1st Update from Moon Hill Village

Hello to all... I've been here in the Yangshuo area for a few days now and have finally found time to post an update. After my last post, I flew west about 500 miles from Hong Kong to the city of Guilin. I got in late that night and took a riverboat the next morning about 35 miles down the Lijiang River to the town of Yangshuo (pop. about 30,000, although it feels much smaller). The scenery along the river was spectacular. Immediately outside of Guilin, cliffs rise up on either side of the river and karst topography abounds everywhere. The term karst refers to a unique geological phenomenon in this area; the region is covered with over 100,000 completely vertical peaks, each about 1,000 feet tall, which rise up out of the rice paddies and the countryside. Their summits are often hidden in a mist or fog that is characteristic of the area. On the boat trip, these peaks stretch out to the horizon in all directions; in addition, there were water buffalo, remote villages, locals getting water from the river, and many other interesting sights. The trip was pretty nice and everyone was fed lunch en route. I met another university student, from the Netherlands, also backpacking solo around China, and we shared advice and information. Upon arriving in Yangshuo, I was met by my local host, Xu Yuan (note that Xu is the last name). She took me to my new home, in her village. The village, about 6 miles down a potholed road, is refered to by several names including Li Cun, Yue Liang Shan, and Moon Hill Village. It's claim to fame is the nearby peak called Moon Hill, which, due to erosion, forms a very large arch.

The village is really amazing, and living there is an incredible cultural experience for me. It basically consists of a scattering of really small homes nestled in the mountains and surrounded on three sides by the cliffs. Approximately 600 people live there, although I would have guessed fewer. The Xu extended family numbers about 300, I think, and farms on a signficant amount of the land. I still haven't figured out exactly who everyone is that I am living with or how many people live there, but it's a rather large group. Yuan and her sister-in-law, Yu Lin, are both local guides, and Yu Lin has an eight-year-old son with whom I spent time yesterday. There is also a seven-month-old baby named Ni Ne, who, not surprisingly, gets lot of attention. The "heads" of the family are really probably not that old, but they seem very traditional. They speak a rather strong dialect and probably do not leave the village often. Everyone in the family is extremely nice; I can't emphasize this enough. They have told me so many times to "make myself at home." Actually, I think they are as excited as I am about this experience, as they are very curious about my culture and home. Also, many locals are literally desperate to learn English, so they can guide foreigners, so I think my family is hoping to benefit some from spending five weeks with an English-speaker. However, that doesn't mean I've been speaking much English. Like last year in Costa Rica - when I suddenly found myself living with only Spanish-speakers - carrying on simple conversations and doing routine tasks is exhausting! It takes so much concentration and focus to learn a new language immersion-style. I've been very pleased with my understanding and can speak Chinese at what I would term a "minimally proficient level." I can have simple conversations with locals, bargain for a better price, tell the bus driver where to drop me off, etc. One of the most interesting parts of traveling in China as a foreigner is the feeling that I'm an animal in a zoo. I was well-prepared for this before I came, as it's discussed in nearly every travel guide, but it was still a little disconcerting at first. Locals riding bikes always do "double-takes," and those walking just stare. Often, they say "Haloo!" and laugh or try to ask where I'm from. It's in no way disrespectful at all; they are always friendly and are just curious. When I respond in Chinese, though, they usually go crazy and start asking me all these questions (usually the same ones) - how do I know Chinese, why am I here, for how long, etc. It's so funny, and, actually, it's an excellent way to improve my speaking and listening.

The best part of living with a local family, as I learned last year, is that you are considered a party of the family and therefore a part of the family's network of friends. The other day, one of the younger men in the family, Xia Li, took me around on his motorbike (nearly every family has one), bought me a snack, and introduced me to his friends. We sat by the river in Yangshuo and practiced Chinese and English and talked about our different cultures. Yesterday, I was guided by Yu Lin's eight-year-old son (whom I call my "xiao pengyou" - literally "little friend") to a little fishing hole off the main road to Yangshuo. We caught two fish with bamboo poles and then his dad cooked them for lunch and invited me; again, I was introduced to all the friends. The dad is the electrician at a local tourist site called Dragon Cave, so, afterwards, he gave me free admission to the cave. It was pretty cool, with lots of colored lights making the rock formations look bizarre, and included a boat ride on a subterrainean river. Before I could leave, one of the guides saw me and practically begged me to go back into the cave to help her identify mistakes on the English signs in the cave. There were far more mistakes than correct sentences, so this took a while, but I didn't mind. The guide was so appreciative and thankful, and she told me how all the foreigners laugh each time they see a sign. This didn't surprise me in the least, and I showed her a picture I had taken earlier of one of the more comical signs!

