A Man Walks Down Two Streets, Says Why Am I Soft In The Middle, Now.

After we docked in Yangshuo after the Li River Cruise, we had 45 minutes to walk around the town, including the semi-famous West Street for shopping.  The town has grown from 5,000 people in 1980 to 50,000 people now, and is bordered by the river on one side, and populated by karsts all around.  It makes for a disjointed, but visually interesting town.

(Editor's Note: Semi-famous?  Blogger: Well, I had never heard of it, but apparently it's what you do when in Yangshuo.)

West street is over 1400 years old, which makes it older than (checks notes) EVERY street in the USA.  It's a pretty neat market street to cruise up and down, although 45 minutes was the right amount of time.

Forty-five minutes to shop will go down forever in the lore of this expedition as the Great Bolger Compromise of Yangshuo.  Some of us wanted just 30 minutes of free time to shop, while others wanted an hour.  Leo had us raise our hands, and the group was pretty split.  So, as middle children usually do, I suggested a compromise.  In this case, 45 minutes, so everyone was happy.  I'm not saying it's as big a deal as Nixon to China, but if you want to infer that, it's certainly a reasonable parallel to draw.

A karst peeking up above the

jumble that is West Street.

A quiet moment on West Street.

First law of travel: When you

see massive amounts of peppers,

take a photo.

Not everything in China is new and prosperous.

They do this for tourists.  And we like it.

If this alley could talk, what stories it would tell.

A  quintessential shot down West Street.

West Street is the length of 

5.5 football fields long.

So you can have a guy clean your

ears on the street.  Instead of street

food it is street ear cleaning.  For

some reason, I am grossed out by this.

Oh, I know why I'm grossed out by it!

Because it IS gross, that's why!

I can't be the only one getting an

Austin Powers vibe from this photo.

Top left says: Yangshuo landscape is beautiful.

Bottom right says: Police-community

relationship is harmonious.

If my aforementioned compromise did its part for harmonious relationship in the expedition group, my next act undoubtedly improved US-Chinese relations.  Two guys were working to put up a sign over the wide entrance to a restaurant.  One guy was holding one side, and the other had a ladder, a power screwdriver, a screw, and the other side of the long sign.  The sidewalk isn't level, and he struggled as he climbed the ladder.  Having my own bad ladder history, I zipped over and held the ladder for him.  He was appreciative for my help, and got the sign up without the ladder tipping over.  I do what I can.

We did buy a couple of souvenirs -- both as gifts and for us.  We haggled, although Carol's counter-offer was not as low as it should have been. I chastised her for that (what else are husbands for?), and she had me do the next haggling, which went well.  

Foreshadowing -- the next day, Carol kicked butt on haggling, so my haggle shaming worked!  I'm sure she's very appreciative to me for both the haggle shaming and for writing about it in the blog.  (Editor's Note: You are pretty clueless, aren't you? Blogger: Um, what? Why?)

After the ninety minute bus ride back, we had time to kill before dinner, so Carol and I took a second walk, down a bustling street in Guilin near our hotel.  If I'm reading the map right, it is The Second North Round-The-City Road.  If I'm reading the map wrong, I'm not sure what street we were on.

We were certainly the only westerners on it.  I had left the camera in the room to not call attention to us, but something else gave us away as foreigners, although I can't quite put my finger on it.  Carol is tall and blond, which tended to result in two things -- stares, and photos of her.  That happened pretty much all throughout the trip, but especially here on the Chinese street.  The folks pretty much ignored me, but I was fine with that.  We joked that they looked at her as though she is a freak show, although I would NOT advise calling her that back in the States.  If you do, suffer the consequences. 

Electric scooters are allowed to go anywhere in China, which includes sidewalks.  They can also be driven on the wrong side of the road.  Helmets and lights are not required (maybe 0.01% of the people wear helmets). 

Andrew pointed out that scooters are liberating as a way to get around, especially for women.  Glen pointed out that scooters are inherently dangerous on sidewalks.  We had several scooters driven uncomfortably close to us with what we believed were meant to mess with our heads, and they succeeded.  I'm thinking of starting a movement to ban scooters from sidewalks in China as my next contribution to improving civilization.  While it needs to be done, I will step aside, and let it happen organically as a grassroots movement among Chinese citizens.  Power to the Pedestrians!

Similar stores tended to be next to each other, so there would be three furniture shops, three mattress stores, four stores selling curtains, all in a row.  There were lots of hole in the wall restaurants, and then we came upon a market selling mostly plants for gardens (there were some people selling street food or toys).  We saw dogs for sale.  

It was good to get out of the hotel and off the tour again, doing our own thing.  Both West Street AND The Second N. Round-The-City Road were of interest during a very good day.  The Li River Cruise, was, of course, the highlight.