With Southeast Asia in the rear view mirror, we headed back to the Middle Kingdom for the third time this year. Given China’s strict policy on swine flu, our biggest concern (other than missing the flight, natch) was making it past the quarantine officers at Guilin International Airport. Unfortunately, some bad dim sum in Katie’s stomach was conspiring to make that as difficult as possible, striking at the absolute worst moment: after clearing health inspection, but before passport control. It’s a no-man’s-land with nothing but immigration forms and security officers, and no bathrooms to speak of. Katie endured bravely, though, and we make it to baggage claim without incident.

Yangshuo 阳朔县

Having already seen Shanghai and Beijing, this time around we started in the more rural Yangshuo are, which is famous for its natural beauty. The innumerable limestone karsts here have featured prominently in Chinese art for millennia, and we found the foggy landscape along the Li river breathtaking at every turn. Before starting our lazy river cruise we did have one more bus-related incident, although this one was more about saving face than saving skin. Road workers—seeing perfectly well that our bus was passing—decided to dump a huge pile of boulders directly in our path, which led to about 45 minutes of angry Mandarin yelling and most of the passengers choosing to walk the last several kilometers. Finally, reason prevailed and they allowed the bus and lots of backed-up traffic to pass.

Most of our travels find us climbing something, and Yangshuo was no exception. Near our hotel, on of the karsts had formed a natural arch the locals call Yuèliàng Shān (月亮山) or Moon Hill. What’s another 1300 steps between friends? We hadn’t had our fill of cycling yet, either, so the following day we embarked on what would become our second, even more epic inadvertent ride of this trip. Our goal was to head downriver to the small town of Fuli, where Chinese fans are hand-painted the old fashioned way and exported to the world. We did finally make it there, but only after uncountably many wrong turns and bad directions along the way. What’s more, we only had about an hour of daylight left for the ride back (it had taken us nearly seven to get there). With renewed resolve and endurance we didn’t know we had, we made good time over the last 25 kilometers despite only the occasional headlight to guide us towards the end. Once again, the sights en route were worth the pain, as we got a real glimpse into rural Chinese life—a view of this country invisible from Beijing and Shanghai.

Xian 西安

Our next stop was the central-Chinese city of Xian, which was once the imperial capital, but is today the thoroughly modern, third-largest metropolis in China. But what brought us here (and thousands more) was the famous army of terracotta warriors, dating back to the third century B.C. and one eternally paranoid First Emperor. The Discovery Channel had taught us that each soldier was unique—down to the tread of their shoes—and on site we learned that the army provides a study of ancient military tactics. This crazy Qin Shi Huang even had terracotta reserve forces on hand for when the front lines went down in the ethereal fracas. Historians were not kind to this guy, so the most grandiose tomb outside Giza went completely unknown until some peasants decided to dig a well in 1974. I’m not sure where archaeology fit in with Mao’s Great Leap Forward…

The city of Xian itself provided a few interesting experiences, including a chance bus ride with a very eager Chinese man who filled us in on his life story and career plans in America. We weren’t sure of his motives at first—traveling has made us cynical—but it was interesting listening to how he chose a second child over his government job and had taken a young American under his wing in exchange for help learning English. Th the last stop, we finally got a word in to say goodbye and wish him luck on his five-point plan for making it in America.

Xian also boasts a vibrant community of muslim Chinese (the Hui), including on of the biggest mosques in China. We had a great time eating our way through the city’s muslim quarter, gorging on all sorts of breads, soups, noodles, pastries, and candies. We had to roll ourselves out of there, but it was cool to see a totally different side of Han China.