Dopo 5h DI TAXI in Cina siamo arrivati qui! 🚕

Dopo 5h DI TAXI in Cina siamo arrivati qui! 🚕

I don’t know what our heads told us, but taking a taxi for almost five hours was the only way to see everything we wanted to see. But who has ever been to one of the oldest Yao village? The largest Yao settlement in the world, or to the underground river of Lianzhou, on a roller coaster, in the mountains? Well, someone for sure, but who takes a taxi for almost five hours in China? We leave early in the morning from Guangzhou with a taxi booked the day before on DIDI via AliPay. Okay. Okay. There’s always a taxi available, especially if you book in advance. Just over an hour and a half’s journey. Oh, you can also get here by train, but then it’s a 40-minute taxi ride, so we might as well do it this way. It’s like unlocking a new map in your brain, places you’ve never seen before that don’t resemble anything. We’re in Quingyuan, we’ve arrived in an absurd place in the middle of the forest. It all looks like a Flinstones theme. Did you sleep? Good. We’re heading to the Tourist Center. He has an amazing water gun… but I think it’s a place where people also come to swim because they’re all these, uh, ladles they sell on the street and I don’t understand what that is. Actually, it’s really chaotic. Welcome to Gulong Canyon. Obviously, we’re the only Westerners. Anyway, if you’ve already bought tickets, just go to the self-ticket office, scan your QR code, and go in. There are lockers where you can leave your stuff, but we’re not sure how it works; you have to call the cell phone number, so to avoid any problems, we’ll skip it. We came pretty light; actually, there’s a bus to catch that’s right here. It’s a gigantic area perched on a mountain in the subtropical forest. Are there really dinosaurs there? What is that? Good thing they’re spraying us with a sprayer, because today it’s really so dry. Come on, let’s go inside the dinosaur egg. How much is it raining? Anyway, this is pretty cool. Here you can do a lot of water and non-water activities, considering today’s rain, everything was water-based. I don’t know why I always thought this jacket I’m wearing was waterproof. I was wrong! It’s like a big adventure park with lots to do. It doesn’t seem very in keeping with the narrative: Snow White with planets… there’s a Velociraptor. It’s known for its crazy rafting and nine waterfalls, one of which is the largest in all of Guangdong. Once we reach our first stop, it’s a tough hike. I like it. Pancakes break and they ‘ll refrigerate them for you on the spot. It’s good. You don’t understand? No. There’s a surprise. What is toothpaste? Oh my God. The surprise is that it’s 1000°C. There’s cream in it! Wow. Yes, but it’s prohibitively hot. Holy shit, it’s delicious. To get to the waterfall, we climb even higher towards the glass bridge. When you see the reels of the Chinese going crazy, throwing themselves to the ground because of the glass bridge and being terrified, it’s this one. I mean, it’s probably this one. I think there are others in China, but one of them is definitely this one. It’s a shame it just rained so they covered it with a rubber walkway to keep people from falling over, but it’s really beautiful and above all it’s, I mean, it’s just one of those bridges they make, it’s real. And can you feel it? And can you feel it being soft? I thought it was something for kids, but there are adults too. I also saw the grown-ups, I mean, it’s not just fake dinosaurs, but it’s a truly wonderful setting. It’s in the middle of the forest with waterfalls. It’s crazy. Here’s the mega waterfall. We’re going to see it from the Glass UFO Platform, a crystal disc suspended more than 200 meters above the ground, which, yes, is quite impressive. There was also the option to do this, but you can’t do it because it’s wet, but do it because it’s really cool, they put you in a harness and you cross the Tibetan bridge. Now we have to get to the other side. How much does it cost? 38 yuan, $5. Yes. And if you want, there’s also this bicycle that walks on the cable and goes down. Oh, we bought the tickets online on WeChat, but you can also get them directly at the entrance if it’s not too crowded. You can choose one or more attractions. We only chose access to the online platform, but once we got there we bought the other ticket, which was the entrance ticket to do that. which you’ll see shortly, because we saw that it could be done and we couldn’t not do it. [Music] There you go, exactly, now there are two ways to get down the mountain. This time we’ll do this, next time we’ll do the other. [Music] And here I thought: damn, I’m on a roller coaster, on a mountain in China, in the middle of the forest, but