Yangshuo

In honor of the fact that we are starting to plan our next adventure through planet China... I am going to put up some pictures up from our last trip! ;-)

If you missed them, last May I posted pictures from the first part of our trip to Hainan which you can see here: Hainan, Wuzhishan, the Li Village and Sanya.

Our next stop, after Hainan last January, was Yangshuo!!!



We took a boat from Guiling to Yangshuo, one of the most famous destinations in China.

Actually... we took a taxi from the hotel to a bus to a "bamboo" boat to a golf cart to a bus to a taxi to our next hotel.

In all honesty... we took a taxi from the hotel to the bus station where we were pushed onto a bus that brought us to a small village. We were pulled off the bus and told to follow some guy down to the dock where we got on a bamboo boat made out of plastic. The boat took us down the Li river and we sat with out mouths open in awe (it really is as beautiful as everyone says). The boat carried us to safety where we were told to get into a golf cart and bounced down a bumpy dirt road into the center of town, then put on another bus and brought to Yangshuo where we got a taxi to our hotel and collapsed. It was awesome.

No, I'm not kidding.























The next morning, the sun came out and we took a bike ride through the mountains...






¡Hemos encontrado la montaña sagrada!












Biggest bamboo, I've ever seen!


Apart from some of the most beautiful landscapes on the planet, Yangshuo is home to the famous street barber. Who cuts and shaves people in the street, with as much style and class as you would expect any oldschool barber to have. ¡Guapisimo!








¡¡¡Que ganas tengo de viajar otra vez!!!

东西 Dōngxi Market

东西 Dōngxi in Chinese means things. The word is formed by the characters for East 西 xī and West, 东 dōng.

We discovered this market last spring. Xavier had gone during the winter and found an area where he could buy wood, paint and a few other art supplies, but he didn't have enough time to fully explore or uncover everything. And EVERYTHING is what this market has.

We call it the "Dōngxi market" because it is full full full full of dōngxis. If looking at the pictures makes you feel a bit dizzy, imagine how we felt wandering around! The place itself is at least as big as two football fields, and there isn't just one stand for each thing that they sell. Each stand is located in a sea of stands that all sell the same things... paper, shoes, luggage, furniture, socks, plastic bags, sewing supplies, clothing for your grandfather and at the end a cafeteria filled with a variety of greasy fast food, Chinese style.

It's incredible!!!

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东西 Dōngxi en chino significa cosas. La palabra esta formada con los caracteres para este 西 xī y oeste, 东 dōng.

Descubrimos este mercado en primavera del año pasado. Xavier lo conoció investigando mercados de materiales de construcción, y fue una vez para ver si tenían madera, pintura y algunas cosas mas ahí (algunas cosas?!!!) pero no tuvo suficiente tiempo para explorar al fondo ni llegar a entender todo lo que tenían... y TODO es lo que tiene!!!

Desde que lo descubrimos lo llamamos el "dōngxi market" porque esta lleno lleno lleno de dōngxis. Si te mareas un poco con este post imagínate como nos mareamos nosotros estando ahí. El mercado entero es como dos campos de fútbol o mas! No es que hay un puesto de cada movida, va por zonas y en cada zona hay 50 o más puestos vendiendo lo mismo (papeles, zapatos, maletas, herramientas, muebles, calcetines, bolsas de plástico, mercería, ropa para tu abuelo y en el fondo un comedor con un sin fin de comida autentica).

Ah, y si ves a los Barriobajeros pregúntales por el "dongxi market" que Silvia y Ricardo lo vieron en vivo.