Where's Ron?

Yangshuo

Much to my surprise, I received the following email from Ron this morning. Apparently he had found a little business providing internet access. He says he sent the message at 8:30 pm (8:30 am Charlottesville time), and would check back for a reply at 11 pm. I received the message at about 9 and sent back a reply at about 10 my time, so I hope it got to him. My message has not bounced, so that's somewhat hopeful.

Tuesday 21 October 1997

Hi Ellen,

Last Thursday night, after the show at the nightclub in Chenzhou, I could not go upstairs to their dorm rooms to say goodbye, because I knew I couldn't do it without shedding a few tears....so I just left. Se Qin, the oldest male singer had moved into my hotel room with me (without my invitation) because there were only 8 bunk beds in the nightclub dorm room (for 9 guys) and there were two beds in my hotel room. He watched me pack and then asked me if I was leaving. I said yes and tried to explain that I couldn't say goodbye without crying, and maybe he understood and maybe not, but I then went for a walk and when I came back he was asleep.

The bus ride to Quilin was a beautiful ride and I wished I was on my bike instead of in the bus...but choices are the name of the game. For future reference, the road from Daojiang to Xing'an, which appears as a very minor road on my map, would be a great trip by bike. A gradual climb up to the pass, and then down, with a mild rolling terraine. And from Xing'an to Yangshuo would also make for a beautiful ride.

[There is a postcard of this scene.]

Guilin I really didn't find that great, but it was full of westerners. I stayed a night, and the next morning went down to the bus station to get the bus to Yangshuo. None of the buses had top racks, except one scheduled to leave about 1:30, and they wanted 50 y, about $6. The passenger cost was 10 was westerners, probably about double the amount the locals pay...but charging ten times the regular passenger price for something that most buses have provided free, seems a little outrageous, so I refused on principal. One of the buses without a top rack offered to take the bike and suitcase for 40. There were a couple of young people helping me, but they couldn't get me a normal rate, so I said I would bike to Yangshuo. I had gotten a ways down the road when the bus passed me, pulled over in front of me and stopped. The lady conductor motioned for me to fold up the bike and get in and said she would take me for 25. So they squeezed me in, and found a seat for me by one of the young people I had been talking to.

Yangshuo is a wonderful place, and I am sure I will return on the way back to HongKong. Jeff had said it was a great place for shopping for gifts, and I seem to agree, so I will return to load up before my return home.

It is nothing like any place I have seen yet in China, as far as accomodations for back packers. Restaurants with English signs, many cheap hotels, excellent Chinese and western food. And the country side provides scenery like nothing I have ever seen before. Sunday I biked to Moon Mountain, and returned by taking small roads and paths off of the main road, through little villages, getting myself throughly lost. I seemed to be on the edge of no where, where there were only a few people, and the path looked like it lead to a dead end box canyon, but when I got to the end, there was a way through and I found myself in a place surrounded by these high pointy mountains, with a small pond in the middle, and no signs of life. I continued until I came out the other side and found a group of people on a picnic, and the path gradually turned into rough road and I found the car they came in, and gradually found my way back to town. Monday I took a boat ride up the river and biked back. At $12 fixed price, most people thought it was expensive, but it must have been the most spectacular boat ride I ever took.

Today I took it easy, talking to people, sending postcards, cashing checks, getting my laundry, and planning on leaving tomorrow. And before dinner wanted to let you know how I am. Sitting here writing these I am also trying to convince the young entrepenuer to adopt a different marketing stagegy. She charges 30y per message ($3.60) and 15/cc, and charges nothing for the computer time. Most people react that she is priced too high and leave, waiting until they get to a bigger city with cheaper rates. I am trying to convince her to set minium charges for the connect time (long distance call to send and receive) and time on the computer (composing messages) and trying to explain as the price drops she will sell more and make more (above expenses)...but it is slow going.

Getting off the boat yesterday after going up to Yang Ti and returning to Xing Ping Town, where I started biking, I met a 77 year old American and his wife, Peggy and Daniel Blitz, who had rented their own boat. I had dinner with them and a Chinese American lady named Josephine Ford who is traveling with them (married to a lawyer back in the states). I had dinner with them to celebrate Josephine's birthday, the number of which is secret. It was a wonderful dinner and great hearing and telling travel stories. They were into Vietnam in 1989, have traveled in India, Laos, Cambodia, Africa, Europe, ...and I don't know all the places they have been... but they seem to attact good people, and I liked them. I hope I can still be traveling like them at 77, even without the resources they may have. Maybe Doug's brother can find out who they are. Their address is 242 Beacon Street, Boston, Mass 02116.

