If there is such thing as nirvana (heaven on Earth) this might be it.  For the first time in my travels I actually thought I could live here for awhile.  In fact I even looked into jobs teaching English here and they seem to be very easy to get.  I guess I have something to think about now.  Anyways, I woke up early today and saw the sun rising over the Li River as I had breakfast.



After finishing breakfast I hopped on a scooter (driven by a hotel employee) and went to the bus station.  From there I took a 1 hour ride to Yangdi.  Here is a picture of what the countryside between Yangshuo and Yangdi looks like.



As you can see there is lots of farm land amongst the Karst Mountains.  Once I reached Yangdi (and my bamboo raft for the morning) I was greeted with scenery like this.



Here I am enjoying the ride.



Here are some of the locals I met along the way.



I saw quite a few small herds of water buffalo throughout the trip.  Some were grazing on the grassy banks of the river and some (like the two above) were keeping cool in the water.  Then as you can see things got very relaxing.



It was warm out, but there was a nice breeze.  I could have stay on that boat forever.  However, it did come to an end eventually.  Upon exiting the boat I ran into a couple of guys from France.  They had been interning in Shanghai for about 4 months (they were Frenchmen selling Australian wine in China) and they were now touring the country for the next month before heading back to France.  These guys have been living all over the world for the last 5 years.  In fact they were hoping to get permanent jobs in Shanghai.  I just thought it was interesting how they just went wherever they could find jobs and seemed to enjoy whatever life has to offer them.  Anyways, to get back I had to take a small 3 wheeled taxi (like a tuk tuk) down the bumpiest road ever to get to the bus heading towards Yangshuo.  The ride was so rough that I had to sit in the middle of the seat because I was afraid I was going to bounce right out the taxi.  Once I got back I was starving so I had fried noodles with pork for lunch.



Another delicious meal for less than $2.  Later that afternoon I went down to the river and just sat there with my feet in the water.  It was very relaxing.  Even with the hawkers coming by every 15 minutes or so trying to sell tours or some kind of souvenir.  Sitting there I ran into a few locals I had talked to in the previous days and we talked some more.  The people are very nice here.  Sometimes I feel bad for not trusting anyone, but being a lone traveler you have to be that way to avoid potential problems.  I hope I come back again someday with another person so I can let my guard down and just truly experience all that Yangshuo has to offer.  One of the locals I talked to was trying to sell me a tour earlier in the day and I thought it was funny how we were able to have a regular conversation now that she was off work.  I just always pictured hawkers being on the job 24/7.  But I guess if you think about it they are normal people too.  When they are working they are just trying to survive and doing whatever it takes to make their money.  Another interesting thing I was told today is that the local merchants charge foreigners more than Chinese people from other parts of China because they assume foreigners have more money.  This guy I was talking to was saying that when merchants see foreigners all they see is dollar signs.  I guess that is just the advantage you have when you can speak the language.  However, even paying inflated prices everything is still pretty cheap here.  So after having all these conversations it was time for dinner.  Tonight I had sweet and sour chicken with steamed rice.



It was pretty good.  I must say I have enjoyed every meal I have had so far in Yangshuo.  Well that wraps up another wonderful day in paradise.  Tomorrow is my last day in China and I am off to see Silver Cave.