Blogs from Yangshuo, Guangxi, China, Asia - page 45

We arrived in the small town of Young Shuo after spending one night in Guilin with our newly-made Italian friend Francesco. Earlier that day, we boarded a cruise boat for what was to be about a 5 hour cruise down the picturesque Li River. The weather hasn't been the greatest since arriving in China and this morning was no exception. Gray clouds covered the sky as far as our eyes could see. Despite this, the natural beauty of this place shone through. On both sides of the Li River, steep karst hills rose up from the green valleys and we took a great amount of photos from the boat's deck. Of course this cruise was a tourist trap and vendors actually paddled up to the boat on bamboo rafts and tried to sell us tacky merchandise ... read more

This blog is continued from the previous entry. The middle of the night on the sleeper train I needed to go to the toilet. This was the moment I was dreading since boarding the train. 3am and a squat toilet awaits. I got dressed shoes and all, as I had been warned about the floors in the toilet. Grabbving my flushable wipes I made my way stumbling downt the dimly lit rattling train. Yes - the toilet was as bad as was reported. I did my business and flushed - imaging my effluent running out under the train. They lock the toilets when we stop at stations - one assumes because a flush ejects the waste onto the tracks and that would be unslightly at the station. I washed my hands with the water on the ... read more

After the train story we reached Yangshuo - near the city of Guillin - famous for its amazing tall and steap granit hills. It was raining when we got down the bus - and like two hapashim we looked for an hotel. Noa with her ninga turtle look and I am carring the bag and the trolly which is not very comfortable in rainy weather. we found the "lotus hill hotel" just in front of the river, with our own balcony, where we enjoyed reading and drinking coffee with malbin. We did the general staff - a cruise on the river (seeing the great granit hills), window shopping in the nice midrachov full of chinese on their new year vacation and many stores selling faked North Face jackets. There are many western style bars/coffee/resturants. On ... read more

Saturday all of us went on another bike ride with an American girl we met that morning named Nicki. (We were also joined by Dave and Sean's friends Dom and Sophie, who arrived thursday night.) This time we moved north along the river instead of south. (or maybe it’s east instead of west.) Dave claimed to know of a good place to go swimming. We moved off the path, through some rice paddies and gardens (the people were very friendly), pushed through some bamboo and finally found the river. We parked the bikes, stripped and jumped in. AHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! COLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Everyone wanted to swim across the river, but someone needed to stay and guard the bikes and our belongings, so I volunteered. I have to admit I was pretty bored, until a couple of little girls ... read more

In China, you never can escape the feeling you are in a country with 1.3 billion people. Despite that, and our travelling slogan - Always Look Up (China is still catching up on modern waste disposal) - this is a beautiful, mystifying and magical place that for us has lived up to our dreamy image of classic China. The landscape in Guilin and Yangshuo is stunning. It is littered with vertical karst limestone spires jutting up between the meandering lifeblood of this region - the Li River. The ever present mist and haze (although frustrating at times) only adds to the mystery, creating a real life serene watercolour. We spent the first couple of days exploring the town (only 1.3 million) of Guilin. Chinese New Year has been in full swing, and street markets cater to ... read more