Eleven Days In China

Day 6 - GuangXi

03/03/2012

Today I learnt a lesson. When you are in China, and one day you learn how to ask someone to turn on and off the light in Chinese, the next day you had better bloody use it!

I woke up early this morning, about 5 am, and with a major dry mouth. I really needed to get a drink of water from the other side of the room. Being the kind and considerate person I am, I decided not to ask Eva to turn the light on and let her sleep. (She was right beside the light switch.) So I grabbed my trusty Swiss army knife iPhone, switched on the torch, and went to get a drink.
You remember the cross beam running across the room from my last post? Well I didn’t! Next thing I know I’m on the floor at the end of the bed seeing stars, (or maybe they were little yellow birds,) major headache and a nice new egg accessory for my forehead.
I’m tough, I survived, F*#K! that hurt!

The tour group went to a little hall across the road to eat breakfast consisting of some sort of rice porridge, little boiled bread rolls or dumplings, tea which tasted like it was the water the rice was cooked in, and just to really rub it in... a hard boiled egg.

GuangXi is the most amazing and beautiful place. There are steep, individual mountains rising up from the earth everywhere you look. They are covered in foliage and the tops are lost in the mist. At first I was a little disappointed to be in a tour bus. The windows were fogged up and we were rushing past all these scenic wonders. I really wished I could just stop, get out, and take photos of what I could just barely see out of my window.

We did eventually stop, and I changed my mind about being on the tour coach. Turns out the mountains are full of the most beautiful caves I have ever seen. My words here are not even going to do them justice. So I’m not going to bother describing them to you, just look at the photos.
Each rock formation had a name, like “Noble princess fairy bath”, “Mirage”, “A phoenix drinking dew drops”, “Fantastic rock shaped” and “Watch your head”.

The caves were long, there were some low overhanging rocks, and some of the stairs were steep and slippery. After my episode this morning, Eva kept telling me in English “you be careful,” even though she was the one wearing the high heeled boots and more in danger of falling over.
Again we did the Japanese tourist thing, take lots of photos, a quick look, then rush to the next part. Did I mention I hate having my photo taken? I tried to explain to Eva, No camera - natural smile. Camera - forced mechanical smile that looks like a forced mechanical smile. If you wanna take a good photo of me, take a natural one, please don’t make me pose! Eva on the other hand takes beautiful natural photos even when she poses for them, and I’d much rather have photos of her anyway. (Awww!)

In the middle of the caves and at the end there are souvenir stands and food stalls. There are also photographers stationed all the way through the caves to take a photo, and there is a laminated souvenir print waiting for you at the end of the cave to also help part you with your money, but even these were a quarter or less of the cost I would expect to pay in Australia, about $4 each at most.

Today we toured two caves, went on a scenic bamboo raft trip down a river, and went on a motorised raft made of poly tube down another river, or maybe it was the same one. On the last raft trip they dropped us off on a rocky beach with more gazebo tents selling souvenirs and food, and more laminated photo opportunities. By this time, I must admit I had had enough of the souvenir stands, and it seemed to me that that was all we were dropped here for.
We got back on the raft, trecked further down the river, then returned to the coach. Again my words don’t do justice to the scenery, so look at the photos when I post them. The only thing spoiling the journey was the sound of the outboard motor and the exhaust fumes, but apart from that, I loved every minute of the day... umm, ok, maybe not the first minute of my day...