Blogs from Yangshuo, Guangxi, China, Asia - page 7

Some photos of Yangshuo area... read more

Day 3 Initially, I was supposed to go north to Longsheng (龙胜) to see the Dragon's Backbone Rice Terraces (Longji Titian 龙脊梯田) today. That plan went down the drain. Upon speaking to my dorm fellow, the German Marco Polo, I realised that getting there and back takes a lot longer than the Lonely Planet guide suggested, so I decided to leave it for another time. Besides, there'll be plenty of rice terraces to see in Vietnam! Instead, my companion from the previous day, along with Marco Polo and I, decided on taking a bamboo cruise down the Li River (Li Jiang 漓江) while on our way to Guagxi's most famous tourist attraction - Yangshuo (阳朔). The ride over, to the spot where the bamboo rafts were to pick us up, was quite funny. The tour guide ... read more

Well our time of travelling is nearly over. We spent the last day at Yangshuo cycling down by the Li River and in the afternoon, as we waited to board our train, we chilled out and visited the markets near our hotel. The train left at 9.15 at night and we were on the hard sleeper class - that is to say, we were 6 in each compartment separated by solid sides and open at the front. The hard and soft refers to the number of bunks (6 or 4 resp) and not to whether the beds are anything but rock solid!! If it weren't for my trusty feather pillow that I took with me, I would have suffered dearly! And I must admit that ALL beds in China are like rocks!! The toilets on baord ... read more

Our $20 dollar rooms with balconies overlooked the river and rice paddies that fed on the river, and it was a perfect summer morning in the deep South of China. There is nothing quite so refreshing as waking up to the sound of running water. With a simple bowl of noodles for breakfast, we walked across the Dong bridges to the village. I was almost contemplating staying at the guesthouse for a year to simply clear my head of decades of city life. After a light lunch we drove to the Longji Rice Terraces, said to be amongst the most beautiful in the world. The lighting and timing prevented us from being able to capture it's beauty as well as in the numerous photobooks that you can purchase on the way up. It is hard for ... read more

My flight to Guangzhou went fine and I arrived about 8pm. After asking a few people I hopped on the right bus to take me into the city, and from the bus station I caught a taxi the last couple of kilometres to my hostel. The hostel was very modern with drinks and food available, and my 6 bed dorm room was fine. I also liked the location, just a short 8 cent ferry ride across the river to Shamien Island and a 15 cent ferry ride to the main part of town. On my first full day I just walked around the city area and Shamien Island. It was a pleasure watching the older people enjoying themselves in the park, dancing, singing, and exercising. The following day I caught the impressive underground to a large ... read more