Although you were biased I loved your advice. Your comebacks are quick and probably have to do with your insecurities. There's no shame in being crazy
Unfortunately there was no post last night. Yesterday was a good day, but nothing of particular note.
In the morning we went shopping, I got some Iceberg brand jeans for $10 USD at the underground mall here, and then we went to Yangshuo. We walked around for a little while, nothing really of note. After getting back to Guilin and having dinner with the family we went to their grandmother and grandfathers house and I showed my roommates how to play Majhong. We played for a few hours with the aunts and uncles and went home. Nothing too special.
Today however... today I felt like MacGyver.
We took an early bus up to Yangshuo and rented bikes. The lady we rented our bikes from didn't seem too honest, so I played it safe. When she asked for a deposit I refused, so she asked for our passports as collateral. I refused, and offered a drivers license instead. She said that would be OK, so I gave her my BYU ID. She said it didn't look like a drivers license. I told here that not many people live in my state. I was right not to trust this lady though. After riding about a mile the pedal to my bike fell off. Awesome. I'm out in the middle of some rice fields and bamboo fields and now I only have one pedal. At first I walked along a rice field until I found some string, and did a pretty good job about tying the pedal back on, unfortunately after around half a mile the pedal fell off again. This time I decided to use what my parents taught me as a child (through Macgyver)- the world is full of solutions to your problems if you think creatively.
So I took some bamboo shoots and put them through the hole in the pedal and over the crank which it was supposed to screw onto. I then just took a rock and hammered it on there. The bamboo shoots held the pedal on pretty well for most of the day after that, although we had to stop to replace the bamboo shoots with some poker cards we found on the ground. It wasn't a problem.
While randomly riding through the countryside and rice fields we came to a mountain we decided to hike up, and found a cave inside. Unfortunately there was a sign outside saying it was closed to any visitors because it was too dangerous. Fortunately I value my life enough to obey signs like that.
After riding on we made our way to a small fishing village on the shores of the Lijiang river called Mu Shan Cun, or Tree Mountain village. We went to the shoreline and saw a few other white people in the water and getting ripped off in fares for riding small bamboo rafts on the river. While taking pictures, I noticed that just up the river there was a rope bridge. I wanted to go. So my roommate and I started walking up the river bank. After getting a few hundred feet up the river we found a small, half buried bamboo boat that was falling apart. What did we do? We pulled it up out of the ground, but lacking a bamboo shaft to navigate the craft with, I hiked up into the bamboo forest and knocked down a large bamboo plant, then using sharpened rocks we shaved the branches off.
Then I took the boat out onto the river. The locals all thought that it was hilarious. My boat was falling apart so it was hard to stand on without falling over. Plus, how often have they ever seen a white person floating up a river on a bamboo boat?
Within half an hour a crowd from the village had gathered to watch me try to maneuver my small boat over the other side of the river and back. Tour boats stopped nearby so that the passengers could take pictures of me. A few boats even came from downstream back to my spot and when they pulled up close I heard the crew say, "They weren't lying, there really is a white person on a bamboo boat here!"
By the time I made it back to shore I was exhausted.
We rode our bikes back to Yangshuo and I took my bike back to the rental place. They looked at it and asked what I had done. I explained that the pedal had fallen off because it was missing a screw. She said, "There were lots of bike shops, you could have had it repaired at any of them." Yeah right. The scam that they pull here is renting out bikes with loose screws etc that will break after you are a certain distance from the shop. Once broken down the repairmen charge ridiculous prices to fix the bike, then they contact the rental owner who takes part of your deposit on grounds that you mishandled their bike. In reality as soon as you leave they loosen the screw again and rent it to someone else.
The lady told me that she would keep my ID if I didn't pay for the bike to be fixed. I told her all she had to do was put a screw in it and it would be fine, that I knew the scam she was trying to pull, and I didn't care if she kept my ID because it was a school ID anyways and was of no value to her and little value to me. Once she realized I was onto her she gave me back my ID and we left.
After getting back to Guilin we went out to eat at a Tuccano's-type Brazilian Grill. It wasn't bad. The best part was the selection of meats. Besides the normal that you're used to in America, there were also the average Chinese meats - chicken heart, cow stomach, pig intestine, etc. Then there were the specialty meats. Tonight the special was meats from the horse family so we sampled horse, donkey, mule, and camel. Yep.
Got home and packed. I've got to leave Guilin tomorrow, back to Nanjing. It's been a fun bout, but I'm excited to go back to my own home to have a more settled schedule. My main goal when I get back though is to look for a shop that sells guitars. I found a guitar shop here in Guilin, they were selling a really really really nice Yamaha guitar for 600 RMB, only about $85 USD. Of course I'd have to play it first, but that's a steal! I think that when I get to Nanjing though I'll just find a guitar shop and go in a play when I'd like. No need to buy the cow when you can get the milk for free, right?
