It’s a long way from Yi Chang, where we got off the Yangtze cruise, to Yangshuo, our next true destination, so we stayed the night in Yi Chang before taking a 5 hour bus tour and 15 hour over-night train to Yangshuo.
After wandering the streets of Yi Chang, we learned that there’s not much to do in Yi Chang except eat and get massages, so that’s exactly what we did. The group grabbed a bite to eat at a pizza place that Frank had been promoting since the beginning of our tour, and let’s just say Frank has never been out of China, therefore he’s not the best source for pizza joint recommendations. It was good enough to eat, though, since the group was tired of the same bland Chinese food that had been served during our 3 day river tour. Some people in the group said the river food was good, but I think they all must have taken one too many Dramamines while forming that opinion. It was nothing like the memorable meals we had in Xi’an and Chengdu.
Any way, after the pizza fiasco, Tania and I decided to get massages since we had seen so many signs for cheap massage parlors in previous cities, and the idea to do so had been brewing in our heads ever since. It wasn’t so simple to find a parlor in this city, though. The girl at our hotel’s front desk looked at me with an astonishing fear when I asked where to get a massage, like I was asking her to give me a shoulder rub. It took us walking into a random hotel and waiting for 30 minutes while the concierge called his buddy to see where one existed. After confirming the location, this concierge whistled over the bell boy to walk us to the parlor. Already amazed that the staff at this hotel, where we were not paying to stay, was providing so much help, we were astonished when the bell boy had to walk us 30 minutes from the hotel to reach the parlor. We felt so bad for the kid that we threw him a 10 yuan tip.
Once in our private room, our feet were placed in bamboo steaming barrels while the masseuse ladies proceeded to beat the crap out of our limbs. Tania didn’t find the abuse to be so brutal, but I’m thinking my girl had just gotten dumped a few minutes before she entered the room, and had a volcano of primal rage exploding through her fists and knuckles. Normally I tell my masseuse to give it everything they’ve got and it’s still not enough, but this chick was inflicting pain worse than I’d ever experienced. I’m still finding bruises on odd parts of my body.
Click for a video glimpse of our overnight train ride from Yi Chang to Guilin!
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