Guilin

Ugh. I'm not going to say it bc it's repetitive and I'm annoyed with myself. I'm here finally so...moving on. :)
I'm going to dedicate this blog post to our amazing trip to Guilin, China. We went March 7-11, took the kids out of school for 3 days (CANNOT believe I did that!!!!) and off we went.
Knowing we are coming home in July for good, we have been trying to see all the things we wanted to while here and this place had definitely made the list. You'll see why in a few minutes.
It was a relatively short flight to get there but then we had an hour and a half drive in a taxi to get to the hotel. The first day we just stayed in Guilin bc we had flown later in the evening and used some points to get us a free night in town at the uber-fancy ShangriLa.

Here are Coop and Ben watching the planes in the Pudong airport.

How did anyone survive without an IPad before?!? Such a saving grace with the Coop-man. :) Here are 3/4 of my heart killing time while we wait to board.

The kids were great on the flight. We have been so surprised and blessed with how well Cooper has been on flights lately! We go in prepared for the worst and he keeps surprising us. :)

Here was our view out of the hotel the next morning, on the 8th of March. You can already see the karst mountains in the background!

The day would consist of a trip to see the Reed Flute caves, Elephant Hill and then off to Yangshou for the remainder of our trip.
We've been trying to have Cooper walk more independently lately- such work! Considering they don't make cheap strollers for kids over 50 pounds, he really needs to figure out how to walk with us, stay with us, not run off, etc. It's not an ability-to-walk issue, its a safety one. Well, that, and if he decides he doesn't like where you're heading, he'll just sit down and then you're in trouble bc he's heavy!! :)
Look how good the day started out! :) Here we are walking to the entrance to the caves. Such a big boy. :)

After having about 25 elderly Chinese women cut in front of us in the queue, we finally made it in. I was nervous the whole cave experience was going to be this tight!

 Needless to say, it was HUGE inside! They had placed different colored black lights all around that lit up the stalactites so beautifully. I can't even tell what I'm looking at in this one, but I know it was amazing! :)

This one was looking up at the ceiling.

An idea of the vastness of it. This was one tiny section of the caves. The whole tour lasted over an hour so you can imagine the size of it.

Here's where Coop ended up. We came across a section of the caves that had lakes (Water! His favorite!!) so we had to stick him up in the backpack to keep him contained. He wasn't a fan of being this close to Ben, though, and pulled his legs up in an attempt to create a barrier. :)

On the right is an underground lake, the stalactites coming from the ceiling, the stalagmites on the ground. Just amazing...

Hard to tell, but this was a pic of this gigantic open area in the middle of the cave. The red thing was really far away from us coming down from the ceiling.

Some of the crew we were hanging around with. The tour was in Chinese so it wasn't like we could understand anything, but we were afraid of getting lost so we stuck with them! :)

Near the end of the tour there was this formation that (I think) had formed naturally. Can you tell what it is? I actually can make out the lion the sign says it is. :)

 Coming out of the caves, someone was drying chillies. So pretty in their baskets!

From the caves, we headed to Elephant Hill. Entering the area we came across (yet another) temple. However, this one was carved into the mountain- kinda pretty!

Trying the walking thing again. :) We saw Elephant Hill from 2 different angles. Here we are headed to the one where we are right next to it. I put this one here bc I though he looked so cute running through this little pagoda. :)

We stopped here for some refreshments- it was SO hot! Straight ahead was the area I talked about- where we were right next to the part of the hill that looks like the elephant. This ridge was a perfect place, set up with stone tables and stools. You can even see some locals playing cards in the background. Sophie is holding a doll umbrella bought at the cave souvenir shop for 10 rmb ($1.50!)

After we saw the hill from the one direction, we trekked around the hill to the other bank where we could see it from a distance. So weird to see me in a pic- I only get in a few! Can you see the elephant with his trunk in the water?

After that we headed back to the hotel, packed up our stuff and got in the taxi for the hour long trip to Yangshou. It turned out to be longer but Coop fell asleep in the car and we got enjoy these amazing views along the way...

I wonder if the locals ever get used to this. Or is it amazing to them, like it is to me, every time they see it?

We have arrived! Here we are at our quaint, but perfect, lodge for the next 4 days. The Yangshou Mountain Retreat. It's owned by one family and employs only locals and family members. They even had a cat that really resembled my old cat, Two Socks. Only this little kitty's name was Mimi. She glommed onto Soph and they were friends the whole trip. :)
The front gate-

We ate almost every dinner here overlooking the river. They had great American food and great Chinese food. I even tried the traditional scrambled eggs with stewed tomatoes (actually pretty good!). It was warm and you couldn't beat the view!

