Sunday, March 15 – Cycling to LiuGong Village

We wake up. It's cold, but at least we have extra blankets and didn't freeze at night, though we shared one of the twin beds to stay warm. We go downstairs to the MorningSun Hotel lobby and there's Ping, our guide, waiting for us. Oh no, we're not ready yet! We still haven't had breakfast. No problem, she'll wait for us. We head out down the busy touristy West Street and find an upper balcony at the Twin Peaks Restaurant where the morning sun gives us some warmth. After toast and peanut butter and coffee we hurry back to our hotel. The sun is out and it will warm up nicely today. We take Sue's backpack and go with Ping to the bike rental shop. Twenty Yuan ($4.00) for 2 mountain bikes for the day! Ping, our guide, gets a simple single-speed ladies bike for free. And we're off! We head out on a busy street, past a couple of 4- and 5-star hotels (they look very empty). And then we turn off the main road and soon we are on a VERY bumpy narrow mud and stone road. And that's how we cycle for the next few hours. And it's wonderful. We soon take off our jackets and Ping puts our full backpack on her bike carrier. We pass rice farms, vegetable farms, farmers and children on bikes, working in the fields or leading their bullocks down the road. No tourists, not a lot of traffic. And scenery? Stunning. This is the 'China' topography that is depicted in our 'Chinese' paintings at home. Karst hills, lots of caves, and the ever-winding Li River. Around every bend in our road there's another unbelievable photo-op! And it's a joy to visit with Ping. It is her quiet nature that first distinguished her from the other touts at the pier; that's why we hired her (100 Yuen a day, just under $20CAD). Looking for a great guide in Yangshuo? We highly recommend her. Email her at lliippiinngg2004@yahoo.com. Ping 'gets' my humour, she laughs, but she also lets us cycle and enjoy the quiet countryside. At one point while we're cycling she mentions how Western tourists are so different than Chinese. How so? Chinese tourists are very loud. Yeah, that's what we've noticed too. They are loud, brash, discourteous, almost rude. We stop along the way to take off layers of clothing and are soon down to t-shirts – and the sun warms us. At around 1:00 we are met by a cute little girl on her bike; she can speak a little English and is very friendly. I learn that Aileen is actually a 22-year-old married woman who's expecting a baby in a couple of months. And her father has a 'nice lestolaunt' nearby and they have 'velly good food fo you'. Ping thinks it's lunchtime too. We are in LiuGong Village. We arrive at a riverside restaurant where we climb some stairs and sit at a table on a platform overlooking a dock where bamboo boats wait to pick up passengers. We order a few dishes including rice noodles and fried rice and vegetables. And a big cold beer. We eat heartily, although we don't really want to think about what the kitchen looks like here. After lunch Aileen takes us on a bit of a tour. Ping points out a several-hundred-year-old building. We are invited into an old man's home – he poses for a picture, standing in front of a big poster of Mao. He takes us out behind his house and picks the leaves from several of the plants in his garden for us to smell and taste. We buy $2 worth of postcards from him and he is very happy. We climb steps up to a big temple on the side of the hill. Take some more photos. Then Ping gets on the cell-phone and arranges for a bamboo boat to come pick us and our bikes up and give us a ride up the Li River from LiuGong to Fuli Town, about halfway back to Yangshuo. The boat driver loads our bikes onto the front of his boat. There are three 2-seater wicker benches on the raft. We sit on the front seat, Ping behind us, and a 'friend' of Ping's and her kids sit on the back bench. The boat ride takes about 45 minutes. We pass more great-looking hills and watch the people and animals working and living along the river – washing clothes, bringing their buffaloes to drink, poling their rafts along the shoreline. We disembark in a cow pasture and lead our bikes up over a bridge and up the steps into the town of Fuli. Not far along the narrow streets we are invited to look at some paintings by a local artist. We decide on a bamboo painting that we think will fit on our living room wall. We take a photo of the painter next to the painting and he rolls it up and packs it in a box and ties string around it so I can carry it over my shoulder on my bike. Then we have to hurry along – Ping thinks we may have missed the market – it closes at 4pm. We get to the market and many of the booths are indeed starting to close up. But it's enough for us just to see the things that are for sale here – live chickens, dead chickens, all kinds of food, fruit, trinkets, clothes, tools, equipment. We do a quick walkthrough and then get back on our bikes for the last 15kms cycling along a busy highway. Our butts are sore. The road goes up and down – and Ping cycles merrily along on her single-speed. We pass moms pushing heavy carts uphill, baby tied to her back. Lots of motorcycles. Lots of people sitting around playing cards, either regular playing cards or Chinese 'longer' oval-shaped cards which they slap down loudly as the game progresses. Lots of people pushing all manner of carts loaded with pots and charcoal heaters and bundles of seaweed and baskets of the tiny oranges, etc. We come back to the bike rental shop thoroughly exhausted. It's about 5:00pm. It's been a good day.