We have started this tradition of a Thanksgiving Adventure Trip to Yangshuo. Last year, we had five families to share the adventure. This year, we had SEVEN families. It is the usual gang of the Humes (Mary, John, Kelly & Erin), the Jenkins (Jennifer, Scott, Sean & Sophie) and the Bishops (Faith, Dan, Avery & Riley). This year a few new families are joining us – the Biestervelds (Nani, Dan, Laura & Jack), the Brennans (Judy, Dan, Danielle & Erin) and the Bladows (Jennifer, Dan, Jessica & Jaclyn). We have 27 people in total with 13 kids and 14 adults. Scott had to stay home to take care of the new puppy the Jenkins added to their family a few weeks ago.
Thursday, Day One Adventure – We left Shanghai at 8am to arrive in Yangshuo at 10:20am – on time! We gathered our luggage and piled into the bus. The first stop was a beer stop. Everyone reported is was the worst beer they ever tasted.
We arrived at Mountain Retreat to check-in to our rooms. We had the same beautiful view from our balcony.
The children ran straight for the dam to play. They love digging the seaweed out and piling it on the dam. Now, if we told them this was a job they had to do, it no longer would be fun.
We enjoyed a long lunch on the tables outside while the kids played. It was a warm afternoon to enjoy the beauty of Yangshuo.
After our long lunch, it was time to begin the bamboo raft adventure at 3pm. We piled into the vans to drive up river to the starting point. This year, we needed 14 rafts for this crew. The rafts cost 150rmb ($23) per raft.
Emersyn raft partner was Danielle. Mary purchased water guns for the kids! Oh, they are going to be wet and cold. They were not the best of quality and most were broken by the time we arrived at the Mt. Retreat. The cost of 5rmb ($0.80) might explain the quality issue.
This is the first year we have allowed Eleri to go with another kid. In the past, she has gone with Jim on the raft. We figured she was old enough and no one has fallen in river except the first year with a little help from Jim. Eleri was enjoying the adventure with Riley.
As we are floating down the river, I hear Faith, “Oh, Eleri fell in, Riley help her” (in a southern accent). We didn’t see it because we were ahead of them. Faith said she fell in head first and bopped right back up. She climbed on the raft and was ready to go. Luckily, I had brought jackets for the girls since it can be cool at this time of the year. We stripped Eleri of her wet t-shirt and put her dry jacket on.
At the end of our trip down the river, the men pull the rafts up to the Mt. Retreat banks. By the time we got home, the warm sun was setting and I was cold. Eleri was very cold from sitting in her wet shorts all afternoon. We went up to the rooms for a long hot shower for the girls.
We had Thanksgiving dinner at 7pm. The staff set up the private dinning area for our gang to enjoy our feast. We enjoyed a delicious meal of turkey, beans, potatoes and pumpkin cheesecake. The potatoes were a bit disappointing and I love my mashed potatoes. We all brought wine to compliment our dinner for a lovely evening shared with friends. After the dinner, the gang of kids (14) were busy playing hiding and seek in the dark. They all have one rule after dark, no one is allowed down by the river.
Friday, Day Two Adventure – The Dads and kids were going on a bike ride while the Moms went shopping. We were off to explore a new village, Xing Ping. Xing ping was quiet and quaint. I picked up a couple of table clothes, a scarf and some cute hair ribbons for Elle. Since Nani and I are the room Moms for Ms Shepard’s class, we purchased the Christmas gifts for the children. We found these cute fish bags for 6rmb ($0.88). We added some silly bands and a candy cane – done.
After Xing Ping, we drove back to Yangshuo to West Street, the main shopping street. Xing Ping is about an hour away. After leaving the quiet village, West Street was too commercial. No one purchased much as it was the same goods at more cost.
We all enjoyed this sign. Mei You (pronounced Mayo) means “no have”. It is a word Chinese use all the time, especially when you walk into a store and ask for something. It is a shopkeepers automatic initial response.
From the report I got from Jim, the bike ride was fun. The three younger girls were done after a short ride while the older two were hungry. Elle was in the basket again this year…one day she will out grow the basket. Jim took Sophie, Erin, Riley, Kelly, Emmy and Elle home for lunch and a play down by the river. The remaining gang pedaled on. About an hour later, half came back and half rode all the way to the Dragon bridge (over 100 years old). They hiched a ride back in a Chinese truck.
Photos Jim took on the bike ride…no Mom – no kid photos!
Our dinner tonight was at Luna at the Village Guest House. The Guest House is a sister hotel to the Mt. Retreat. We had a delicious meal of more food than one person could possible eat. They seated the kids on one side and the adults on the other of the roof top restaurant. We preordered our food with this many people. I had ordered a side of garlic mash potatoes. My side came with no main. So I slowly ate a very large side order of garlic mash potatoes as they were getting cold…then, my chicken came with more potatoes. They were really good and made up for the potatoes last night!! We ordered 18 appetizers, 14 salads/soups for the adults, 26 main courses, 20 desserts along with about 10 bottles of wine. Our bill for the night was 445rmb ($65) per family. I was amazed how much we ate for such a little cost.
Saturday, Day Three Adventure – Jim had organized an adult ride to the bridge and back. He didn’t get to ride far yesterday since he was on kid duty. A group of about 9 adults left at 9am for the ride. The kids enjoyed a slow morning of playing at the Retreat. The adult riders pulled in at 12:20. We were leaving for rock climbing at 12:30. We climb with a group called China Climb. It cost us 225rmb ($34) per person for about 4 hours at the Rock.
This is Emersyn’s second year to rock climb so she was ready to attack “The Rock”. We had five ropes available to our group. The hard part for the kids was waiting for everyone to have a turn before climbing again. Emersyn got in two climbs this day. She climbed one easy and one hard rope. On the hard climbs, the kids are on the rock for about 45 minutes working their way to the top. It is amazing watching them all climb as they are so determine to get to the top. When they get down, they are exhausted!
This was Eleri’s first time to climb and the youngest climber in our group. She put on her special harness and was ready to go. She looked so tiny on the rock. She climbed three different times to about half way up…good enough for her.
Jim attacked the toughest climb first. It had an amazing view from the top. Jim was able to get in four climbs this day.
I climbed one of the harder, long climbs to the top. I picked it because I knew I was only climbing once today. Next year, I would like to get in more, but I enjoy watching the kids have so much fun.
After rock climbing, we went back to the Mt. Retreat for showers and dinner. We grabbed the fire place spot before dinner and we were unwilling to give it up. Jennifer brought marshmallows, Mary brought chocolates and I hand-carried the graham crackers for our smore treat. Chris, the owner of the Retreat, and his wife Nam were in town this weekend, also. It was nice for Jim to be able to catchup with Chris again this year. Jim and Dan staked out the fire place area with Chris and Nam. We ate our dinner in the private dinning area. Faith and I bought food to Jim and Dan with strict orders to not leave the fire place. Mt. Retreat serves very good Chinese food.
After dinner, we all enjoyed the smore treat. Nam had never had a smore since it is an American thing. I forgot to get a photo of the smore assembly line!
Emersyn at the fireplace in her Aunt Nancy hat she wore all weekend.
Sunday, Day Three Adventure – Our last morning to enjoy the fun & beauty of Yangshuo. We had breakfast at the fireplace. We have enough early birds in our group that we have had breakfast every morning at the fireplace.
The gang of trouble, the last photo before boarding the bus back to the Guilin airport.
Another fun Thanksgiving Adventure in Yangshuo. Everyone enjoys the adventure, the outdoors and the fun of sharing it with friends.