MUD CAVES!

We went to one of the coolest places in the world last weekend. Seriously.

 

It's a little town called Yangshuo. It is home to some of the neatest places and sits on the west bank of the Li River nestled amongst beautiful karst peaks. These mountains have been nicknamed the "Dr. Seuss" Mountains for apparent reasons, and they are the stunning mountains I have EVER seen.

 

Anyways, I'll get back to my trip. We left Friday afternoon on a sleeper bus (Woohoo it was like riding on the Knight Bus!) for about 11 hours and got off at a street in Yangshuo around 4:30 in the morning. Apparently we got off on the wrong stop. (But can you blame us? We cant understand Chinese... at least it was the right city..) Thankfully, some other Chinese people who got off the bus with us knew a little bit of English, and they had a cell phone, so they helped us get a hold of our Hostel and get to where we were going. One of the best things about Chinese people is that you are always automatically friends, and they will always, always help you.

 

By the time we got settled at our Hostel, it was around 6:00 in the morning, so we waited for some of the restaurants to open so we could get breakfast. We found a great little place really close by that had amazing noodles in peanut sauce, fried rice and dumplings. We ate there a few times on our trip it was so good.

 

The next thing on our agenda for the day were the Mud Caves! The Mud Caves are huge caverns inside some of the 'Dr. Seuss' mountains, and we couldn't wait to play in that mud. To get there we had to bike, and we found a place that rents bikes for 5 kuai, which is less than a dollar, for the entire day! How crazy is that?? So off we went on our bikes. It didn't take long for us to get lost, however. Our Hostel lady didn't give very good directions (a common occurrence, sadly) and so as we circled around a few different round-abouts and rode down a few roads for a long time, we finally found the right way. Luckily, the ride was breathtakingly beautiful. This town is seriously nestled right in with these incredible mountains. The landscape was seriously beyond description. I wish I could post my memories on my blog so you could see it all so much more vividly.

 

After about a 45 minute bike ride we got the Mud Caves place. We had to take a very fast and bumpy ride in a van along a dirt road to get to the actual caves, and I must admit I was terrified that the van was going to fall apart on every bump it hit. (Side note about Chinese people: There is that misconception in American that Asians cant drive, and I just want to set that straight. They can. They sooo can. They might seem fast and crazy, but they are in way more control and waaay more vigilant than any American driver)

 

So, to get inside the caves you have to take a little row boat through a small entrance in the mountain, and follow that river a ways inside. Then you get out of the boat and you get to literally walk all through these HUGE caverns. Some of the rooms were at least 5 or 6 stories tall, and super wide. They were amazing. And the rock formations were so neat to see. They also had little wooden paths they had made, crisscrossing the river and climbing over the rocks. We felt like we were in several different movies haha. (To name a few: Walking through the Mines of Moria in 'Lord of the Rings', exploring our pirate cave where we dump off all of our pirate loot like in 'Pirates of the Caribbean', Working in the mines like the Seven Dwarves in 'Snow White' Hi Ho!!, On our way to find One-Eyed Willy  like in 'The Goonies', walking through Batman's Lair in 'Batman Begins', Finding the horcrux in 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince', rowing our way to Queen Mab's Dominion in 'Merlin', etc., etc.) 

 

We were able to go on a tour of the whole cave, which goes through 4 of the mountains, and the go back and play in the mud! So we changed into our swimsuits and dove in! It was WEIRD. You can float on the mud, and it is such a weird sensation. It is probably the closest I have ever felt to flying haha. You just are suspended, and it doesn't feel like you are touching anything! We got some great muddy pictures! (We had to buy them from the workers though, which was kind of lame, but of course they were way good pictures so we had to do it.) It was so weird. So after floating, rolling and flopping in the mud, as well as sliding into it, we hosed off and then made our way to the hot springs that were also inside the caves. The hot springs felt SO good! It was kind of like a waterfall, with little bath-shaped pockets on different levels with the water cascading down. You just pop a squat in one of the holes, and soak up the heat! We were able to relax in there for 30 blissful minutes before being ushered out into the cold.

 

That was the first adventure on this trip! Stay tuned, for there are many more to come!

 

Pictures:

First: Some of the mountains in the background of the Li River. Beautiful, huh?

Second: Me, Becca, Chelsey and Lindsay inside the caves. We got to climb on top of the formations!

Third and Fourth: These are two of the pictures we bought in the mud caves, so I had to take a picture of the pictures with my camera, so that's why there is a slight glare, but it was the best I could do until I get home to a scanner. Aren't we muddy? haha