Parents in China

So, after last week's adventure of Erin Cox in China, this week my family follows. My parents and brother were able to survive the flight, although they did complain a lot about it. I don't really feel sorry for them though. They flew Cathay Pacific from Los Angeles to Hong Kong. That's MUCH nicer than the Northworst Hong Kong-Tokyo-Minneapolis connection. Anyways, I was able to get some semi-quality time with them around the city, mostly at night, since I do have a job here and all.

Monday night we met up at my hotel and then headed over to Statue Square. There really isn't a whole lot there, but we got some family pictures. I have no clue what I'm doing in this one.
The square also has a very nice view of the Bank of China building.We walked over to the pier, and took the harbor ferry over to Kowloon. This was the first time I had ever done that. Cheap, and pretty quick. We got some nice pictures of the skyline and some assorted harbor traffic.A 'junk'. These boats are all over the place, and look like they might be 200 years old. I'm sure some probably are.
Once on the other side, it was time for dinner. We ended up at Jimmy's Kitchen, which is FAR more swank than I thought it would be. I was expecting burgers, and the menu was full of steaks. Thi is the street Jimmy's is on. You can kind of see the sign, as well as the sign for Gaylord's, the Indian place I enjoy.
After dinner, we walked over to the harbor to catch the light show. Now, I know I posted about it when I saw it with Erin, but she and I saw it from the lower level. My parents and I stood up top, and it was better. They light up the buildings on the Kowloon side too, which Erin and I never saw.

The clock tower near the light show.Lighting up the Cultural Center on the Kowloon side.The Hong Kong side. My dad's camera takes far superior pictures.A short movie of the show. It does a much better job portraying what it's like.

After the show, a dinner boat went by.
A somewhat blurry family picture.The next day we walked thru Kowloon some more. These are just some random pictures.I wasn't with my parents during these pictures, but I thought some of you would like to see them.The coolest thing my parents stumble upon? The 700th 7 Eleven in Hong Kong. It's on the top of Lantau Island, near the big buddha. Yes, there's well over 700 7 Elevens in Hong Kong. They're all over the place.Well that's it for the travels with my family. On Friday they made it up to Shanghai to visit my cousin Rebecca and Hang Feng. Sunday they head to Xi'an to see the Terracotta Warriors. Then on Tuesday it's to Beijing. Unfortunately I don't think I'll see them again over here, as work just doesn't want to cooperate. The next visitors to come are Kelsey and Caitlin, in just over three weeks.

The Funky Bunch

Well, it's about that time, to break forth, the rhythm and the rhyme. Or, just to waste your time.

• Spot the lying liars.
  
• Some of you have seen this. The Political Compass.
• Sunny Day, Sweeping The Clouds Away.
• Costume ideas to NOT use.
• Scary pranks.
  
• A new Scrabble record is set.
• Every Harrison Ford movie ever.

I'm moving to Hong Kong, it's official. Although there's some disagreement on my housing arrangement. It's coming down to a hotel or apartment thing. I'm okay with a hotel for a while, but my boss is pushing hard for an apartment. We'll see what happens.

Guilin

So like I was saying, after Yangshuo, we made it back to Guilin around 3 ish. This left us enough time to walk around the Li River and check out Elephant Hill. What is Elephant Hill? Well, if you look hard enough, it might look like an elephant. Or not.
There is an old pagoda at the top. It's quite the climb up. No wonder they're all in such good shape here.
Is this the part that looks like an elephant?
Once at the top, it's a decent view of the Li River below. To the north.
And to the south.
A late flight put me into Guangzhou around 12:30. Which left me just enough time to start a load of laundry, and catch a few z's until getting up early to catch a train to Hong Kong, where I will meet up with my family. I'm gonna try to follow them around a bit, but we'll see.

Yangshuo

Wow.

There is simply nothing else to say. Yangshuo is everything you think China should be in the countryside. It is absolutely, without doubt, the most beautiful place I've seen in China. It is on the back of the 20 yuan note. The landscape is striking. So now that the bar has been set (and set high at that), let's begin the trip.

Erin and I arrived at almost the exact same time in Guilin. Her plane landing right ahead of mine. We took the bus into Guilin, and stumbled around for a bit. Guilin is known for it's Li River cruise, which Erin and I had heard was extremely underwhelming. We arrived too late anyways. One person started to talk to us about it, and said the "special price" was only $75 per person. Yes, $75 US. I told him I work in Guangzhou, and that he was about 10 times high, and he promptly stopped.

The bus to Yangshuo takes about an hour, and runs along what is considered a major highway. Don't think freeway, more along the lines of country lane. A small village, by China standards, Yangshuo has about 300,000 residents. It's Minneapolis sized, but feels like Onalaska. We were able to walk the length of the city many times.

The main drag is West Street, or Xi Jie. It's a pedestrian street filled with shops, bars, cafes and hotels. It is where the action is on a Friday night.
We stopped for dinner at a local cafe. Almost all the cafes offer a mix of Chinese, Western, and Southeast Asian cuisine. I did not partake of the hot pot, however.
This is the bar we hit after dinner. We met two Brits who had just taken a hiatus from their jobs, and were travelling Asia. Lucky.After the Brits left, we saw the table next to us playing a dice game, so we inquired. Easy to play, although Cox has the worst luck in the world. I think she lost 65% of the games.
Of course, with enough to drink, karaoke becomes a real threat. This was the worst band ever, and my singing wasn't much better. They had no clue on how to play the western songs in the book, but they tried.

Saturday brought exploration. We had agreed to a sightseeing trip with a local, which at the time seemed like it may have been a bad idea. Most of the sights around Yangshuo are accessible by bike. So the trip started off with a bike ride thru the local scenery.

The rock formations are called karsts, and they're everywhere. This one was in the middle of the city.
Biking down a country lane.
Awesome scenery.
There was a bull with a decoration on it's head, and a local farmer. I totally had to get a picture. Unfortunately I had to pay 5 yuan for 3 pictures.
After a while, we headed off the road, and into the farmland. We were biking along the paths that separate plots of land and crops.
Eventually we came to the end, and got on a boat trip. These were bamboo rafts, about 3 or 4 feet wide, and 20 feet long. The first thing I saw was a fisherman.
Erin heading over the spill way of the Yulong He.
More scenery.
The boatsman told us to jump in and go swimming. The water was perfect! And clean! I think the others going down the river were impressed that we jumped in. Not many others did.
After the boat trip, our guide met us and it was back onto the bikes.
We were biking out to Moon Mountain, which is a natural arch in one of the karsts. It was pretty neat looking. You can climb up it, but we didn't.
By this time, it was about 1 pm, and time for lunch. I figure we were a few kilometers from Yangshuo, so we ate at a local restaraunt. Traditional Chinese meal of rice, veggie, and lots of spice. We were coughing from the plates brought out. But it was all delicious.

After lunch it was time for some spelunking. We toured the Buddha Cave and Water Cave. The cave was pretty interesting to walk thru.
This was the shortcut.
I'm supposed to fit thru there?
I made it! At the bottom of the Water Cave is an underground river, with absolutely freezing water.
It does feature a huge mud pit, though! Just what I needed, an exfoliating treatment. The mud bath was fun, and very very dirty.
Saturday night we were obviously exhausted, so it was lights out early. Sunday we thought about sticking around Yangshuo, but decided to head back to Guilin early, and see what's there. That is for another post, however.