Post #41 – November 21, 2012 – Xingping, China

What we did: hiked to Snail Hill and Tengjiao Nunnery
Budget: 450 Yuan/$75; Spent: 279 Yuan/$46.50

Jeff here.

Today is our last night in mainland China sleeping in a hostel/hotel. We can’t believe our stay in China is nearly over! Thirty days is not long enough to see this beautiful country; but it is long enough to appreciate it and to cement the decision to return.

We weren’t expecting a great day here in Xingping. According to the weather networks, we were going to have another cloudy and rainy day. Thankfully, those forecasts were mostly incorrect and we even got to see the sun! This really changed our perspective of Xingping and we were able to better appreciate it for what it is.

Our day began with a fantastic breakfast at the hostel’s restaurant. We knew we were going for a hike, so besides each getting the American Breakfast (basically, eggs, toast, bacon) we also got a banana and chocolate pancake, which was more like a crepe. Yum! After eating, we talked to our hostel’s receptionist and she recommended a particular hike for us that she liked. The entire hike extended from Xingping to another town called Shawan, which is south of Xingping. The entire hike would take about four hours.

So, we set off on our hike. The first order of business was to cross the Li River. A trickier prospect than we first thought. There are countless boats lining the river taking tourists here and there. We approached one guy who takes people on a “bamboo” ride along the river. Many people in town will just say the word “bamboo?” to ask if you want a ride down the river. It’s a pretty neat concept, but the guy wanted 20 Yuan to take us on a 2 minute ride across the river. He wouldn’t even negotiate with us. Happily, we hopped on another, much larger boat and paid 10 Yuan to get across, and we did this right in front of him.

Before we left the dock, we had two young Chinese girls ask us to have our pictures taken with them. They were really excited about it for some reason. This is the fourth or fifth time this has happened to us in China. We don’t understand why people would want to do this. Bizarre.

Anyway, once we were across the river, we weren’t really sure where the path started, but we knew it basically followed the river, so we headed in that direction. Ten or 15 minutes into the walk, the path moved away from the river then branched off in two directions. The path we chose seemed to be a shortcut along what we assumed to be the riverbed of the river during whatever season saw the river running with more water. By this time, the sun had poked it’s head through the clouds and we were sweating! It was a relief to have such better weather than yesterday! Here’s a picture:

The walk was pretty neat. We were essentially walking through a valley with these towering hills all around us. The river was nowhere to be seen, but that was OK. There was a concerning moment when we thought we would actually have to either cross a part of the river or head back, but thankfully the water there was only inches deep and we got through it without even getting wet. After this, we headed back to what we thought was the main path and continued down it. It wasn’t long before we came to the Tengjiao Nunnery, although we had no idea what it was at the time. The structure itself is no more than a cement building, but it is built into a very huge cave-like structure in the rock wall. Very cool.

We continued past the nunnery for maybe 20 minutes before realizing that it had been the nunnery we passed and we were probably no longer on the actual path. It took us coming face to face with the river, with no other paths in sight to actually check our map and confirm this. So, we headed back and quickly found the proper path. On our way back, Patty freaked out after seeing some funky looking bee-like creatures crawling all over a branch and each other. I thought we were getting attacked by a bear or something considering her reaction. I’m gonna be honest though, those things were nasty.

We made it back to the nunnery and a little distance from there we found another path that led back onto our route. The path led us up and up, giving us a spectacular view of the valley. It was unfortunately getting a little more foggy and cloudy by this time, so our view was blocked a bit, but it was still incredible. I can’t imagine what that place must look like when it’s sunny with blue skies!

We didn’t walk all the way to next town, but turned back once we got to what we assumed was the highest point of the hike. Here’s a picture from the top:

The walk back was fairly uneventful. We decided to follow the regular path this time and it took us through some neat little farms. It was a very pleasant walk, except that my heel was hurting me. It has been coming on for a couple of days, but today was the first day when it was painful. Hopefully it won’t last too long!

Just before taking the boat pack to our hostel (this time we paid on 4 Yuan total! Funny that…), we saw some horses. Patty took a couple pics for my dad. Here’s one:

We arrived back at our hostel, pretty exhausted, after hiking for more than three hours. Maybe that doesn’t sound like a really long hike, but it was bloody humid and I was soaked! We sat down in our hostel and ordered a pot of tea that Patty had wanted to try. I’m not sure what it was called, but the one we had ordered yesterday was better!

We decided to grab a quick bite at our hostel’s restaurant before showering. We got beef stir fry with vegetables and white rice. As usual, it was amazing. This restaurant has served the best Chinese food, in my opinion, we’ve had while in China. Great price, too.

After this, we went back to our room to shower and change, before heading to our lobby for a couple pizzas. Here’s a pic:

At 7:30 pm, the hostel began playing the movie called The Men Who Stare at Goats, which is a George Clooney movie. It was pretty dumb, but we watched anyway. There were a few laughs to be had. After that, they started playing Predator. I hadn’t realized how bad of an actor Arnold was/is. Wow. We didn’t stick around for long and just went to bed.

Tomorrow we’re off to Guilin and onto our night train to Guangzhuo. Macau here we come!