A Day with the Kids

I really shouldn't call my students kids because many of them are the same age as me. Anyway, the students and I biked to Moon Hill, a landmark in Yangshuo. We were pretty proud of ourselves after climbing the 1,400 steps or so. We met an old woman at the top who makes the trek up the hill every day. She knows that hikers who make it to the top need water, and she's right there to sell it to us. I already had my own water, but I did write a message in her little notebook. She asks foreigners to write whatever they wish in her book, and I authored a little note myself. I noticed the book contained messages from many places.
Afterwards, we biked to Mama Moon's Restaurant, a famous local place on account of its owner, Mama. Mama can speak basic phrases in at least eight languages. In my brief time with her, I spoke English, French, and Italian. The best Chinese food I've had in China (nothing resembling U.S. Chinese takeout) also was found here.
After the restaurant, we visited the water cave, an underground labyrinth of trails and rivers. We entered the cave by boat and the entrance resembled the phantom's underground lair in "Phantom of the Opera". The cave revealed humongous caverns, and the few lights inside cast our shadows against the walls as we climbed up and down the trails inside. Midway through the tour, we were greeted with the cave's main attraction, the mud math. The bath was so much fun, easily one of the most fun experiences I've had so far here. We played in the mud for about half an hour. The cool thing about swimming in mud is that you cannot sink, so we just floated on our backs with ease. After playing in the mud, we rinsed off in a waterfall that fell from a hole at the the cavern's top. The waterfall was about 150 feet high, and it did a good job cleaning us off.
We rode back into the city and headed to see a show called Impression, Liu Sanjie, a famous Chinese love story. The show is staged ON the Li River and involves over 600 performers each night. The score is beautiful (I bought it) and the lights involved to illuminate the surrounding hills and river were just incredible. Now my time in Yangshuo is winding down...