In an attempt to control my mind, the Chinese government has blocked my access to social networking sites (and many others) -- making it difficult for me to blog these days. Fortunately I've found a loophole (read: Ellen) and can finally report on the week I spent climbing in Yangshuo.
The climbing story is easy to tell: The crags in Yangshuo are very hard and I arrived very out of shape. As you might expect the combination didn't yield any spectacular "sends"; quite the opposite, in fact, and I owe a debt of gratitude to my hosts Marie and Ryland for cleaning my unfinished routes. That said, Yangshuo seems to have re-kindled my enthusiasm for climbing and I'm officially determined to get in shape and improve -- not least because I have more climbs scheduled for the near future.
Here are some pictures from my days at the crags.
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| Ryland on White Mountain. |
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| Keep the swing going. |
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| Me on The Egg. |
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| The Egg. |
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| Jugging it on Moon Hill. |
The story of Yangshuo is harder to tell and, quite honestly, my feelings about the place are far from settled. Yangshuo is a relatively small "town" in southeast China, enclosed on one side by the Li River and surrounded by seemingly infinite karst peaks. You find three types of people in town: (1) climbers; (2) tourists, mostly young western backpackers and wealthy chinese couples; and (3) the locals, mostly farmers, store owners, businessmen and businesswomen.
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| View from the apartment. |
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| My favorite cafe: Lucy's. And Canada does rock! |
Two things stick out: First, the poverty. Since I can't explain what I saw to myself it'll be nearly impossible to describe. On a day-to-day basis life in Yangshuo translates into an extremely low cost of living for foreign visitors -- maybe $10 per day or less -- and a pervasive attempt by locals to get your money -- pushing "Rolex" watches; DVDs; "English"-speaking tour guides; repeated attempts to tack an extra Yuan onto your bill ($0.15).
But if you walk ten minutes outside town you'll come across farmers who look well into their 80s, permanently hunched over from years of heavy loads, manually tending their crops at all hours of the day. (They sell them in town at overcrowded markets for pennies.) You'll find children who have never before seen a western-looking person. You'll see elderly women carrying 60+ pounds slung over their shoulders. And you'll pass by on your way to the crag, stopping to buy bottled water (6 litres for $1.50), and you'll recognize that whatever life you live, it's a very different one from the life of those in Yangshuo.
The second thing that sticks out is the difference with respect to certain western manners -- in that they don't exist. Budding in line, pushing and shoving to get places, spitting in public (and worse), remorseless littering, constant honking on the streets, reckless driving, etc. The list goes on. Many of the differences appear to emanate from a prevalent "me first" attitude -- which could be the result of China's population size and overcrowding. In any event, I can't say I care for many of the things I've seen but also don't necessarily see fault in them. It just is what it is.
