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Around Liuzhou

Its been two weeks since our arrival in Liuzhou. Up until recently, we had not really explored the city much. Luckily, we met another teacher at our foreign language institute who is a local and willing to show us around. Our first stop was Dragon Pool Park. It was in this park that the Tang Dynasty poet, Liu Zongyuan, used to pray for rain on behalf of the people for richer harvests. The park is scenic and is surrounded by karst limestone mountains. The park also has a cave where prehistoric fo...

Got Gizzards?

The daily grind of a foreign language teacher: get up, take the bus, teach class, eat lunch, prepare the next class, teach afternoon class, eat dinner, ride the bus home, shower, prepare the morning lesson, and then sleep. So far, it has been kind of a grueling routine but we've found some enjoyment during the middle of the day: for lunch! We used to be in a rut. Steamed pork buns were the de facto lunch before we discovered other fantastic street foods. Now its skewers of chicken gizzards, lamb...

Sweet Home Liuzhou

Why "Sweet Home Liuzhou?" Well, it is our home for the next month. We are now English teachers at a foreign language institute. Our job is to teach English to middle and high school kids. The institute has provided an apartment for us for the month. The great thing is that it has internet access. The bad thing is that it requires a 30 minute non-airconditioned bus ride that is jam packed with people. Liuzhou is a city of about 1.5 million people. It has a busy urban downtown area that has a grea...

West Street Nightlife

It was Saturday night. We figured that we were only going to be in Yangshuo another day so why not take a walk on West Street. The street was filled with people basically milling around and browsing the vendors' wares. There were all kinds of people: families, young Chinese hipsters, European backpackers, rock climber types, foreign tourists, hippies, and other eccentric people too. Many of the nightclubs and bars were blaring loud music and trying to attract patrons. We walked by the Global Caf...

The Terraced Fields of Longsheng

Yesterday we took an all day tour of the Longsheng area just north of Guilin. This area is in the mountains and the ride took about 3 hours from Yangshuo. The main attractions in this area are the villages of ethnic minority groups such as the Yao and Zhuang people as well as the Dragon Backbone rice terraces. Upon arriving at a mountain village, we were brought to a dance hall where members of the Yao people performed some traditional dances and songs. The show was actually very humorous becaus...

Li River Fishing

Today we didn't have anything planned. We had to get bus tickets for tomorrow's destination so we walked into a travel agency. There was a picture of a traditional village and I found the architecture to be interesting so I asked where we could see that. The lady said that not too many people go to those small villages but if we wanted to go we simply needed to catch a bus to a small village called Xing Ping and then board a small boat downstream to Yu Cun which literally means "fishing village...

A Yangshuo Evening

At night in Yangshuo there's an abundance of activities one can participate in. We had dinner at a dumpling restaurant. They serve all kinds of dumplings and you can either request boiled or pan fried dumplings. I noticed that the menu was in both Chinese and English. The waitress was able to speak English to the other American and Canadian customers. This is the type of place Yangshuo is. Travelers from other countries who can't speak Chinese can get by pretty easily here. There are even many o...

Yangshuo, The Tourist Wonderland

Different people will react differently to the title of this posting. To some, a "Tourist Wonderland" may be a negative moniker. However, I believe there is something for everybody here in Yangshuo. If you love the outdoors, you'll love Yangshuo. If you like to experience unique cultures, there's something for you in Yangshuo. Want to party til you drop? You can do that too in Yangshuo. Today we went across the street and rented mountain bikes. We then went around the corner to have a quick rice...

Li River Cruise to Yangshuo

We left Guilin in the morning and our tour company provided the bus ride to the Li River. We boarded a boat for the 4.5 hour ride through some spectacular scenery. The views were filled with the karst limestone topography that this area is famous for. The beautiful views never really end! If I were shooting film, I'd probably use up all of film within the first half hour. Luckily, my digital camera has the space for hundreds of pictures. In addition to the views, you can get a feel for life on t...

Beautiful Guilin

Hmmm. Where do I begin? Guilin is a major tourist destination. People all over the world come here to see the picturesque mountains that seem to just shoot straight out of the ground and surround the city. I noticed that this place is very much tourist driven. Everywhere you go people will try to sell you a tour or a hotel room. If you take a cab, the driver will talk nonstop asking you whether you've been to this sight or that sight. Haven't eaten? "Let me drop you off at this great restaurant"...