Snake Wine anyone??
We had a new guide on the second day of the tour and were part of a bigger tour group on the cruise. Our guide arrived promptly and we were bused from the hotel to the ferry station. We were the panda group...stickers with pandas on them to help the guide identify us. The cruise is going to be 4 hours long with lunch included. I had a special request for a vegetarian meal.
The boat launched on time and we saw some spectacular scenery on the way. Two hours into the cruise, lunch is served. The only beverage available as part of lunch is beer. Non-alcholic beverages are extra and the price is a rip-off. We decided to go with the beer...just one bottle for the three of us. I got my veg dish, and my friends are served all kinds of other stuff. LonelyPlanet's guidebook warns that Guilin is famous(notorious) for exotic food...including eel and dog. So, my friends are real careful of only eating what they can identify.
Towards the end of the meal, the waitress came to our table with a wine dispenser and a couple of glasses..."Do you want to taste some snake wine?". Snake Wine???? Yes, it was rice wine with some dead snakes floating in it. No one on the cruise was brave enough to try it..although some Japanese tourists did have a long discussion about it with the waitress and then decided against sampling any. Thank God!! That would have freaked me out too much.
In China, they drop live snakes(poisonous ones) in rice wine...it is known to have recuperative powers [yeah, it would probably kill you]
We reached Yanghsou around 1.00PM. Our tour guide gave us 45 mins to walk around the market area and then meet up at the Paradise hotel for our trip back. He also said we can visit a minority village on the way back..for an extra 100RMB. Some passengers were staying back in Yangshou so our tour group was down to about 10 people.
We walked around the market and I picked up a hand-painted Chinese fan.Again my bargaining skills drop the price from 90RMB to 30RMB.
The group ended up skipping the Minority village excursion since a few of us had to head back to Guilin for early flights. We were back in Guilin at around 4.00PM. Another trip to a cafe, struggle with the English and we finally ordered some food. Then we decided to go in for some pampering..foot massage. One blissful hour!!
Flight back was ok and we were back in Zhuhai at around 10.00PM.
On a side note, I am trying to post some pics of Guilin and the cruise and blogger keeps giving me an error.Gggrrrr....
The boat launched on time and we saw some spectacular scenery on the way. Two hours into the cruise, lunch is served. The only beverage available as part of lunch is beer. Non-alcholic beverages are extra and the price is a rip-off. We decided to go with the beer...just one bottle for the three of us. I got my veg dish, and my friends are served all kinds of other stuff. LonelyPlanet's guidebook warns that Guilin is famous(notorious) for exotic food...including eel and dog. So, my friends are real careful of only eating what they can identify.
Towards the end of the meal, the waitress came to our table with a wine dispenser and a couple of glasses..."Do you want to taste some snake wine?". Snake Wine???? Yes, it was rice wine with some dead snakes floating in it. No one on the cruise was brave enough to try it..although some Japanese tourists did have a long discussion about it with the waitress and then decided against sampling any. Thank God!! That would have freaked me out too much.
In China, they drop live snakes(poisonous ones) in rice wine...it is known to have recuperative powers [yeah, it would probably kill you]
We reached Yanghsou around 1.00PM. Our tour guide gave us 45 mins to walk around the market area and then meet up at the Paradise hotel for our trip back. He also said we can visit a minority village on the way back..for an extra 100RMB. Some passengers were staying back in Yangshou so our tour group was down to about 10 people.
We walked around the market and I picked up a hand-painted Chinese fan.Again my bargaining skills drop the price from 90RMB to 30RMB.
The group ended up skipping the Minority village excursion since a few of us had to head back to Guilin for early flights. We were back in Guilin at around 4.00PM. Another trip to a cafe, struggle with the English and we finally ordered some food. Then we decided to go in for some pampering..foot massage. One blissful hour!!
Flight back was ok and we were back in Zhuhai at around 10.00PM.
On a side note, I am trying to post some pics of Guilin and the cruise and blogger keeps giving me an error.Gggrrrr....
posted by dharu at
8:30 AM
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