Sat and Sun night I had dinner with two woman, one from Scotland and one from London. They have traveled extensively. I have also met a lot of folks from Israel. So after two weeks of no "western conversations" I am getting my fill again, before leaving tomorrow for Wuzhou, and then Nanning. A Dutch couple today said they were going to Cat Ba Island off the northern coast of North Vietnam, so maybe I will go there.

I love you and miss you. It is now 8:31 pm Tue. I will check back here at 11:00 for an answer. As best as I can understand, the address you should send your reply to will be in this message heading.

Ron



30 November 1997

The following email was sent Sunday evening 30 Nov and arrived on Sunday morning 30 Nov (yes, that time difference is really a mind-bender!). Ron doesn't say how much longer he plans to be in Yangshuo before leaving for Hong Kong, but I would guess another day or two. If anyone wants to send messages to him, please send them to me and I'll include everything in one big message as Ron requests. In one of my letters I had commented on the very different way Ron travels when he is alone, and said that his descriptions of his adventures in China made me realize how much his way of traveling and his travel experiences are altered when I am with him. He discusses that at the end of this message (I'm still glad I stayed home!). I left intact the information that came appended to his message, apparently by the email service, because I thought it was so interesting. Hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving -- I did!

Ellen

30 November 1997

Hi Ellen,

I am back at Ms Lucy's e-mail service in Yangshuo. The feedback she got on my consulting job was that my scheme was too complicated so she is still using her old rates. As a result, the $2.40 to send a message and $1.20 to receive a message reduces my use of her services. So if anyone wants to write me, have them send the message to you and include it in your message to me.

Ellen please forward a copy of this message to renders@cfw.com for my record. This would count as an additional message from this end.

Today, arriving in Yangshuo I had my worst experience of the trip -- which could have been far worst than it was. On the bus from Quilin [my map says Guilin] a guy twice reached under the back of the seat and tried to pick my pockets. I rather loudly complained the last time, and he and his friend got off the bus. He acted sort of strange, and I thought he might be mentally retarded.

When I got off the bus in Yangshuo someone pointed out to me how he had cut my front pocket with a razor trying to get my wallet out. While he didn't succeed, he sure made a mess of my good green travel pants. So I went to a little lady with a sewing machine on the sidewalk near my hotel and she sewed a patch on the inside of the pocket, stitching over the razor cuts and gouges.

Now let me backtrack to explain how I got back here and where I have been.

I arrived here this morning [Sunday 30 Nov] about 10 on the bus from Quilin, where I had arrived this morning at 5:30 (still dark) after a 6 and 1/2 hour bus from Nanning (leaving there Sat night at 11 PM) where I paid for two night at the bus station Hotel, while only sleeping there Friday night, after arriving around 9 pm on the 34 hour bus ride from Kunming, following the 13 hour bus ride from Dali. I left Dali Wed night [26 Nov] at 7 pm, which only allowed me an hour an a half after getting off the bus from Lijiang to eat, pick up the name carvings (last one not completed until 6:30) get the bus ticket, dinner and locate the bus. This description is probably as clear to you an my perception of the past few days.

I am reminded of how it took Brenda and me 14 months to get to Terra Del Fuego, but as I recall only two or three weeks to get back. [Brenda is the woman with whom he traveled down the length of South America in 1970-71, all the way to the tip of Terra del Fuego.]

Now let's see if I can explain a little clearer. Sunday Nov 16 I arrived in Lijiang after dark, and found the SanHe Naxi Guest House recommended by Heiner Wefers and Manuela Mertens, a German couple I met in Dali. (They raise funds by letting people pick sunflowers from their farm, and the funds are used to support a children's home and stone housing in the slums of Vellore, south of Bangalore, India - which is another story). The place was very difficult to find because they were tearing up the road leading to the place. They offered me a room for 70 yuan (about $7.20 US) with a public bath. When I inspected the bath and toilet, I told them I was not interested because the smell was just horrible. They then showed me a room in the new section that was like a Holiday Inn but they wanted 360 y ($43). I said it was too expensive. As I was leaving I explained to them my budget allowed for a maximum of 100 y per night, and they said OK. There was no hot water that night, but it didn't matter since I just crashed anyway thinking I would bath in the morning. Wrong: no hot water until evening. Ok -- but then the third night there was no hot water either. The room was brand new, with a few things still in the works, but it was nice, especially since the weather had turned very cold.

