Blogs from Yangshuo, Guangxi, China, Asia - page 9

Writing in retrospect I look back on my time in Yangshuo with a warm heart. The blissful summer sun, swimming in the Li, cycling the country roads, hiking moonshaped mountains, exploring abandoned caves. I can honestly say this is one of the most beautiful places in the country and I spent it with wonderful company. The unusually shaped Karst peaks famed for their appearance on the 20RMB note rise from the ground in spectacular abundance. In geographic terms Karst Topography is a landscape shaped by the dissolution of a layer or layers of soluble bedrock (normally rock such as limestone/dolomite).Which means that millions of years ago, the Yangshuo/Guilin area was a gulf and as the earths crust shifted the sea gave way to land and this stunning scenery was formed. As the mountains are made of ... read more

Back down the bottom of the hill at Ping An, near Long Sheng, I boarded a minivan for Guilin, which happily deposited me at the train station, where I knew a couple of value hotels were located. (I actually ended up in a slightly more upmarket one, The Cairns hotel, for 206RMB. Still pretty cheap and a lovely room. It’s so nice to be in a room where few things are broken, and with a bit more space!) I didn’t do any sight seeing in Guilin, but just wandered around looking for a restaurant. There were plenty of people selling fruits on the footpath, including freshly cut watermelon. I love that sort of watermelon. It was only 1RMB for a big slice, so I had several! Later, when in some other tropical places in China, such ... read more

Yangshuo – Don’t talk to me about electric mopeds! After a non-eventful bus journey to Yangshuo it was apparent on the bus ride there the mountains and scenery where exactly as described in the guide books. The panoramic scenery that stood before me was incredibly beautiful with mountains appearing from everywhere and somehow the layer of thin smog and mist that covered them made it feel even more amazing and more like a scene from a movie. It was like something out of Human Planet, although it did have one downside, because I could not stop looking at anything around me I wasn’t really paying attention to other minor issues such as the traffic and uneven terrain and therefore often walking out in front of the odd bike or stumbling over a particularly uneven path, thankfully ... read more

Day 113 - Yangshuo After some mild (unnecessary!) panic about losing our room key we left Guilin on a local bus bound for Yangshuo, the tourist destination du jour in South China. We had instructions to get to the hostel from the bus station and we'd even arranged to be met by the hostel at the bus station, which is cool. But we weren't dropped at the bus station, we were dumped somewhere on the edge of town and had to guess the rest of the way. We found it eventually, hidden up a back alley off the main strip and settled nicely into our home for the next 11 nights. We headed out to get our bearings walking along the riverfront, from where we realised how incredible this place is. In every direction you look ... read more

Eigentlich wollte ich nur zwei Wochen in Yangshuo bleiben und dann irgendwo anders hinfahren (Kunming? Lijang?). Jetzt bin ich seit genau vier Wochen hier im Klettergebiet Nummer eins in China. Es laesst sich hier gut mit Tonsai, Thailand vergleichen. Als ich Chinaclimb (www.chinaclimb.com, jetzt "Insight Adventures") im Voraus eine Mail geschrieben habe, beschrieb Simon Yangshuo als Tonsai, "but no beach, less drugs, good vibe". Ich kam an und uebernachtete erst einmal eine Nacht in Monkey Jane's Guesthouse, der definitiven Backpacker-Party-Absteige. Da ich dort unmoeglich mehrere Wochen bleiben konnte siedelte ich ins Dormitory des Bamboo House Inn um. Drei Euro pro Nacht. Die erste Woche war ich vor allem mit den Jungs vom Kletterladen "Insight Adventures" unterwegs. Jay P. und Wade nahmen mich gleich am ersten Abend mit zum Nachtklettern mit Stirnlampen am Wine Bottle Cliff. H ... read more