I have also started running, and I just can't imagine a more amazing place to train. It's very difficult to describe, but when you've been running for twenty minutes or so down a dirt path, turn around to look back, and see only karst peaks, enshrouded in fog...it's just amazing. I can literally just forget about everything, losing myself in the beauty of the landscape, and follow paths that meander around the cliffs and through the rice paddies. Sometimes I end up at a dead-end at a river or small village, and I never know where I'm going, but that's all part of the adventure. As most of you probably know, I love the scenery around Lexington; nevertheless, I can't help but feel sorry for my cross country friends who are conducting research at W&L this summer and are doing workouts on the Chessie Trail everyday :)

You may be interested (or not!) about what it's like living in the village. Basically, my dwelling consists of two or three buildings which enclose a small courtyard. A couple different families of the Xu household live in separate little areas, although everything is connected. The top three floors of one of the buildings is the "guesthouse," which has ten rooms I think. It's actually quite nice - simple, of course, but perfectly fine according to me. I'm currently the only person staying in the guesthouse. Downstairs is a small family room with a TV, and there is a well in the courtyard. I guess the eating situation is what has most fascinated me. In the kitchen, which is very rustic, is a small, extremely low round table. The adults and I sit around it on tiny, tiny (like, a foot off the ground) stools. EVERY meal consists of rice, and there is nothing I am more happy about than the fact that I happen to like rice. On second thought, there might be one thing: the fact that I'm quite proficient with chopsticks. If I weren't, I honestly don't know what I would do, and, by the end of this trip, I guarantee you I will be able to do things with chopsticks that you'd consider impossible! Lunch and dinner consist of four or five dishes - mostly vegetables except for one or two meats (chicken, pork, fish, duck, snail). Actually, I usually don't have any clue what I'm eating (they might tell me in Chinese, but that usually doesn't really help...), although I do know that I ate pumpkin leaves last night. There are a lot of really different and unusal tastes for me, but I like pretty much everything. The method of eating (which is the same for most of the locals, I think) involves everyone having a tiny bowl and chopsticks. After filling your bowl most of the way with rice from a pot, you just start taking food from the main dishes with your chopsticks - usually two or three bites at a time. You can eat directly out of the dish or place the bite of food in your rice bowl. Fish bones and things like that are just thrown on the floor (to be swept out later). They eat quite rapidly, usually not drinking anything with the meal, and leave when finished. Everyone takes cooking very seriously and is proud of what he or she can make. Although the meals are simple, they really are very good and filling. Breakfast is either fried rice with a goose egg and some vegetables or a bowl of noodles with vegetables. I drink tea all the time, too, and have really come to enjoy it. Also, there is tons of fruit (I live with a family of farmers), and we often snack on that while talking or watching TV. I may eventually get tired of rice, but, for now, the food is awesome (and you probably know how important food is to me).

Well, today was a complete washout, with torrential rain (tropical-storm style), and the rivers are flooded. I was going to go "frogging" (looking for frogs) with my xiao pengyou, but the rain changed our plans (it also caused me to wimp out of my run this morning...oops, I shouldn't have written that). Anyway, I'm spending the day exploring Yangshuo, which is a pretty cool town. There are lots of cafes, small restaurants, and shops. The vendors are very aggressive, and I'm constantly saying "bu yao, xiexie" (no thanks). I checked out the rock climbing cafes (there's about five) the other day, and they're pretty cool. I think I'm going to make a reservation with Karst Cafe to get a guide for tomorrow so I can learn where all the crags are. After that, I'm going to spend more time at the Lizard Lounge, which is a cool place with a bouldering wall and lots of climbing memorabilia; apparantly most of the climbers hang out there to climb and socialize in the evenings, so it's the best place to meet people.

If you've read this far, then you definitely deserve a pat on the back. My future posts will definitely not be anywhere near this lengthy. Since this is my first post from Moon Hill Village, there were just a lot of things I thought I should write about. Thanks for reading, and have a good one -