VACATION: DAY SIX

On Saturday we rented mopeds again and went looking for this place called "The Secret Beach." I was not informed we were taking the scenic route of the ENTIRE valley and thought we were lost for 10 hours lolololol ahhhh good times. We took back roads and got to ride around completely rural areas without being disturbed by the hustle and bustle of ten million other drivers.

Didn't really think it through and wore a dress again

We pulled over at a random spot and I got to snap this beauty. ARENT THE MOUNTAINS THE COOLEST THINGS EVER? I was so mind blown by how cool they were. 

We made some friends while driving through the wilderness

I had to pee so we pulled over at this cute little algae infested creek. I peed on my shoes, snapped this picture, and then we were off on our merry little way once again.

The view of Maddi's head was wonderful (we were in the sun for so long we got some pretty great tan lines)

How lucky am I to have this very moment documented? Another off roading moped story for you.... We thought we found this really scenic spot for pictures. We thought, "oh its just around the corner!" lol no. Some girls went down the road first and the other girls decided to park their mopeds and walk down the hill because the terrain was a bit too sketchy. "NOT I!" I said. I was determined to take that downward slope like the Noorda I am! 

The road was barely that. It was a wide dirt path with far too many pot holes and crevices to count. So bumpy, our poor little moped was about to fall apart. Being the new generation, we were like, "oh let's record this!" So we pulled over, unlocked the seat to get my phone out and next thing I heard was "SHIZ! NO NO NO!" Maddi had locked the key in the seat. We were so far down the road we couldn't just walk back and we don't have working cell phones here. Maddi squeezed her hand into the seat and was able to get the key back out. It was a miracle. We continued our off roading trek in our newly bought dresses and saw our lives flash before our eyes numerous times. Thank goodness we had our life saving helmets on. Luckily we made it back and only needed a few minutes to gather our bearings before we could continue on.

We had made a complete circle around the entire valley and ended up five minutes away from our hostel and realized "the secret beach" was only a walk away from where we were staying. Apparently everyone knew we were doing that the whole day... I didn't. We parked our sick rides and walked to a little entry to the bank of the Li River (past the DO NOT SWIM HERE sign) and were begging someone to get in first. We finally got in and it was so wonderful. The water was not cold at all, but at the same time it was the most cool, refreshing feeling after a long day in the sun. Our sunburns cooled down and we got to swim around for a little while. It was unlike any experience I've ever had.

I have gotten so close with these girls and I love them more than anything (plus the girls not pictured)

This is not the most flattering picture but it shows just how lovely my sunburned tan lines were

We had two more hours left with the mopeds when we were done swimming and decided to head back up to the mountains and just cruise around. We took a new route this time so we could explore even more of the unknown. We were just cruising along when we stopped to take pictures for a couple minutes. I had put my dress in Kaylie's backpack because I was still wet and decided I wanted to get it out while we were stopped. So we unlocked the seat, I got my dress out, and next thing ya know we couldn't get the key out of the lock. It was really, really stuck. It would not come out of the lock for anyone. Believe me, we each took a pull at that dang thing. It was so stuck and we quickly became stranded. We were becoming flustered and worried and didn't really know what to do. We could not get the key out no matter what we tried. It was just stuck. We decided to say a prayer and ask for help in our desperate time of need. It was getting dark and we had no idea what we were going to do.

A cute little family of four drove past us and we flagged them down to ask for help. All four of them were piled onto one motorcycle so we felt kind of bad asking them to stop their balancing act to help us. They were so kind to us. They had two little girls were so happy and helped lighten the mood. They danced and raced around while their dad yanked and pulled at that dang key. Before we knew it practically the whole village was out there trying to help us. It was a continuous game of charades. So many people stopped to see what was going on and tried to help, but no one was able to. We were able to call the hostel and ask for help, but they were like, "Just turn it to the left and pull." HAHAHA YEAH WHY DIDNT WE TRY THAT? Seriously so annoying how unhelpful they were. Eventually we were able to get someone sent out to help us.

We had been up since 8am and hadn't eaten anything all day because we had been exploring all day and because we didn't exactly plan on being stranded all night. We sat on the side of the road and shared the three crackers Maddi had. Those crackers were the best meal I have ever had.

