Wednesday, July 18, 2007

China...as imagined by non-Chinese

Greetings,

Since our last blog entry we've moved from one river to another...this time to the Li River in Yangshuo. Visualize the most romantic Chinese rustic scene in your mind, and that's where we are. It's stunningly beautiful, charming, and apart from too many tourists, not too crowded. Here are some of the pictures we took...


An alley in an ancient village along the Li. If you peek in the open doorways, there are still posters of Mao (and sometimes of Lenin and Stalin) plastered on the walls.



Today we took a bike tour through the countryside. The peaks in the background are limestone karst formations, which is what this area is famous for.


More peaks and rice paddies.


Riding down dusty country lanes.


Along the way we had the opportunity to climb one of the karsts. Everyone had a "buddy" follow them up with a case of cold drinks to sell. She fanned us every time we took a break so we bought 3 drinks for completely unreasonable prices.


Shayne and I at the top (almost), with a view through the "moon mountain".


Now really at the top.


It was my birthday, so Shayne secretly ordered a cake for our group lunch in the country. Mmmmm...cake.


Another shot of Shayne on a bike.

We're almost finished our time in China (just Hong Kong left now), but we've gotten to see a lot of the country. Also, apart from the heat and humidity, we've been really lucky with the weather (it is "rainy season" after all). Here's hoping the next 3 weeks in south-east Asia will be as good.

See you in Hong Kong,

Shayne and Jo

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow your pictures are incredible and you both are looking great. Hope you had a good birthday JoJo.Cant wait til we can see you two .Mom

Anonymous said...

You had a birthday to remember and by the looks of the pictures a great day. Your cake looked really yummy.And you both look fantastic and healthy AND very happy. See you in your next blog.

Anonymous said...

this is Dawn ,wow,your trip is amazing,even as a chinese,i never been to Three Gorges,chengdu and li river.and now u can give me a lot of advice about traveling in china,haha.by the way,i bought very good hot pot burner,see u when u come back,take care.

Michael said...

Well, well, well...we meet again. Since Harman is too busy playing Risk I thought I would chime in yet again. Hold your applause please.

Looks great out there, really makes you think. Who knows about what though.

I'm impressed with the cake Shayne and although I'm sure there was a Dairy Queen out there, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt that you made it.

Jo your a lucky girl to have such a talented, charismatic, charming, sexy, muscular, intelligent and witty guy. Sorry Jason couldn't be there.

Anyways, send me an email when you get time man, let me know the real details, like how you smuggle a panada out of the country.

Michael out.

Anonymous said...

Hey guys

Thanks for all the messages, as always, we really appreciate them.

Dawn, I'm pretty stoked for the hot pot and whenever you need some advice for traveling in China just let me know :)

Michael, I tell Jo that all the time but I don't think she believes me. I'll be back in Kelowna at the end of August. We should meet up for a pint or at least some cool-aid.

Cheers

Shayne