Yangshuo, China - cont.
On our last morning in Yangshuo, as requested, we had our 'countryside' tour. However, it wasn't quite as I expected as it was more of a motorised vehicle. It was quite open at the back and could sit about 8 people, when last time I had a much smaller type of tuk-tuk for just 4 people, incl. the driver. Still, we had to make do with it and we spent 45 minutes (no more !) going down smaller track, observing the many labourers in the field, who still use cows to plough the field (and are bare foot in thick cold mud). They all seemed to work so hard and it really made our commuting to work in London look like a breeze ! The scenery was spectacular, though a lot more misty in the morning. In fact, I'm amazed they even conduct tours before 2pm as the light improves so much after lunch, but in our case, we didn't have a choice.
The downside of the motorised vehicle is that we didn't really get the chance to get off it very much and so missed out on all the interactions with the locals. I really felt we'd missed out big time. I'd saved all my smaller notes over the last few days for that moment, and didn't have the chance to hand out any for photo ops.
We then got back on the mini bus to get to the airport and the scenery along the way was so spectacular that we did quite a few small videos. However, we ended up being an hour earlier than needed at the airport as there was almost no traffic on the road, which totally frustrated us as we could have spent twice as long in the countryside :(((
When we had to pay for the tour, our guide said it was 120Y per person, I argued that in 2002 it had cost me only 40Y for 3 hours so how could it have become SO expensive for a mere 45 mins? She then quickly revised the quote to '120 for two' minus the cost of the tour in Guilin that we missed out (only 17Y x 2 = 34). We sometimes felt that in this country, you're either in a position to exploit people (if you bargain too much when really, 100Y for us is neither here nor there) or to be exploited.
On our last morning in Yangshuo, as requested, we had our 'countryside' tour. However, it wasn't quite as I expected as it was more of a motorised vehicle. It was quite open at the back and could sit about 8 people, when last time I had a much smaller type of tuk-tuk for just 4 people, incl. the driver. Still, we had to make do with it and we spent 45 minutes (no more !) going down smaller track, observing the many labourers in the field, who still use cows to plough the field (and are bare foot in thick cold mud). They all seemed to work so hard and it really made our commuting to work in London look like a breeze ! The scenery was spectacular, though a lot more misty in the morning. In fact, I'm amazed they even conduct tours before 2pm as the light improves so much after lunch, but in our case, we didn't have a choice.
The downside of the motorised vehicle is that we didn't really get the chance to get off it very much and so missed out on all the interactions with the locals. I really felt we'd missed out big time. I'd saved all my smaller notes over the last few days for that moment, and didn't have the chance to hand out any for photo ops.
We then got back on the mini bus to get to the airport and the scenery along the way was so spectacular that we did quite a few small videos. However, we ended up being an hour earlier than needed at the airport as there was almost no traffic on the road, which totally frustrated us as we could have spent twice as long in the countryside :(((
When we had to pay for the tour, our guide said it was 120Y per person, I argued that in 2002 it had cost me only 40Y for 3 hours so how could it have become SO expensive for a mere 45 mins? She then quickly revised the quote to '120 for two' minus the cost of the tour in Guilin that we missed out (only 17Y x 2 = 34). We sometimes felt that in this country, you're either in a position to exploit people (if you bargain too much when really, 100Y for us is neither here nor there) or to be exploited.
posted by Sylvie at 1:20 AM
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