My apologies to blog readers out there, I haven't been able to post any thing for over a week because the Chinese government blocks out all social networking sights. However, now I'm posting through my sister Leona, who I trust enough to not tamper with anything the author writes. As a test...If Leona Moore and Matt throop were to have children they would be the most hideous monstrosities ever to set foot on god's green earth. Love you Leona :)
     So without further a due, CHINA. I'll try to condense the last 10 days of my life to a short novel. If china has taught my friend Charlie and I anything, it's how to be much more street smart in a foreign country where at every turn some one is looking to take advantage. This fact shouldn't discourage future travelers from visiting this beautiful country. Because after a while it's like a game, who bests who, consumer or producer? In china almost every product and service is up for bargaining. Everything from getting our visas in Hong Kong to getting taxi rides in Youngshuo to purchasing food and clothes.
     Our arrival to Yangshuo, China was at 6:00 in the chilly morning, after being awoken by a hasty bus driver, about 30 seconds before being expected to gather our belongings and get off the bus. Immediately we were swarmed by 5 tuk-tuk taxi drivers asking what I assumed to be "where are you going" in Mandarin Chinese. In my groggy state I told them "cheap hostel, cheap hostel". Whether they understood or not I have no idea, but one of the drivers charged us 15 yuan ($2.50) each and took us to a moderately priced hotel. Which  after orienting myself in the city once the sun rose I realized was well within walking distance. Chinese lesson # 1: don't trust the taxi driver to take you some where before you know where it is.
    Once settled into our over priced hotel for our backpackers budget ( $12/ night, we pay $5/night now) there was a knock on the door. So I answered it and a man who worked at this hotel/travel agency came in, welcoming us to the beautiful Yangshuo and promised to come back shortly with breakfast. Twenty minutes later he returned with a delicious noodle soup with nuts,beef and leafy greens and started showing us pictures of him and his family in Yangshuo's beautiful country side. After about 10 minutes of polite ooing and aweing he began going over prices of guided bike rides, river rafting trips down the 
Li river, and guided treks or climbs into the nearby hills.
     I'm sure for some people this is exactly what they're looking for in a vacation, but for backpacking climbers, we don't want any guides telling us what's what and where. We want to find it on our own and get lost more times by our misleading directions we found on some half reliable Internet source.
    After rejecting the Chinese man's offers, we told him we've come here to climb and that's exactly what we're doing today. He persisted "I have friend to guide you up the rocks!!" Our response was "No, we can go our own, no guide necessary" again demanding "What, are you professional climbers? You don't have ropes or gear for this!" Wrong again china man " yes we do, would you like to take a look in our back packs? :)" So on that note I pursuaded him we were not interested and he finally left. Chinese lesson #2: don't let the travel agents or salesman of any type get a foot hold if you're not interested. NO NOT INTERESTED!
   The following days consisted of shaking off a week of sedentary travel by climbing and biking around the country side. On the third day in yangshuo we went to an English school to talk to the principal in hopes of getting a part time English job. He told us he had two positions available at his brother's schools in different places in china where we could have a paid internship, free room, free food, paid flights, and paid work visas. At first glance it appeared to be an excellent opportunity. So we went to the first day of training here in Youngshuo, where we discovered the offer wasn't quite as sweet as we had originally thought. We would have been flown one way to a city with one of the worlds worst air quality ratings. Then would be expected to teach 5 days per week, 4-6 classes per day, with 40-70 elementary aged Chinese children in each class. Needless to say we both decided to send the principal a "thanks but no thanks" email and go climbing :). Chinese lesson #3: don't judge a book by its cover. Or you'll end up wasting a perfectly good climbing day on English teacher training...blah.
     Since the English teaching distraction, my days have been much more pleasant. I feel like I've oriented my self in this unorganized madness of a tourist town. Yangshuo is a tourist town, but not many westerner faces to be seen, this is where Chinese people come to vacation and there is a small,  but present climbing community. The streets in china are so much more difficult to navigate than in the United States. Nothing runs parallel or perpendicular to anything. I recognize every rode by its approximate location and a restaraunt or bar on the corner.  The food in Yangshuo is fantastic, and fantastically cheap. The typical meal consists of rice noodles in a broth or mixed with some sort of sweet, sour, or spicy sauce, then a type of meat is added in small portions, very commonly pork and chicken. This meal usually runs 10-15 yuan ($1.50 - $2.50). If you want to spend an additional $2-5 a whole world of culinary deliciousness opens up. Everything from pork stuffed dumplings to plates of stir fried vegetables in garlic sauce to snail platters to duck roasts, the list goes on and on. And to top of the incredible restaurants, lining the streets are snack carts selling doughnuts glazed in chocolate made right in front of you, meat skewers with spicy sauces, fresh fruit stands, and strange wraps and small plates I can't even describe.
    In between meals I've been putting a lot of effort into climbing, especially these last five day or so. I've never had a time in my life where I can focus on a hobby that I love as much as climbing like this. Every chance I get I'm riding my rented pink bicycle to the crags to climb on the amazingly long, dead vertical or overhung routes. And the scenery around the climbing areas is one to rival the American west's. Every where you look dramatic, rocky, vegetation covered mountains rise from the agriculture land below with thick layers of fog snaking between peaks.
    I love this place, but because my visa will run out on December 30th I'll have to hit he road. My plan is to avoid flying around the holidays and save myself some money by taking buses down through china and Vietnam, then onward to Laos. I plan to spend some time in the Vietnamese city of Hanoi and in the climbing area Halong Bay. The maybe around mid January Ill catch a bus to Vang Vieng, Laos. Then I would like to ride the train through northern Thailand, stopping in Chiang Mai and Lopburi. This is all hypothetical plans, sounds good now, but who knows who I'll meet or where my back pack will take me. Final lesson of the day: don't trust a backpacker when he's telling you plans any further than the next time he or she blink an eye.
Until next time,
Zai jian  (goodbye)
-Jordan