Idling in Idyllic Yangshuo.

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Yangshuo is the most beautiful town I have ever been. The crisp weather during the day was warmed by the sun, and at night refuge is easily taken at global cafe, just across from the alleyway where mokney jane's (guesthouse) is located, and whose free internet and movie room services (in turn for buying a meal) i abused shamelessly.

You can tell that during peak season (which currently it is most certainly not) this place is totally overrun with backpackers and noisy (experience from the one night when some americans decided to raid the rooftop bar at the guesthouse). But this time of year there is the rare and lovely oppurtunity of being the only foreigner in sight for most of the time (though for some reason the travellers seem more abundant at night, but then again yangshuo is just full of a lot more people at night).

Just wandering around we were able to see regularly old men playing cards, kids attempting badminton, shop owners playing hacky sack with eachother, or knitting their next sales. It just feels like your in an actual Chinese town, and though it is obvious that everything is polished to backpackers' whims and likings, the decided lack of said backpackers allows the real people of the town to make their mark.

Despite the 'must do' trips on bamboo boats and out to mountain trekking, lex and i stayed largely to the town, taking the scenery in the beautiful park (once you get far enough in), along the riverside (which delightfully totally changes character depending on the state of the tide), and at the markets (which provided some good buys).

Even during the nights, when tourist spotting is a bit more abundant, it was the locals who approached me on the first night, a group of giggling school girls practising their english and asking me about my hobbies. There even was a man who provided shoe shining services that would approach us so many times a day (sometimes only a few minutes apart), that it became a funny joke on both sides when the "shoe shine?" "no thanks" conversation was repeated time and time again.

The town almost seemed to be alive. Perhaps this is more of a comment on my sense of direction (which i am generally rather confident in), but little discoveries like 'the dynasty of dumplings' restaurant or a particular corner store that sold a hard to find but good type of biscuit would somehow disappear for a few days before turning up again in a perfectly sensible, but somehow previously unseen place. It all added to feel of magic which, though starting to fade towards the end of the stay as the surroundings became more familiar than fantastic, was a major factor in the charm, and enabled the ability to feel completely occupied with wandering around all day, reading and generally coming to a feeling of peace.

The best way to describe this town would be if the beautiful rock formations of halong bay were transplanted to surround a great little backpacker hide away, but with the backpacker's near absence. The zen of dalat and charm of hoi an are both present, (or for something a bit closer to home, similar to the charming feel of winter in the blue mountains), so basically its some of the best bits if vietnam rolled into one. Perhaps I get this feeling because the town is geographically not that far away from vietnam. Or perhaps vietnam and china are just similar. Only visits to more places will tell. At first I was disappointed that because it was low season i wouldnt get to meet fellow backpackers, but in many ways i think yanghsuo would be ruined if there were more backpackers here, so i am glad. I really did love it in yanghsuo, a fantastic way to start the stay on the mainland.

On the morning of our 5th day we took a bus to Guilin, then connected to an overnight train to Kunming which we had booked in advance...

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Photos

West Street
View from global cafe