The quiet side of China

When you hear about China these days, it might seem like there's nothing going on but huge cities and manufacturing plants with too many people and too much pollution. It's true, China's got a lot of that, and we saw our fair share during our month in China. (We once took an overnight trip to what we were told was a "small town" an hour outside of Shanghai where people go during the weekends to get away from the big city. Turns out, that little town had lots of skyscrapers and a population of a couple million!). It's easy to overlook how peaceful the country can be when you get away from the big urban areas.

Probably our favorite part of our time in China was heading inland and getting to experience a completely different side of the country - stunning scenery, quite little villages, and a traditional culture that hasn't (yet) been spoiled by economic growth. We visited the area near the small city (from our perspective - the Chinese might consider it a village) of Yangshuo in South China, which is well know for it's beautiful gumdrop mountains and rivers.

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A few photos from a bike ride through valleys and villages near our hotel. 

Fancy bridge
















Small rice field































Chili peppers drying in the sun

















I'm pretty sure they don't sell these trucks in the States...
















Farmland

We stayed at an amazing place right on the Yulong River called Yangshuo Mountain Retreat. We had a real nice room with a large patio overlooking some pretty incredible scenery - and for only $50/night. Crazy value. Big thanks to my friend Dustin for recommending this place to us. Below are views from the patio and breakfast area.

River scenes from bamboo rafting down the Yulong

Kids playing in the river, swimming around and jumping from raft to raft





























We went on a long hike one day down the side of the Li River. The "trail" switched off between both sides of the river, and went through villages and farming fields. A few times during the hike we had to hitch a ride across the river on a bamboo raft to keep moving along.












































I got my ass handed to me in ping-pong by a 7 year-old Chinese kid who took two of three games. Little guy had a forehand like Forrest Gump! In China, students are given English names in school at a young age. Thing is, they often pick these names themselves, and therefore you sometimes meet Chinese people with some pretty wacky English names. The 7 year old's English name was "Mr. Ping-Pong". Unfortunately, I didn't get a photo with the kid, but below is me playing someone closer to my age.


















Yangshuo at night

Temples

I know, I know, we're still playing catch-up. I swear we'll get to China soon! In the mean time, here are some shots mainly around Kyoto and Nara, an area of Japan known for its beautiful buddhist temples everywhere you look.

Some random pics from Japan

This week we're going back into the technological black-hole, aka China with no VPN connection (no blogger, facebook, etc...). So we'll have to try and catch up again next week when we're in Hong Kong and Bali! 

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Japanese Graffiti. It looks cool, but I have no idea what it says.

Some friends we met along the way in Kyoto.

A lovely Beatles tune sung by the Levinsons.

Ryan rockin' the karaoke air guitar

Oodles of Noodles

While beginning this post I had every intention of writing a quick sentence about how noodles originated in Asia. After digging into the topic a bit more, however, it sounds like it's a pretty controversial issue - some (I'm sure primarily Italians) claim noodles originated in Italy or in the Arab region, and others are convinced it originated in Asia. In the 1st century BCE an ancient form of lasagna was written about in Italy, which debunks one theory that Marco Polo brought noodle knowledge from Asia to Europe in 1295...from this it sounds like the Italians invented noodles to me. But, about 6 years ago ancient pasta was found in China that dates way back to 2000 BCE. Many are skeptical about this though, because apparently the evidence crumbled before further tests could be conducted. I guess we will never know the real story...

Regardless of their origin, noodles play a huge role to this day in Asian cooking. I'm sure there are thousands of different noodle dishes just in Asia alone--here are just a few we encountered in South Korea and Japan.

Fukuoka, Japan. Tonkotsu Ramen is an art at the food stalls in this city.

Gangneung, South Korea. Naengmyeon, the spicest dish I've ever had in my life. You use scissors to cut the noodles first, and it's served with a tangy, icy broth (which I proceeded to down promptly after eating the noodles).

Osaka, Japan. Chopsticks aren't just reserved for Asian noodles. Ryan here is demonstrating how to eat italian spaghetti, Japanese style.

Kyoto, Japan. Nadai Omen (Udon) Noodles. Put a few spoonful's of sesame seeds in the broth bowl, next add some veggies that were stacked oh so artfully on the plate, and lastly add a few noodles. Eat and repeat.

Kyoto, Japan. Soba buckwheat noodles with tofu and scallions. Simple and perfect.