Yangshuo Cont'd and Ping'An...oh yeah and Guilin

So finally getting some decent internet connection here in Guilin although it is really slow. After our fantastic bike ride in the beautiful Yangshuo countryside it rained the following day. We walked around Yangshuo and bought some Yak bone bracelets. We did some good bargaining for them. Dhara got hers for 20 Yuan and i got mine for 15. That night we saw the Cormorant birds fish. We went on a small river boat and rode side by side with the Cormorants and their trainer. They basically dive for fish and they have some string tied around their throat so they can't swallow the fish. The trainer grabs them and squeezes the fish out into a basket. It's pretty cool. Sometimes if the fish are small enough the birds can get a lucky snack. Then Dhara got to have one of the birds perch on her arm. I got a good photo of it. The next day we got up early and went to a water cave. We got to take mud baths and then go swimming and jumping into a pool inside the cave. it was really cool. That night we took a cooking course. We went to the market again and then went to the countryside and learned how to cook beer fish (the local specialty), fried eggplant, chicken with cashews, stuffed veggies with pork, and a "local green vegetable." It was really fun. We each ccoked our own meal and ate on the farm. So that was Yangshuo...an awesome town and we really enjoyed it.

The next day we caught a 3 hour bus to Ping'An which is a village built into the mountains surrounded by the rice terraces. It was gorgeous. The village was very quiet, no cars, and we finally got to breath some fresh country air...although there was the occasional tinge of manure. We did the hikes up to each of the viewing spots and even made it up there for the sunrise one morning. It was very peaceful. Then we thought we would go to Longsheng for the night before we made our way to Guilin for a flight to Hong Kong. We left on a bus that took about an hour to get to Longsheng. We got out of the bus and noticed that the town was dirty and not very inviting. We figured we would give it a shot for one night. We went to a hostel and checked into a room and even paid the 50 Yuan for the night. The hostel was pretty dirty and the water was not working. It was not a typical hostel to say the least. We felt like the only tourists there. We were in the room for about 5 minutes and decided to just go to Guilin. Now we had to get our money back. So i went down and the women did not speak English well at all. I tried to explain to her the situation but then she called someone who spoke English. She asked me why we wanted to leave and i quickly made up some story that we had to meet our friends in Guilin. I said i had received a call after we checked in and that we were sorry but that we had to go. Well she bought it and gave the money back. So we left Longsheng after a 10 minute stay and made our way to Guilina and got there 2 hours later.

Last night in Guilin we got to our hostel, took showers, had dinner, and talked with some other travelers for a while. Today we walked around, got some lunch and went to a bakery for something sweet, usually the sweets are delicious. Dhara got these cookies that looked very good. Thought they might be almond or caramel. Dhara tried one and it was not like that at all. It turns out that they were some sort of pork, onion, cheese cracker. She said they were disgusting. I didn't even dare to have a taste. Also, while we were in the bakery some old lady spit right on the floor and she was 2 feet from the door. It was a very clean place too. Nasty. Anyway...now we are waiting to go to Hong Kong tomorrow. We're not sure if our flight is at 12 midnight, 4 Am, or 12 noon. we're trying to figure that out. Otherwise we're having an awesome time and are looking forward to the next adventure