Time Out in Yangshuo

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26 hours on the train + an hour long bus ride and we finally arrived at our hotel, the “Fawlty Towers”. We had a quick change and then late dinner at a local pub which is one of a few Aussie pubs in town. Yangshuo is a touristy town and has lots of western-style bars and food available but still has a local market complete with flattened rat. The scenery is amazing with huge peaks that jut straight up out of the ground like they have been pushed up violently.

The next morning we went kayaking despite some concern (by me) about the cool weather. Eight of us piled in to a beaten up old van and then paddled down the river for a couple of hours. We were splashing ice-cold water all over ourselves while our guide cruised along completely dry chatting on his mobile phone! We caught a local bus back and some of the guys were very wet and cold. We had dinner at a local bar and then went to a few bars looking for cheap beers.

We headed out into the countryside the next day on bikes through rice paddies and smaller villages. It was pretty wet and we all ended up with a fair bit of mud but only poor Lisa was unlucky enough to fall off and land on her butt in a paddy! Some of us kept going after lunch and climbed moon hill which gave us a nice view over the area. We finished off a busy day with cooking school where we learnt to cook 5 different dishes and then got to eat them!

We had a lazy day at our guest house the next day, eating a big breakfast and hanging out. The boys played some football (soccer) in the afternoon on an old basketball court surrounded by a crowd of interested onlookers, which included a buffalo and a few local dogs. The dogs look exactly dingoes, but the breed here is called Chinese Eating Dog for obvious reasons.

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Photos

Yangshuo Countryside
The mountains in this area looked like they were pushed out of the earth which is pretty much what happened due to volcanic activity

Cooking School
The best part was definitely eating all the food at the end!

At the top of Moon Rock
It was an uphill battle but we were rewarded with a view over the countryside and a close up of the moon rock formation

Mmmm Flat Rat...
It's amazing what you can buy at the night market...

The Chinese Champions League
As they played the locals called their mates on their mobiles... instant crowd