As we were waiting for our handy man to show up the catastrophe of all catastrophes happened. We had to poop. I am not even joking when I tell this story. Every bit of it is 100% true. Kenzie had to poop and it was as if my body heard the word poop and went into full detox mode. I had to go and I had to go RIGHT THEN. I began doing the "Oh goodnessssss, please not right now!!!" poo dance. I was frozen. It was that kind of bathroom emergency where it is such an emergency I couldn't move and take action because it was happening. You know what I mean... it was happening. I am 19 years old and almost pooped my pants. My dear friends, it was such a close call. I had angels looking over me that night. Unfortunately, I can not say the same for Kenzie. Things were not as fortunate for her. She ran over to a creek of sorts and began attempting to take her one piece bathing suit off, but did not make it in time. "I JUST SHARTED!!!!!" echoed though the valley. The Lord with his perfect timing had our handy man arrive right then and there. Kenzie panicked and pulled her pants up and ran over to us and tried to act normal for the poor man that had been thrown into our troubles. But as you can imagine, the smell reeking from her "incident" did not let anyone act as if nothing happened. We were dying laughing and somewhat shunned her because she smelt so bad. 

To make it worse, it was as if the mosquitos heard there was a human gathering and SO MANY mosquitos came for dinner. They began biting right as the sun went down and never stopped. It was beyond aggravating trying to hold my phone flash light up for the guy who had ripped the lock out of the moped and was now banging it with a wrench on the sidewalk. These were the worst bug bites I have ever had in my life. They felt like fire and didn't stop itching for DAYS. We each had scabs from scratching them so hard. Worst bites ever. I was wearing a dress so my entire legs were exposed to those dang suckers. So many bites, so little itch cream. 

As we were being eaten alive, Kenzie snuck away to clean herself up as best she could. Luckily she had a while because our Chinese handy man was taking his sweet ol time. He was banging the lock (with the key still stuck inside) on the sidewalk as if that was going to do something. He began pulling the lock off the key with a screw driver and did some more banging here and there. Eventually the key came out and we all were ecstatic (except for Kenzie who's whereabouts were far away enough not to be smelt). But what do ya know, the handy man had shredded our key! It didn't work anymore! He began banging it with a wrench yet again and then continued to scrape it on the edge of the road. I am no professional, but I do know all of the above actions would lead to a ruined key? Although he did ruin our key and hopes of ever getting home before we were eaten alive, he did bring a spare key and began installing the new wahoo's that came with that. 

As he was doing that Kenzie and her smell rejoined us because she had ran out of wipes and was literally SOL. We were beyond starving and were about to eat each other when finally the guy got our moped to turn on. Two hours later, in the pitch black of night, we were finally on our way home!

One of the mopeds didn't have lights on it so I had to drive in the front and Kaylie on the bike without lights drove in the middle and Kenzie and Maddi drove in the back. The handy man guy was kind enough to escort us back to town but was going a bit fast. I was trying to keep up with him while Kaylie was trying to not run into trees. It came to a point where Jennie and I had to stop on our moped and wait for the other girls and were beginning to get a bit worried. Just as we were about to turn around to look for them, Kaylie came around the corner and we immediately began laughing. Kaylie's hair was flying in the wind and she was holding her phone up for light while trying to drive down the bumpy road with one hand. She looked like Hagrid from Harry Potter when he is flying on his motorcycle using his wand for light. I was seriously dying people, it was hilarious. 

The guy was going so fast and we were all trying to keep up with him which caused us to get split up. Yet again, Jennie and I found ourselves on a moped split up from the rest of our group. We have officially agreed to never ride together on the way home ever again after the last two incidents. Being split up caused some strife in our group and we began to get worried as Kenzie and Maddi still hadn't shown up. A little while passed and they finally arrived. It was really obvious they were upset with us because we had gotten split up, but as Kenzie was trying to park the bike she completely obliterated a guys coconut stand. She ran that guy over. Brakes were a no go and she rammed him. As bad as the situation was, I could yet again not stop laughing because she had a poop handprint on her shorts. She had possibly broken this guys drink stand and I was laughing because of the poop on her pants. It's comical now, but she would've killed me if she saw me laughing. 

