Yangshuo.

THE 4TH AND FINAL STOP OF THE MOST EPIC VACATION EVER: YANGSHUO!

Yangshuo was one of my favorite places of the trip, but for completely different reasons. If you want to see what Yangshuo is like, click here.

By the time we made it to Yangshuo, we were all gross disgusting messes of girls. All of our clothes were filthy, we hadn't had a decent shower for a few days, and I was still sick as ever. Stuffy nose, fever, and an extremely sore throat. However I had a new problem...I had about 70 bug bites on my legs. At that time I thought they were all mosquito bites because they itched like crazy. They were awful...when we finally got home from the vacation I learned that they weren't mosquito bites. They were actually one of my worst nightmares...bed bug bites. Eww. I can't even think about it. It literally kills me inside.

Needless to say, I was feeling like crap and when you feel like crap and you are in a foreign country, far far away from home, it is really easy to get homesick. I was trying so hard to hold it off but I just couldn't. All I wanted was America. I wanted my home. I wanted my mom's food. I wanted my bed. I wanted my shower. I wanted to wear nice clothes. I wanted to be able to talk to people without playing charades. I wanted fresh air. I just wanted anything but China.

Luckily Yangshuo was a pretty good place to find a little bit of refuge. It is a very touristy place so there was a lot of white people, or Chinese people who spoke English. (I will admit, I feel so guilty being in a different country and not knowing their language.) And Yangshuo is just a giant party. Literally. Everyone just has so much fun and I met so many people from all over the world!

The first day we were there we spent a while at our hostel (which was so cool) just getting cleaned and resting up a bit. They had places to wash clothes and dry them so we took advantage of that! We met up with some boys from America for dinner! We met them earlier that day and they told us about an American restaurant to eat at called the Minority Cafe! I had a cheese, garlic, chicken pizza and it was divine. The best food I had in months. After dinner we all went to a night fishing show where you get on a raft and follow a Chinese man and watch him fish. It sounds boring, but the man trains a bunch of ducks to fish for him. It was so cool. When it was over we got to hold the ducks. It was pretty sweet! After the fishing show we met up with our Chinese coordinator Kelly and her two friends Mary and Star. We walked the streets and bought all sorts of souvenirs for ourselves and our friends and family. We ate a lot of food...smoothies, chocolate/peanut butter pancake things, ice cream, everything! It was a great night!

The next day we all went and had a feast of a breakfast at the Minority Cafe. Eggs, hash-browns, toast, fruit, pancakes, yogurt, juice, bacon, the whole works! It was amazing. None of us have really had a good breakfast since we were in America! It was the best! After that we split into two different groups. My group went kayaking on the Li River. It was so great. It was just 5 of us, making our way down the river all by ourselves for three hours! I loved it. The mountains in Yangshuo are incredible. they look like they came right out of a Dr. Suess book. It was gorgeous, even though we did pass a dead cow floating down the river...eww.

After kayaking my body had just about had enough. I was absolutely exhausted and could hardly even talk because my throat was so messed up. I went and had some potato soup from the Minority Cafe and then went back to the hostel, showered, and went to bed while everyone else went out and had fun. It was kind of nice to be alone and just relax though.

The next day was our last day of the trip! We took our time getting ready and then made our way to meet up with a lady who would take us to the mud caves! She gave each of us a bike and we followed here down the windy roads that lead through the mountains. We road our bikes for about 20 minutes until we finally got to the mud caves! This was one of my favorite parts about our stay in Yangshuo!

After we changed into our swimming clothes, we hiked through the caves until you come up to what is literally a giant mud bath! We jumped right in and had so much fun! It felt so good. You can just lay in it and it floats you. You don't even have to try! It was so cool. We stayed in there for a while and then washed off and went and jumped in the hot springs. The whole experience was just so relaxing.

After we were done there we went for one final meal at the Minority Cafe, where I got more potatoe soup and some cheesy garlic bread. Then I went to McDonals and got a delicious cookie ice cream concoction. Then we met up with the rest of the girls and made our way to the sleeper bus that would drive us 10 hours, all the way back to Xiaolan! Luckily most of us were able to sleep the whole way.

By the time we got back to our apartment we were all SO ready to be home! It felt so good to be able to unpack, wash our clothes, and take a nice shower!

I still can't believe this is my life. This is real life, at least for 4 months. I am so blessed.

There you have it! The most epic vacation ever.

:]

-Kambrie