The Happiest Place On Earth.

Last weekend we made our way to what I am convinced is the happiest place on earth. The name is Yangshuo & trust me when I say it is heaven on earth. Easily the most beautiful place I have ever been.

We started our journey by taking a twelve hour sleeper bus to Yangshou. I had a rather good time playing scum, laughing at the funny bus attendant & snuggling up in my bed. Yet some of the girls were unfortunate enough to get beds swarming with my least favorite bug... the cockroach. Ick. Much more disgusting than the cockroaches were the bathrooms we stopped at on our way there. It was a legit trough! Nastiest & worst smelling thing ever. There were also bowls of blood sitting outside the entrance, so that was exciting!

The women in the front was not happy that we took this picture. She yelled "NO!" shortly after it was taken. 

When we arrived at our hostel we weren't able to check in immediately which provided us with an opportunity to walk around not only the hostel but the rest of West Street as well. The hostel we stayed at was called Monkey Jane's & was an BIG party place. They prided themselves in their beer pong. People were even ripping the heads off of snakes to put into their shots. So that's something.

  It's rooftop bar attracted the classiest of folks & many eventful things took place as a result. The first day there we met a group of attractive British men & I thought I was going to loose my mind. I miss white guys. Anyways the hooked us up with a room but warned us of our "interesting roommate". When we met the crazy Canadian it was eleven o clock & she was already plastered. She proceeded to ask us where we were from over & over. I found her rather entertaining.

We then rented scooters [the traffic was giving me major anxiety] & made our way out into the country side. I've said it before & I will say it again Yangshuo is the most stunning place ever! I couldn't believe my eyes. 

Then we hiked up what I believe was 810ish stairs to moon hill. Totally worth it. So lovely. 

Big Banyan Tree was the next thing on the list. We checked out the massive thing, dressed up in tacky outfits & walked across the river. 

The rest of the day consisted lots of shopping & lots of food including PIZZA, checking out Monkey Jane's party scene & much more. I quickly realized I need to be more brief if I'm ever going to finish documenting this trip. Hence that concludes day one! 

Sanya.

I'm sick of writing posts about events because I have so much I want to share that is deeper than pictures of enjoyable times. My outlook on life is being changed every single day in such a beautiful way but I fear now is not the time to share details about it. 

Documenting my trip to Sanya is the next thing on the list. It was wonderful! [I feel like I say that about every single thing I share but it really was unreal. This world is so beautiful.] Sanya is considered China's Hawaii & believe me when I say it was that wonderful. What more could anyone ask for then splendid weather, good food & the beach? Here is how things went down... 

We took a sleeper train there & I listened to this song a lot. The ride was fourteen hours long but turned out to be pretty painless thanks to purple noodles, beautiful views, koalas [my new addiction], beds, room to dry our clothes, & the sweet old women that shared our compartment with us. The highlight of ride being the moment our train boarded a ferry & sailed across the sea. This small town girl thought that was pretty neat. 

The train station's squatters were awful. 

The hostel we stayed at was called Blue Sky [they took their name very seriously & decorated the bathroom ceilings like skies]. It was a hit! We ended up making friends [some more friendly than others] with the guys we shared a room with. Most importantly the beds had mattresses!!!

Laying on the beach was a dream come true & as always people were constantly trying to sell nonsense to the tourists. Oh funny fact. Sanya is FILLED with Russians[people were constantly speaking to us in Russian]. Many of which were quite fat & loved to wear speedos & bikinis. It really was something else. 

Food. Pizza Hut. Starbucks. Fresh fruit ice cream [my personal favorite & something we had multiple times a day], street food, & of course tons of Jiaotsi! Also, we found cheese [& tons of other American food] in a grocery store & about lost our minds. 

Going to Monkey Island was easily my favorite thing we did while we were there. The name speaks for itself in the fact that there were THOUSANDS of monkeys everywhere.Obviously not caged. Regardless of the sweet image I had painted in my head of monkeys I quickly learned that they can be terrifying. They were jumping on people's heads left & right & stealing food/tearing apart bags like it was nobodys business. But it was so cool & beautiful & fun. 

This monkey statue was holding a human skull. So that was comforting. 

The neighborhood chicken attacked me. 

The train ride home was pretty close to hell. We had hard seats. The ride started out lighthearted with a funny flirting session with one of the workers but quickly evolved into my worst nightmare. It was very uncomfortable, full of smokers & HOT. Asians were getting naked because they were sweating to death[I myself was wearing nothing but a sports bra & sheer tank]. When Chinese people think it's hot you know somethings wrong. PEOPLE WERE CRYING. Finally this grandma flipped one on a train worker [because her grand baby was screaming because he was overheating.] & they opened a window. You get pretty comfortable with the strangers you sit next to. I was fortunate enough to have a women we called the meditator sit across from me. She was literally in a different world the whole time. She was constantly mumbling nonsense & slept in every position possible. I thought she was funny & we wrote haikus about her. Oh & they were doing math on the train. No wonder Asians are so smart. 

My hand looks dead in this picture but apples & peanut butter kept me alive. 

Holy marathon post. Bye!