December 14, 2008
We didn’t really know where to start because we wanted to do so much, so we walked around for a little while before deciding to take the hot air balloon ride!!! The other two people that were passengers with us were from New Zealand.
Oh, my goodness! The view from the balloon above the mountains was gorgeous! It’s not like being in the Smokey Mountains where you feel like you are in the mountains even when you are on the ground. You feel more like you are standing next to the mountains, so being able to be above them was grear!
After the ride, we went back and left again to go to a light show on the water. It was choreographed and designed by the same person who designed the show for the revealing of the Olympic Logo…mismo the Opening Ceremonies but on a smaller scale. It was enjoyable, but everyone around us talked, ate, smoked, or laughed too loudly. I didn’t think Chinese people could be so rude.
After the show we wanted to find a place to eat some local culinary specialty-beer fish. We ended up at a little place and ordered. It was wonderful, but the owner didn’t have a corkscrew for the Great Wall wine (it was really called that) we had, so she ran it down the street, borrowed one, and brought it back to us!
December 15, 2008
Rock climbing day. We climbed very near the place the hot air balloon took off the day before. The people that took us out were all siblings and were really nice. The girl, who looked like she was about 14 was 20, wouldn’t let Danny climb what he wanted to climb at first. I thought this was pretty funny because she was so shocked when he was actually good. We climbed for a couple of hours. I knocked my head once (the helmet turned out to be a good idea) and felt dizzy for a while, but I had a lot of fun! It was great to get to the top of the course and then look out over and at all the other mountains!
After we went back into Yangshuo, we walked around for a little while and tried to break
into the top of a building to be able to look over the city. Danny used a bobby pin to attempt to pick a lock. It didn’t work,
and after about 15 minutes we left (I was ready to go-haha).
Then we went for a little more exploring and found a park that had a little hiking trail. We took it up to the top. From here there were incredible views of the city and the mountains.
We ate dinner at a hot pot restaurant! Delicious! Then went to a bar where we kind of learned to play Chinese chess and I learned to play regular chess.
