So in the last post, I didn’t go into details, but Yangshuo nearly made me have a total breakdown. Mr A’s favorite memories of China were of visiting Yangshuo, so he was very excited to go. I was also stoked because the pictures of this area are so amazing.
What we didn’t count on is the fact that China’s growing upper and middle class are now vacationers. And it is Spring Festival right now. Tens of thousands of Chinese had decended upon Yangshuo doing their touristy stuff.
In case you haven’t already guessed, Mr. A and I are travel snobs. We generally try to avoid the crush and hubub of tourist traps. And if you have never been in a tourist trap that is catering to a culture other than your own, then it will be difficult to understand why Yangshuo was so awful for us.
Just one quick example: We got talked into going to “shangrila”, a boat ride thing. It turned out that it was a weird showcase of China’s minority cultures that was both exploitative and a little bit offensive (people dressed as aboriginals dancing as the boat went by, etc). And lordy did the Shenzhen Ren on our boat just LOVE it. It was horrible. After you got off the boat, they fed you into a fake minoirty house, made you watch fake minorities doing folk crafts, then they send you through the gift shop. All with a crowd of about 300 strangers yelling and laughing in chinese as they bumped into you.
I know, I know… of course there would be tons of chinese there, since it is a beautiful spot in their own country. But it had warped from the sleepy backpackers town that A remembered into Crazy Disneyland of Chinese sightseeing. There were people repelling down the sides of the beautiful mountains, hot air balloons skipping to and fro, and weird kids inside giant inflatable balls running on water. Yeah, i can’t describe it well, but it was all too much.
We decided we wanted out of there so badly, we rented a CAB to drive us all the way back to the provincial capital. We just chucked our already-purchased train tickets and coughed up the dough. It cost us about $200, which is outrageous, but worth every penny to get us the hell out of there.
It was pretty though. I am too tired to mess with photos tonight, but maybe tomorrow.
Once we got back to the provincial capital, we had yet another fiasco with trying a new restaurant for dinner. I don’t know how we managed to order it, but one of the dishes delivered to our table was rice with baked beans, slathered in ketchup. It was disgusting.
Tomorrow we go to walmart to begin preparing for the baby. We will also meet our travel group.
We are getting close.
Oy, Yangshuo sounds like the 5th circle of hell, at least during high holiday season. I am sorry that it wasn’t the way you remembered it. And I am kicking myself for forgetting to ask you to get all of us some Mao memorabilia. darn it!
But, OMG OMG OMG – you are meeting The Baby in less than two days. v.v. exciting!
And, now we all know that no one need bring ketchup packets with them to China – China now has ketchup. Will wonders never cease?
Sending hugs and lots of good juju – stay well, and keep us posted. the babes send their love and Camille wants to know when she will get to see Miss M. again.
How funny. 2 days 2 days 2days! I’m so excited for you. Did Miss M like Yangshuo?
Bet you can’t wait. All the best to you and your newly expanding family!
Glad you made it out of tourist central. And I can’t wait to hear about meeting your baby. And I hope your travel group contains at least one kindred spirit.
I’d like to go to Guilin, but hesitate for exactly that reason. It’s supposed to be honeymoon central for the Chinese. Those kids in giant inflatable balls sounds really intriguing, actually, if there weren’t everything else tossed in. Just think–two more days!
OMG Amber, that sounds like the most FABULOUS setting for a short story! But not a fabulous place to visit at all. I was laughing and snorting uncontrollably while reading your post. It’s great stuff! Yeah, I REALLY want to know more about these giant infatable balls/ running on water. WHAT?!
Sorry it was such a disappointment. Ack. But I have a feeling things will get better shortly. We only had one bad meal in China. When I insisted on ordering something the waiter told me I wouldn’t like. It wasn’t translated well and, uh, he was right. I want to hear about the AmFam storming WalMart.
The final note about Walmart was priceless after the story of tourist hell.
Sorry to hear you had such a bad experience. It sounds exactly how Shamian Island was at Christmas time:( I Hope the rest of your time is better and I can’t wait to hear about HFC day!!!
I’m sorry it was so bad. I also remember Guilin as a sleepy backpacker place on my two trips there-it used to be a nice escape from touristy Guilin.
[...] For the love of god, do not go here during Chinese New Year [...]
[...] Oops Yangshuo Did It Again… When we were in China for L’s adoption, M, Mr. A and I traveled to Yangshuo Guangxi. It is so very beautiful, I had high hopes for it being my favorite place in China. Sadly, the very opposite was true. [...]