshuo is not!!! But still very relaxing, lots of bars and cafes and places to people watch. Spent the first three days doing very little, chilling out, reading and playing cards and getting very drunk....it felt like the first time we have sat stopped moving.....
We were invited for a great meal with a friendly bar owner who we met whilst playing drinking dice, or rather whilst being beaten by his cunning moves. The food was fantastic, he cooked the local dish 'Beer Fish', local Li River fish fried in the local Li Q beer along with chilli, onion and ginger. Well good. Have promised to cook him our local Barnsbury Estate speciality dish of fish and chips when he visits.
Spent an evening boating in the dark alongside fishermen catching fish using trained comorants which fly under the water catching the fish, but cannot swallow them because of a string tied round their necks. The fishermen let them keep every seventh fish, apparently!
After our lazy days, we also hired bikes again and headed out into the countryside which was wonderful, real peaceful and beautiful, just us cycling through miles of paddy fields and villages surrounded by incredible peaks. We stopped in one village for some beer fish on a bamboo pontoon on the river and spent the afternoon eating, swimming and mingling with the locals. Bliss!
On our last day, we headed out on bikes again and spent the afternoon exploring the famous Water Caves. This is probably the closest Tim and I will ever come to caving and we were very pleased to be fully equipped with torches and yellow hard hats before being paddled into the side of the mountain! Saw many impressive stalagmites including 'A monk in love', 'Pretty ladies showering' and 'A chocolate cake'....we nodded in agreement politely when questioned!
The highlight of the day was a dip in the underground mud bath and a dive down the mud slide. Very surreal and cold, like bathing in custard, even now we can't decide if we liked it or not! Some not so flattering pics to follow!!
On our way to Longsheng tomorrow to visit the World Heritage Longli rice terracesand the Village of the Long Haired Ladies way up in the mountains....sounds interesting!! xx
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