Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Another early start and fried egg and tomato breakfast at Cloud 9 and we were excited to pack in as much as we could into the day. Ruthie (a friend from Josh's course in Shanghai) was arriving in Yangshou this evening with one of her friends from home so we knew tonight would be a big one and tomorrow most probably another write-off. Back to bike lady but this time to hire mopeds. Unfortunately she wasn't working and instead her b****y sister tried to rip us off so we just went opposite to another hire stand at bagged 2 mopeds for 80RMB for the day. Despite a minor hiccough whereby Sam and George turned the wrong way at a roundabout making Josh wait for 10 minutes before assuming they had in fact somehow gone ahead and then motor biking around for 20 minutes looking for each other, we made it to Moon Hill a lot quicker than we would have done on bikes.
Moon Hill is a UNESCO World Heritage site (we are aware that we're becoming UNESCO sluts, we can't get enough of them) and you can see why. It looks like a mountainous archway if you can imagine that. At the base of the hill is the ticket office - 15RMB per person. However there are then 3 or four ladies saying that they can show you what they call the "local" way for only 5RMB. Seeing as we have become obsessed with saving every quai we can, we went for the local route. This turned out to just be a small trek through a jungle, which joined the main path a little way up the mountain. Despite having to climb over barbed wire and tread quietly to avoid the ticket office seeing us, it was definitely worth discount and within a couple of minutes we were on the path up Moon Hill. Half way up is a sign, left to Vanity Point and right to Moon Palace. Obviously we wanted to go to vanity point. Not only because of the name but because the path was overgrown and steep - something the majority if not all tourists would avoid but we love. It quickly became apparent that the path was no longer in use as we had to clamber through thick overgrown jungle and fern. It was actually a pointless effort because 15 minutes later the steps took us down again to the main path so we just exerted ourselves for no reason in the blistering heat. Oh well, we always feel like Indiana Jones when we take these crazy routes so no biggie. The climb from then really wasn't as hard as we've been used to over the last few weeks and we were at the top within 10 minutes. The view was awesome - all the rice paddies and karst scenery surrounding Yangshou with the Moon Hill crescent on top of us.
After a speedy descent we were back on the mopeds. Sam had never driven one before so was a little anxious when we decided he should have a go by himself seeing as we were in the middle of nowhere, however, once as soon as he started he decided it was his favourite activity ever! Literally loving life. We passed a bamboo rafting place but weren't sure about the prices so drove back into twn to see if we could get it cheaper. Our hostel prices were much higher and after the b****y receptionist shouted at us to move our bikes (we literally hate her she is SO rude) we went to Chloe's hostel to see if the prices were better. Still no luck so we drove back to the river and got on the bamboo rafts we originally saw. We got 2 rafts between the three of us and go to float own the river over a few minor waterfalls, which was pretty cool. George lost his flip flop on through the first rapids but fortunately got it back straight away. There was a floating restaurant half way down where we stopped for a beer and a photo which was good too. Nearing the end of our trip George engaged in a water fight with the bamboo raft next to his. This did not end well for him as his Oakley sunglasses were sprayed off his head. Eager to show off, Josh jumped in the river and swam over to find them. This was greeted with many cheers from the surrounding Chinese boats and when he found them they were so excited.
The boat tour finished after a couple of hours and we decided it was probably time to head back to the hostel and find some food before tonight. As we were dropping our bikes off we noticed a huge indoor food market that we hadn't seen before so we went in. It was a pretty harrowing experience, the animals we all kept in the most horrendous conditions. From kittens to dogs, they were all stuffed into tiny cages on top of each other, some clearly already dead from suffocation or starvation. We saw a duck get slaughtered as the man cut its throat and threw it into a bin until there were no more sounds of movement and fish were beaten on the floor then descaled whilst still wriggling slightly. The dogs were very sad and there were all types on sale - even Labradors. The dog carcasses hanging up were equally gross and really stank. Although being shouted at not to take photos, we were able to get a few snaps. The spice section was much nicer and smelt amazing which was refreshing after the stench of the meat. We then dropped off our bikes and went for dinner (Cloud 9) before heading back to the hostel to shower off. Just next to the alley way to our hostel is the shop selling the bags that George and Josh wanted and FINALLY after 3 days of game play they gave in and sold them at the price we wanted! We repacked our bags ready for our departure tomorrow then went up to the rooftop to take advantage of happy hour(s) before Ruthie and Rob arrived.
It was on the roof that we met Jane for the first time. What a babe! She said she wasn't drinking because she'd gone a bit mental the last 5 nights in Shanghai and needed a break but after persuading her to join in seeing as it was our last night she did so. She challenged us to games of Connect 4 which she had clearly played far too much whereby the loser buys a shot of Chinese Viagra for the winner (some horrendously alcoholic liquid stored in a large glass jar filled with dead snakes). Of course every time we played double or nothing after the first game and, every time, Jane won. She ended up giving us a shot each and she had three! We then just sat and talked with her for an hour or so waiting for Ruthie and she poured extra alcohol in our drinks once we had established a "friendship". Ruthie and Rob arrived and we were already quite drunk but it was time for beer pong! Jane and Josh teamed up and pretty much kicked ass. Jane kept on taking off her top as a distraction technique. Although the idea was to distract them by drawing attention to her double D's, her genuinely unusually large beer belly was more of a fascination! After several games of beer pong and loads of buckets we were all suitably socially lubricated. We met a guy from Cambridge uni who had just finished his first year from Selwyn. He wasn't the funnest guy in the world but we took him under our wing. By that we mean he kind of sat there smiling at us while we pre'd then apparently followed us out but none of us saw him all night! The night was pretty crazy itself as we went bar hopping again, using our pale skin as a means of getting free entry and drinks everywhere we went! We actually made it back home pretty early for a big night, around 2:30am. Ruthie and Rob decided to crash in our dorm because our spare bed still had no occupant and that way we could all do something in the morning.
- comments