and then I put an egg on it.: Yangshuo

Hello everyone! Crazy communist China does not encourage free thought so blogger, facebook, and youtube are all blocked over there. Just got to Hanoi today, so I can start catching you up on the rest of our Chinese escapades. Our first stop after Mongolia was Yangshuo. Amazing little farm town on the Li River. The south of China is known for their rice, so there are rice fields everywhere. The mountains all over town are called karst mountains, but it kinda sounds like Tarsh mountains, so that's what we decided to call them. The first day we took an awesome, private bamboo raft down the river. It took about 3 hours and was similar to a gondola ride with a local fisherman rowing us down the river. Along the way there are floating markets where you can stop and get some grilled fish and beer. Pretty ideal, great afternoon. Here are some pics:

little food stands along the way

rapids!

snagged a beer or two along the way

The next day our guide, Qin (pronounced Chin), took us for a bike ride through the town, rice paddies, and farm villages. It was one of the coolest things I've ever done and so unbelievably beautiful. Along the way we stopped at a local farmer's house and they were the sweetest people ever. They showed us how to make fresh tofu and fed us local yellow-skinned fruit (no English translation) and the best peanuts we've ever had. The peanuts were sweet rather than salty and tasted liked you were biting right into a nutter butter.

riding our bikes out of town

Mo making tofu

Us and the farmers. Cutest people ever.

We also took a cool market tour in town. Our guide, Qin, joked that in Yangshuo they eat everything with four legs but the kitchen table and everything with wings but an airplane. He also taught us that people call KFC "kung fu chicken" in China.We saw EVERYTHING at the market. Amazing fruits and vegetables, crazy seafood (eel, frogs) and even rats and dogs for sale....to eat.