We took our bus to catch a ferry around the islands. It was
raining really, really hard and difficult to see out the windows of the bus.
When we got to the pier, our guide went to get tickets for the boat. I’m not
exactly sure when she showed up. Everyone swore she was on the bus with us last
night, and Sabrina’s emails had said that Emma would join us along with a
private guide, but I don’t remember seeing her.
We needed our passports to get on the boat. Once on the
lower deck was free, but the upper deck cost 30RMB per person for a private
room. We went up to look at the rooms and found one that was large and spacious
with big comfy couches and a panoramic window looking out. We decided it we
liked it and Emma negotiated a lower rate for us (20RMB/person…about $2.50USD.)
As the boat pulled away from the dock, the rain subsided
enough for us to go out and take pictures on the deck. We worked our way around
the sides taking in the scenery before ending up on the bow of the boat.
“I want to go ask the captain to take a photo with me,” Alex
said.
“Just say, ‘Keyi hezhao ma?’” I said.
Emma looked at me with surprise. “How do you know to say
this?”
“I’ve been taking pronunciation lessons at work,” I said. “They’ve
taught me a few phrases.”
“Oh,” she said.
“Was it not right?” I asked. “Were my tones wrong? I have
trouble with the second tone.”
“No, is right,” she said. “I think you have the best
pronunciation of any intern I’ve worked with.”
I smiled. I still don’t feel like I know much vocabulary,
but it’s nice to know that I’m saying I can say correctly.
The islands didn’t exactly look like a paradise with the
rain, but the mist was kind of cool. As the peaks jumped out of the water and
rose up to the clouds, it kind of looked like we were approaching Neverland or
some mystical island. Maybe I would have been more impressed if I hadn’t seen
the mist covered peaks of Huangshan the week before. Honestly, Huangshan was
cooler and prettier than this.
Some of the islands had narrow little rivers that ran
through jungle-like forest. The water was practically turquois and these views were
pretty cool. That is until the rain picked up again and we rushed back to our
private room to dry off.
During the course of our tour, we stopped on three islands.
The first was nothing special. Once again—just like Huangshan—there was a trail
up through the jungle that was made of stone steps. It wasn’t nearly as steep
as Huangshan nor was the scenery as pretty. There were some cherry blossoms
with red ribbons tied to them. Jin Yi explained that the ribbons are wishes
that people tie to the tree. That was cool, but the fake cherry blossoms kind
of ruined the effect.
The view from the top was nice, and I’m sure if the sun had
been out and we’d had a blue sky it would have been awesome. You could make out
all the little islands that dotted the lake, but you couldn’t see any of them
clearly.
As we were hiking along, my skin started to itch. Elaina told
me she thought it was probably from the humidity and the rain. When we got back
to the boat I looked down to see that my legs were covered in bug bites. I had
14 on my left leg and 12 on my right.
Well, I thought. I’m definitely going to have malaria. I
haven’t taken any of the malaria meds because they really upset my stomach.
With all of the odd food I’ve eaten, I feel like I want to give my digestive
tract a fighting chance. I have been using bug spray but apparently I forgot it
today.
And the statistics on Malaria in China are…interesting.
Statistically speaking, the disease has been practically irradiated.
According to the CDC, the occurrence rate of malaria in China is approximately 0.7%.
Not to clarify, if 0.7% of the population does have malaria, that is approximately
7,000,000 people. Statistically speaking…I feel really stupid for not taking
those pills.
The second island was just a pit stop for lunch. They did
explain to us that this island was famous for it’s “lady boy” act (I didn’t understand
the Chinese name for it, but they explained that “lady boy” was the literal
translation.) The “lady boys” –which is a cultural phenomenon out of Thailand
is—a group that many young boys join (some willingly although most not) where
they are thought to act like girls. When they reach a certain age, they are
sent to Europe to have gender re-assignment surgery, and then they return they
work in various troupes putting on different shows.
We did not go to a “lady boy” show but we did go get lunch
at a buffet that was equally as disappointing as the one we ate at for
breakfast. Luckily, there was rice which is very filling. The most notable
feature of this restaurant however was the large patches of black mold growing
on the ceiling.
“Emma,” Charlotte asked, “is there anything to drink?”
“Yes,” she said. “Over there they have soup.”
We all looked each other and stifled a giggle.
Back on the boat, we spread out in our private room and each
slowly dozed off. Even though the boat was moving along at a pretty good clip,
the weather was bad enough to turn up some good waves. The slow rocking of the
ship was relaxing and I got a great little 20 minute power nap in before we
made it to the last island.
This island was actually really cool. When it was a
mountain, a famous philosopher and teacher had lived here. When he left, the
residents built a temple in his honor. It was very ornate and decorative with a
huge archway entrance, wood carvings depicting the teacher’s life, and giant
gold statue in a back room (which I thought looked something like the Lincoln
Memorial in DC.)
Hiking down the island, there was a little market selling
moon cakes. We tried free samples and Swiss Charlotte and I decided to buy a
box of them. They are like pastries with a very thick jelly filling. It’s not
like the jelly you put on a PB&J, but more like mushed up dried fruit. It
was really sweet and really good.
We went back to the main island and docked. After walking
briefly through a street market—which sold all the usual knickknacks—we got
back on our bus and took it to the hotel for a “rest.”
At first I felt a little frustrated with all the resting
that was happening. It is the nice thing about traveling alone: when you want
to keep going, you can keep going. Back in the hotel room, I took a shower and
decided to use the time to start researching a trip to Hong Kong. But within a
few minutes of laying in my bed, I fell fast asleep…and thoroughly enjoyed my “rest.”
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