how is this possible? How did I get here? And how many of us could say we’ve done this in our lives? Not that it’s a fundamental milestone, but damn, how cool. [Music] In total, for everything we paid about $40 each. But do you know what ‘s the most incredible thing? You scan this upon exiting with WeChat, facial recognition activates , and for $3 you can buy the edited video with music and clips of yourself that play while you go down. I love China, but why can’t we do these things too? But we’re not stopping there. And anyway, we haven’t met a single Westerner. But who would come into the middle of the forest? Here in an hour and a half by taxi? Because you don’t know where we’re going next. We have 120 km ahead of us. We’re in a crazy place. Holy shit, it’s so crowded. It looks like a subway station. We book a taxi and drive another 2 and a half hours to reach one of the most incredible places I’ve ever seen in my life. You know those core memories, the ones you’ll tell your grandchildren about? Well, the visit to the Yao Millennium Village is one of those things, and anyway, we’re traveling exclusively by taxi, even for very long distances. You book via Alipay in the DIDI section, and we always have internet with us, and you’re like, “How does that work?” Use Saily! as our destination on the map was correct. We didn’t know who would pick us up the next day, how to talk to people in a remote village in the forest, if there was signal, or, above all, if we’d ever find the room we’d booked. In short, a real adventure. Okay, he dropped us off further down the road than the village because there are all the cars lined up here, all the big cars, by the way. I hope one of these is a taxi back tomorrow morning. We pay the ticket with some difficulty and go in. Yes, there’s a ticket to enter the village, so even if you’re just staying at the hotel. Wow! Rice paddies! Okay, so it’s complicated, but it’s fun, in the sense that everything has to be translated because they don’t speak a word of English, but just as we imagined. It’s an incredible place. There are rice paddies down there, but who knows. Where are we going? I mean, where’s the show we already paid for? Because we already paid for one? I hear the sound of shows. How do we find the owner of the room, especially? Because it’s not a hotel. Apparently the show they put on is a traveling show, it’s supposed to start at the beginning of the village and end at the end. It’s nice because no one really understands anything, but even basic gestures, like yes and no, don’t match, the directions. It’s a complete communication reset. There are so many people, and we’re the only Westerners, and you can tell they have different facial features than city folk. The mayor has arrived, I don’t know who he is, there’s a very important delegation. He gets out of the black car. Everyone cheers him. I don’t know if we were lucky and caught a special day or if it’s always like this, But there were really a lot of people, cameramen, drones, everything was super organized. These are traditional Yao dances with long drums. The drum is sacred here. In ancient times, they used it in these rituals to invoke wedding blessings, good harvests, prosperity, and there are several shows throughout the day, from morning to night. For those, you’d better check online. That wasn’t the show, because it’s still 5 minutes to 4:00, but we didn’t understand where the show is. I mean, if we ask where the show is, they tell us it’s here and then point us somewhere else. We climb into the perched village. Now I ask a dancer. And no, it’s not a show, it’s a deeply felt ritual in the village that still holds a very strong value and has lasted for over 1,000 years. This place is so cool. It’s basically just steps with a little river flowing next to them. Everyone greets you; they’re so sweet. Here’s the show! Here we are. It wasn’t easy. We missed the stage. The website says it takes place in the main square, but in reality it moves and you have to follow the leader. No, that ‘s not a show. Or was it something done ad hoc for the mayor who had arrived, I don’t know. We have to go somewhere else. We have to follow the singing and dancing sign somewhere else, but we’re there. Micro cats, how much did I sweat? That’s why we couldn’t hear the singing, because there’s no amplification. The Yao are one of the 55 official ethnic groups here in China, known for their attachment to the mountains, living in isolated villages built on terraces and traditionally farming. One of the last peoples to preserve certain age-old practices . So, to this day we still don’t understand what this thing was. Maybe we missed some pieces. Well, on the way back we ran into these guys