The rest of the night was dedicated to finally eating, finally showering, and laughing at how humorous our whole day had been. Longest day ever, but filled with some of the best memories of my life. Everything from scenic routes, near death off roading, swimming in a beautiful river, being stranded in China, and pooping our pants. Our day was perfect.

VACATION: DAY FIVE

RICE FIELDS! I was so excited to explore the rice fields because I had learned all about them in my AP Environmental Science class I took my senior year.  I had so much more to look foreword to because I knew a bit more about them than the average tourist.

We started the day off waking up at 6am so we could catch the 4 hour bus ride to the fields! It was bit rough waking up that early because the night before Kaylie and I stayed on the rooftop of the hostel until 2:30am. We were talking to some guys from England and different parts of America (while avoiding ol Oscar boy from my last post). They were so hilarious and just happened to also be English teachers as well. I loved talking to them because we shared stories about our crazy Chinese children and they gave us some tips for teaching.

Anyway, we got on the bus and tried to sleep for a little bit and attempted to drone out the tour guides voice. Once we got there we were once again swarmed and asked for pictures. We waited for 5ever and then hopped on another bus to go up the mountain. It took another hour on the bus because the traffic was insane. The entire country had a week off from work for the holiday (I think it was China's birthday???) and I'm pretty sure every one in the country was trying to see the rice fields at the same time.

Okay this sounds so dumb but like... I didn't know we were going to be hiking. I wore a dress. We had to climb more stairs than I could count.

It was really cloudy and I wish I could've blamed my glamorous sweat marks on the sprinkling rain, but I couldn't.

We had to walk through a village to get to the top of the mountain. We stopped for lunch at a little restaurant and as cliche as it was.... they had the best fried rice I have ever had in my entire life. It was so fresh and even more delishhh.

We reached the top and the paparazzi began. This girl was in love with my eyes and it was the cutest thing ever. She followed our group around for awhile and kept asking to take pictures with each of us. 

It was so green! I wish I could wake up to this view each morning!

Climbed even more steps....

We only had two hours to explore the fields and we spent about 45 minutes at lunch and another 45 minutes hiking to the top so we didn't have much time to look around or actually walk through the fields. I was really bummed about that, but being there and getting to see it in person was amazing.

We hiked down the mountain and made it back to our groups meeting spot right on time except there was so much traffic our bus couldn't get up the mountain to pick us up. We waited for another 45 minutes and almost died from dehydration and then cried tears of joy when our bus finally showed up.

So our bus driver was a bit anxious to get down the mountain. If I can figure out how to I will upload the video of him driving down the mountain. SO SCARY. He was driving so fast and not even braking around corners. Seriously terrifying. One guy started yelling at the driver to slow down because the rest of us were freaking out, but the language barrier is so real. Anyway, our bus driver had a need for speed. This picture shows the real life game of chicken I participated in. He almost ran this car over trying to prove a point. He was yelling out the window and just going crazy because he couldn't get down the mountain fast enough.

 The traffic became so bad it was a standstill. The driver turned the bus off because we were sitting there for so long. It was so uncomfortable and miserable.

Ex. 1 of us losing our minds

Ex. 2 of us losing our minds 5 hours later

I loved the rice fields. They were so beautiful and I loved seeing ways of agriculture that aren't common in America. I loved loved loved applying what I learned to my real life. I loved walking through the little hill side village and seeing how hard the people work to live. It made me appreciate my life and luxuries back home. The 12 hours on a bus vs the 2 hours at the rice fields was not ideal though. If I ever find myself in China again I would stay at the hostel in the fields and explore the fields for hours upon hours. 

VACATION: DAY FOUR

On Thursday we just spent the day recuperating from the long day before and shopping until we dropped. We spent hours upon hours walking up and down West Street bargaining. Bargaining is so tiring! It takes a lot of energy to get these stubborn Chinese people to lower their prices! It was always funny to ask the price of something and they would run out to you with a calculator and type some ridiculous price all before you could even blink. We learned to really want something before you ask the price because they never let you leave once you show an interest. Once they gave their price I'd always say "TAI GUILA!" (too much) and then they'd start talking to me in Mandarin, but those are the only conversational words I know so it was a lot cause. We would give dirty looks back and forth and they'd tell me "no money! no money!" and demand I pay more. Then when we couldn't agree on a price I would just walk away and they'd run after me telling me I could have it for the price I was asking. They'd bag my items and we'd each leave the bargain happy (usually I'd be the happier one).

