May 8 - Yangshuo: Running into "Dad"

So here I was, thinking I'm pretty smart about getting to the well-known town of Yangshuo. I forewent the standard express bus from Guangzhou to Guilin (seven hours, 150Yuan), where I would still have to find a connecting bus to Yangshuo, and managed in broken Chinese to find a night bus that went directly from Guangzhou to Yangshuo. Not only would it cost 65 Yuan less, it saved me a night's hotel cost.

It left at 6 p.m. and, as it was supposed to be 13 hours, arriving at 7 a.m. Perfect timing. Now, you're probably thinking that "supposed to" foreshadowed an actual journey of 18 hours but the universe conspired against me in a different, sneakier way. Rather than making the bus journey longer, it made it shorter. The trip only took 10 hours and I was dumped somewhere in the middle of Yangshuo, not even at the bus station, at 4 a.m.

I was immediately surrounded by five motorbike drivers, none of whom spoke English, offering me a ride. Just where were they were planning to take me? The sidewalk of my choice?  I had no reservations at any hotel. And I had no idea what might even be open at that time to tell the motorbike drivers to take me to.

Knowing the town was a walkable size, though, I decided to look for the Youth Hostel mentioned in my guidebook and head there myself, figuring I would sleep outside for a couple of hours until they opened. As fate shined on me, even though the sun didn't, I ran into Jason, an Aussie who had spent most of the night drinking (fancy that, an Aussie who drinks!), who was wandering around looking for food. His father had a house in Yangshuo and he invited me to crash there until hotels opened in the morning. Perfect!

My sleep was deep and extremely short as Yangshuo, being rainy and damp, is home to several trillion mosquitoes, many of which chose that night to infest the upstairs room in which I crashed. In the morning, I try to tell if anyone’s awake as I have to go to the bathroom really badly. Waiting till I'm ready to bust, I sneak quietly to the second floor. No sounds. I use the toilet (a squatter flusher). Now, to flush or not? I choose flush. Whoosh! A torrent of water, the sound of Niagra Falls during spring runoff season comes rushing down the pipes. I hurry out only to come face to face with... Dad.

" I heard a noise so I came up," says Jason's father. "
Um... er... um... sorry to bother you.. I'm Baila," I stammer.
" May?"
" B-a-i-l-a."
" Fella?"
" B-A-I-L-A," I practically yell. How the guy heard the toilet flush is beyond me.
" You came in with Jason, then?"
" Well, not exactly," I start to say, realizing the explanation to this man who's hard of hearing is not worth the trouble. "Yes, FRIEND OF JASON," I smile, knowing what this implies, and scurry off, mumbling apologies.

A few minutes later, I hear Jason explaining the situation to his father and I head out of the house with my bag, numerous thanks and only a little embarrassment.

As it happened, I hit Yangshuo at just the right and wrong time. As it was nearing the end of Golden Week (after May Day), people were leaving by the busload so finding a hotel room for under $10 was no problem. Unfortunately, the two days I spent here, it rained, then drizzled, then poured buckets.

Yanshuo is a tourist town on steroids. The main tourist area where everyone stays is made up of t-shirt shop after t-shirt shop, souvenir stands and western style restaurants. So it makes sense to hire a bike and get out of town to do some sightseeing, which is what everyone does. It let up enough on the first day for a gorgeous bicycle tour to Moon Hill, through villages and rice fields reminiscent of watercolor paintings. I hired a guide, which was a smart idea because even though the main roads are easy enough to navigate, we went through some back pathways and dirt roads that I would never have found. What has become widely done now is that guides take you to their homes midway through the trip and make a traditional Chinese lunch for you as part of the tour. It was delicious.

On the second day, the skies opened and the Internet Café became my new home. Thankfully, I found a cheap one, near the end of West Street, for two yuan an hour. (It’s next to West Street Jiahui Supermarkt and the Ancient Silver Workshop.)

Of course on the day I left for Guilin, the skies cleared and the sun came out.