inspired by j-man
mood: wander-lusty music: suede - attitude







*yangshuo*

excerpt from my travel diary: Day 10 (26 Feb 2003)

"After more than hour of cycling and chatting, we got to the Dragon Bridge, me, Kevin and Hanne had some brunch at a villager's house. The scenery was amazing though, unspoiled nature at its best . We then biked across fields where I fell off the narrow path a few times, so we switched to pushing our bikes along the ledge. We got to a small village after crossing over numerous fields where a huge crowd of childrens swarmed up to us to say hello. It was quite embarrassing to get all these attentions. Further on, we got to the Fuli Bridge where we took a rest and some pictures.

We then started on an arduous journey for the next 3 hours to get to Marcel's place. Along the way, the sceneries were spectacular and in most instances the landscapes before us looked totally unreal. I have never imagined there would be so many karst peaks, where one ends, another would begin. This would go on into the distance as far as the eyes can see. There was also a difference in the colour amongst the hills, with the nearer one being dark blue fading into light grey and diminishing in size into the horizon. Together with all the fog partially shrouding the surrounding, it was a veritable paradise to me right smack on earth.

We also passed by enormous fields of rapeseed flowers along the way; either brilliantly yellow or white in colour under the scorching sun. Then, there were still lakes, jello green in colour looking like serene mirrors, nestled amongst the valleys. It was a moving experience.

A French couple, Karina and William, was asking for directions and finally accepted Marcel's invitation to have dinner at his place. The meal at Marcel���s was very good and consists of such local specialties as Beer Fish and salted pork. Even the French guys were quite impressed by the 'haute cuisine'. We were also given a taste of the local beer, which was very different from those of the north.

We got back to Yangshuo by 7pm and I went straight back to my room and showered. Checked my email and replied Mervyn and Dixon, then as I was leaving, saw Lavina, Maya and Kiam at the Seventh Heaven Bar with 2 other asian guys. Chris is a local Chinese and Hira is an American-Japanese from New Jersey. There was also an English girl called Hannah, who is only 18 yo and has just finished her 'A' levels. yikes!!! Maya recommends the apple crumble and so Hannah and I ordered one each, which comes with vanilla ice cream. It was good and authentic but a tad too sweet for my liking. My eyelids were drooping by 11ish so I bid the rest adieu and left for my room.

This trip was supposed to be an exploration of myself, who I am and what I really want in life and in a way, I did fulfil that objective somewhat. Somehow, I finally realised where I really belong. As much as I thought I have grown accustomed to living in Sydney, I realised that the one place where I really feel at home and want to go back to, when I am feeling alienated, is where I grew up as a child."