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After a good night's sleep we were keen to get out and do something today seeing as our day yesterday was somewhat wasted! Thankfully no one had moved into our room yesterday so we had the 4 bed dorm to ourselves - no one else came for the rest of our time here either which was quite nice. Breakfast, obviously, was at Cloud 9 - fried eggs and tomatos with rice. This sounds very western but it is probably the most Chinese dish you can get. Every restaurant sells it all around the country. The eggs and tomato are cooked in a sort of sauce with chives and taste absolutely incredible.
Excited to use our free tickets to the mud baths, we ate quickly then hired some bicycles from the lady opposite the restaurant. It was such a hot day again so cycling was an absolute mission. We bought hats on the way from the worlds cutest chinese lady. She was about 4 foot tall and would not stop smiling. Josh and Sam got a pretty cool picture with her which she cheekily tried to charge us for but she succumbed to our laddish charm and let us do it for free. We also passed through a town after about an hour of cycling which was so rural. There was a big market open which we decided to stop off at and have a look around. It was quite sad actually, fish were jumping out of their tanks trying to escape and all the animals were being kept in tiny net bags. For example there were snakes, frogs, eels, snails etc all stuffed into these tiny sacks. After our thirst for cultural China was quenched, we got back on our bikes and headed in the direction we guessed was the mud baths. On the way we passed a wild dog which definitely had rabies which encouraged us to cycled a little faster! We then came across a sign - 100m to the mud baths and an arrow pointing left. Perfect! Following the road left we continued cycling….for half an hour! We could see steam in the distance which we assumed was the hot springs. To get there we had to actually dismount our bikes and walk them since it was so steep and the road was less road more rocky death trap. When we eventually arrived at the source it turned out to be a massive quarry! Fortunately a friendly passer by offered to lead us to the mud baths. Back at the bottom of the mountain, he turned off onto a small path - completely hidden by bushes! This was were the 100m sign was supposed to be pointing - how on earth was anyone supposed to see that?!
The mud caves were AMAZING! We had to wait for two more people to turn up first who would be joining us on our tour. We were surprised and slightly annoyed when two elderly Americans wandered up. We were planning on messing around in the mud and didn't really want them there awkwardly overlooking us! Turns out they were really cool and took loads of photos which they will e-mail to us. They didn't actually go in the mud baths, just walked around the caves so weren't a nuisance at all. They were also surprisingly good at trekking for their age! To reach the mud caves, you get a boat which the driver navigates through the underground caves by pulling on rope attached to the side. Inside the caves was very cold but it looked incredible. There were hundreds of huge stalagmites and stalagtites and the water was so clear you could see the bottom when he shone a torch down. As always, there were several rock formations with ridiculous names such "leaping tiger" which looked more like a boulder with moss but they were interesting none the less. The trek through the caves after the boat dropped us off was a difficult one. The ceiling at times was so low we had to crawl and it was pretty slippery. The mud baths themselves were hilarious! There was a slide leading in, which was pretty dangerous considering there were multiple rocks in the pool, but was much appreciated since the water was pretty cold so it forced us to get in! We childishly covered our entire bodies, faces and hair in mud while our guide took loads of pictures. Mud fights broke out every so often and we amused our selves by making huge piles of mud on our heads. The water floating above the mud was so dense you could float which was really cool. The guide loved our poses including some minor nudity! After a good hour or so spent in the baths, we decided to leave and our guide led us to a collection of hot springs in the cave which we could sit in to clean off - pretty awesome! We started chatting to the American couple who had just been sitting down waiting for us the whole time and learnt that she was researching pharmaceuticals in rural towns which was quite interesting. Eventually we left the springs and got the boat back out into the open. The light was pretty blinding at first and when we went to buy our photos they tried to rip us off insanely. You're not allowed cameras in the cave because of the mud (the Amerians were because they didn't go in but we can have their photos when they send them) so they charge 20RMB per photo! Obviously, we wanted all of them and after a lot of friendly banter we some how managed to land all 40 photos for 60RMB! Pretty good going.
