Hello from Yangshuo, China!

It was an early day for these two travelers--we were awake at 3:15 a.m. and left our hotel in Hong Kong at 5:15. Our taxi ride to Hong Kong International Apirport took about 30 minutes in the early morning light traffic.

We went straight for Starbucks for a cup of coffee, and then found a restaturant for a quick breakfast. We checked in for our flight, got our boarding passes and explored the airport a bit. It's a very efficient airport--but it is H-U-G-E!

Our flight to Guiling was a short one--about 1 hr 10 minutes. We flew on DragonAir and we were pretty impressed. The service was great and we had very roomy seats with lots of leg room.

Once we landed in Guilin we had to go though immigration, which was quick and easy. Our guide for the next 3 days, Amy, was right there to pick us up. She is a delightful woman, friendly and thoughtful. She is proud of her home town, and gladly answers our many, many questions! We also have a driver, who is Amy's son.

Amy told us a little about herself--she was born and raised in a small village near Yangshuo. She told us she is "just a farmer's wife", she and her husband grow rice, oranges, kumquats and pomelos! And of course, she also works as a guide. She learned English by talking to tourists and her customers.

Our plan for today was for Amy to pick us up at the airport, drive us to the small town of Yangdi where we would ride a bamboo raft to the next small village of Xingpin, about a 2 hour ride. But our plans were changed, as the river was too high due to recent rains. We are hoping to reschedule this for Monday.

So what to do now? Amy had a suggestion for us. She explained that we were lucky to be here during the 3 day Qing Ming Holiday (Tomb Sweeping Festival). This yearly family holiday is celebrated by visiting the tombs of their ancestors--doing maintenance and landscaping, but most importantly honoring their ancestors by burning paper offerings, leaving their loved ones favorite food, lighting candles, and burning paper money so thier loved ones can be prosperous in the afterlife. Firecrackers are then set off.

Today was the day that Amy's family was celebrating and visiting her familys tombs--and she asked us to join them for the Festival and then lunch at their family home. Of course we said yes---and what a great day we had!

From the airport we drove straight to Amy's old village where she was born and raised. We parked the van on the outskirts of the village--many of the streets were too small for cars! We walked the rest of the way to her family's tombs. It was a pretty walk through some kumquat groves, over a few hills and through the lush country side.

Her family was very welcoming, telling us "hello" in their best English, and we said "ni hao" in our best Chinese! It was fascinating to watch them tidy up the tombs and place their offerings. The whole family gets into the act, right down to the young children. There were offerings of whole chickens, fruit and small bowls of rice. Candles and incense were lit, and finally a large string of VERY loud firecrackers was set off! What a priviledge to see this, we were humbled.

After the tomb sweeping we walked to Amy's familly's house, where they were setting out quite a feast. There were bowls and bowls of food such as: stuffed bitter melon, bok choi in a steaming hot broth, stewed chicken--(and yes, the feet were in the pot!) There was a steamed dish of duck and taro, fried carp, and a few other items I wasn't sure of! Beer was served--a locally brewed beer that was really pretty tasty.

Now I'd be lying if I didn't admit to being VERY nervous about eating this lovely family's food. After seeing them wash the dishes in the same water pond as the laundry, etc--I wasn't too sure. I was more than a little worried that our tender American tummies wouldn't be able to handle some unfamiliar "germs"--but so far, so good. But most importantly, we did NOT want to offend Amy's family. We truly felt honored to be asked to join them on this important festival day.

We chose as wisely as we could--eating some fresh local oranges, and chose two of the dishes that looked steaming hot! We did our best with our chopsticks and there was some good natured laughter about our skills!

Not long after the meal began Amy's brother set a glass in front of David. Amy explained this was strawberry wine, but David later swore was straight grain alcohol! They tried to get me to try some, but I gently declined, explaining (fibbing just a bit!) !hat I reallly don't drink alcohol.

Now the toasting begain! Several toasts later and amid lots of laughter, David managed to drink all that strawberry "wine" and turn his glass upside down at the same time as Amy's brother! Be sure to check out the photos of this fun lunch.

We had the best time! The whole family was gracious and welcoming, and seemed genuinely pleased to have us there. We were both charmed by Amy's fater, who is a very spry 87 years old. She said he regularly rides his bicycle into the village. We had some great conversations, even though Amy and a couple of the younger teens were the only ones with any English language skills. They had many questions about where we lived, etc., and of course we had many questions about their village and their lives.

Soon it was time to leave, and we both gave our heartfelt thanks to each member of this lovely family for letting us share their holiday. After much handshaking and many thank you's (pronounces "shay-shay" in Chinese!) we drove back into the small town of Yangshou.

Amy dropped us off right in front of our hotel, The Magnolia Inn. She gave us a big hug, and thanked us for meeting her family and joining their festival. What a sweetheart she is--we are both glad we have two more days to spend with her!

We checked in and walked up two flights of stairs to our room. It's spacious and very clean with a nice bath and shower. The beds, however, are hard as rocks--which seems to be the norm in China!

We quickly unpacked and hit the street to explore Yangshuo. Parts of the town are VERY touristy, with many shops and vendors selling the usual "junque". Some of the vendors are aggressive, even grabbing your arm and following you down the street! We both tryi to remember they are trying to make a living and feed their families; but it is interesting, to say the least.

We walked away from the very touristy area for a few blocks, and enjoyed the more "local" sights. Today was market day in Yangshuo, so we walked through the market--lots of good looking produce, and some other interesting items such as pig intestines and stomach, chicken feet, etc.

By now we were very hungry--breakfast was many hours ago, and our lunch was very light! We looked at several menus, and chose a reataurant with ourdoor seating. We especially wanted to try one of the local specialties; "beer fish". This is fish cooked in beer, served with vegetables. It was just OK, the fish was cut into small pieces and was very hard to eat. The flavor was great, though. We also had some stir-fried noodles and an order of pork fried dumplings, which were our favorite. Of course, we shared a bottle of that locally brewed beer.

Even though the food wasn't the best, we enjoyed our dinner--the people watching was fun, and we talked about how lucky and humbled we both are to have spent the afternoon with Amy's family.

We are truly the "Lucky Lunds"!

PS: This new blog format won't allow the placement of pictures within the text. To view the photos for each blog post, click on the "Photo" tab (above) and open the album for the date of that blog post. Double click on the first photo, then you can use the red arrows on the side of each photo to move through them. I've written a description for each photo under the picture.

Be sure to see the pictures for today--this place is amazingly beautiful!