The Road Back

We hear several stories about why we can't cycle from Wuzhou to Yangshuo. The most plausible seems to be that the Chinese consider the accommodations inadequate for a group this size. We stop several times for sightseeing and pictures.

Between the cities of Yangshuo and Guilin the Li River flows through some of the most scenic country in China. There are boat rides downstream from Guilin to Yangshuo and the tourists are then bussed back to Guilin. Guilin is therefore "the" tourist spot. It is our final destination, but for the next two nights, Yangshuo is home.

Yangshuo is a tourist spot of another sort. This is probably our worst hotel. Like Wuzhou, there is an air conditioner that drips condensation in one corner of the bathroom and it flows slowly to the drain in the far corner. The bathroom floor is always wet. One of our guide books lists it as the best in town and "up market." It may be the best, but . . .

Day eleven is for sightseeing by bike. We ride to Moon Rock. This is clearly tourist land, even Richard Nixon has been here. Tourist area or not, the fields and rock formations are spectacular.

In the afternoon, three of us ride out of town and see people thrashing rice. They say hello-hello, so we walk into the field. A Chinese rice thrasher is a wooden box about the size of a small desk with a foot pedal in the front and a drum with wire loops inside that spins very fast when you pedal. You hold a bunch of rice against the loops and the grains of rice are knocked loose. Each of us gives it a try. Not a bad job for 15 minutes but I wouldn't want to do it all day. We received a big round of smiles and ding-how's (well done) for our efforts.

Some more sightseeing by bike and then back to town in time for a parade and dragon fight in front of our hotel. Chinese dragon fighting is about like a bull-fight. Everyone, including the two people playing the dragon, are in costume. Just like the bull, the dragon always looses. There are drums and gongs and people on the roof of the hotel are showering the dragon with firecrackers-wonderful sound and fury.

Guilin is for the jet setters. Yangshuo is for back-packers and other low-budget western tourists on the "Coca-Cola Circuit." Throughout most of China and Southeast Asia there are restaurants on this informal circuit where backpackers find friends, leave messages and exchange stories about what to do and how to save money doing it. Lisa's Cafe is the circuit restaurant in Yangshuo. We spend part of the evening swapping bike-riding and sightseeing stories with several Englishmen, a German and his Japanese girlfriend.

Yangshuo thrives on the thousand or more tourists who arrive by boat every day after 2 p.m. and are gone before 4. It is a shoppers paradise after the boat people leave and prices return to normal-there is still room to negotiate as much as fifty per cent off the price of almost anything. There are even genuine Ming vases for as little as US$24-sure!

We have clearly left rural China and are heading back to the China of tourists. Yangshuo serves as a kind of decompression chamber.

Day twelve is an essentially flat, 43 mile ride on a major new road, compete with bike lanes. This is a showcase highway to bus the boat people back to Guilin. Two of us make it with a few miles left in our legs so we cycle around the city. We see a Catholic church; the only western church we see on the entire trip.

Guilin was bombed heavily by the Japanese. It has been rebuilt and is laid out like any other large city with wide streets and traffic circles. We are told that all of the nice hotels, mostly joint ventures with U.S. and European chains, have been built in the last 4 years.

Ice Cream

In Guilin we find a respectable Chines wine: Dynasty. Pat and discover another in Beijing: Dragon Seal. Both are the products of joint-ventures with French wineries.

Day thirteen we join a thousand or more people on a fleet of sightseeing boats for a 41/2 hour cruise down the Li River. In terms of weather, it is the worst day of our entire trip with very low clouds. Fortunately we have had a wonderful day of sightseeing in Yangshuo. For two thirds of the trip the scenery teases us about the possibilities. In good weather it must be stunning.

We see cormorants and cormorant fishermen but we don't see cormorants fishing.

In the evening we have our last Chinese banquet together. After dinner we move to the lounge for a wrap-up meeting. Each of us is given a certificate, a title, and a gift from the guides. Pat is designated "best dressed" and given a lovely yellow cotton dress with black polka dots. I get the "laughing Buddha" award for my smile and a carved jade Buddha statue.

It is our opportunity to acknowledge Alan, Jim, Su and the drivers for the success of our trip. The hotels and other arrangements have worked as promised. The food has ranged from reasonable to very good-one nice thing about the multiple course banquets is that we can skip a dish or two and still have plenty to eat. Our only problem with the bikes was a broken bell and that was promptly replaced. We were well cared for from start to finish.

The "official route" in our daily directions was 325 miles. Five people rode their bikes the entire distance. All of us added miles to the basic route with side trips for exploration and sightseeing.

The next day we clear Customs at the Guilin airport the same way we arrived: person, baggage and bike go together. The plane is over an hour late so they give us each a bag of "Yuppie Peanuts," (sort of a peanut M&M), a box of cookies and a Coke.

Back in Hong Kong, Backroads treats us to a final meal- great western food at Jimmy's. The group has gotten along extremely well. There is the shared joy of having completed a challenging endeavor and the sadness of endings and parting. Some are going to visit Beijing or Thailand, or even Papua New Guinea; most are leaving for the U.S. tomorrow. This part of the adventure is over.

A short night at the our hotel in Hong Kong, an exchange of luggage with the Concierge and then Pat and I catch a flight to Shanghai. Our northern tour will take us to Shanghai, Beijing and Xian then back to Hong Kong-planes and busses and a train, no bikes.

The adventure continues as Gui-low to Xian .