Our room. A tight fit, but perfect for us. Soph was in the closest twin bed, then Coop was in between us in the roll away and then our bed. Hey, it had a/c and a balcony with a great view of the river. What else do you need??

The view from our balcony. Ben and I sat out here every night, listening to music, drinking a few local beers.

After dinner, playing by the river, watching the sunset.

This was Cooper every time we let him wander off freely. He's trying to get to the river and can't figure out how to get through the stone wall. ;)

The next morning, March 9, we headed out for a river boat cruise and then a walk through Old Town. Our taxi driver brought us to this amazing, weird area next to this super huge cliff. Kinda cool, right? I wish I had taken a picture of the bathroom Soph and I had to use. Wow...

These were the bamboo boats we used to tour the Li River. They used these movable weed-whacker-on-a-stick-looking things to move the boats along.

Part of the ride included a stop at an area for pictures. For some reason our boat driver (who did not speak any English) stopped us on this rocky island while all the Chinese were brought to this other area where there were souvenir booths, horses and other odd things. I think he knew our kids would have been mobbed and was saving us the hassle. :) Oh yeah, did you notice Sophia's life jacket? Such a joke! Another example of something that wouldn't keep a buoy floating. ;)

Here's what we missed on that other spot. ;) Yes, there's a man on a horse talking on his cell phone and then a group of women all pointing at ??? Okay...moving on...

Maybe they were pointing at this view. Because it's amazing, people!! :)

 At the end of our tour we were getting off our boat when I looked over and saw THIS! How quintessentially Chinese is this??? A super old Chinese man on his tiny bamboo raft with these birds that get fish for him. And seriously- what is around his shoulders? It seemed like some leaf thing. And the beard?? I mean, is he for real???? Anyway, I absolutely, without a doubt, had to take his picture. :)

Onto Old Town. A series of dilapidated run-down buildings where people lived. Surreal. And, hey, if you ever need a good way to get bricks onto your roof, a wheel barrel and a pulley usually works well!

My favorite picture. We were walking along, super hungry, looking for a place to eat that didn't look like it would kill us, and here comes this dog trotting out of a building. He never looked at us, just walked up to us and stood there. I feel like he was telling me that he really needed that sweater off bc it was 85 degrees out!!

Anyway, we ended up finding this tiny hostel-type place that was actually really amazing, considering where we were and what was around us. :) Mango smoothies and ham and cheese sandwiches. Not bad! I also bought a tablecloth just like these from a random local woman here. Love it and it was like a dollar. :)

Walking down the streets of Old Town heading towards the local market. Coops snuggling with mama. So nice but so hot!

The market. This place was like our local wet market on steroids!! You could literally find anything here. These are eggs from anything that can pop out an egg (they don't keep eggs cold in China).

Handmade noodles of every shape and kind.

They even sold clothes here. Toiletries, snacks, candy, produce, live animals, you name it.

After our tiring morning and afternoon, we headed back to the hotel for some down time. Just before dinner we decided to go on a bit of a walk around the area. I liked this wall. It looked super old (but it probably wasn't). :)

Soph was not a fan of the super loud diesel trucks that rumbled by carrying bamboo rafts back up the river. They were SO loud bc their engines had no covers- they spewed out black smoke and ear-splitting noise and passed us about every 5 minutes. Definitely not missing those!

We passed this amazing field full of these gorgeous yellow flowers and I just had to take a pic of these 2. Later we found that this field was more popular than we originally thought. On our way back to the hotel this field was filled with 3 separate wedding parties!

The next day, March 10, we had decided to take the bikes out and ride for a few hours through some fishing villages, then eat lunch at this 400 yr old Dragon Bridge, then bamboo raft back down the river for a bit, and ending up with a bit more biking. Man, we were hoping Coop was going to be on board for this day. How wrong we were!! :(

Ben and Sophie rode on a tandem bike and Coop was in a baby seat on the back of mine.
Here we are trekking through a village...

 Aaaaaand, we're lost. Hmmm, to turn left or right? Wasn't anticipating this intersection. Ben checks the map while I take in the scenery!

