YANGSHUO COUNTRYSIDE

I was embraced by a warm hug of sunshine as I stepped out of the hostel on Sunday morning. Spring had arrived! It was the perfect day for a bike ride, so after a quick breakfast I rented an old one-speed beater and hit the road. The ride out of town provided a quick transition from urban hustle-and-bustle to bucolic wonderland, and soon I was cruising through quiet villages on a tree-lined road surrounded by brilliant rice paddies and flourishing citrus groves. It wasn't too long before I caught up to some fellow cyclists. Hello! Huan and Chimin were visiting from a neighboring province and were quick to invite me along on their adventure. Both had been to Yangshuo before and were out in search of a 'secret village' that Huan had stumbled across three years ago. Awesome. I followed my new friends on a jaunt through a charming hamlet, and when the road came to an end, we ditched our bikes and set out on foot. I felt thankful for the company as we hiked along and got to know each other, I could already tell that this day was going to be too good not to share with someone. The secret village was beautiful. It was more a patchwork of lush fields surrounded by steep mountains, but as the trail peaked and we could see down into the valley, I felt as though I'd found Shangri-La. After a stroll through the glen and a few curious looks from some hard-working farmers, we made our way back to our bikes and continued our adventure. And it was barely even noon!

For a mid-day snack we stopped by a little corner store and bought some beers (it wasn't my idea!) and some chicken feet. Chicken feet - quite the popular snack in China. These were the prepackaged variety, the kind that are suction-wrapped and available in almost every store. I've eaten chicken feet before, but I'll have to admit, it's still a little awkward for me, mostly because it takes practice. It's kind of like eating sunflower seeds, in order to become an efficient sunflower seed eater you've got to understand what's going on in your mouth - how to crack it open, get the seed out, and then dispose of the shell. Chicken feet are a little more complex. It's more like, there's the toenail, avoid that... ok, that must be a knuckle, and some cartilage... Basically I'm still trying to figure out what the hell I'm supposed to eat on a chicken foot. To most Chinese people it's second nature, but I just end up putting the thing in my mouth, giving it a soft chew, and then spitting the whole thing out again. It tastes pretty good so it's fine, I just act cool and roll with the punches, slash look like an idiot.

Anyways, it was a great snack, and soon we were on our way again. The afternoon was a dream, full of laughter and conversation, and plenty of my completely genuine but extremely enthusiastic wow's and whoa's. We were biking through postcards, everywhere I looked was photo-worthy, and not only were my friends patient with my constant photographing, but seemed thrilled to have someone along with a decent camera who could document their frolic in the countryside. Towards the end of the day when the sun was disappearing over the mountains, we rode into a valley of canola fields, jumped off our bikes, and got lost in a labyrinth of bright yellow flowers. If a glowing-white unicorn had galloped by I wouldn't have blinked an eye. With big smiles and sun-kissed faces we rode back into town as the evening approached. Part of me wanted to stay in Yangshuo and relive the day over and over again, but I had to catch a bus back to Guilin so I could hop a westbound train to Yunnan. My friends saw me to the station, and we waved goodbye to each other as the bus pulled away. I'll bookmark this little chapter as a highlight in the story of my travels. I am one lucky dude.