3 April 2007
The last time I was in China I spent several very interesting and rewarding mornings walking around the local parks watching people taking their morning exercises – tai chi, wu shu, karate, dance etc. The locals had been very welcoming and had great fun at my expense by encouraging me to take part. I was keen for the students to experience this too, so Scott and I agreed to go for a run at dawn to scout the best location.
The hotel security guards were asleep, one on a bench in the lobby, the other on the counter behind reception. The doors were padlocked, so I coughed loudly with the intention of waking them gently. The guard on the counter woke so suddenly he fell off the counter. Trying hard to regain his composure he unlocked the door and muttered something about Moon Hill being free at this time of day.
Out in the street it was still dark and very cold. I thought about returning to my room for a fleece, but the door was already padlocked and the guard buried under his duvet. I jogged on the spot and waited for Scott.
We ran for an hour along the Li River. It is a beautiful place and very peaceful just after dawn. I had expected to see hundreds of people doing their early morning exercises, but we passed but a single old man doing tai chi. I was disappointed, but thought perhaps the students wouldn’t mind so much as they wouldn’t have to get up so early.
We split into two groups again today – Group 2 went climbing at Baby Frog and Group 1 went mountain biking.
We picked the bikes up just across town – good quality American imports, complete with racing saddles (ouch) and front shocks. My cycling helmet wouldn’t fit properly and persisted in rocking towards the back of my head in a manner that I thought looked cool, but in actual fact made me look like an imbecile.
Riding single file through the back streets was good fun. There was little traffic and so the occasional wobbles and steering errors caused no problems. By the time we got out into the countryside, everybody was riding quite well. It was a good job – once we left tarmac the tracks got progressively more narrow, bumpy and muddy.
Riding through the farmland was fascinating. Farmers were preparing their rice padies – walking behind simple ploughs pulled by water buffalo. Hundreds of ducks were feeding in a flooded field. We shared the road with a constant stream of farm traffic. Each time something appeared, a warning shout would be passed down the line of cyclists: “Bike!”, “Car!”, “Horse!”, “Water buffalo!”, “Old lady carrying buckets of sh*t!”. A calf blundered into the road and I almost hit it broadside. Fortunately I remembered that the front brake was on the opposite side to my UK bikes and avoided going ass over calf.
We stopped briefly to explore the Lee family house and shrine. Before the Cultural Revolution, the Lee family had been the well-to-do governors of Yangshuo. Their house had been spectacular, with fine carvings in stone and hardwoods. Now it is a a sad place, falling into ruin and occupied by several families that appear to be squatting there. The local government has made sure that the beautiful wood carvings haven’t been looted, but they have made no efforts at preserving or maintaining the building.
At lunchtime we stopped by a picturesque five hundred year-old bridge. Simple bamboo rafts crowded the riverbank. It was a peaceful place, until we got there anyway. The locals were too busy gambling at cards and dominos to pay us much attention, even when Itch, Verity and our guide Andrew leaped the 8m from the bridge parapet into the freezing waters below.
(When Group 2 cycled later in the week some of their students also jumped from the bridge. Inzy will remember this well as he landed on his bottom bruising it badly. As he had earlier landed somewhat painfully on the crossbar, cycling then became intolerable and so he and Gill returned to Yangshuo in style on one of the bamboo rafts.)
After lunch we split into two groups. Diane led the girls on a shorter route back to Yangshuo and I headed off for a long, fast ride with Team Testosterone. We had a fast and exhilarating ride through the fields, gradually building up more skill and confidence to deal with the muddy and rocky trails. At one point our guide said that we should walk across the narrow bund between two muddy fields, but all rode. Poor Itch ran off the path and landed in the mud.
For the last couple of hours we rode as fast as we could, arriving back at Yangshuo early, but with aching shoulders and wrists. It had been a cold day and I soaked for an hour in a hot bath to get warm again.
After a splendid dinner at Café China, we all went for a foot and shoulder massage – great after a hard day’s mountain biking.
Before bed we had a couple of hours for shopping. You have to bargain hard here. Diane and I looked at an embroidered panel that we thought might make a nice present. The asking price was 480 Kwai. When we finished bargaining the price was 75 Kwai.
