The pictures of this trip are on http://picasaweb.google.com/mr.walker.tkd23, http://picasaweb.google.com/mr.walker.tkd6, and http://picasaweb.google.com/mr.walker.tkd7.
On Sunday, April 5th, we woke up at 7 a.m. because we had to check out of the hostel and make it to our bus that would take us to the boat tour. Jeremy, Marit, Bjoernar and I booked a boat tour the day before for about 250 RMB that goes from Guilin to Yangshuo on the Li river through the beautiful karst mountains. The bus took us to the docking area, but we had to wait 30 minutes in a tourist trap, a building where they were selling jewelry, before we could get on the boat. The boat trip took about four hours. The boat had a large cabin where all of the passengers could sit while eating, relaxing or enjoying the view outside and a large deck on top where everyone could get a better view of the mountains. We spent our time going to the deck and returning to the cabin for food or to relax. Jeremy and I talked to some of the Chinese people. I talked to a woman who sat at our table , along with her parents and son. She told me that she lives close to Xian and was visiting family in Yangshuo. She gave me her number and invited me to visit her when I went to Xian. I said I didn't know exactly when I would be going to Xian, but that I would contact her when I knew more about my plans. When we arrived in Yangshuo, we went our separate ways. Later, when I returned back to Chengdu on April 12th, I googled the city she lived in and realized it was much further from Xian than she made it sound, so I told her that I wouldn't be able to visit her.
Anyways, in Yangshuo, we began walking towards the hostel we would be staying in. It didn't seem that far away and we figured we could make it there pretty quickly. However, an hour later and no hostel to be seen, we realized that we might have been going the wrong way. We stopped at some houses and asked them where the hostel is. Some of the people were older and didn't seem to know this hostel existed, but one of the younger men said he knew where it is and offered to take us on his and his friends' motorcycles. We asked how much it would cost and he said 30 RMB each. At this point we were so tired that we just said yes and didn't even try to bargain with the guy, not that 30 RMB is a bad deal. Three other guys came out with their motorcycles and each one of us picked a guy and climbed onto the back of the motorcycle. The guy that I picked kept asking me questions in Chinese, but I couldn't really understand him because of the noise of the motorcycle and the wind. Bjoernar, Marit and I made it to the hostel at the same time, but the motorcycle that Jeremy was on kept breaking down and the guy got lost, so it took him a couple of minutes extra to make it. We saw the hostel, named "Giggling Tree", and thanked and paid our chauffeurs. As they left, we made our way inside the hostel and checked in with the Dutch owners. The hostel is located out in the countryside a little ways outside of the city of Yangshuo. It seemed as though it had been recently renovated from its original barn house. The room we booked had four beds and it own private bathroom. The hostel also has a restaurant, a lounge and a courtyard in the middle for the guests to enjoy the views of the mountains surrounding the area and to eat their meals outside. I really enjoyed staying at this hostel.
Nonetheless, I was so exhausted by the time we checked into our quaint room that I took a nap for about 2 hours. Jeremy, Marit and Bjoernar ate dinner at the hostel during this time. Still, when I ordered my burger, Marit and Jeremy joined me since they ordered milk shakes for themselves. Shortly after dinner, we went to the lounge of the hostel and Jeremy, Bjoernar and I watched "Horton Hears a Who" while Marit went to bed. After the movie, we all went to sleep in our beds equipped with mosquito netting.
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