Now in Yangshou.... hmm, western friendly.....
Trip Start
Nov 07, 2006
1
20
68
Trip End
Ongoing
Yangshou, China
Friday, December 1, 2006
Yangshou, is set amongst karst hills and peaks, 200-300m high which imprison this small backpacker's haven from the outside world.
After an afternoon's orientation in this quaint little town - a Chinese lovechild of Polperro and the Khao San Road - and bumbling around, the first night was spent at the light show. Staged on a lake, against the backdrop of flood-lit karst hills nearly a mile away and performing to a massive amphitheatre, this production runs every night (twice nightly in the summer). It was directed by Yang Zhimou (the guy who did 'Hero' and 'House Of Flying Daggers' - the same guy who has been tasked with directing the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics), and tells the story of a girl ostrocised by one village only to be taken to the hearts of another village (via some crazy mix up in a prison, which, despite reading the translated hand-out, no-one seemed to quite understand).
One thing I've noticed about the Chinese is their predilection of having to always go one step further and this show was no different. Its a spectacular vision of light and sound on a mammoth scale; the cast is nearly 600 strong and they fart around, singing and dancing on this lake. Like so many sights on this tour, just truley amazing. You have to be there to understand, but i bought the DVD, if anyone wants a copy. I'll try and upload some vid clips to give you an idea...
During the second day, went for a bike ride with some of the group, through some neighbouring villages and amongst the towering Karst peaks. Really cool views again. had an amusing incident on a bridge when I was busy practising taking photos with the "speed" setting on me camera. I basically photographed a farmer in this crazy three-wheeled-tractor-bike-lorry-boat who took objection and immediately stopped, demanding payment. A combination of the language-barrier, ignorance and laughing-hysterically enable me to withold the Y3 tax. Get IN - saved 36p. PLUS, I actually captured the pissed-off expression on the guy's face, in the offending photo. Double Trouble.
Then a walk up the Moon Hill Scenic Area - a naturally formed bridge in a Karst hill, from which there's great views and, on this occaision, a geordie women drinking lager. Pleasant women accompanied (oddly wenough) by two Polish guys who appeared to be devil worshippers. Err, yeah.
Spent the afternoon doing a Kung Fu lesson - quality, as we learned a sequence of Shoalin Style action. Really enjoyed it and quite amusing when I asked a lady to take a photo; naturally we all posed in an action position, but little did i know the lass wasnt xactly papparzzi material: she spent about 2 mins fretting and running around taking photos from different positions - its a digital camera, how difficult can it be????
Had our last group dinner int evening and spent 20 minutes trying to explain the concept of Fetishes and the Erotica Exhibition (held in London every year), to Jackie Chan. She really struggled with it - either that or she was just taking the piss.
Also did a morning's chinese cookery course on the last day there. First off was the inevitable trip to the food market to see all the produce. Plenty of veg and stuff and the inevitable live-produce section. Pigs, chicken, toads, terrapins, frogs, rabbits, rats and yes, sorry to say, Dogs (the latter was not a nice sight, feel queezy just typing about it).
Anyway, cooking school set in a village amongst (more) karst hills. Actually considered what on earth i was doing there (apart from gaining insightful recipe ideas), being as i've cooked stir-fry virtually every night for the past 4 years. Twat. My chopping was very good though, you'll be relieved to hear.
Then on final overnight train to Shenzen, where we cross the border and into The Kong. Time to say bye bye to mainland China - been an amazing 3 weeks and seen and done some truely amazing and memorable things.
But the adventure continues, in SE Asia. Maybe the concept of photo-uploading may be embraced by our Thai chums - Bonus.
