Turns out I’m really, really bad at adulting and blogging at the same time. So here is the continuation of the series on my trip in China, only a million years later//
Okay, now where was I?
Last time I left off, we were still in Guilin. Anyway, due to our traveling fail (as discussed in PT II), we left our cozy little hostel and moved to an apartment. As soon as we got to the gates, we spot a older gentlemen behind the gates of the complex. The “security guard”, if you will.
After spending a few minutes trying to get his attention in the heavy rain, he finally puts down his newspaper, peering at us over the top of his glasses.
“Niiiiii haoooooo”, he greets us, drawing out his words and interrupting Margaret, who was already in the middle of explaining who we were and had to start all over again. Getting up, he presses the button for the automatic gates, which then, of course, runs over his foot.
Once inside, we meet the apartment owners– a friendly and chatty middle-aged couple with their daughter– who take immediate interest in us. In the middle of talking, the auntie abruptly links my arm and declares that we’re taking a group photo.
Having traveled all day– sweaty, dazed, and drenched from the rain– at the time, it seemed as thought they were asking me to be president. Our photo is probably displayed in their apartment among the others now, and if you ever get a chance to come across the photo, you might just be able to identify the startled expressions behind our smiles.
It turns out that we weren’t done with surprises though. As I come out of the shower, I hear the washing machine making a lot of noise. I ask Kat to go check on it, who then yells in alarm that there’s water flooding into the room from the washer. I think I was still wearing a towel when I ran for Margaret’s help.
After a long day of mishap, we couldn’t help but laugh in disbelief as we all worked together to soak up the water with towels (the mop did nothing at that point).
“Friendship goals”, Katrina said, as we both grab hold of the towel and wring it out together over the bathroom drain.
You would think that cleaning up a flooded room would take the steam out of us, but surprisingly, it did not. We stayed up until 1am, eating peanuts and squealing in amazement over the electric self-shuffling mahjong table.
Towels well served.
自摸!! Okay not an impressive hand, but I won, which was my only goal :p
Starting off the next day with steamed pork buns as big as my face (literally), we gathered enough energy for our hiking/rafting day trip from Guilin to Yangshou. It was a lot trickier than we anticipated, as there were alot of trails that were closed off, but somehow we still managed to not get entirely lost. We got to hike through a bit of farmland as well as along the river, with mountains surrounding us from every side. We even saw a rainbow!
Trekking from Guilin to Yangshou
The trickiest part was a completely flooded pathway, with water threateningly rushing across it. We had no way around it, and the young man who sat on the other side only lazily encouraged us to cross it. As terrifying as it was, we all managed to make it across unharmed, with the exception of Donna’s calf, since her wet, rolled-up skinny jeans were cutting off her circulation. It literally took all 4 of us to roll it back down after 10 minutes of sweating, tugging, and people in boats staring us trying to pull down our friend’s pants.
“On the count of 3.”
“I’ll take this side.”
“1, 2, 3… PULL!!!!!!!!!!”
See, sometimes when things as ridiculous as this happens to you, you can’t do anything else but laugh.
petrinatravels 