Sometimes I would talk the people down so cheap and then remember I only had a 50 dollar bill and it would be so awkward asking "hey I know I talked you down to 5 RMB but do you happen to have change for this 50?" I honestly felt like my grandma in those moments. 

While we were shopping I ran into this BEAUTIFUL man. Literally ran into him. I was walking down the super crowded street and bumped into him and was like "oh I'm so sorry!" and then remembered no one ever speaks English here and was about to go on my merry way. Then he spoke. His beautiful voice echoed in my ears. It was love at first sound. He spoke English. My heart skipped a beat and my head tilted as far back as it could to view this beautiful skyscraper in front of me. We began talking and he asked where I was from and I returned the question. He was from the Netherlands! THE NETHERLANDS! That is where my family originates from and I am pretty sure right then and there I fell in love with him. I probably came off as a little too excited when he told me where he was from, but oh well. His name was Leander (Lee-an-der??). I didn't ask his last name just in case we had the same one and that would've prevented us from getting married. I am pretty excited to go back home and find him via family research. I'M IN LOVE I'M IN LOVE I'M IN LOVE! I have actually been staring at this picture of us for so long I think we kind of look alike? I've even convinced my roommates we have the same Dutch features and they agree so...

Later that night we met up with one of our Chinese friends we had made and he took us to dinner. The funny thing about it though was he took us all to dinner but only paid for Courtney. So we've all been joking that Courtney went on a date and had to bring her children with her. He even scooted away from me to be closer to her at the dinner table, but I'm not bitter. He ordered the most expensive food on the menu and being American we didn't eat any of it so it was kind of a bummer we had to spend so much money on food we didn't eat. We got a chicken (yes, an entire chicken. It came with the head, the wings, the whole chicken was on that platter. It was staring into my soul the whole time), some pork, and some kind of fancy fish who also stared into my soul the entire night as well. 

After dinner we were walking back to our hostel and got split up from everyone because the streets were so packed. I got back to the hostel, but I didn't have a room key so I decided to go to the roof where wifi is provided. hahahahahahaaaaaaa wow what an adventure. Our hostel had a rooftop bar which is totally not a problem during the day because it has a great view and no one is ever up there. At night everyone is really drunk and trying to win a free T-shirt by winning a game of beer pong. Anyway... I climbed the eight sets of stairs to get there and found myself a table in the corner and was about to FaceTime my family when good ol Oscar decided he wanted to become acquainted. We began talking and it turned into him wanting to tattoo our names on each other RIGHT THEN. He was begging me to go with him foreverrrrr. Finally he was like "okay then, I have a better idea. What can I buy you to drink?" I was like well hey there I don't drink so sorry. And then it turned into this debate/ argument about how my religion is limiting me and I need to explore life. He was trying to convince me everything I believed it was wrong and I didn't know anything about anything. Seriously just a really annoying guy who was still single at 25 for obvious reasons. My mother saved the day by calling me and I got him to leave for a little while. But of course he came back and while he wasn't looking I literally ran down the stairs as fast as I could back to my room. It was quite memorable and my mom wasn't very impressed as you can imagine.

VACATION: DAY THREE

The day started off peachy.. literally. My China bff Jennie and I showed up wear the EXACT same thing. We had done our hair the same, same shirt, shorts, and topped it off by both wearing sandals. It was really funny, but I have this weird thing about matching with other people. Like Twin Day in high school gave me anxiety. True story. I don't know why, but I don't like matching other people. It's weird.. idk. Anyway, I only packed so many outfits so I decided to change my hairstyle and call it good.

We rented mopeds for the day and the owners were verrrrrry adamant we should've already known how to drive them before we rented them. ***Back Story: A few days earlier another group of ILP kids rented mopeds from the same people and drove off a cliff of sorts and completely totaled a moped. They had to pay $400USD and it just wasn't really all that great for them*** So they made us practice driving up and down this crowded street to prove we knew how to drive. And this is where I give a shout out to my great father who I love so much because I was one of the few who was allowed to drive because I knew how. (Thanks dad!)

 Our helmets were really attractive and definitely would not have prevented any damage BUT WE WORE THEM MOM.

Mine came with a cool mask!

