Extreme Rafting in China

Hello!

Ahri and I are stuck inside all day waiting out Typhoon Utor. Everything is literally shut down; schools, public transportation, businesses. We went for our morning walk in between rain showers and it was a ghost town. So far the weather hasn't seemed too bad, some strong winds here and there, but nothing like what I was expecting to have even our building's gym closed. 

Before all this crazy weather hit, Ryan and I joined a group of his co-workers for another short trip in China this past weekend. It's fun to see what $15 can get you for a day trip. We boarded a bus early Saturday morning and after a couple hour drive, we stopped in Qingyuan. We visited a couple of tourist locations before going rafting that afternoon to make it a full day. Our first stop was to a bamboo and aloe 'farm'. I use the word 'farm' loosely because it mainly ended up being a tourist trap. We were shown a couple of aloe and bamboo plants in a garden and then brought into a classroom where they began showing all the different products made from the plants (at least I assume, it was all in Mandarin). Then after the class, we conveniently had to walk through a store with all the products we were just shown to exit! 

After a quick stop at a lookout (which no one walked up to due to the heat) and lunch, we were off to a deer farm. Yep, nothing like 2 country kids from Iowa living all the way in China and going to see deer living in a cage. After seeing a few deer, we were brought into yet another classroom and shown more products made from various parts of the deer (once again, from what I can assume). They had some things such as oils that were similar to IcyHot or Bengay to provide a cooling effect. 

After the deer farm we were off for some rafting, or drifting, as it is called in China. We weren't sure if it was going to be the same type of rafting we had done back in the states, but we were excited to try it out. When we got to the actual rapids we found it was a 2 person raft without paddles. The best way to describe it was a water-slide on steroids with lazy rivers in-between. Everyone was also given buckets, which caused mass-chaos of water fights during the lazy river portions. Ryan and I ended up being the targets frequently since we seemed to be the only white people in the whole city. We had a great time experiencing something new in China! 

Guilin Trip

We continue to slowly check off destinations off our wish list! This past weekend we joined our friends from back home, Andy and Allison, for a weekend trip to Guilin. Andy and Allison are currently in the middle of a multi-stop trip around Asia and we joined them for a little bit of it here in Hong Kong and then later on this past weekend. The great thing about Ryan working for the same company here in China as back in Milwaukee is that we continue to see friends/co-workers of his that come over for work. Doesn't seem that a month will go by without seeing a familiar face from home, which is always a welcomed event.

I met up with the others in Houjie, the city where Ryan's factory is located, before we flew to Guilin. I'm getting more comfortable with doing the Hong Kong to China trip on my own but I always get pretty nervous crossing the border and feeling in a completely different place. You would be surprised how different everything seems the moment you leave Hong Kong (little English, different toilets and worst...no cell phone coverage!)

Ryan had previously been to Guilin with a few co-workers but wanted to take me sometime when the weather was warmer. Guilin is known for its beautiful landscape of interesting mountains surround river valleys. I had seen pictures from Ryan's previous trip and was very excited to see it myself. It was also an opportunity for Ryan to practice his Mandarin skills as he was the only one able to speak it out of the group. I have to say, I was quite impressed and he managed to plan an amazing weekend for us.

We started off on Saturday morning by taking a small boat down the Li River to see the Elephant Trunk Hill.

Elephant Trunk Hill..see it? 

After our short boat ride, we hopped in the car and headed off for another boat ride. This time we boarded a smaller boat for 4 people that appeared to be a bamboo look-a-like material and headed down the Li Jiang river. The river was surrounded by beautiful mountains and filled with other boats of tourists. At a stop at a riverfront along the way we picked up some beer and headed back up the river.

Mountains along the Li Jiang River

Andy and Allison enjoying the sun and water...until we hit waves and the water was all over

Another selfie by Mr. Jipp! 

After getting swarmed by women selling beer to us...we kind of stuck out as tourists everywhere we went

This felt more natural...being on a boat with a beer in our hand 

After this we headed off to the Yu Long Jiang river for some more rafting. This time the boats were actually made of bamboo with no motors and were only made for 2 people. We had a guide who pushed the boat down the river with a bamboo pole (reminded me of my failed attempt at punting in England...Mom, Steve, Erica & Grandma will remember pushing their way out from under a willow tree) but luckily we just got to sit back and relax. And of course there were the women on their own rafts along the way with cold refreshments for us!

We're on another boat! 

All the boats waiting for tourists 

Andy and Allison on their raft

You may not be able to tell but those are computer stations... in the middle of the river. They would take your picture and you could stop and have it printed out for you like you just went down a roller coaster at Disneyland! 

A very relaxing ride...until we were hit with water guns by a neighboring group

At the end of our rafting trip it began to rain so we stopped by another mountain viewing site quickly and headed home. 

Moon Mountain

For our second day we started off heading to a local tea plantation to see how it is grown, picked, prepared and of course tasting it! This was a last minute stop our tour guide threw in for free and it was really great. I never realized that all tea comes from the same plant, it is just differentiated by which leaves are picked and how it is treated afterwards. Plus I had never seen a traditional tea ceremony...makes throwing a tea bag in a cup of warm water seem pretty lazy! 

Tea plantation 

Wearing our awesome hats...which were incredibly difficult to balance on our heads

Tea processing

Sitting down for a traditional tea ceremony

Our last stop was out into the country to see the Longji Terraces which is an area of terraced rice villages built into the mountains that are hundreds of years old. Our trip seemed to hit a dead end when we came upon an area of the road covered in boulders after a planned explosion, however, our driver was awesome and got us to another area of the terraces. The area was so beautiful to see so I'm very thankful our driver had a backup plan! 

The village we visited in the terraces. These were scattered around the mountains for the people who farm the rice paddies.

A terrace up close that was within the village

Our trip was amazing and one of the more beautiful places I have ever seen. We're not quite sure where our next adventure will take us but I will be sure to keep you updated!