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.
We woke up around 10 a.m. and ate the fitting "bicycle" breakfast that the hostel offers. We rented bikes from the hostel and biked around Yangshuo. Jeremy, Marit and Bjoernar wanted to stop at a shop on the street that we had passed on the motorcycles the day before where the owner was selling hats. We then planned on riding to Moon Hill, a strange shaped rock formation with a sort of half moon shaped hole in it, but went the wrong way. We turned around and saw people celebrating the Qingming festival (also known as Tomb Sweeping Day) where family members remember and honor their ancestors. They visit their family members' graves, which in the countryside are where ever there is room since there are no cemeteries, per se. The descendants burn candles, incense and paper money (which the ancestors are supposed to use in the afterlife), bring food, pray, and tape red paper and paper money on the tombstone in order to scare away the Nian monster.
Once we arrived at Moon Hill, we payed the entrance fee, locked up our bikes, and ate lunch at the Moon Hill restaurant. After lunch, we started climbing the steps up to the top of Moon Hill. An older, skinny lady followed us all the way up, trying to sell us water and souvenirs and whatnot. We felt bad because we didn't want to buy anything and tried to tell her this, but she wouldn't listen to us and kept following. We just kept going and tried to ignore her. Once we reached the top, we stopped for a photo shoot. We saw rock climbers on the side of Moon Hill. Marit climbed onto one of the posts of the safety fence and balanced on one leg. We were pretty astonished and scared at her acrobatics since, if she would have lost her balance, she would have fallen off the side of the mountain. All the other tourists were, of course, watching her dumbfounded, thinking the same thing. Luckily, nothing happened to her. Jeremy and Marit went down the same way we climbed up, but Bjoernar and I went down a less beaten path covered with leaves that appeared to have been abandoned for quite some time. The good thing was that there were no tourists on this path, so we could enjoy it more. We also got rid of the old lady that had been following us the entire time. Once we reached the bottom, we saw Marit and Jeremy sitting with the old lady. We stood up to unlock our bikes. Jeremy unlocked mine and his bike, but Bjoernar couldn't find the key to his lock. We looked everywhere for it, but had no luck. One of the other ladies trying to sell stuff to tourists came up to Bjoernar's bike and reached under his seat. We saw the key in her hand and thanked her. We told Bjoernar to buy something from her for her help. We figured he must have dropped the key and she picked it up and stuck it under his seat, so no one would steal the bike. Either way, we were grateful for her courtesy.
From Moon Hill, we returned to the hostel, riding back through the beautiful karst mountains towering over us, observing the inhabitants honoring their ancestors or working in the rice fields with their oxen, and just enjoying the marvelous day. At the Giggling Tree, we relaxed for a little while and then rode our bikes back down to the lady that sold the hats. As the three of them (Bjoernar, Marit and Jeremy) were deciding what hats to buy, I kept riding on my own to explore some more of the area. I saw a group of ducks swimming in one of the rice fields, a herd of oxen grazing in a pasture enclosed by several of the karst mountains, and a small but eerie cave. I used my cell phone as a flashlight and noticed that the cave walls seemed to have scratches. I also discovered an opening, but couldn't even use my phone to see inside of there. Instead, I used the flash on my camera to look inside. I saw that there was a large boulder in the middle surrounded by water. At this point, I decided it was time to leave since the sun was setting. I rode back towards the hostel, but didn't feel like returning just yet. I took another detour on the path next to the one by the one that led back to the hostel. This path had homes next to it. I watched a woman with her baby on her back pumping water from a well, kids roughhousing outside of their house and even puppies playing with each other. At the end of the path, I saw another bike parked and decided to park mine there, too. I quickly noticed Bjoernar sitting on the edge of one of the rice fields. The end of the path opened up to more rice fields, karst mountains and even orange groves. I joined Bjoernar and we sat there, taking in the view, listening to the millions of what I assumed were frogs croaking in the water. I went to see the orange fields and plucked one of the oranges, hoping they were ripe. When I peeled it, however, I realized they weren't ripe yet. Meanwhile, Bjoernar walked in between one of the rice fields and tried walking in one of them. We returned to the hostel, sat down outside with Jeremy and Marit to order spaghetti for dinner, took a shower and went to sleep after our long but amazing day.
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