The Moon Hill

It's a 'must go' place once you're in Yangshuo. My friends would scare me since day one about climbing mountains and hiking because I was afraid of heights. Yes, I had cold sweat just thinking about it. It's due to the fact that I was famous in falling down every year without fail during my school years. And it always ended bleeding. The last time I damage my knees was when I got involved in a motorcycle accident.
So, that was the turning point of my 'luck' in falling down and damage my knees to the max. Ho ho ho.. But the fear of falling was still there. I know myself that I have very weak knees and ankles.

As we step towards the 800 stairs up to the Moon Hill, we saw the warning signs that looked pretty funny. I think it supposed to say do not smoke or throw matches and then be careful as you step into the hill. Being a none speaking + reading half chinese person, I didn't ponder much on it. They looked just funny.

It was a looong way up. All of us were tired and our guide Maria didn't even break a sweat. All of us carried our knapsacks with bottles of water and she just carried a red handbag. I felt really challenged to see someone climbing up so easily. Even an old lady who may be twice of my age could follow us easily and fan at one of us at the same time. Hoping that we may buy her drinks she was carrying.

In the end, we manage to reach the top of the mountain. Simply breathtaking!

Da Vinci in Malaysia!

Since young, I've always been facsinated by his works and hopeful to see them one day when I have some extra $$. The interest of knowing him increased as I studied my first year in Engineering. That's where I found out that he made lot of 'wacky' inventions and it was brilliant!

Good news is that one doesn't need to travel far to see his works. There'll be 188 exhibits to be shown at Pusat Sains Negara starting from 1st Oct 2009. The interesting part is that a blogger, Gallivanter is giving away 100 tickets for free and it's quite simple to get them(as long as you have a blog of your own)... :)

For more info about the exhibition and getting the free tickets, check out the blog here.

Yangshuo (I)

We started our morning breakfast without going through room service or eating in the hotel. Just a stroll down outside the hotel, a small shop caught our attention with a lady selling some steamed chestnuts and sweet potatoes with her 3 daughters. She was friendly and would readily photos for us in front of the camera with her daughter while selling. Just right behind her, the shop was selling 'mei fen' which looked about the same as what we had at Guilin. Only thing was that we were not served.





Instead, they'll pass you a bowl of noodles and you'll have your own choice to add meat, bamboo shoots and fermented vegies to the amount that you like. Then, you'll get some soup from a big pot into the bowl which was close to their kitchen. Don't expect any spoon as the locals usually drink their soup directly from the bowl itself. I noticed that there'll be a small green tag on the bowl stating that it was already sanitized and the tag must be taken off if we used the bowl. I did ponder whether they actually practice hygiene and honest enough to place the tag on the bowl for real. I guess they are because none of us got sick after eating some of the small shops around for the past few days.



We also ordered a few more items to eat just to try their local food. I believed that little pau was called 'siew lung'(i think) and each had a size of a plum. Very cute. It tasted okay and not much meat in it.







After breakfast, with Maria our guide, we rented our own bike to cycle through the village and fields for a few hours. At first, it was a struggle for me at first as the last time I ride a bicycle was at my final year (2004).




The scenery and the fields were simply beautiful and gave me a sense of peace of mind. Tiring but it was well worth it.

Impressions of Liu San Jie

Still in Yangshuo, it was about a half an hour's drive from our hotel to the Li River where the performance was held. The arrangements were quite messy and it was torture to be someone who can't speak a word in Mandarin. I depended entirely on my Mandarin speaking friends to do the translation and enquiring about the event. Eventually, some English speaking tourists joined our group eventually because they were just as lost as I was who couldn't understand.

We manage to be at our seats before the performance started. The area was packed! I wondered how they manage to make that place packed so often. Some said that free tickets were given to the locals to make sure that the place was full.

The performance was directed by the Zhang Yimou who also directed for the performance during the Beijing Olympics 2008. Nature was being used as the stage itself plus a few coloured spotlights and a great sound system. The performance was spectacular but my photos couldn't do any justice with such a distance and lack of light. Night shots and moving objects has always been my weakest point with this camera :(

It consisted into 5 different elements. Red, Green, Blue, Gold and Silver. All of it reflects the lifestyle or Liu San Jie (3rd sister of the Liu family). It was based on a legend for the Hakka people and then shown in a musical video in the 1960s. Up to now, I haven't seen the English version of the video yet. Though I would love to understand how Liu San Jie gave such witty answers in a song during the singing competition.

