We hebben al weer 3 dagen geleden Yunnan achter ons gelaten en daarmee afscheid genomen van de Tibetaanse, Naxi en Bai bevolking (veel authentieke dorpen). Momenteel zitten we in de aangrenzende provincie Guangxi in de bekende plaats Yangshuo, hier komen we meer buitelandse (en ook nederlandse) toeristen tegen. Na aankomst op Guilin airport zijn we op Chinese wijze (rechts & links inhalend en toeterend) naar ons hotel gebracht, blij dat we konden uitstappen en snel nog even het drukke centrum konden verkennen. Leuk maar erg toeristisch met de bekende winkeltjes, barretjes etc.. De volgende [View Full Entry]

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an overdue post yet again. somehow ive lost the impetus to blog; not as psyched for it as with my previous sojourn. its really an acquired skill; an art of sorts, to live by the day and to function without an agenda. as pegs would say, 'to dysfunction into function'. its almost 2 wks in yangshuo now; and the dream-like karstscape is really surreal, ethereal and picturesque all at once. its an unassuming little town abt an hr off guiling, yes you read right guilin haha. the closest semblance to that we have back home is the conspicuous and almost obnoxious [View Full Entry]

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so it took fucken ages to get to Yangshuo, its such a awesome place and i will definitly go back there when i go back to China. so from Wuchang we took a 5.5hour bus to the tain station, the train then took 14 hours to get to Guilin, we arrived in Guilin at 6am and then got a bus Yangshuo which took maybe an hour or 2 i dont remember, so we saw the sun come up in the amazing landscape, there are rocks/limestone/little mountains just scattered across the landscape, its so beautiful and amazing to see. so we got [View Full Entry]

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hey fellas!! know this is really late sorry this took forever. been inundated with texts and emails aplenty promulgating the dangers and perils of the recent earthquake that inflicted china. really gotta thank the big guy up there He's been really good. props to you guys too appreciate the concern i feel vey loved haha. im pretty far off the afflicted area so everthing's pretty safe here. we're now in yangshuo its a quaint little town thats still pretty much an idyllic getaway. i wont say rustic and unsullied per se cos china isnt quite like southeast asia where the populace [View Full Entry]

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(more photo issues, give me a time and the will 'im up there!) Arriving in China mainland was like a breath of fresh air - I had finally made it! No probs with the expensive, express train into Guangzhou, apart from the first brush with the infamous squat toilets while going through immigration! (Luckily I wasn't searched as I had the contraband Lonely Plant China on me!) Finding my way in a new country, through their tube system, at 10 o'clock at night, with no Mandrin was interesting but not impossible and finally arriving at Riverside YHA was a huge relief! [View Full Entry]

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It rained each day while we were in Yangshuo. But it absolutely downpoured on our last full day there. So, we decided to stay in for the majority of the day. We were the only family at the small hotel that particular day, so we had the run of the buildings and the grounds. The girls had a great time running around outside with their borrowed bamboo straw hats and playing with the local baby chicks and dogs. This was a great day for all of us and the rest was much needed. [View Full Entry]

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I went to cooking school today in Yangshuo at the Yangshuo Cooking School. It was a fantastic experience. There were 12 students and one teacher at a beautiful school about 15 minutes outside of Yangshuo. The teacher took us to the local Yangshuo market. It was a fascinating place with the most beautiful vegetables, fruits, noodles, and meats I have ever seen. I could have stayed there all day taking pictures. Once we arrived at the school, we learned the techniques to authentic Chinese cuisine. We learned how to cook five different dishes: egg dumplings stuffed with pork and mint, [View Full Entry]

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West Street is the main drag in Yangshuo. We went there each night to find a place for dinner. We also hid away in a couple of restaurants during major rain delays. The girls loved the sights and sounds of this place. What a great place to waste away the hours and do some people-watching! [View Full Entry]

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Yangshuo is what you would call a backpacker's paradise. There are hills and trails galore, and there are backpackers and mountain bikers everywhere you turn. On our second day in Yangshuo, we decided to hike up to the top of West Man Hill. West Man Hill is in the middle of Yangshuo Park. This "hill" seemed more like a huge mountain to us when we hiked up it because we had a five year old and a three year old in tow, and it was rainy, muddy, and the stairs and trails to the top were extremely slippery. We had so [View Full Entry]

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Our first day in Yangshuo. Wow is it hot and humid and rainy!! Since our hotel is on the opposite side of the Li River from the town of Yangshuo, we had to walk about 1/2 mile down a dirt road to see if a local boatman could row us to the other side. This was an adventure each day. And, since it rained every day we were in Yangshuo, you can imagine was the dirt road was like....really muddy and messy!! On our daily walks down the road we saw carefully tended gardens, beautiful rice paddies, lots of water buffalos, [View Full Entry]

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