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Published: April 2nd 2009
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We are in China!
We arrived here on Friday night and the first thing that struck me was how quiet it was. I was expecting in to be really busy. The whole airport was practically deserted. When we cleared customs there were only about 10 people waiting to pick people up. Thankfully one of them was waiting for us. He did not speak any English but with some general arm waving we got loaded into the van and taken to our hotel in Yangshuo (about 1hr away)
We have had 2 days in Yangshuo which have been great. The scenery is really beautiful here as there are big karst mountains everywhere. If you happen to have Chinese money to hand there is a picture of here on the 20 yuan note.
Yesterday we had a look round town before going on a kayaking trip. We did partake in a very touristy and cheesey photo opportunity! There are lots of fishermen who fish with cormorants around here. To make a bit of extra cash they let tourists wear there hats and hold the pole with the cormorants on. We don’t look silly at all!
The kayaking trip was
great although a little random! We got met by the guy running the trip who took us to the river and gave us our kayaks and life jackets. He then told us which direction to head and said that in 2 -3 hours we would get to a bridge. At the bridge there would be a woman waiting for us who would get the kayaks out of water and put us on the bus back to Yangshuo. Amazingly this was indeed true and there was a woman waiting for us when we got there. How long she had been standing there was anyone's guess.
As we paddled along we went past lots of great scenery. As well as the karst peaks we saw lots of water buffalo and farmers. We also experienced what it would like to be a celebrity! After we had been kayaking for a while a tour group suddenly appeared on the river bank. They seemed very excited to see us and you have never seen so many people grab for their cameras so quickly! We must be in hundreds of photos. We just waved and paddled by!
Today we took our lives into our
own hands and went on a cycle ride! We decided that it would be insanity (and certain death) if we went off on our own so we hired a guide for the day. It was definitely worth it as before we could get on the nice quiet roads we had to cycle across town. That was hair raising to say the least as everyone drives like a maniac, and although they are supposed to drive on the right that seems to mean somewhere near the middle or maybe on the left!
Once on the back roads we cycled through villages, past rice paddies, farmers ploughing their fields with water buffalo and fields of very sweet smelling orange trees. It was like being in a post card! As well as the cycling we also went on a very steep climb up moon hill. It is one of the karst peaks which has a hole in it. En route to the top we acquired a water seller. I think that she saw that we were very hot and sweaty and thought that we were an obvious target! The main advantage of acquiring her though was that she had a fan so
she kept fanning us!
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