We got our own tour guide for 2 days with Carol's help. She may be small in size, but I find her impressive in a physical sense(in the next post). There were some misunderstanding at the beginning of the cruise that it took us some time to meet her. Without a coloured flag just like any other people in tour groups, we're grappling through the handphone as form of communication.





Just like from what we read and heard from her, it's advised to be alert with your wallet and bags at all time when you're in the West Street in Yangshuo. The first impression I had was almost like Jonker's Street in Malacca but definitely more variety and things to buy.

One can also take a few good shots or some nice dessert along the street. For clothes, try to cut to 1/3 of the real price for a good bargain. But it's cheap enough for your taste or in comparison to where you come from, just buy it. :) Like some people would say, it's dirt cheap. Well, not exactly... for me. I'm not really good at bargaining, so I don't buy that much souvenirs or items that day. But it's fun to observe the items that people sell there. I was tempted at times to buy a drawing but to think where to hang it, I cancelled my intentions since I live in a pigeon hole.










Another facsinating thing here, they sold pictures or T-shirts of popular faces like Osama Bin Laden, Michael Jackson, Obama, Bruce Lee etc. Their artworks were good.





We had dinner with their famous dish, beer fish where they used beer to cook the fresh water fish. By taste, it was not bad but I don't fancy the fine bones of the fish. As usual, I opt for the fish head. Easier and more satisfying to eat.
On our way back before journeying to the musical performance nearby, we enjoyed the view of the sunset shining against the lime hills of Yangshuo reflecting the river nearby.

River Cruise to Yangshuo

On the way from Yangshuo from Guiling, a cruise along the Li River must not be missed. Food was also included during the trip which took about a few hours the cruise ship set off. Make sure to have a light breakfast up front to avoid 'starvation'. We were lucky enough in a way for getting a separate room which segregated us from the other passangers who had to share in a few tables. I guess it was due to the fact that we brought big luggages to Yangshuo compare to the rest of the passengers.

Food which was provided in the cruise was fresh from the locals who rushed to the boat using their rafts. I was impressed with the way they chased towards the kitchen. While rowing, one even had the chance to have a smoke.

It was a wonder from a city at Guilin, the river remained crystal clear and most locals could still use it for bathing, fishing, feeding the water buffaloes with water weeds and so on. Something that I rarely see in my own country. If only our country had a way to keep the river clean just like at the Li river.

As for the rest of the 4 hours trip, we laid back and observed the beauty of God's creation.

First stroll at Guilin

We were blessed to have a short rainfall during our lunch since the haze was rather thick. It had been several days that Guilin had no rain so I guess it was good to have a breath of fresh clean air. The cause of the haze was mostly due to the construction along the highway from the airport to Guilin.

Everything there was different especially in terms of language. To be there, I had no idea what items or shops it was trying to show unless I took good look at it. I was at the mercy of my chinese mandarin speaking friends in the Wednesday Group. Haha...


The first thing that striked me was the food which smelt like bamboo. At first, the taste was rather nice but it's advisable not to take too much of it as one can get fed up with the taste easily.
Lo han Ko was quite a common drink and different from what I had in Malaysia. As you know, drinks served in Malaysia was always sweet. But here, sugar was not added at all but they'll include some chrysantimum flowers and served it as the typical tea we always had. Kinda like flavoured water without sugar. To me, it seems healthier and tasted much better without sugar.


The 'must try' food in Guilin was the Mee Fen... it was cooked with meat, preserved veges and groundnuts. The rice noodles differs from one shop to another so the 'best' way to recognise whether it's good to eat was to ask a local or take a stroll on a few shops and enter to the ones that had the most number of people :)

At night, we took a stroll along the lake and found a night market near by. We manage to buy a few things as souvenirs which could be found in our own country. Only at a much cheaper price. Of course, there are a few items which one can't find in Malaysia due to the lack or artistic values shown in public.

Just by the bridge, we were entertained by a violinist who played beautiful songs throughout the night. The group sat along the stairs and listen to his music. It was nice to see someone doing this out of his interest and used his talent to make a living.




We also had the chance to have our name written down in a poem on a fan. I had not written my own chinese name since my grandfather passed away, so I guess that's the time I started to use it and appreciate it more by understanding its meaning.
I also took the opportunity to make a stamp of my chinese name in hope that I could read and write in chinese in the near future and perhaps can use the stamp as well as my second signature.