who were actually doing this dance. They were really cute, by the way; when they saw us, they went crazy and thanked us for coming all the way there. Okay, we’ve definitely missed something. You have to arrive in the morning to fully understand. Well, there are people around the village doing things, dancing. Or maybe you could arrive in the evening and stay the whole next day anyway. It was wonderful anyway, but that’s not the highlight, it’s the fire show, for which we’d already bought tickets on trip.com. We follow the vague directions on Google Maps to get to the room and meet a lady who tells us to follow her. Luckily, we’re in Asia, because I would never have followed anyone anywhere else in the world. Okay. I don’t understand why she led the way, I don’t think who she was. So she just wants to accompany us, without ulterior motives. Okay, that feels weird. She leads us to a girl who walks us to the room. It’s her. Yes. Well, maybe since they were the only Westerners, they had noticed us when we arrived. Okay. Okay. The most incredible check-in of my life. You’re welcome. No, I’m completely soaked. This is our room for tonight. There’s a bed here, two beds, and there’s a spectacular view, actually, which I hope we’ll see soon. There’s a small bathroom here, nothing fancy, but all the houses here are like that, this one’s the most beautiful. And voilà. Oh, see? Yes, there’s another village over there. The only inconvenient thing is that you have to go all the way down every time. There are six million steps, but you’re happy to do it. And here they sell tons of flowers and mushrooms, herbs, flowers. The smell of the fireplace is fantastic. And I think I’ll get some goji berries. Bicycle Farming Branch, TV Clock Branch Library, what does that mean? Oh yes, and obviously we’re the main attraction in the village. A great self-esteem boost, by the way, because everyone will tell you how beautiful you are. Be aware that some restaurants close at 9:00 and others at 10:00, so after the fire show, which is at 7:00 or 7:30, there’s time to go and eat. We didn’t have lunch; we’re starving. It looks beautiful, but I can say the restaurants are all really nice and they all seem very clean. What do you want? Do you want rice in bamboo? There are lots of little places, lots of tea houses, but the show starts soon. 7:00 and we just have a meticulously prepared tea. I don’t know if it’s hunger, it could be. But it’s really good. Good. Incredible. They’re passing through here for the fire ceremony. Oh, but there are like relay runners lighting the torches. Wow. So, let’s follow. Let’s go with them. Let’s stop here. Let’s go with them. Beautiful. A fiery river of people. We absolutely didn’t expect this. Okay, this is the fire ritual. These are the people of the village. [Music] [Music] They’re all obsessed. How beautiful! And suddenly we found ourselves part of that river of people. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] We’re in the middle of a rice paddy doing a traditional Chinese ritual with fire. I mean, I don’t know. I don’t know. This is the path we took today and now it’s all lit up. The fire is lit, the dancing begins [Music] and the rain starts too, but it was almost pleasant. [Music] The singing begins. [Music] The games begin. [Music] What are you doing? Are you going without? I’m going too. And after the traditional game, the music blasts and we all jump in to dance. Mamma mia, I’ve always dreamed of dancing Chinese dance. I’ve got it, I’ve got it. Double step, double step. Now we’re killing ourselves. It’s a hell of a slide. Do you have it, do you have it? The more I think about what we’re doing, the more absurd it seems, especially the idea of having fun among strangers, in an unknown place in the middle of the forest and feeling safe. After a couple of hours it’s all over and we head towards one of the restaurants. We stock up on traditional food that you’ll later see in the video dedicated to all the food from the trip. And now we have to figure out how to get home. A surreal silence. Here I say goodbye to all the old people. It’s beautiful. They have ice cream. Ah, ice cream. Ice cream. I like ice cream. What could possibly happen to us now? We finally got an ice cream from the people who are all so curious. They always say you’re handsome. It’s true, they always say you’re beautiful, you’re gorgeous. How beautiful you are. We went back to our room and while we were relaxing like that, the power went out in the whole village. This is the fog. I think the mattress is an electrowelded mesh, but it’s a mattress. It’s like sleeping on the grill in the oven. We like it just the same. And be careful the next morning. Nothing, unfortunately it wasn’t