Baking breakfast
After an exhausting day yesterday, we decided to have a lie in today. We got up quite late. For breakfast we had noodles and dumplings. The Sun was baking us already. I suppose it was near noon to be fair. It was high time to buy a hat for myself. I suspect Asia will be hot and sunny as a rule of thumb, so I thought it wise to get a hat for head protection. The hat I got was pretty shabby, but it’ll do for now I suppose. Today we took a bamboo raft down the river, the same river we cycled next to yesterday.
We began our walk to the Chaoyang Marina, where the rafts departed from. It was such a hot and sweaty walk, the Sun truly was beating down on us, big time. We were taking the same route as yesterday, but didn’t realise just how damn far it was on foot. Perhaps it was the heat that made the journey seem longer. The walk ended up taking an hour and a half. When we made it to the marina, we were both so happy. I went straight to the bathroom to cool off, Mat went in straight after me. We were both looking forward to the bamboo raft now!
A relaxing raft
After cooling down a tad, we went and bought our tickets. We went to the pier, met the guy who would be pushing our bamboo raft, and hopped on board. The atmosphere was very serene and quaint. There was the gentle swishing sound of the guy pushing the bamboo raft with his bamboo pole. This combined with the beautiful weather made such a great afternoon. Thankfully the bamboo rafts have parasols to shade you from the Sun or the rain. It was a god send. We finally had a bit of time to rest and not have to think about anything. All we had to do was observe the beauty of nature around us, and appreciate it for being there.
The river wasn’t too packed with tourists, and it was quiet for the most part. When the raft slides down the ledges, sometimes there’s a splash, and your feet get a little wet. Nothing major though. The bamboo raft trip, from Chaoyang Marina to Gongnong Bridge, lasted around 90 minutes. As it was so relaxing, this flew by. It was nice to see the mountains and views from a different perspective today.
A sad departure
As we neared the end, we heard our raft pusher shout out. Mat and I turned around to find that our guy had dropped his pole in the water. All we could do was laugh and watch as it floated further away. Thankfully another dude was able to push it back to our guy so we could continue. Once we’d reached Gongnong Bridge, we thanked our guide and departed the bamboo raft. It really was a wicked experience, and would recommend to anyone who has the chance.
Evening had crept up on us, and the mountains were casting their long shadows. Shortly after we began walking back, we realised we were on the same road as yesterday, from Moon Hill. We both knew this was going to be a long and tiresome walk. It sure turned out to be that way too. The walk seemed to take forever, and we were getting knackered. The saving grace was that it was cooler than earlier in the day, plus we had a mountain to shroud us from the Sun.
Admitting defeat
Usually, when it comes to taking the easy way out, Mat and I turn our noses at the suggestion. Back at Hua Shan, we preferred to descend for 6 hours than to pay some money for the cable car, which takes about 20 minutes. You can see more of that experience here. However, when we finally reached the bus station, a few measly Yuan was nothing in comparison to the walk we still had ahead of us. So we shelled out the few Yuan, and breathed a sigh of relief when we sat down. A bus had never been so satisfying before.
Before going to the hostel, we thought we eat straight away as we’d not eaten since breakfast. So we walked in a different direction to normal. Instead of scurrying around the main strip of Yangshuo, we walked back towards the bus station. We managed to find a decent place not far from the hostel. The pair of us dug in to our meal like savages, and absolutely demolished it all.
We’ve got to check out fairly early tomorrow. After our food we went back to the hostel, and turned in early for the night.
