Today, we spent the day in Yangshuo. It was a very long journey to get here, and I do not think we found a place to stay until after 11pm last night. It was a long trip.
The morning began with a text from Meng's sister saying that the visa/passport had been delivered. A phone call confirmed that it was the visa that was valid for this year, so we are happy that worked out, and we are amazed by the efficiency of the processing. It did not even take one business day for it to be delivered (no one was there). I am not sure what I will do in a country that is so efficient.
After that, we went off in search of Drifters, but it seems it was a victim of modernization and it has disappeared. Instead, we just chose a random place and called it good enough. Then, I found a few stores selling Miao embroidery and I couldn't resist. I looked a bit, and I will look a bit more.
We figured out the plan for the day was going to be to do Bamboo Rafting on the Yu Long River. The first step was to get there, and we found a bus that was going in that direction, so we got on. Later, we found it wasn't so close to our destination, but we were lucky to only have to walk about 300 feet until we found a bus that was going exactly to our destination. We climbed aboard and enjoyed the rafting for about 5 hours.
Then we had a little dinner.
After dinner, Meng let me shop for embroidery more. In one of the shops, the girl working was actually a miao person who was quite knowledgeable about the different pieces. i enjoyed talking with her. She told us about the Miao Festivals and that there are three main festivals. And when we seemed interested, she said her uncle could take us there tomm. Turns out it is a 10+ hour trip. Therefore, we do not think we have time because I need to be back in Shanghai on the 9th to extend my visa. Plus, we already bought our return tickets to Shanghai (we learned this important tip when traveling in China, always book the return or next leg when you arrive otherwise it is easy to get stranded or difficult to find another time or place to go get the tickets. It is better to do it when you are right there.
I also got a new pair of shoes because the ones I was wearing broke. Ironically, they were the same shoes I bought in Yangshuo 5 years ago.
In the evening, I got a massage, and we went to have some BBQ for a late dinner. The first one was too early for Meng and his belly was empty.
Now I am ready for bed.... more on our adventures to come.
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