Yangshuo: Day 2

Our day started off with a bike tour through the countryside of Yangshuo. We picked out the best mountain bikes (most of them were cruisers in need of heading straight back to their made-in-China factories). We rode a completely different path then the day before which was great. This bike path was built through the countryside; we passed rice paddys, women walking their water buffalo with ropes around their neck, and tons of gorgeous greenery. We pedaled to our first destination, which was bamboo rafting along the Yulong River. After negotiating our way through throngs of old women trying to sell us more flower crowns (I had already bought one for 1 yuan!), we hesitantly climbed onto our bamboo raft (about five pieces of long bamboo tied together with rope, mostly likely constructed by our driver). The raft had metal lawn chairs tied onto it as well for us to sit in-- what that doesn't sound safe?! The ride down the river was the first relaxing thing we did in awhile. It was calm and breezy. They created little dams on the river (to make it more of a ride?) which we would get to the top of, and then our dude would push really hard and we would tip down the dam, and pray that our metal chairs wouldn't fall off into the river (even though we had life jackets on :). The dam was only like 2 feet, but it felt like 10 on a little bamboo raft in lawn chairs. We would be motioned to lift our feet up as our raft would dip halfway under the water. It was great to just hang out with each other on the river and not dealing with loud noises and pushing crowds of people. : ) After the river raft we continued our bike ride to lunch at a home nearby.  We ate on their outdoor deck, which was definitely hand-made. It was a second story as well, when we walked up the steep stairs onto the deck it shook. So we all walked veryyy carefully. After a delicious lunch we rode our bikes to the pick-up stop for the Water Caves. After a slightly nauseating 20 minute bus ride we arrived at the entrance for the Water Caves. We climbed into a small wooden boat with our guide. The entrance to the cave was barely taller than the small boat we were in (think canoe-shaped). As we paddled through the opening in the cave we all were faceplanted to the floor of the boat. For safety reasons. As the cave ceiling slowly got taller and wider we were able to make our way off the floor and look around. The cave was massive; with huge cavernous halls and beautiful rock formations. We hopped out of our boat with our guide to start our walk through the cave. We had to walk slowly, and sometimes crawl under the long stalactites and stalagmites hanging close to the ground. Our guide would lead us through the cave pointing out different rock formations with his flashlight. It was just like when you look in the sky and say, "That cloud looks like a bunny rabbit. That cloud looks like a castle." Except his comments were, "This rock here is Buddha, this one is a dragon..." He would first say it all in Chinese, and then repeat it in English, so we would all try to guess what he was going to call the next rock next. I guessed that one rock formation was the rice terraces, and David guessed one was a turtle. Which was super crazy by the way because it looked absolutely nothing like a turtle. : ) Towards the end of the cave, we were able to change into our bathing suits and jump into some mud baths. It was a pretty weird feeling. Somewhat slimy and thick. We layed in the mud and took turns going down the mud slide. It was a super short distance from the slide to the bottom of the mud, so when we came off the slide not only did I hit the ground but David slammed into my back-- at least with a giant smile on his face! (See picture : ) Haha. After the mud baths we were able to rinse off and jump in some hot springs in a nearby rock formation. It was pretty relaxing. After the hot springs and mud bath we made our way out of the cave. We went out to dinner-- had to eat pizza because I was so over Chinese food. David had "lasagna." Later that night our whole tour group went out together for one last time (because David and I have to leave early for his new job which starts on Monday). We went to an American bar and we all sat at one long table and talked for a couple hours. It was one of our favorite days in China!

Zai-jian!

David and Kristen : )