On the way we had a little potty break. We pulled into this place that looked somewhat sketch. We walked down a dark alley inbetween these old old old dirty stone buildings back to this little courtyard that had people living and cooking back there. Now you have to understand before this point I had only used a squatter once, so when I walked into these sqatters, it was quite... eye-opening. I walked in and my first thought was, "I am going to the bathroom in an ancient Roman civilization bathhouse... only dirtier." The stall walls were stone and only about a foot and a half high, and there were no doors. So you just had to go in and do your business for the world to see, and I don't think I've ever had my personal bubble popped so violently before. I've decided that I will definitely never complain about a gas station toilet ever again becuase those are palaces compared to this place.
Next was the Buddha Mud caves. First they showed us around to different sites in the cave that were pretty cool. Now in American caves, they don't let you even touch any formations. Here, the let you climb up one. After that they took us to where the mud baths were and we all got in our swimsuits and had a grand old fight in the mud :) It was WAY freezing in the cave (you could see your breath) and they had an ice cold shower to rinse off in. But that was okay because they took us to a hot springs place in the cave and we got to warm up again :)
After that we biked to the base of Moon Hill, ate lunch and then climbed to the top of it.
Seriously it was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my life. There are a few moments in your life when everything falls into place and for that brief amount of time, the world is perfect. Being at the top of Moon Hill was one of those moments. I was in a place where my life was simple, basic, and beautiful; where blessings are innumerable and trials insignificant. I have fallen in love with the Chinese countryside and its people. The world is not perfect, but for a moment, mine was.
The next day we went to the Longji Rice Terraces. They had a little village at the bottom which reminded me of a chinese version of the Alpine Village, and the countryside surrounding it reminded me of Yellowstone or Jackson Hole. Hahah in the village they had these long rickety bridges that you had to cross that made you feel drunk and it reminded me of the long bridges in Kung Fu Panda or Horton Hears a Who. The view from the top of the rice terraces was awesome and I couldn't believe how HUGE it was and how many rice terraces there were (I guess all the rice in China has to come from somewhere, eh?)
Monday our hostel arranged for us to take a small boat tour of the Li River on these "bamboo" rafts (a.k.a. pvc pipe). It was really pretty and actually kind of reminded me of Jurassic Park. I was seriously just waiting for a raptor to come running out of the bushes. We stopped on this little islet where there was some shopping you could do and then we went back down the river.
The next day a few of us climed this little mountain that had a pagoda type thing at the top that overlooked the part of the city we were in.
We came back and got our stuff together and then left on another sleeper bus around 5. And thus concludes the Yangshuo trip!
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