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Published: November 12th 2012
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Room View
Our nice (but messy) private room. Yangshuo was our favourite place in the whole of China, by quite some considerate distance. There's no doubting you're still in China, but finally there's the carefree feel, wealth of activities, and eating and drinking options of a south-east Asian travellers destination. Not to mention scenery that eats the typical south-east Asian travellers destinations like a banana pancake for breakfast.
The signs were good from the start, our flight from Shanghai to Guilin was, like our previous Chinese flight, very comfortable. We then walked straight out of Guilin airport and onto the last two seats on a bus into town. As with every other bus journey in China, we were to the intense interest of the other occupants, being the only westerners onboard. This was exacerbated as those last two seats weren't together. My seat buddy was particularly interested in what music I was playing on my iPhone. I don't think he'd heard dubstep before. That said, I'm pretty sure neither has my dad.
We found the hostel fine. We were just having a transit night in Guilin, but the hostel was the best of the trip to that poiint. It had a nice bar,
Yangshuo Sunset
Here's the Yangshuo sunset I talked about. Don't get used to pictures relating to the blog appearing here, but I decided if there is one or two easily accessible on my phone, I may upload them to illustrate things. friendly staff, free guidebooks and quick Internet on which you could actually use Facebook and Twitter. As it was past 7pm and dark, we made the conscious decision just to stay in and recharge that night, taking advantage of all the hostel had to offer. Particularly the bar, which sold me and then dared me to neck the most horrific Chinese spirit based cocktail. Not wanting to let my country down, I obliged.
On the way to getting a bus to Yangshuo we attempted to buy the train ticket we hadn't been allowed to buy in Shanghai. However, as in Shanghai, we once again left a Chinese train station booking office empty handed. The reason we couldn't buy the ticket this time was because the train didn't depart from Guilin Station, but Guilin North. We then had a kidnap-free 'you wait here while I hunt for cash' moment before moving onto the bus station. There, we somehow managed to completely overlook the ticket office, and so were hustled onto a private bus (same cost) that proceeded to pick up more passengers from the train station we'd just lugged our bags from. Oh well. Thankfully the rest
My View
So I wrote this entry about two weeks after we were actually in Yangshuo. But at least I wrote it at a place that also has spectacular karst scenery - on a beach in Ha Long Bay as pictured. of the two hour journey was uneventful, and our hostel even sent a bloke to meet us once in Yangshuo. On arrival, we made the wise choice to pay an extra £10 between us to upgrade from a dorm to a really nice private room. That decision, plus the fact it was a fantastic place just outside the bustle of town, made our stay for the next four nights the most comfortable of the trip.
Yangshuo is a town located at the confluence of two rivers. It's particular draw is the spectacular karst scenery that surrounds it. Karst peaks are huge limestone outcrops that rise suddenly from an otherwise flat landscape. Halong Bay in Vietnam and Krabi & Phi Phi in Thailand are other examples of comparable karst scenery - but they're both coastal. Yangshuo is wholly inland, arguably making it all the more unusual.
The town itself became a classic backpackers hangout for travellers through China. Activities such as world class rock climbing, mountain biking and a laid back vibe not found elsewhere in China made it a must visit location that hadn't been blighted by the 'gap yah' set. In recent years, while the backpacker spirit remains, it has now been joined by plenty of mainstream tourists. This means that Yangshuo, nestled in its stunning physical location, is a strange, but fascinating blend of all comers. West Street, the main stretch of narrow pedestrianised street aimed at visitors is the epitome of that. By day, it is effectively a market, with traders hawking all sorts of gear from shop fronts at a pace befitting a sweaty tropical location. By night the hawkers turn mobile and the shopfronts turn into neon-clad nightclubs as conspicuous as Bangkok's most garish. The transformation is so extensive you can hardly believe you're walking down the same road.
Our opening day there was spent slowly walking the streets. We enjoyed the shops and markets, finally feeling happy with the selection of cafes and bars in China, and occasionally glancing upwards to see impossible rock formations rising from all angles. I can only assume I was distracted by those rock formations that evening when, amongst one of the many bars we frequented, Sophie recorded a famous Connect4 victory over me.
It was the next day that proved the true highlight of Yangshuo. A 30km+ bike ride along the Yulong river valley. Our hostel gave us the bikes, and a rough idea about direction, but it really was a case of just exploring and getting deliberately lost amongst the rice fields and tiny local villages. With the rock outcrops rising on either side of the valley, it was like riding through a scene in Jurassic Park. Except instead of dinosaurs, water buffalo would saunter past every few minutes. Although at various points along the river itself coach groups dropped off tourists for a bit of bamboo rafting, the nice thing about most of the ride was that it really was a case of getting away from the crowds that you find in most Chinese destinations. It was us, our bikes and real local villages of people working the land. Those people were also noticeably different to the Chinese people you see everyday - the dominant Han group. These locals had rounder faces and eyes, and were clearly of a minority Chinese ethnic group that probably populated the land long before the Han took over.
We cycled as far as a tall ancient bridge over the river. The owner of our hostel had said it is possible to jump off it, however nobody was at the time, and I didn't fancy being the first to try it. Instead I went for a dip in the river underneath the bridge, much to the amusement of a Chinese tour group who floated past on bamboo rafts and squirted me with water pistols.
The ride back was arguably even more serene than the way out, with time getting on and evening approaching. It also included a necessary hop across the river for us and our bikes on a bamboo raft. Just as we approached Yangshuo, we caught the ultimate sunset looking back down the valley, and then raced back to the hostel exhausted, and in my case, a sporting a fetching vest-shaped 'tan'.
Over the next few days, we happily just spent time around Yangshuo. We climbed various vantage points, enjoyed some great food (including surely China's finest humous and cheese board at a mountain biking joint called Rusty Bolt), watched DVDs, and milled around the markets. One particular market was markedly less pleasant though. I'd heard rumours of the locals' 'wet market' being in a certain part of town and containing a variety of exotic foods. We found it, and it was pretty grim.
I can live with the boxes full of jumping frogs, or the butchering of less traditional cuts from traditional farm animals. But, as we walked gingerly across the blood strewn floor in our flip-flops, and reached the back, both of us agreed that seeing the dogs on hooks, including ones that had been chopped clean in half, was a bit much. As were the kittens in cages awaiting the same fate. I wouldn't describe myself as squeamish, but I didn't want to hang around much longer after that.
Yangshuo hosts a much vaunted night-time light show on the river, directed by the guy who directed the Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony. We grabbed a couple of the cheap tickets (although still relatively expensive) and checked it out. It was pretty good, with some neat effects on the water between spectacular scenery, but probably not worth the hype, or any of the prices beyond the cheapest tickets. Also annoying were the other spectators (Chinese) who insisted on talking through the show at ridiculous levels.
By the time we were leaving Yangshuo, the weather was unseasonably turning a bit rainy, apparently due to a typhoon off the coast, and so it was no bad thing that it was time for our longest train journey of the trip, to Kunming in Yunnan Province.
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