Life Lately

Since getting home from China, I've been really trying to keep myself busy, which is the way I like it. Working all day and then working out at Crossfit and hanging out with my sibs at night makes for some long days. Long, yet pretty uneventful. Although living in Utah is great and I am so grateful I have Stephen and Rachel, living life without friends is pretty lonely and boring. I went from living with five girls and constant activities to having no friends close by and well, let's just say I spend a lot of time at night with the cast of Friends, How I Met Your Mother and of course, Grey's Anatomy. Netflix truly is a glorious thing. But here's some proof that I do get out of the house and have somewhat of a life.

first paycheck and free food~keeping my nails freshly painted. always~all the treats I brought back from China and there's still sooo much~bro/sis outing to Scheels after Cross fit;nicest sports store ever~itty bitty puppies and Jazzy pondering life in the backyard!

p.s. I have gone down to Provo a couple times, soooo I'm not completely friendless.

Yangshuo

Upon arriving in Yangshuo, we got off the cruise and walked about 20 minutes, the most humidest (is that a word?) 20 minutes of my life to our hotel. As soon as I stepped off the boat, I instantly fell in love with that small, beautiful town. 

Set amid limestone peaks, lush green rice paddies and surrounded by river ways, Yangshuo was such a contrast to Shanghai and the other bustling cities we visited in China. We checked into our hotel and I decided to take a rest in my room for a little bit, where a very large cockroach was awaiting my arrival right inside my bathroom. I was not so pleased to see that disgusting creature and I promptly ran in the hall as fast as I could. Thankfully, Diane was there to save the day and came in to kill it for me. I'm a wimp, I know.

We decided to spend the afternoon taking in the sights and treasures being sold in the street market and the smells of the food market, treating ourselves to McDonald's which was much coveted at this point of the trip and taking in the beauty of this stunning, picturesque town.

The food market was incredible. It contained some of the largest and most vibrant fruits and vegetables I've ever seen. Grapes were the size of my fist, cantaloupes larger than my head and carrots were four times the size as the ones we find in our grocery stores. However, the meat section of the market was a little more than I could handle. I was fine with the live chickens, rabbits, eels, toads, etc. but the dogs were way too much for me. We had my dad and Stephen check it out first to let us know if it was bad and Stephen said it was even difficult for him to see so me, Rach and mom decided to not go in the back where they had hanging cats and dogs. Just hearing about it made me queasy and when Stephen mentioned the crates of live dogs huddled together just waiting to be made into meat, I lost it. I'll admit it, I started crying and had to leave. I am the biggest dog lover and just couldn't comprehend the thought of killing one to eat it. Owen, our local guide did crack a few jokes about it, which were actually kinda funny.. like how every dog in China is named "Lucky" since it's lucky to be alive. Ah, sick humor..

This street market was probably the best one we walked through while in China. At least, it was my favorite. All of the kindest, hard working people lined up on the sidewalks proudly selling their local goods, whether it was farmers' with their prized fruits or vegetables, women wanting you to buy homemade clothes, jewelry, accessories, artists drawing you on rice paper, men playing instruments I've never even seen before or young people offering the typical tourist buys such as post cards, key chains, statues, etc. they all melted my heart. It's sounds funny but I came to really love the Chinese and their way of life. For the most part, they are very respectful, kind and generous. While shopping, Rachel scored a gorgeous set of handmade wooden chopsticks for a greeeeat deal, thanks to my mom's amazing bargaining skillzzz.

Those greenish-yellow fruits above are oranges!! The first time we had them at dinner, we were all wondering what they were and Candy came over and promptly proclaimed those are oranges, like what a dumb question! We told her our oranges at home are orange on the outside and that's why they're called that and she was like, nooo it's called an orange cause the inside is that color. Just a funny story that it's all about one's perspective.

I love how this man smiled for the camera... and now on to the grosser things...

I have no idea what these were, but they were alive and w/iggling like crazy

 Live toad for dinner? Anyone, anyone??

Okay, that's enough of those pictures..

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 These guys were beyond happy to find a McDonald's!! You can bet there were a few big macs, chicken nuggets, ice cream cones, large cokes (with ice!!!) and plenty of fries to go around. My family was the epitome of a typical American stereotype..but it all tasted oh, so good. #noshame

 We bought a passionfruit from this sweet man to taste.. Can't say it was my favorite texture in the world, but it was definitely worth to try!

 Everywhere we went, men were playing this card game. Like everywhere. I would watch for awhile but could never quite figure out the rules or how to play. 

That night, we went to a phenomenal show in which the stage was the river. It was directed by the same person who orchestrated the opening ceremonies for the 2008 Beijing olympics so yeah, you can only imagine how truly wonderful it was. This is the best video I could find but it doesn't nearly do justice. It was such a great day!

p.s. I'm working on a trip video that highlights everywhere we went. I'm excited to share it with you guys, so be on the look out for it!!! :)

Guilin

I decided to post about Guilin a little differently than Shanghai. Instead of including all of the pictures in one entry, I'm splitting this one up into a few. Guilin might have been my favorite city (well, actually it's a toss up between there and Yangzhuo). Guilin is absolutely gorgeous with it's camel-hump like mountains, beautiful Li river, friendly people and amazing town square & street markets. As soon as the plane was descending and I could see the landscape unfold beneath me, I knew I'd love it..and I was right.

We arrived, were greeted by our local guide Owen and were forced to use the "Chinese" standard toilet at the airport, aka: a hole in the ground. Literally. (I have a picture of one on my mom's camera, which unfortunately is in New Mexico. Have I mentioned that I hateeee not having all the pictures enough times?!? Ugh.) We immediately got lunch and then headed to town to check into our hotel. Since we had such an early flight, we got to enjoy the afternoon to rest or explore on our own. This worked nicely for Stephen since he got really sick around this time of the trip. So while him, my mom and my dad relaxed, me & Rachel went out wandering around downtown Guilin.
We walked along the river and watched some local fishermen attempt to catch fish, we enjoyed the sights and smells (ha!) of the food vendors in the market square, we found our way inside a massive shoe store that undoubtedly did not have our sizes #bigfootprobz, we thought about getting pizza at a pizza place we saw but voted against it cause who knows what kind of sketchy meat they use and we crossed the street bracing Chinese traffic, which is insane and no small task I might add all by ourselves.

Fun fact, the tallest building in Guilin is limited to only 8 floors. This way, it doesn't distract from the gorgeous mountains that surround the city.

After dinner, we gathered on a boat to watch cormorant fishing take place. It was fascinating, but I'll admit I did feel bad for the poor birds who were forbidden to swallow the fish they caught. I guess that's the inner animal activist shining through. But really, cormorant fishing is actually pretty smart and dates back to ancient times. The fishermen tie a snare around the bird's throat and then throws it in the water to catch fish. The snare prevents the bird from swallowing any large fish and they're trained to come back to the boat where the fisherman has the bird spit up the fish and then he throws it in a bucket.

The next morning, we went down to the river again and boarded a boat for a 4 hour river cruise that took us to the small village of Yangzhuo, where we spent the night..