Best Place in China!

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Sooo, we got a bit behind with the Blog!! Busy, and the S.E, Asia is oo hot to sit at a computer= too much sun to be enjoyed after chilly China!! but hee goes: Yangshuo!!!- Probably our favourite place in China!!

We had a bit of a epic journey down to Yangshou from Beijing, pretty much most the length of China, 5am start, flight, transfer at Xian! then 2 buses, got scammed by a fake hotel rep, but with the help of the lovely girl at our hostel we came out of it all safe and sound- except almost getting conned in to staying at a crappy hotel rather than the YHA hostel we had booked! This resulted in a bit of a night out as we felt the need to 'relax' the stress the cheeky Chinese man- travelling China is such a mix of highs and Lows- when things go right = or Wrong!

Southern China is much warmer than the -5C blizzards we had in Beijing so that was great! and we ended up liking Yangshou soo much we extended our stay here!

Yangshuo is about 1hour south of Guilin, and is set in the most stunning Karst Landscape (check out our climbing photos) its a touristy, but tiny cute little town! lots of cafes and a bit of a climbing mecca- home of Chinese climbing, even has a bar with a bouldering wall! pretty cool!

We booked a 1/2 day first of, with spiderman 'paul' a chinese guy who was one of the first climbers in Yangshou- climbing started in the area in about 1994 (Todd Skinner) if that means anything to you! did a few 5.8 routes at an area called the wine bottle - cos it looks like one! next day biked up to the Famous 'moomhill' the ultimate climb- google it!! think the climb/ walk up to the arc was enough for us for the mo!! soo steep, but these little Old Chinese women follow you all the way up- just to sell cold water at the top, now that is devotion, not to mention putting me to shame with the speed they flew up there!

We enjoyed being outside climbing so much we decided to book the 3 day course, with our own guide, and then Paul and an American Guy, both very good, just came along to climb too!! good to watch the pros- showed us some balance work and bouldering! the next Day started of drizzly, but the weather is crazy here and one place its raining, the next its HOT!! went out in fleece and combats in the morning was sweating and burnt by lunch time!! did some harder routes, 5.9 and 5.10s with amazing views out just over other lumps of rock and paddyfields and lil farms!!
Next day we went to a rock called the "Egg" cos it looked like an Egg! Was soo hot in the morning we started on one face but decided it was too hot so moved to the shady face! did 5.8- 5.10bs so pretty impressed with ourselfs!! ached after two days so had the next day off, and it rainded all day, cold again so thinking about the sun in Thailand!!!
Last day was cold!! Dry but only 8C out so was pretty cold for climbing= fingers froze, went to a place called "Low mountain" as it all over hung so created a little shelter, did some 5.9 and a 5.10a route, but soo cold we called it a day early!!
Yangshuo is such a nice friendly place, good restuarants, food, BBQs and a real mix of locals, travellers, and Chinese tourists! There is even an English college there that gives you free beer if you go and talk to the students!! We spent the night trying to learn Chinese rather than helping with their English!!

Nite Bus To HongKong Next......................................

p.s. The scar I have manage to gain in China- (see top lip) is not a comedy "Hitler" style Tash, but an unfortunate incident: involving a power cut, 'Chinese'- style toilet and a Door!!!

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