So anyways onto China….After we finally found a hotel in Yangshou we
went to a light show. We didn't get tickets in time so we decided to
do this thing offered through our hotel. Not real seats but close.
You only get to see half the show but ehhh, whatever we decided it was
worth it.
We didn't have time to eat so I cried a little but sucked it up (the
McDonalds was SOOOO close). We waited in the hotel lobby. (the hotel
appeared a teeny bit sketchy). Someone finally came and we were told
to follow her. It was only Jen and I (I think I may have left out
that it was only Jen and I backpacking across China…but now that I
survived….yeah….it was only her and me…love you Mom and Dad!).
Anyways we were following her through this festival to the street and
told to wait for a van. She really didn't speak English so she wrote
down the license plate number of the van we were waiting for. Five
minutes later the van pulled up, the door slides open. There is a
Chinese couple and an older guy. We got in the back and prayed it
wouldn't be our last van ride.
This is where things start getting sketchy. We took very dark empty
allies. At one point he pulled over, flashed the brights, turned on
the overhead light and turned it off very fast. I thought that was
the sign for people to enter the van and take us. It didn't help that
none of them spoke any English. CREEPY.
Finally we stopped and got out and walked down this pitch-black path
to the water's edge. It would have been similar to hiking at Camp
Nawakwa (sp?). We were very confused as to what to do but the old man
kept shooing us along. He made sure we stayed with them. It was so
cute. From the second we got out of the van this family had adopted
us. I guess the old man was the father of the guy in the couple. We
found plastic chairs and sat down. Legit the weirdest thing ever,
because we could see the audience that had actually paid for tickets.
We had a side view. The couple rented some binoculars and kept
passing to us so we could see.
When it was time to leave (before the show was over) they stood up and
made a gesture to show we should go with them. We attempted to find
our van. Thankfully we had our adopted family because we would have
been lost without them.
After we got back we randomly met up with two SAS girls and went to a
bar/restaurant to eat. By this point I had eaten one whole hand and
my pinkie on the other. We ended up drinking with this group. They
were so cool. He was a tour guide (rock climbing and other extreme
sports) and she was a math teacher. At one point a fight broke out
among some group members and they broke all of the beer bottles in the
process. Stupid people.
We left that group around 3am and were walking back to our hotel when
we ran into some street meat. We stopped to get some and started
talking to these guys from Italy and France. (Side note: They told
us the meat was beef and pork but I have an inkling is was something
else….very spicy). We went with them back to their hostel and played
beer pong and flip cup(they SUCK and don't really know the rules). It
was a culturally enriching experience. Finally at 6am Jen and I went
back to our hotel to sleep for few seconds.
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