Doing Our Part to Destroy Culture 3/25/11

Woke up at the ass crack of dawn to catch a flight to Guilin. I like to wake up early and travel because I sleep the whole way. We went to the mountains to go to the Longji rice terrace fields where the Zhuang minority tribe lives. It was amazing and we finally got a little freedom. We hopped on a smaller bus since the roads were narrow. Along the way there were dogs and Andy commented on how I care more about the dogs than the people. As soon as he said that a motorcycle heading in our direction crashed! No shit! The chick on the back freaked out when she saw the bus and leaned which caused the dude driving the bike to fall off. They both skidded on the ground and she hit her head on some wood. They both got up and appeared to be OK, him more than her, but we continued on after that bit of excitement.

At the top of the mountain we had lunch which consisted of rice cooked in bamboo, fried sardines, and beer. By this point Andy was very comfortable asking for more beer with each meal. When we reached our destination Andy and I took off for our hike to the “7 Stars with the Moon” and “9 Dragons and the 5 Tigers” lookout points. The view was amazing and it felt good to get out and move. We were under a time constraint so we had to so a relay picture race down the mountain. It works by Andy taking a pic of me, then he runs down the mountain so I can take a pic of him, then so on. On our way out the group stopped by the tourist center so we could buy some crap. Pamela from our group bought a bag made from animal hide. She thought it was a hyena or leopard or some shit, we made her realize it was one of the dogs she was petting earlier and good luck getting that into the US. These people think they are getting bargains because they talked the seller down 50%. How do they not realize all of it’s crap and fucking made in China? It’s funny to watch them make those mistakes although it makes it harder for the rest of us to buy stuff at a reasonable price. Off to dinner and our hotel, a real 5 star hotel. We walked around the streets afterwards to walk off the onion rings and other sweeten/fried food we ate. I feel gross just typing about it.