Mud Baths.

We had a good run in Guilin, but next on the agenda was Yangshuo, an hour by bumpy bus through the most magical karst formations. Not only are karst formations fun to say, they are also incredibly gorgeous to stare at and make you wonder how nature can be so beautiful. I can't get enough of these so called Dr. Seuss Mountains. The views certainly made the bus ride to go by quickly, and soon we were bombarded by all kinds of shuttle and taxi drivers the minute we arrived in the bus station, all of them wanting to take a group of very tired Americans and their luggage to wherever they needed to go into the small city. Faced with dozens of choices, we obviously, we rode with the man who had the longest hairs growing out of the mole on his neck. I cannot make this stuff up; I would go into further detail but I would risk losing my lunch, which was a feast full of pineapple and these egg crepes I adore, so I'll spare you the details. 

I never was brace enough to eat one of the skewered fish,
but I love those egg crepes sooooo much. 

Mr. Mole got us to the Unique Theme Bamboo Hostel just fine, except for the fact that our hostel was impossible to see from the street because you had to slip down a moss lined alleyway through someone's neighborhood to find it. So yes, it was a short taxi ride but a long hunt to actually find the hostel, but we got there just fine. By the way, the Unique Theme Bamboo Hostel has less bamboo than you would think and more painted murals of minions dressed up as superheroes than you would hope, but that's home for the next week or so. It does, however, allow you to rent bikes for what amounts to be about a dollar fifty for the whole day, so you can bet that was first on the to do list. 

This city was made for biking; wide bike paths parallel the main road that idyllically wind through the jungly countryside, bookended by most magnificent karst formations. It really was perfection to feel that hot humid air float your hair back as you pedal through paradise. We all snagged lunch at a roadside stand where I discovered my Yangshuo staple food; a pastry like crepe that's cooked and slapped on top of an egg that's fried. Wrap it up with wilted lettuce and smear liberally with spicy ketchup and you're golden. Now, adding a spear of freshly cut pineapple or a whole as dessert, and you have the only meal you want to eat for the next 5 days. 

As if riding bikes through an incredibly green and stunning countryside and eating your weight in pineapple and mangoes isn't your idea of fun, stop by mud caves for a swim. Buy tickets from a lady who promises you the local price which includes a tour of the cave, a swim in mud (more details to come) and a soak in the natural hot springs. Yes, please. What wasn't included was the hundreds of pictures everyone took of a bunch of Americans walking around in a cave wearing minimal clothing. We had all dressed in swimsuits, ready to swim in gooey mud, while 99% of everyone else was there to just walk around a cave, so yes. We stood out more than usual. The cave was cool, but the mud was soooooo rad. Obviously you start out by getting completely covered by taking the stone slide. It's a bumpy ride down, but you splash directly into thigh high mud which is the strangest sensation. It was the most bizarre feeling to be swimming in MUD. You sort of floated in the thick and cold sludge while your toes squelched at the bottom. Oh, and it got EVERYWHERE. It was also super fun to just float around in. If you laid on your back, the dense liquid held you up, like a gigantic puddle of thick chocolate pudding. It also made your hair feel crazy thick, and now I wonder if I could recreate the sensation by showering in pudding (an experiment I have yet to try, but I'll keep you all posted). A photographer stayed to get some shots of the group to be purchased afterward, but I think he cut his time short because the mud is very slippery and we were having too much fun splashing it into each other's eyes to be too bothered by a photo session. It was crazy fun to swim in but not so great to shower off. 

This hopefully isn't the closest I get to swimming in actual chocolate (please forgive the photo quality). 

Luckily, our ticket allowed us to soak in the hot springs for as long as we wanted to, which grossly helped get the remainder of the mud off. Those hot springs were magical after the chilly swim in the mud. To top off our day we paid a little extra to soak our feet in kissing fish infested waters. Hands down, the most unique spa day I've ever experienced.

I want this to be my actual life, not just my vacation one. 

The bike ride back was super magical, stopping to snag sugar cane or coconuts as a post-spa snack and gawking at the scenery. It's a good thing these mountains are harder to see at night or I would have kept riding. I made sure to shower off the remaining mud at the hostel before dinner, but I'm pretty sure I'll rubbing off mud for days to come. Dinner was up on West Street, a large, bustling street crammed with shopping and food. There were laser demonstrations and vendors selling octopus on sticks, sesame candies being smashed with hammers, and calligraphy pens that wrote with "disappearing ink". In other words, too many things to take in on an empty stomach. Hannah and I found a little Muslim noodle stand on a neighboring alleyway, and pledged to explore West Street when hanger wasn't quickly approaching. Day one in Yangshuo was a complete success, and I'm already thrilled to see what the rest of this week holds.