Needless to say, we took the wrong way. The road literally dead-ended into the river and we saw no way across. A woman insisted the only way across was to put our bikes and ourselves onto a raft and go across. 30 rmb, she said. Highway robbery, I said. But then we thought we were stuck and we ended up paying and floating across the river. And that's when I looked at Ben from on the other side and saw a bridge about 100 yards up the river. Grrr.....

Soph cruisin' with daddy doing the work. My backpack was in a little basket behind Soph but Ben's backpack had nowhere to go but in Sophie's face. :)

We finally made it to the Dragon Bridge, thanks to 3G and Google maps! I had packed a lunch and we rested and refreshed while overlooking the beautiful Yangzi River.

We bought this beautiful flower crown for a dollar from a very old woman. Sophie just loved it!

 A side view of the 400-yr-old Dragon Bridge and the bamboo rafts that would take us down the river.

So there were these 3 wicker chairs strapped to these bamboo rafts with an umbrella stand in the middle. Thankfully it was a cloudy day so we weren't baking in the sun. 

Our view...

Coop had really not enjoyed the bike riding- lots of crying, kicking, trying to bite me, etc. So we were really worried about how he would do on the raft. I mean, really, it's a tiny raft with water all around. I thought we were going to have to bear hug him for the 2 hour journey. And then God surprised us again. We had put his life jacket on him and then taken my belt, put it through a loop in the jacket and then around the chair arm and the metal umbrella pole. He tried for about 10 minutes to get into the water and then just totally calmed down. He enjoyed watching the raft driver use a bamboo pole to push us along, he looked at the water, and just relaxed. Could NOT believe it! It was actually a very relaxing 2 hour journey!

 Ben and Soph on their raft. Can you tell I've become way too lax on their safety?? She should totally have a life jacket on!

There were several waterfalls we went over- one was almost a 4 foot drop. Always made a big splash!

Me and my little man. :)

Coop was very upset again on the way back on the bike. But then suddenly it was quiet and I kept feeling his head resting on my back. I asked Ben to look and, sure enough, he had fallen asleep back there. :)

He slept about 20 min on the way back and woke up when we got to the hotel. We all needed some down time. Soph wanted to watch some Dora but Coop kept trying to turn the IPad off. So her solution was to zip herself into Coop's tent but then prop the IPad up so they both could watch it. He just had to watch it through the screen. It totally worked! :) I love how he's lounging here :)

After a bit we walked around the property before dinner and I finally got my Yesterdog shirt shot. :)

Soph was having fun swinging from the trees...

On our last day we decided to head out on the bikes one more time to try and find our hotel's sister place and their Italian restaurant we had heard about.
Yet again, we got lost, but not as bad this time. These villages all look the same!!
Ben checking the map...

We made it! Moon Hill. See it in the background there? It's supposed to look like a half moon. I thought it was going to be a bit more spectacular but, eh, what are ya going to do? :)

We rode through this teeny dusty village for a bit...

Then we went up to Luna's rooftop restaurant for a bit of Italian fare. What a great view this place had!
Confused by the belt on the table? :) We had been using it to keep Coop in the bike seat since there wasn't any kind of restraint system on it. I know you were starting to wonder... ;)

The inside of the restaurant on the roof

My beauty and me

Coop is obsessed with sunglasses right now. He doesn't want to use them, just put them on and then immediately take them off. I think he likes how his world changes when they're on and off. I got him to keep mine on for a sec and I quick snapped this pic. Could he BE CUTER???

About to head back to the hotel, Soph wanted to give Coop a kiss and a hug. Usually he wants nothing to do with it, but at that moment he was really receptive and interested in her. I LIVE for these moments, when my children see each other. :)

There's a pic I missed out on. An elderly woman with a small baby wrapped to her and she was holding a rope. Weird, I thought. Then I followed the rope and saw it was attached to a huge water buffalo that was soaking in this randomly deep pond next to someones driveway. I am not making this up. She was just standing there while this animal layed neck deep in this pond. But, really, who's going to force an animal like that to move? Probably not an 85 yr old woman. She knew her limits. :)

We knew we were just around the corner from the hotel when we passed this baby water buffalo. :)

This trip was very tough with Cooper and we were exhausted by the end of it. This was the trip that made us say we weren't going to be able to go on trips anymore. He was just so hyper and unhappy for most of the time. It made us sad that he was unhappy and that there really wasn't anything we could do to help him.
Sophia was so amazing the whole time. She was happy and helpful. She knew her brother was struggling and  did everything she could to be good. We were, and are, so proud of her!