Yangshuo Mountain Retreat

The day after my bike riding I hired a guide to take me to some of the old sections of a few small cities based on the advice of an English woman who had done it the day before I arrived. The guide is the father of a young woman who works at the retreat and has "brittle bone" disease which is like a form of osteoporosis but happens from birth. They have very porous bones and as a result do not grow properly and their bones break easily. Often they are bed ridden from a young age and may never walk. Angel is such a person and works at the front desk of the hotel. She is about 2 ft tall and cannot walk or stand. She speaks English very well and is obviously very intelligent. I wanted to help by hiring the father and it would include a visit to her 500 year old village on the Li River and meet her family. The father met me and we saw some villages as agreed. I paid for his bus ticket and I paid for lunch which was not discussed beforehand but I was okay with in addition to the fee I was paying him. The part I had trouble with was toward the end of the day I took a short boat ride to the village and saw Angel and her family. When I got off the boat the boat operator asked for an excessive amount for the short boat ride. I could only conclude that the father was in collusion with the boat owner. I spoke to other people and they shared my hunches. I told them it was excessive but rather than make a scene I paid it but it left a bad taste in my mouth. The father is taking advantage of the situation but the family has had to cope with a lot. I would rather they just be straight with me about the costs rather than the deception. Otherwise it was an interesting day. Bill Clinton had been to their village and their home over 10 years ago and they had huge pictures in the living room to prove it.
The next morning I went on the bike again for a few hours thru the small villages along the Yulong River. I was glad once again that the rain had not come and I had the chance to see some different areas of the valley. Later in the day I left for the train station to start my 22 hour train ride to Shanghai with a little trepidation wondering who will be my compartment companions.
Well I ended up getting lucky because my companions were Susan and Brian from Seattle who are in the last 2 months of a 14 month trip around the world . They were in their 30's and had left managment positions to do this dream trip. They have spent months in Europe then went from Egypt down to South Africa hiking up Mt. Kilimanjaro and going on a safari in the process. They then went to India, Thailand, and had spent 2 months in Viet Nam where Susan's family is from. Her mother and her had escaped when she was 1 year old. Her mother's family was originally from South China. Her mother has one sister who still lives in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) who Susan and Brian stayed with when they were there. Anyways we shared stories and the 22 hours went by quickly. We had brought some fruit and bread with us so we did not even go to the dining car. The train provides a huge thermos of hot water with which we made noodles we bought in the station plus coffee and tea we had brought with us. It was quite a smoothe train ride.
I am now in a hotel room on East Nanjing Rd. in the heart of the commercial district of Shanghai. It is like being on Times Square in N.Y. although it has quieted down after 11 P.M. I had to upgrade my hotel room because the less expensive one smelled of smoke. People smoke a lot here and anywhere they want. In the next couple of days I am to meet a graduate of the G.B.C. program who lives here in Shanghai with her husband. They had only lived in Canada a little over a year. She has been in communication with us in our program regarding starting a similar program in Shanghai. I am looking forward to the next few days here as my trip winds down.