Sunday, June 6, 2010

Hello, Beer Fish! (Worlds Most Perfect Day)



Pretty sure yesterday was the perfect day.

Woke up late.
Walked outside.
Perfect, glorious sunshine and blue skies.
Had a very leisurly breakfast that lasted over an hour.
Came back and rented mountain bikes while a guide on a motorbike (who we didn't ask for or pay for, but it was awesome!) took us through a senic path to our perfect destination:
The Yulong river.
From here we took a bamboo raft (with wooden lounging chairs and an umbrella on it) down the river with a driver who stood on the back using a bamboo stick for a paddle. This lasted hours. The weather was perfect, the scenery was beautiful, and the water was nice and cold for our feet.
(I will not mention the people on rafts trying to sell barbeque fish and saying 'hello, beer' every 10 minutes because I want to give you the impression the day was nothing but picturesque!!)
When we got off the river (oh, so reluctantly I might add!) a nice man had taken our mountain bikes there for us and we rode off to our next destination:
The Water Cave!
After we traded in a piece of paper from the hostel for our tickets we got in a rickity old van with some new friends (everyone traveling becomes everyone elses friend immediately) and headed to a spot where they try to sell you bathing suits. A couple of people bought them, but we were prepared and were wearing them already!
Then we got into a bus that took probably 5 minutes to start (yike!) and bumpily rode along for a few minutes.
We got in little tiny boats, ducked our heads way down low, and floated into the worlds coolest cave. We got out and spent hours exploring. It was amazing! (but very slippery!)
At the end we climbed up to these natural hotsprings that were SO SO hot!! It was so fun and we spent quite a bit of time there bathing in the boiling water.
We tried to make ourselves go into the mudbath but it was FREEZING, and therefore gross. So we got up to our knees and called er quits.
We biked back along the Yulong the long way to get home and it was just getting dark when we did.
We showered and spent the night out at a great restaurant we found, where we tried the famous local dish: beer fish!
We had waited quite a while when the waitress came to us and said 'They're just catching your fish, sorry it's taking so long!' wow! so fresh! We didn't mind waiting after that!
It was HUGE and amazing and we couldn't finish it all!
We got some mango ice after that and strolled around, and before we knew it, it was very late and we were very tired.

And there you have the perfect day!

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