like in the photos, because it’s often foggy here, but in the end we liked it this way too, come on. It’s still a magical atmosphere. We take a last stroll around the village. We say goodbye to all the residents and have breakfast. It’s fabulous. It’s a milky peach tea, but the wonderful thing is that he whipped the cream . Last night I booked the taxi on DIDI and it showed up perfectly on time. A final goodbye to the rice fields. Ciao, Yao Village, it was beautiful. We continue north, further and further from Guangzhou and further and further into the middle of nowhere. Another hour and a half through the Chinese countryside towards the Lianzhou Underground River and we arrive. Our driver was… Bye bye hello! Our driver was so nice, he translated everything we needed to know. He said, “Do you need an umbrella ? I’ll help you buy one. I’ll take you to buy the tickets.” It was truly delightful. But everyone here is so nice. They’ll help you if they can. He also asked us if we wanted a ride back. Exactly. He also asked if we wanted him to pick us up on the way back, but we’d actually already booked, so we didn’t need it. Yes, yes, but he would have given us a rest in the village. He didn’t know we had 500km to travel. It’s impressive how clean they keep everything. This place is rated 5A among National Tourist Attractions, so it must be the best. These are all the awards both restaurants and businesses win, so the more they have , the cooler it is. Ticket Office: We didn’t get the tickets, we get them here because we read that there shouldn’t be any noise except in the… What are you doing? What happened? Excuse me, I’m getting my passport. Got tickets? No queue. Let’s go in. And since we can never get enough, stairs. My goodness, how many stairs we’re climbing these days. But it’s always worth it, I have to say. There are always these amazing tours. This one in particular is beautiful. Then there’s this music from the speakers. I mean, get it? What animal is that? A modified cicada! Entrance, how cool. Okay, the impact is crazy, it looks fake. The reason is because they know how to light it properly. A little tacky, maybe, but at least they sell it well. But think of the Frasassi Caves, so lit, eh, managed with fog that even if it’s fake, is spectacular. Why don’t we do these things? The Beliere infahion T-shirt… killer. We enter the underground world, a series of tunnels sculpted by water erosion, formed over 200 million years. 60,000 m² of visitable surface. Three floors below flows a river of about 1.5 meters. I mean, do you understand what that is? With lotus flowers that light up. I mean, come on. The guide tells us a series of things that we try in vain to translate, but when you’re down here, words are of little use. Honestly, they did an incredible job. Now, this is a bit of a social media vulgarity, but I’ll pretend I didn’t see it. But the real luck is that it’s July and there’s no one there, and consider that in addition to being a refuge for the Yao people during wars and typhoons, it was an underground garden. Here, rice grew thriving thanks to the constant water and perfect temperatures. The safest refuge in southern China. But we reached the river and it was time to board. [Music] In the first video, I mentioned Small World at Disneyland. Well, maybe this one is even more so. It’s truly enchanting. At the end of the trail, you’ll find yourself in front of hundreds of barrels. How exciting is this? It looks like something out of Zelda. They’re barrels of liquor. What a spectacle! A liquor they only make here. Is there a restaurant? No, what is it? And of course I got it. You really need a bag of puffed rice. Oh, and there are plenty of stalls outside selling dried fruit and mushrooms. There’s a restaurant I recommend you try, and I’ll show you. And then we head back without batting an eyelid. A 5-hour taxi ride to Guangzhou with a stop to refuel. €127 in groceries. We could have also taken the bus to the nearest town to catch the train, but that alone would have taken 4 hours. If you haven’t seen the previous video, I highly recommend it, but don’t miss the next one. Over 20 minutes of typical Cantonese food in what will be the last China video before reaching Okinawa. We’ll see you next week. You guys be good.

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Benvenuti nella Cina rurale, quella dei villaggi e delle grotte! Abbiamo visitato la cascata di Gulogxia, un posto assurdo nella foresta, poi partecipato a un rituale millenario col fuoco nel villaggio YAO tra le risaie, per poi finire nel fiume sotterraneo di Lianzhou. Un’avventura lontana dal caos della città, tra il verde della foresta.

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