Puppy Chow

I thought it was a myth that the Chinese eat dog, but now that I've seen it, I've gotta believe it. We haven't eaten any (at least that we know of - I believe it's a "delicacy" so I can't see dog meat showing up in any of the cheap food we eat.) We have seen them in the market - Matthias even took a gruesome photo but I didn't post it (didn't want to offend anyone - and in light of recent events concerning Michael Vick, I don't want to take any chances!)

We are now in the city of Yangshuo in southern China, which has (besides dog on the menus) plenty of dreamlike scenery and loads of tourists, but first how we got here…

After Xian, we did get first-class seats to Shanghai. Actually, the whole train was first-class – it was a high-speed intercity train (top speed about 230 km per hour) and we had cushy reclining seats with foot rests. A far cry from the hard-seat class mentioned previously. Even the waiting room was a pleasure… Shanghai was fun. Our hotel was great and though it was not right in the center, we were happy about that after we went downtown and had to constantly fight off the people trying to sell us stuff (and Matthias still hasn’t forgiven me for directing us to a touristy restaurant where we had to pay about $3.50 for mediocre dumplings. The HORROR!) But we did get to go to Citibank for a fee-free cash withdrawal which should be our last in China. Additionally, the markets and restaurants near our hotel were pretty cool (so I had my fill of really good dumplings – for about 50 cents per dozen.) And we were able to get first class (sleeper) train tickets for our 24-hour journey to Yangshuo on the date we wanted.

Even luckier was that no one came to fill the other two beds in our train compartment, so the train ride south to Guilin was pretty comfortable. From Guilin, we had to take a two-hour bus ride to Yangshuo, and of course someone immediately tried (and partially succeeded) to rip us off as we left the train station. The guy led us to the bus and charged us 20 Yuan (about 3 bucks) for the ticket (which I still believe cost only 10 Yuan.) And then when he gave me the change, he shorted me another 20 Yuan, but I was able to catch up with him and demand the rest. So, feeling semi-victorious, and semi-ripped-off, we arrived in Yangshuo.

Yangshuo is situated in a river valley between incredible limestone hills that seem to jut up out of nowhere. The mystic scenery seems to be right out of a kung-fu film. I can’t really describe it, so you’ll have to see the pictures (or Google it to get even more photos and info.) Of course, because it is so beautiful, it is über-touristy and the town is overrun with tourist restaurants and hotels, but that is also why we got a great deal on a place here. We have been here for two days and will stay about a week before catching the bus toward Vietnam. While there are a few photos of Yangshuo on the web album linked to the left, I’ll give the full report after we’ve spent more time here. Until then…