Outdoor Fun...and our commercial success!

We arrived in Yangshuo and found a nice hotel (because it was too hot to walk all the way to the hostel we picked out...and the hotel was cheaper!)

We met Luis for dinner/drinks and joined up with Elizabeth from Chicago...a member of the theater scene..how ironic.  Luis was trying to convince us to go rafting with him the next day so we went to the hostel to see what it was about.  It was more of a floating trip so we decided kayaking would be more fun.  As we asked about it, the hostel manager said, "want to go on a free half day rock climbing trip for free?"  hmmm...nothing is free in China..or anywhere for that matter.  So we asked him a billion questions and it still seemed legit.  He explained that the rock climbing company wanted westerners for some photos.  We assumed it was a marketing brochure update thing so we signed up!  Free rock climbing and a visit to the silver caves.  Yipee.  They told us to be there at 7:30..this then changed to 5:30am...whatever its free right?! 

So at the crack of ass in the morning, we were at the hostel ready for a climb.  Here we met Matt, a marine working/living in Cambodia who was also lured by the promise of free rock climbing.  Oddly enough, the rock climbers arrived and took the four of us to their store to get shoes.  We hopped in their van and drove about 30 minutes to the biggest, scariest rock face I have ever seen.   Please note: Carrie and Luis have never rock climbed before and I am an advanced beginner.  ugh.  We hike up 1/2 the mountain to get to the rock face.  No one really speaks much english and we notice that there are like 25 people there carrying heavy beams up the mountain.  I am very nervous that this is their rigging system and we will not be climbing that day.  Turns out it was just the FILM CREW AND THEIR MAGICAL FLOATING CAMERA SEAT (Carrie calls it a jib)!!!!   I shit you not people.  They put makeup on the boys (not us though...hmmm) and made Matt start climbing...they ate his shit up.  He is tall, blonde, crew cut, tattooed, yup they had him dangling on that rock for quite a while.  They posed him and all kinds of entertaining stuff. 

Most importantly, Miss Carrie Kennedy, adorned a helmet and harness and ROCK CLIMBED like a pro!!!!  She did fantastic..as did Luis.  Really good, brave work. I forgot to teach my carrie how to repel down and in my attempt at it explaining it while she dangled off the rock, I forgot to say, don't jump.  She swung out and slammed into the rock and got her first rock climbing scrape across her back.  IT was very tough.  My attempt was just fine but damn was that a hard climb.  Lets just say no one "topped out" that day. 

So, after a few hours, the camera crew packed up and we all came down the mountain.  Then we were directed to a restaurant.  OH, here is where we have to pay...this will be like a 150 Yuan meal right?  WRONG!  It was a free breakfast..they didn't even promise us breakfast.   So, we were told before we go the caves we will visit an "ancient village"...OH, this is where we have to meet some old lady who wants to sell us the rugs that she makes on her loom for 24 hours a day and we will feel so bad if we don't buy one.   NOPE, here is where it got even funnier!   We pull up to a legitimate "ancient village" and the film crew is there.  They hand Matt a very funny "Chinese" costume and tell us to follow them.  Here we also hook up with two English guys who had been lured by only a free lunch! suckers!!!!   One of them had to dress up too.  So all the people of the village come out to see what the hell is going on and before we know it they have me on a bike with these other guys and they are barking orders.   Ride your bike fast down this cobblestone street and over this huge doorstep , oh and don't fall into the creek on the right.  Now, jump off your bike and get really close to this old guy with no teeth and pretend you understand him, now LAUGH!  This went on for 4 hours!  It was soooo funny.  My real role was when they created a Chinese Opera in the village square.  All the villagers were seated behind me and they would cue the opera stars.  They would then yell at us to "clap, laugh, get excited!" over and over, take after take in the raging sun.  (They  even gave us a free vegetarian lunch).  It was really unique and funny.  Carrie managed to weasel out of being in the picture because the village only had four bikes so she kindly gave hers up!  Very tricky.   The locals we met were so funny and sweet and just kept bringing their kids over to us so we would speak to them in English...they all know how to say "hello". 

Turns out, they were filming a tourism commerical for Yangshuo and Guilin and we will be the new faces of tourism for Yangshuo...boy that masters pays off every minute!  It will air in China and abroad...we are going to try to score a copy for all of you :)   

Finally, after shooting all day we were brought to the caves.  We walked right in, and it was, in fact, FREE.  We were all in coma's by the time we made it to the caves and I don't remember much except they were very pretty with really really poor lighting...lots of purples and greens...to Carrie, it was "offensive" lighting :)  You know how those lighting designers are!

We got back to Yangshuo, ate, and passed out!

The next day, we needed massages.  So for $7 each we got one hour, full body, massages.  They were intense and really painful but we felt great after :)

The next day, we booked our kayaking trip down the Li.   Again, Miss Carrie Kennedy pushed her comfort limits and went kayaking for the first time!  Those swimming lessons paid off because she was totally comfortable on the river.  She paddled like a pro!  It was a 8 mile kayak with a short stop half way for snacks at a tiny little village.  It was such a cool experience and we really enjoyed the first 7 1/2 miles.  The last 1/2 mile nearly killed us.  It was soooo hot and all of a sudden our breeze disappeared.  Good thing we had our $1 Chinese fold up hats that we bought from a street vendor in Yangshuo.  They are so HOT! 

We could barely eat by the time we got back because we couldn't lift our arms.  But we found this amazing Vegetarian restaurant that made us all warm and fuzzy.

The next day was our last day there.  We tried to book our flight from Macau to Kuala Lumpur.  It was suppose to cost about $60 each and fly out at very convenient times, regularly.  OH, too bad we didn't realize the Chinese National Holiday was October 1st and the entire country hits the road for a week!  After much work and research the best we could do in order to get out before our visa expired was to fly out of Hong Kong and into Singapore for $350!  UCK! 

We spent the day hopping from restaurant to restaurant snacking in order to stay out of the blazing heat while we waited for our 10pm sleeper bus to depart.  You heard right, a sleeper bus.