On the cycle ride home the heat proved too much for us and we had to stop off in the small town we passed to try and get some cold drinks. In a local chao shi (supermarket) we grabbed a few drinks. The lady at the checkout clearly gave us the "western" prices for our drinks - 1L of minute maid orange juice for 11RMB and a can of coke for 5RMB…this is just not possible for a rural Chinese village. We noticed there was a scanner and Sam asked in Chinese whether she could scan the items "so we could have the receipt" (we actually just wanted to see the real price). "Wo bu keyi" said the lady (I can't do that). Bullsh*t thought Josh and he grabbed the drinks and scanned them himself! Turns out they were 7RMB and 2RMB. What a b****! She was so angry and embarrassed and we loved it! Making many a sarcastic remark on our way out of the shop, we jumped on our bikes, full of the satisfaction that we had beaten the b**** at her price scheming game! Literally felt like James Bond.
Back in Yangshou town we returned our bikes and somehow the lady managed to persuade us to book a cormorant fishing show for that evening. To be fair she was selling them at half the price of our hostel and it was something we really wanted to do. We ate dinner at cloud 9 (obviously) then rushed back to our hostel to shower because our ears were still full of mud. Well actually only Josh showered the others planned on doing it later…was this a good idea? Read on to find out…
The cormorant show takes place just after sunset in the darkness. We found our lady who we actually really like and she showed us to the docks. We then got on a bamboo raft next to another boat. On the other boat is a fisherman with 6 cormorant birds and a lantern at the front. As we set off down the river we witnessed how the locals used to fish before it became larger industries took over and it was genuinely so clever! The birds would have rope tied loosely around their throats so that they were just too narrow for them to swallow fish. The birds then swim along next to the boat (they are just like penguins!) and when they catch a couple of fish the fisherman sticks out his pole which they climb onto then they spit the fish out into a basket! We travelled upstream for around half an hour then pulled in on a rocky beach where the fisherman showed us what he had caught. We then got to pose with the cormorants on our shoulders.
Once the show was over we went to town in search of a massage! Josh and Sam had been in China for 2 months and failed to have one so this seemed like the perfect opportunity. Our hostel did discount massages if we booked through them so we went back to check out the massage menu. One of the items available is called "cupping". This is a traditional Chinese form of massage whereby hot cups are placed on ones back and a vacuum is created. This is supposed to suck out all the toxins, leaving you healthy. Apparently Chinese people do this twice a month! We'd seen many people with the marks on their backs - 6 large circles like love bites that are supposed to last a couple of days. You only live once, we thought, and went for it. The massage parlour we went to was very unprofessional to say the least. We were taken to a lady's house where she made us lie down on her bed. Sam went first and as soon as she started we knew we were in for something very different to what we expected! There were no hot cups which are supposed to slowly increase pressure. Instead she got out 3 boxes of plastic cups (each box containing 11 cups!) and begins to put them ALL on Sam's back using a syringe to suck out the air. Fortunately for Sam, he couldn't see what his back looked like but for George and Josh it terrified them! The cups are transparent so you could see Sam's back looked like it was covered in huge 2 inch diameter boils! Sam's groans also indicated that it was a painful experience. Next was Josh. Having just seen Sam's treatment he was far from excited! When Sam looked across at Josh and saw what it looked like he was equally disgusted! Once the cups are in position we were made to sit there for 20 minutes. It was one of the most painful 20 minutes of our lives! So unpleasant. Removing the cups was just as excruciating and when they were all off it just hurt so much to move our arms! Why did we pay 40RMB to get 33 giant love bites scarred forcefully onto our backs?! It was an experience but one we shall not be repeating!
Feeling slightly depressed and in pain we hunted out some street food to comfort us and found the best ever stalls! Next door to each other just off West Street were a man and lady. One sold absolutely amazing flat noodles, the other sold Chinese hamburgers. They looked nothing like hamburgers, there was a meaty paste which he stuffed inside a dough ball, flattened and fried. It ended up kind of like a stuffed pancake but it was amazing! We ate at least 2 a day form this point onwards! Back at the hostel Sam and George obviously wanted to shower considering they hadn't since the mud caves. Oh dear - after having the delightful experience of cupping you are not allowed to shower for at least 4 hours. Looks like they were sleeping in mud for the night…
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