Day 26 – Baiyun Exhaustion and the First International Sugarcane Games
Breakfast was mostly uneventful at Starbucks on the island, except for a scary “demon dog” stray that kept begging at the patrons in the porch area. It had red-rimmed eyes and white dirty fur, and so it was tipping the scale to creepy rather than sad (and I ALWAYS have pity for dogs).
Being Day 26, I was getting a tad weary of the constant walking and exploring. And it all came to a head on this day. Going to Baiyun Mountain had sounded like a good plan the day before, but now that we were walking and taking incorrect buses and generally not taking a direct route (Josh got incorrect directions from the internet), Marlie and I were already complaining.
We finally arrived at the base of the mountain, and Marlie and I took the cable car while Josh ran up the stairs. We had a relaxing ride, though it wasn’t terribly exciting, or very long. Josh actually showed up about 10 minutes after we reached the top, sweating.
The Baiyun Mountain area was nice enough, but there were a lot of other tourists wandering, and it was all things we’d seen before (overlooks into misty forest, stairs up to numerous tablets with inscriptions), so we didn’t spend much time there at all. It wasn’t disappointing or anything, but it was maybe a little more boring than our other adventures. Marlie and I rested and talked while Josh did more stairs.
We returned to the hostel, and reunited with Matthew and Andy. They hadn’t done much that morning either, though we all became acquainted with the nameless French guy in our dorm we’d met the night before. We invited Frenchie to dinner (I never learned his name. Or if I did, I promptly forgot it), which we decided would be the Subway a short walk down the street.
There was more teasing of Andy’s “Ben-ness” and discussion of how Marlie was getting tiny bruises on her legs. We determined it must be gnomes, punching her legs in the night. Plans for the night were also made while we ate, and none of us wanted to venture too far, so we headed off the island to Bar Street again for the cheap beers at what had been Andy and Matthew’s hostel.
This time unfortunately there were no tables available for us. We met up with another female British backpacker the Blighty boys had met earlier and the now seven of us went towards the “rivah” where we sat on ledges and talked and drank cheap beer.
We got a little bored, and so I suggested a stupid game that I’d played in the winter at Beloit. You found a stick, or a broom handle, or something long and stick-ish. You spun around it, making yourself dizzy, threw it on the ground and then attempted to jump over it. A really stupid game, but hilarious to watch others attempt. We could NOT find any sticks anywhere near, and so (I believe) Josh suggested we buy a whole stick of sugarcane, unpeeled.
We called the event the First International (3 countries representing!) Sugarcane Games. It was a whole lot of silliness, and didn’t last too long, but it was entertaining while it lasted.
We finally got a table at the hostel, and we chatted together with a girl who had a checkered shirt like Josh’s (that he’d bought at Meters-Bonwe in Zhuhai). We spent a long time debating on whether it was EXACTLY like Josh’s. We got a bit hungry soon after getting the table, and so we walked out past all the bars, hoping we could find food at the later time. We did, finding a more “Kaifeng” feeling local area. We all got delicious noodles.
It was already long past the time ferries would be running, and so we had to take taxis back to the island, and then to bed.
