Since my Terracotta Warriors update, I have been enjoying the Chinese countryside. Some of you may remember the HSBC advert from a few years ago which featured Cormorant Fishing (American friends: look on youtube). This ad was filmed in Yangshuo, which is where I am now. It is so pretty here; a tiny town nestled amongst great limestone karsts, which are dramatically lit up at night. Yesterday I went for a cycle ride through the Chinese countryside, which was both stunning and ridiculously hot, and I climbed a mountain called 'Moon Hill', which has a giant half moon shape cut out from the middle of the mountain. I will attach a photo of this to my blog next week. My bike was retro lime green with a jingling bell and I did consider asking the lady if I could package it up and have it sent home, because I loved it so much, but she didnt speak English and my Chinese is somewhat limited so I aborted this plan and was happy just to enjoy the bike for a few hours!
In the evening, I went Cormorant Fishing and I wasn't sure what to expect. I went with 3 other people, and for the first 30 minutes, we sat on the boat next to the dock in complete darkness, with the staff frantically trying to start the engine/get the lights working. Health and safety isn't great in China so I was slightly worried and looking around for my exit route if something should occur, when they brought another boat alongside and asked us to change boats. Once on our way, we travelled upstream for about 10 minutes before we drew alongside traditional fishermen with tiny wooden bamboo boats with a flock of Cormorants on the bow of the boat. The fishermen started throwing the cormorants into the water (with quite strenuous force), and they merrily bobbed amongst the waves whilst looking for fish. They have a loop tied around their neck so they do not swallow the fish, and when they catch something, the fisherman hooks them back onto the boat and forces them to give the fish up. That said, they are allowed to eat every seventh fish they catch.
After we had watched this for a while, we docked on a tiny beach and were allowed to hold the birds. This is where the problem began. I did not really want to hold a bird but everyone else I was with did, and therefore peer pressure meant that I felt unable to refuse. The fisherman handed me the bird but I wasnt ready and it was not only cold but slimy too, so I started screaming because I was frightened, which started my bird and the other birds off. It ended with a cacophony of birds screaming and me screaming and eventually the fisherman did take the bird away. But not before laughing his socks off!
I also visited the Three Gorges Dam on a boat tour, which was really pretty. On the morning of the second day, we took a tiny boat up a tributary to the Li River and the scenery felt like we were in Avatar. Our boat struggled to work at various points during the voyage so whilst we waited for the captain to jump over the back of the boat to fix the engine, we had a sing off with another boat full of Chinese tourists to pass the time!
During the boat tour, we also saw a 'relocated town' which is where the people whose homes were destroyed during the building of the dam moved to. It was a very soulless and depressing place and I was happy to get back onto the boat for a game of 'Mafia'. Evenings were spent laying on the deck looking at the stars and chatting about life... it was exactly what I imagined travelling would be.
