Summary of Day 3:
Silver Cave
MaLing Village of Timbal
Yulong river
West Street
Day 3 was the highlight of our trip as we finally get to see the beautiful lime karsts so famously known throughout the world. However, do note that we only visited the Yangshuo region and not Guilin.
First up, we had breakfast at a Taiwanese cafe near the hotel simply because other places weren't opened yet.
Then we went to the meeting point for the van to come pick us up for our 1 day tour (the package that we bought the night before) around Yangshuo.
First, we were brought to the Silver Cave.
I've been to the famous caves in Korea and Hanoi. And I assure u, they all look the same.. except that this one, has too many ups and downs, which meant we had to climb a lot of steps. And also probably because after the halfway mark, it became very stuffy and we just wanted to quickly come out and thus walked very quickly.
Not sure if it was the high altitude or my bad stamina, but I was exhausted after the climb.
Next was a village of the aboriginal people, MaLing Village of Timbal.
That was the guide in charge of our group. She's one of the aunties in the village and was a very good storyteller. She mentioned that the village uses a lot of silver ware and that using silver bowls, combs and all would make everyone immortalvery healthy. And then they brought us to this huge room with lots of... u guessed it, silverware. We were quite overwhelmed by the hordes of tourist buying silverware and our tour guide (from the package we bought) saw that we were not interested and asked us to leave for the van first.
The van then brought us to lunch at this home-style eatery. All I know was that I was bloated and didn't have much of an appetite, and that the food was oily and salty. Well, #welcometochina
The van then brought us to our final destination, and what we have been waiting for the entire trip - bamboo rafting on the Yulong river! There was practically nobody here due to the off-peak season, which was good for us.
Just a special mention, as our boatman didn't open the umbrella for us even though it started drizzling, we didn't tip him after the ride. We asked not once but twice before he opened it. Yea I was so pissed I just opened my own raincoat I got from the Liu San Jie show the night before. (and he still didn't get it and continued to row like there's no rain)
It is a norm to give tips to the boatman. My friend and another couple from the other boats mentioned that their boatmen were quite in-their-face when asking for tips. Ours was just, quiet.
While the other boatmen warned them of the drops, ours didn't. And as u can see from the video, my camera got splashed at. And this was the biggest drop where our pants were soaked.
Ok no wonder it is off-peak season. No one wants to get wet when it is cold... and I didn't know we would get that wet.
Anyway, I thought the view from here wasn't extraordinary. Felt that the one I saw at Halong Bay was even nicer... like why!
The view from here was more of dying trees and moss and grass. The karsts were far away from us and didn't feel that spectacular. Probably because the karsts were right beside us when we were at Halong Bay and I felt consumed and overwhelmed by nature. This, however, was just looking from afar. But of course, the view was still good enough, and the bamboo rafting was another thrill ride (minus the boatman).
Everyone said that the Yulong river in Yangshou had the best views, but I think the ones I would like would probably be in Guilin.
Ohwells, we survived the ride and got off to irritating vendors selling coachellas by the bay. They were literally pestering every passenger who got off the bamboo rafts. I just shook my head and ran off towards the van waiting for us.
What a ride!
We went back to the hotel after that to change out of our soaked pants and rested. It was a tiring day and I think it made me even more ill than before.
During the evening, we went out again to walk the West Street.
Pictureque view, isnt it?
Dinner at a nearby HK cafe.
And the rest of the food we had for our last night here. Yes we had oysters again.
I felt tired so my friends headed off to McD for supper while I went back to the hotel alone to rest. If it was any other lousy hotel, I would be scared to be alone, but nope, the bed was sooo comfy I just fell asleep immediately even with all the noise downstairs hahaha.
