Day Twenty-Eight

Yangdi. XingPing Town & Bamboo Rafting on the Li River

Accidental lie in because even though I changed the alarm time I forgot to actually turn the alarm on - oops! We ate our porridge got ready fairly quickly & headed out of the hostel to the bus station. We looked at the signs next to each bus & there was a lady shouting "Yandgi, Yangdi" so we got on the bus & paid our 95p bus fair. We had been told that Yangdi was quite far away & will take at least one an hour on the bus.

In our uncomfortable cigarette burnt seats we set off on the bus. We went through Yangshuo & came on to other roads. The roads looked very similar to the ones that we cycled back on the other day. We passed through villages & little towns. We drove for about an hour through twisty little country roads & you could see workers in the fields. We soon arrived at Yangdi & we got off the bus to take a look around before we got on our bamboo raft towards XingPing. As soon as we got off the bus we were hounded by lots of old ladies who were trying to sell us anything they could. If we bought something off every single one we would be totally skint that's for sure.

We started to walk around & we headed down a little lane which was just off the main road. There was one persistent woman who was following us trying to sell us the bamboo raft & she wouldn't take no for an answer. We began to ignore her & carried on walking down the lane, she followed slowly behind. We ventured past lots of orange fields & workers that we fixing their land. These houses looked very small & shack like. Chickens were just roaming free & running around the fields. Right along the lane where tiny small brick huts which had old wooden doors, when we looked inside we had realised that these were the village toilets. Andy being Andy had to try one out just for good measure. Further down the lane we walked the further the persistent lady dropped back behind but we knew she would be lingering for when we walked back.

As we continued walking we saw lots of little children just playing about in the lane. There were 4 boys fighting & messing around & a group of little girls that were skipping & running along. We had soon come to a school so that explained why there were children all around. The boys were shouting hello whilst the little girls give a shy wave & they were trying to hide behind each other. We walked in the to school yard & took a look around. It seemed like was a happy place for the children to be. After the school we headed back down the lane only to be greeted by the lady again who we had nick named rat-face. She was really beginning to annoy me as every two minutes she would shout "bamboo" & she would be met with the same answer of "NO!". We decided to play a little trick on the woman to see if she would still follow us. We gradually began to pick up speed in our feet & we began power walking but she could keep up quite nicely so after a few minutes of this we decided to jog & she jogged, then we sprinted & she couldn't keep up - hahaha! Game over we thought - wrong! We had stopped running & went back to walking but the sly cow had kept her jog on. As she caught up she was still behind us but as we were on the main street at this point she kept her distance & was on the other side of the road. There was a bus that was coming are way so as it drove past us we decided to run alongside it & hide. I was in such hysterics that I couldn't run & laugh at the same time.

We had finally made it to the waterfront (yeah the woman was still behind) & before we haggled for the bamboo raft we wanted to walk down the docking area & take a few pictures. Eventually we gave in to the woman & paid for her bamboo. As we walked to her bamboo we soon realised that it would be her husband taking us on the boat. The bamboo rafts are quite small & they need to be pushed with bamboo sticks away from the river bank. Once they are in deep enough water they can then be sailed along using a very small propeller. We boarded the bamboo & paid her the money & off we went. The man couldn't get the raft away from the river bank edge so Andy assisted him by using the bamboo sticks & pushing the boat along the shallow water pushing off from the stoney ground below the water. Off & away we went.

Oh no - why do we always pick the worst of the crops? The rotten egg? He was the worst bamboo man ever. We had a little bench which we turned around to face the front of the raft so we could watch as he sailed along. We had the camera out & was taking lovely pictures of the scenery & the surrounding mountains. As we began to settle every two minutes the bamboo man was shouting "hello, hello!". He was trying to get our attention & force us to take pictures that we didn't want. We entertained him for a little bit but after about the 50th time of him shouting & when he began to try & grabbed the camera, we had really had enough. Andy stood up, turned round & told him to shut up! As the man was still shouting Andy pointed at the man & then back to his own lips & made a shhush sound, Andy also warned him that if there was anymore carry on then he would be getting knocked out - want an annoying little p**** he deserved a pop in the face.

The man had finally got the picture & left us alone for a while & the raft ride brightened up until he started acting dodgy. Soon after we had got him to shut up he took the boat up close to the river banks edge where the was a makeshift marque & stalls. We knew there had to be a catch, there was no way on this Gods green earth could we have a normal boat ride. The boat pulled up the bank & as quick as he jumped off the quicker the people started to approach to sell us things. He was trying to force us off the boat so we could buy food, drink & what ever else they could sell. Well, we weren't having any of it!! We sat tight on the boat & refused to move, we were calling him back to the boat but the cheeky sod sat on some chairs & began to eat food, sip drinks then what took the biscuit was when he lit a cigarette.

Totally frustrated & annoyed at this point we were shouting & calling him everything. The highlight though was when Andy got up took the bamboo pole & started to push the boat away from the stones on the river bank. We were taking his boat - he had messed us around as we thought tough luck dude, were off! He soon got his bum off the seat pretty sharpish & ran to the boat. We were not happy in the slightest. As he got back on the boat he tried to make Andy help him move the boat but Andy stayed put & continued to sit next to me. Fun & games where over now, no more messing around - we were getting seriously aggressive with him & he deserved it.

For the rest of boat journey we sat tight & didn't even communicate once with the bamboo man, to be honest he was lucky he wasn't swimming! We sailed quietly down the river & it was nice not to be communicating with the A-hole! We went past many of the famous sights along the river that is famous to Yangshuo. It was very beautiful but it was a pity that the weather wasn't sunny as the water began to get more choppy. We had been keeping an eye out for the most famous spot along the river which is the backdrop picture on the 20 Yuan bank note, we should have known we had a dodgy bamboo man when he was trying to show us the wrong spots along the river for the bank note from the beginning of the ride. We finally reached the area near to XingPing which was the bank note scenery so we decided to quickly jump off the bamboo raft & take some photographs. As soon as our backs were turned the bamboo man was off. He was off quicker than you can say bamboo! Like we thought from the start what a 1st class A-hole!!!!!

As we were not far from XingPing we decided to walk the rest of the way. We went up these small steps that took us up from the river bank & on the roads to the town. There where little buses that could have got take you to the town to save walking along the dusty roads but that's the part we love. We trekked for about 20 minutes then we reaches XingPing. It was a really old dusty looking town which was quite busy. We decided to take a quick look around before getting the bus back to Yangshuo. There wasn't really too much to see just more people hanging around outside their shops. We wanted to get back before it started to get dark so we got on to the bus.

The bus journey took about 45 minutes & it headed back on the same route that we came. I was feeling exhausted & was glad to be getting back. In the hostel we told Ana & Yau of our bad experience of the bamboo & what had happened on the journey, to be honest I don't think they were very surprised.

After our mad day we couldn't be bothered to scout around the endless cafes & restaurants trying to decided what to eat so we ordered food in to the hostel. We had ordered claypot meals which are these big clay pot bowls filled with delicious rice & whatever else you want including meat. They claypots are cheap & yummy so dinner was nice & it was even better that we didn't have to leave the hostel we could just relax with our new friends.

After chilling out for the rest of the night we went to bed ready to look forward to tomorrows antics.......