I enjoyed my days in Lijiang very much. Monday I took a bike ride to Baisha with Karl Olav Skilbreid, a Norwegian who is becoming an ordained Lutheran priest, Ad Van Bentum, a Dutch retired psychologist and another Dutch lady. Karl and I were the only ones to complete the trip, taking a hike up the side of the mountain at the end. It was a beautiful and enjoyable day. Tuesday I mainly explored the old town and the Black Dragon Pool Park that Karl and I had found at dusk the day before.

Wed morning I got up at 5:45 (believe it or not) and was on my bike by 6:00 heading for Dali. It was to be my last great bike adventure, and could have been my first Century if I made it. I figured if I ran out of light I would just catch a bus the rest of the way. None of my estimates agreed, but I figured it would be between 80 and 120 miles.

I knew from the trip up that it would be challenging but beautiful. Coming back the climbs were more gradual (but longer). I made it up and over the first two passes, but as I was going down through a series of switchbacks, I heard and felt this bump, bump, bump. I recognized the sound from my descent down the mountain from the An Khe pass in Vietnam, so I stopped and examined my rear tire. Sure enough, there was a big knot on my tire. I let a lot of air out, and continued my descent slowly. When I got to the bottom I got off the bike and was walking across the street to ask two guys in uniforms about when the next bus was -- and then there was this loud explosion as my back tire blew out leaving a 1.5 inch slit in the tire. So much for my last bike adventure.

Now hauling a functioning bike around China is difficult enough, but hauling a disabled bike, trying to keep pressure off of the back tire, carrying the saddle bags (back pack) over the handlebars instead of the back rack, and walking instead of riding, now this I don't recommend. My spare tire was of course in the suitcase in Nanning. So at 10:30 Wed my bike adventure ended and the travel ordeal began.

So from 10:30 Wed morning until about 10:30 this morning (Sunday) I have been waiting or riding on a bus, with the exception of Friday night most of Sat. And from here I still have another 24 hours or so of buses to go. I thought I was just going to explore a small part of China -- but China is so big!

Tonight I had dinner with a German couple, he is an artist (apparently successful) who does "non representative art" (which I gather comes after abstract) and his wife, a psychologist who specializes in Art Therapy. A most interesting conversation about computers, art, and travel.

In Nanning (during my brief visit) I managed to get your two letters, return to the wonderful restaurant, which was much more difficult because I was too early and everything wasn't displayed (and I was missing my two guides), do a little shopping, and get my next bus ticket. Because I was not successful at making any contact with AHA [Mr. Li's nickname] or Las Shal Ping (no answer at either of their phones) I decided to change my bus ticket from Sun night to Sat night. My shopping included some more Nanning type hats. They are round with a wire rim on the outside ring. Inside there is a smaller ring (material) which is the part that goes over the head. The whole thing can be curled up into a small circle. Shal Ping had bought me some, but I wanted a few more. (about a dozen) And I bought a half dozen very small umbrellas.

Now I am in my manic shopping mode (you know how much I love to shop) in Yangshuo. So far no clothes but I keep looking.

I enjoyed your two letters (16 Oct to 2 Nov and 6 Nov.) A lot of information. I think I read them three times. The contact felt so good. (no mail in Yangshou).

I have thought a lot about what you said about traveling with me. I enjoy traveling with you and I enjoy traveling by myself. They are different adventures, but both good. One does not distract from the other. I look forward to both. They are different but both great ways to travel. Our trips together have been great. And I look forward more trips with you and returning home to or with you. We must discuss this more. This trip has been hard, which means it makes good stories, and has presented a challenge -- and yes I have enjoyed it -- but some of it I would just as well avoided. And some of it you also would have not liked. But next time I will know more and maybe you will be with me.

So -- I am on my way home as soon as I get Santa's stuff together. Love you and hope you get a chance to answer.

One lost detail. I can't find Lon's (Saigon Cafe) can opener. Can you call her for a better description and let me have it?

See you soon. Love you.

Ron

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

YangShuo Buckland School welcomes you

We can offer the following services:-

Please contact with Miss Lucy

YangShuo Buckland School asks you for: Please contact with Mr. Billy, E-mail:bklbilly@public.glptt.gx.cn Fax:+86-773-8825461 phone:+86-773-8822981 Address: Buckland School, YangShuo, GuangXi, China. 541900



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Last updated: 22 May 2002