Yangshuo, Nanjing, and Beijing

We had a rough start to our trip to Guilin. We were so excited to meet Jared and Kellee, but there was fog, and apparently, there is no taking-off in fog. We would ask them about our flight, and they would tell us it was delayed. When we would ask for a time, they would say,"No time".(???)We waited at the airport from 6:30pm-12:30am when we were finally told we needed to pile on a bus and go to a hotel for the night. We tried to explain that we lived here, and would rather go home and return in the morning. Apparently, that was not a possibility. We were taken to a not so great hotel, where we slept and were to wake-up at 6:00 to go back to the airport, and given a fried egg and hot milk. No worries, they gave us a free meal at the airport on Tuesday evening! (the middle is a sort of bone-soup)




We were worried because we had no way to get in touch with Kellee and Jared. I didn't find out until the next morning, that the driver I had arranged to pick them up somehow (suspiciously) missed them. They found their own hotel, and I finally got in touch with my Dad. I was so relieved to hear they had heard from Kellee and we finally talked to Kellee about 12:30 in the afternoon as we were still sitting in the airport waiting for our plane. At this point I saw an amazing thing...the people on our plane had enough! They were tired of our plane being delayed and got really angry! I thought some of them might hit the airline workers. Suddenly we were on our plane, and heading to Guilin. We got to our Yangshuo hotel at night. Here is the unbelievable surprise we saw out our window the next morning!


We had such a great time in Yangshuo. The first day we rode bikes for 6 hours! Eli was on the back of the tandem, and the rest of us had our own bikes. Jared rode with Eli and was a trouper! Eli did great on the back, and Jay rode by himself. There were beautiful mountains, rice-farms, and beautiful people with a simple life.



One of my favorite sights was this man with his water buffalo. Do you like the pink bow?



Here is a power station. Instead of fencing it for safety, they have hung CPR instructions...



We climbed MOON HILL of course (for Kellee and Jared Moon)!



We saw such gorgeous scenes.



Jay and Eli thought to take a pit stop, but after inspection of the facility changed their minds!



The second day we decided to walk to Dragon Bridge. It was great. We saw so many beautiful things. But, it took us 4 1/2 hours. Even the boys walked the whole way. Oh, a girl offered to take us a pretty route if we payed her 5 yuan, and she let each of the boys sit on her bike as she pushed it for 15 minutes each. This is not Dragon Bridge, but she told us this bridge was built in the 1200's



Kellee, Caitlin, and I got a lesson in making ba bas from some really sweet ladies. It reminded me of cooking together with my mom and sisters when we watched them. They insisted we try some, and let us take pictures. They wouldn't let us pay them.




The last day, we set out for a short bike ride. Our map wasn't very good, and we got lost. After 5 hours of riding all over, seeing small towns that I'm pretty sure have never had foreign visitors, we showed up again, at the Dragon Bridge! It was an adventurous day. We had a great time, and were so proud of the kids. They just kept going, and didn't complain. It was comforting that we knew where we were once we found the little village, but we also knew how far away we were! We had two hours to get back to the hotel if we wanted to eat before our ride came for the airport. Since we hadn't eaten all day, we rode like crazy, and made it just before dark. Here is a picture of Jared helping some of the local workers make cement! I think they thought they were being funny when they asked him, and were shocked when he actually did! (we weren't :)



We all came back and spent a wonderful five days with Kellee and Jared. We had so much fun! We did everything from hiking Purple Mountain, to museums, and of course, shopping. We had a lot of fun introducing them to our favorite restaurants. One of the more entertaining moments was when I took them to get a Chinese massage. The place I normally go changed owners. Boy was I in for a surprise. We decided it should be called a Yoga, rhythm (they slap your back to some great beats), heat, rock, acrobat massage. We laughed for hours afterward! Wan, our ayi, made lots and lots of dumplings for all of us on their last day in Nanjing. They were yummy!






Our first day in Beijing, we went to the great wall. It was gorgeous. We climbed around for about 4 hours! The air was so cold, but the sky was blue. A great day. Luckily, I had already sold Kellee on the Chinese long underwear idea! We stayed in a really fun hotel called a Hutong. Hutongs are the traditional Chinese housing common in Beijing. Many are being torn down for new high-rises. We had a great time touring the Forbidden city, and some other neat places. On my birthday, we went to a Peking Duck for dinner. It was quite good, and they bought dinner for me and even went around the table to say what they loved about me (a family tradition). We had such a wonderful time together. I will never forget



This is the point they wouldn't let anyone go further on the wall due to safety reasons.


Our Hutong used to be the home of a general. Kellee and I wanted to say good-bye to him.