In the morning we went shopping, I got some Iceberg brand jeans for $10 USD at the underground mall here, and then we went to Yangshuo. We walked around for a little while, nothing really of note. After getting back to Guilin and having dinner with the family we went to their grandmother and grandfathers house and I showed my roommates how to play Majhong. We played for a few hours with the aunts and uncles and went home. Nothing too special.
Today however... today I felt like MacGyver.
We took an early bus up to Yangshuo and rented bikes. The lady we rented our bikes from didn't seem too honest, so I played it safe. When she asked for a deposit I refused, so she asked for our passports as collateral. I refused, and offered a drivers license instead. She said that would be OK, so I gave her my BYU ID. She said it didn't look like a drivers license. I told here that not many people live in my state. I was right not to trust this lady though. After riding about a mile the pedal to my bike fell off. Awesome. I'm out in the middle of some rice fields and bamboo fields and now I only have one pedal. At first I walked along a rice field until I found some string, and did a pretty good job about tying the pedal back on, unfortunately after around half a mile the pedal fell off again. This time I decided to use what my parents taught me as a child (through Macgyver)- the world is full of solutions to your problems if you think creatively.
So I took some bamboo shoots and put them through the hole in the pedal and over the crank which it was supposed to screw onto. I then just took a rock and hammered it on there. The bamboo shoots held the pedal on pretty well for most of the day after that, although we had to stop to replace the bamboo shoots with some poker cards we found on the ground. It wasn't a problem.
While randomly riding through the countryside and rice fields we came to a mountain we decided to hike up, and found a cave inside. Unfortunately there was a sign outside saying it was closed to any visitors because it was too dangerous. Fortunately I value my life enough to obey signs like that.
After riding on we made our way to a small fishing village on the shores of the Lijiang river called Mu Shan Cun, or Tree Mountain village. We went to the shoreline and saw a few other white people in the water and getting ripped off in fares for riding small bamboo rafts on the river. While taking pictures, I noticed that just up the river there was a rope bridge. I wanted to go. So my roommate and I started walking up the river bank. After getting a few hundred feet up the river we found a small, half buried bamboo boat that was falling apart. What did we do? We pulled it up out of the ground, but lacking a bamboo shaft to navigate the craft with, I hiked up into the bamboo forest and knocked down a large bamboo plant, then using sharpened rocks we shaved the branches off.
Then I took the boat out onto the river. The locals all thought that it was hilarious. My boat was falling apart so it was hard to stand on without falling over. Plus, how often have they ever seen a white person floating up a river on a bamboo boat?
Within half an hour a crowd from the village had gathered to watch me try to maneuver my small boat over the other side of the river and back. Tour boats stopped nearby so that the passengers could take pictures of me. A few boats even came from downstream back to my spot and when they pulled up close I heard the crew say, "They weren't lying, there really is a white person on a bamboo boat here!"
By the time I made it back to shore I was exhausted.
We rode our bikes back to Yangshuo and I took my bike back to the rental place. They looked at it and asked what I had done. I explained that the pedal had fallen off because it was missing a screw. She said, "There were lots of bike shops, you could have had it repaired at any of them." Yeah right. The scam that they pull here is renting out bikes with loose screws etc that will break after you are a certain distance from the shop. Once broken down the repairmen charge ridiculous prices to fix the bike, then they contact the rental owner who takes part of your deposit on grounds that you mishandled their bike. In reality as soon as you leave they loosen the screw again and rent it to someone else.
The lady told me that she would keep my ID if I didn't pay for the bike to be fixed. I told her all she had to do was put a screw in it and it would be fine, that I knew the scam she was trying to pull, and I didn't care if she kept my ID because it was a school ID anyways and was of no value to her and little value to me. Once she realized I was onto her she gave me back my ID and we left.
After getting back to Guilin we went out to eat at a Tuccano's-type Brazilian Grill. It wasn't bad. The best part was the selection of meats. Besides the normal that you're used to in America, there were also the average Chinese meats - chicken heart, cow stomach, pig intestine, etc. Then there were the specialty meats. Tonight the special was meats from the horse family so we sampled horse, donkey, mule, and camel. Yep.
Got home and packed. I've got to leave Guilin tomorrow, back to Nanjing. It's been a fun bout, but I'm excited to go back to my own home to have a more settled schedule. My main goal when I get back though is to look for a shop that sells guitars. I found a guitar shop here in Guilin, they were selling a really really really nice Yamaha guitar for 600 RMB, only about $85 USD. Of course I'd have to play it first, but that's a steal! I think that when I get to Nanjing though I'll just find a guitar shop and go in a play when I'd like. No need to buy the cow when you can get the milk for free, right?
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