When
on the Banana Pancake Trail, do as the Banana Pancake Trail..um, blazers.
Breakfast in Yángshuò 阳朔 at a place
called Kelly’s Café, where the sound system that morning took us back to 1980,
with “Public Image”, “Rapper’s Delight” and “Rapture” in rapid succession:
Back
at the Yangshuo C.Source West Street Residence. The proprietors of this
establishment had done a fine job melding the Ming-era building with 21st-century
conveniences and comforts:
The
courtyard, with an appropriate nostalgic tinge:
For
the first time in our weeklong trip, the sun paid us a visit, which made it an
ideal day to rent a couple of bicycles and explore the some of the surrounding
countryside. Provided we could get out of the town’s insanely clogged streets
first. Even in smaller burgs, Chinese drivers converge upon each other in a
cacophonous din of blaring horns and refusals to give way or show the least bit
of courtesy to other drivers, not to mention pedestrians…and, of course,
cyclists. But we eventually maneuvered our way through the throng, and before
long found our onto a much quieter back road:
This
old house once belonged to a general:
My
wife has her tires replenished with air, courtesy of a local who has tried to
capitalize on the popularity of biking in this area among Chinese and
non-Chinese visitors alike:
The
sight of a water buffalo was a source of great excitement for my daughter. She
wasn’t the only one, however. Pamela overheard a young Chinese woman tell her
friend it was the first time for her to see a real live cow, a sign perhaps of
how rapidly the society has urbanized in the past few decades:
Some
of the farmers living along the bicycle route have converted their homes into
diners, serving meals to the visitors. We stopped for lunch at a rustic
farmhouse in a village called Jiùxiàn 旧县,
where my wife ordered yet another local favorite, beer duck 啤酒鸭:
The walls of
the house appeared frozen in time, as with this poster depicted People’s
Liberation Army generals depicted on horseback North Korean-style:
After lunch
it was back on the bikes to continue riding. Today it was Pamela’s turn to go
with Amber on a tandem, while I got to ride solo:
The scenery
evoked that rural idyll, but many of the houses were still of the mud and brick
variety. Income inequality is certainly not unique to China, but the gulf
between the countryside and the major urban centers can still be shocking to
see at times:
We were
planning on riding out to the same Dragon Bridge 遇龙桥 that we had been bussed out to see on our
first day in Yangshuo. However, the quiet road we’d been riding on for several
kilometers came to a halt at a busy highway. Rather than do battle with the
large trucks and tourist buses whizzing by, we decided to turn around and head
back the same way we’d come:
The girls
ride by a large tree which had refused to make way for the road:
Feeling
thirsty, we stopped at an old farmhouse to have a couple of Cokes. The toilet
in the back was very “rustic”:
Here in the
countryside, images of Máo Zédōng 毛泽东 are still revered:
Another house
belonging to a military family, with the last a general who fought against the Japanese
during World War II:
Next door,
inspirational words from Chairman Mao were holding up slightly better than the
fading slogans from the Cultural Revolution 文化大革命:
A
comparatively rare site in China, at least in comparison to Taiwan, is that of
roadside temples. This one was built on the side on the hill, providing some
views of the surrounding countryside. This spot was located along the Yùlóng
River 遇龙河, and was
another popular starting point for rides on bamboo rafts:
Back in town,
Pamela went off to a hair salon to get her washed, so Amber and I took a stroll
around Yangshuo Park 阳朔公园, where in
another throwback to the past, heroic Socialist Realism statues were ignored by
virtually everyone present:
Reunited with Mom, we walked down to the Lí River 漓江 for a look at the boats and the peaks before dinner:
Dinner was on the
second floor of a café overlooking Xījīe 西街:
When in Yangshuo, do as
everyone else, which hear means checking out the action on Yixie and buying gifts
and souvenirs:
The evening ended at Le
Vôtre 乐得法式餐厅, a French restaurant sharing the same
building as the Yangshuo C.Source. They brew their own beer, a practice I’m
always willing to encourage through my patronage:
Next up: Our last full
day
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