Yangshuo Drift

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Yangshou

Despite the overcast sky and slight drizzle of rain the cruise downstream the famous Li River was pleasant -chugging past craggy peaks and semi-submerged water buffalo doing what ever it is water buffalo do. A fitting journey to the legendary Yangshouz, which has been a backpacker hangout for many years. The whole gamut of western food is on the menu and we must admit that we indulged in our weakness. This was particularly spurred on by our last crappy meal in Guilin!

Another attraction beloved of Chinese tour groups in Yangshouz, the 'Light Impression Show.' It has a cast of 2,000 people/actors and takes place on a lake surrounded by limestone karsts. The actors use flat bottom bamboo rafts to move around the lake, but it looks like they're floating on water. The choreography, lighting and timing are truly amazing, and I made a mental note not to miss the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics 2008.

One of my highlights of China - We decided to go river rafting. What started in a couple of Chinese tourists splashing a bit of water at each other somehow escalated into a good humoured mass water fight - the Brits (us two!) verse everybody else!! Needless to say being the only non Chinese there we completely soaked from the ice cold water before we even began! Now, this was not normal river rafting, since there were no paddles involved. It was basically river drifting, with both of us in an inflatable boat (with a leak), and we had no control over where the boat was going, it in flipped over once! All in all we had a great day with the fun loving Chinese.

These experiences highlight something very evident about the people of China. They are wonderfully friendly and helpful. Almost all of them want to assist you, have their photo taken with you or just say hello and welcome to China when you pass them on the street. With the exception of all the photo shoots (which I don't mind!), you just don't get anywhere near the same level of harassment that you can get on the streets in the rest of Asia.

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