A room with a view

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Up bright and early for our first day in Yangshuo. Was a bit surprised though, as I pulled back the curtains there was a massive green mountain, its a brilliant view and I didn't even have to pay extra!!! Unbelieveable! Yangshuo looks completly different in the light of day. This little city is surrounded by mountains on every side. So beautiful.

Anyways back to our first day, most of us in the group enrolled on a cooking class, so we set off from the hotel, which by the way is called Fawlty Towers (I kid not) and had a stroll through the local food market to see where our ingredients had come from!!! Quite an experience I can tell you that. Started off all well and good, started at the fragarnt and coulorful fruit and veg section, with loads of werid and wonderful specimens, moved on to the tofu and egg section. It soon went down hill though when we got to the live animal section, firstly there was the bird section, chicken, ducks and pigeons (yes the Chinese eat Pigeon all the time), then the section that had the rabbits and other kinds of vermin. The seafood section wasn't as bad, cause they are fish and not the same as a cute little rabbit. So we had a few massive eels, frogs, fish and other strange things. The worst was still to come though and I think will haunt me for life!!!
We then came to the dead animal section and the first dead animal skinned and ready for cooking was a DOG!!!! Oh goodness it was not a good sight. The was also other dogs in various stages of being chopped up. It really is werid how both country love dogs but it completly different ways!!! To round off our early morning at the market we walked past a pig head with a massive knife sticking out. Really wasn't in the mood for much cooking!
Cooking was real good fun in the end though and we made loads of dishes that were fantastic. Mushrooms, Tofu and Pumpkin flower stuffed with pork and onions, Chicken and cashew nuts, eggplant, and the best one, a local dish Beer Fish and yes its made with beer.

Stomaches full and bursting with energy we set off for some mud bath. Oh this was one of the highlights of the tour, really funny. The caves that we went down are called the Bhudda caves and are about 10 minutes from the town centre.They are called the Bhudda caves cause there is a formation in there that looks like a Bhudda(funny enough). Entering the cave it gets very dark and you have to do a bit of climbing, not much though. There was a short cut to the mud caves, I opted out as the gap was tiny and I am not really into squeezing though tight spaces. We then came to the mud bath. Its the biggest puddke of mud I have ever seen. It was so squirmy and dirty. After a while we were totaly covered in it, even going as far as putting our heads in it. It was a brilliant after noon I dont think I will ever forget.

If you ever go to Yangshuo I would recommend taking a boat ride down the river Li and guess what! Thats what we did. It was so beautiful, I think it gave me a real sense of China. Water buffalo bathing in the water, children palying around in the water and fishermen on tiny little rafts with their little hats on, all this whilst floating through amazing views. We rounded up the evening with a delightful meal in a small local village.

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Photos

Yangshuo
The view from our room

Yangshuo
A day at market

Yangshuo
Cooking area at cooking school

Yangshuo
Munching our finished products