We kid of made fun of Kaylie (red helmet) because she looked like Ralph the Mouse with her helmet lolololol

We rode our mopeds to this place called Dragon Bridge to jump off into the river and once we got there we were surrounded yet again and these flower wreaths were put onto our heads (then we had to pay 5RMB). They don't let people jump off the bridge anymore so that was really sad. We hopped back on our sweet rides and made our way down the Yulong River to raft down.

Don't let Kenzie's face fool you... she loved riding with me. 

Stay tuned for the story as to why Jennie and I should never be allowed to ride mopeds together.....

Our faces pretty much the whole time I drove because I kind of like to go fast?????

I LOVED RAFTING. It was definitely one of the best things I have ever done in my entire life. It was so beautiful. The mountains were beyond gorgeous. 

 

 Our little raft pusher man... he hated us. Something about us never wearing our life jackets, always standing up to take pictures, annnnd asking for the sun umbrella to be taken down so we could tan? idk...

Our faces when he made us sit down and wear our life jackets. Im pretty sure they had a 2 lb weight limit, but its the thought that counts I guess.

You see weird things in China and just don't question them after awhile.... kinda like this guy riding a bike on the water.

I don't know if I have a picture that can more accurately describe how much I loved rafting down the river. I was in HEAVEN. The mountains and much needed fresh air was enough to make anyone fall in love.

After rafting we got back on our mopeds and rode to the famous mud caves. Totally fake and recreated, but so much fun. We had walk up to the cave entrance and then continue walking through the cave for awhile though man made stalagmites and stalactites which were lit up by a rainbow of lights. Totally not real, but it was amusing. Being in China, every opportunity that presents itself as profitable is made that way. We had to walk through shops and past women dressed up to take pictures with you and all that jazz. My favorite part on the scenic walk was when we got to this part called the "Rebirth Cave." I thought it was the only way to get to the mud caves so I climbed my little claustrophobic self on into the little microscopic opening. I had to squeeze my whole body through a crack that was barely big enough to fit my head past. It's called the rebirthing cave because you come out screaming from frustration, the fear of dying, and the hole/ crack is comparable to the one we started our lives from. To make the situation better they have someone to photograph the whole thing! My rebirth was filmed <3 Anyways... it wasn't the only way to get to the mud caves and I was a little flustered from my near death experience afterwards. 

The mud was so thick and sticky; it took a lot to get past the gross factor, but maybe that's just because Im a girl? They had rock slides to go down and it was rather big so we could swim around. It was crazy because you can just float without any effort. I don't know how to explain it, but you know how you can lay in a swimming pool and just float? It was like that, but it felt as if I was soooo much lighter. Just craziness. 

We had a tour guide take pictures of us the entire time and had some real beauties no one will ever be privileged to see. One of those photos includes me falling out of the pit onto the floor because I got mud in my eye and was pretty sure the bacteria was already taking over my brain. 

STORY TIME!

As I mentioned earlier, Jennie and I should never be allowed to ride mopeds together because of two reasons. This being the first... Once we left the mud caves we were on our way back to our hostel and the sun was beginning to set. I inherited my fathers genes and COULD NOT stand how slow everyone was going. So of course I sped up ahead of everyone and we went on our merry way. We were so far ahead of everyone that I had this GENIUS idea to go off roading while we waited for everyone to catch up. It was really fun! We went down a little path and had a jolly ol time. After a 5325732087028 point u-turn we decided to head back to the main road and ran into a predicament. Had the group passes us or should we sit and wait for them? We decided to keep going because they would've passed us by now. We never caught up to anyone. We decided to turn around and back track in case anyone was waiting for us or if we would run into each other half way. Neither happened and it was getting dark fast. We were in the middle of China all by our lonesome. We didn't have a phone with us and it was up to ourselves to get back. Luckily, I have this sense of direction and really good memory that I am somewhat proud of and I was able to remember how to get back. Except we didn't know if the rest of the group did so we were getting really worried because we had all been split up and it was getting dark. We were in the mountains and there were no street lights, plus China drivers are insane so it was just all bad. Long story short we all made it back alive and in one piece, but a broad range of emotions were showed that night.

It was the longest day ever, but one of the most memorable of my life. Every moment of it was spent making memories with girls I have come to love.