Day 1 in Guangxi

Day 1. It seems a bit unreal, this trip, where I did very little planning in the way of where I want to go and what I want to see, or what I want to accomplish. I know I will start in Yangshuo (Guangxi), and I know I want to visit the rice terraces in Longsheng, and then see some small villages in Guizhou, and be back in Shanghai in 2 weeks time, but otherwise I have no set itinerary or schedule, or even much knowledge about how to get from point A to Point B. I made no hotel reservations, and booked my flight yesterday at 6 p.m.

So far: I landed in Guilin at 6 p.m., it’s dark and raining and freezing cold, I have no idea how to get to Yangshuo, so I hop on a bus from the airport to the train station, ask around and find a mini bus heading to Yangshuo, there’s a homeless guy next to the bus trying to burn plastic bags and trash to stay warm, I give him some paper to burn so that we dont breathe toxic fumes while waiting, the bus finally leaves 1 hour late and then goes around town picking up passengers until it fills every seat, including 2 extras who sit on plastic buckets in the aisle, we finally head out at 10 p.m., but wait, we’re delayed at a train crossing for another 20 minutes, so I arrive in Yangshuo after 11:30 p.m., it’s below zero but the rain stops, I follow a few people with luggage heading out of the bus station and find my way onto West Street, look in on a few hotels after warding off about 7 or 8 people asking me if I want a massage with 18 year old girls, and here I am. (In my hotel room, not getting a massage, in case you’re wondering.) Serendipity has treated me well, one-half day into my wandering around walkabout trip into Southwest China.

Rather than feeling out of sorts, I have to say that this lack of an itinerary feels liberating. Not knowing where I have to be or when I have to be there, I’m sort of … detached from my own right brain, letting things happen, curious about how things will turn out rather than worrying about what and when is next, having no reason to get miffed about a 2-hour delay on the bus because , well, I don't really need to be anywhere in 2 hours time.

I do have some things I want to do. First, I want to make my way to small remote villages and see the Chinese countryside. I want to travel more within China (unlike my 3 years in Japan, where I didn’t actually travel much outside of Tokyo), and see the rural heartland. And, I want to take some good pictures -- I feel that my photography is not progressing. I’m getting a little better technique wise, but don’t feel like I’ve made any meaningful pictures. My recent pictures have been more slight-of-hand rather than good. There should plenty of good pictures being around the beautiful scenery here and the Guizhou hill tribes, so I’m curious to see what I can do.

A quick note on my packing: in my bag is my Canon 40D, Canon 16-35 2.8L lens, Tokina 12-24 lens, tripod, and a set of Cokin graduated neutral density filters. (I debated whether to bring my Canon 24-105 4L lens, but in the end I left it at home, I think that would have been overkill.) Why 2 wide angle lenses? Well, the 16-35 stops down to 2.8, so I have a fast lens for low light, if I end up staying with villagers deep in the hills. Not the ideal set up, but it's best I can do without the dreamy 70-200 2.8L... Anyway, with only 2 lenses and one change of clothes in my backpack, I’m light on my feet and extremely mobile (but yeesh I will probably start to smell pretty bad after a few days).

So, tomorrow I start in earnest. I will spend some time chilling out in Yangshuo town, see if I can find a decent coffee shop, and if the weather holds up, I’ll rent a bicycle and explore some neighboring villages. And then we’ll go from there (wherever there turns out to be).