Since this kickstarter started, I kept thinking Baisha rings a bell, but it took me until today to realize that I was there on that same trip I made when I was in Guilin. And the biggest coincidence of it all, is that I went there straight after Guilin, so I took the same path as Ryo without knowing it! By the way, the train ride from Guilin to Lijiang (Baisha is located near here) took me 30 hours! Which means that Ryo will probably have to take the train, so maybe that explains that train he was hanging on in the Berkely demo....
I wrote an article on Baisha in my blog back in 2011. It's in Japanese, so most of you might not be able to read it but there's some pictures on there too so I'll post the link anyway. The second half of the pictures are from Baisha (starting with the old farmer standing near his crops)
[url]
http://world3languages.blogspot.jp/2011 ... -2011.html[/url]
I remember Baisha as a small, picturesque town in the countryside with a really peaceful and relaxing atmosphere. The people very friendly. Like that old farmer, he gave me and my companions some of his carrots for free.
The old man in the white doctor suit was some Chinese herb specialist that's supposed to be worldwide famous. Apparently he cured himself of some disease that was incurable at the time, and has helped other people with the same disease. He gave us some free "healthy tea" that was bitter as hell. The man was 89 when we visited but still looked healthy and energetic. I wonder if he's still alive, he would be 93 now. He seems to be the main reason Baisha is visited by foreigners, so maybe he has something to do with the story? Who knows...
We also went for some noodles at this eatery that all the locals recommended, but I remember they were not so good as the noodles were overcooked, ha! Maybe Yu-san will finally be able to make his dream come true of showing the difference in noodles depending on how long they were cooked at this eatery.
Anyway, don't know if this was of any help, but it's a magical feeling to realize that I've been there, especially since I also visited Luoyang and the Shaolin Temple which are highly suspected to appear in the future of Shenmue's story!
