Yangshuo

Wow.

There is simply nothing else to say. Yangshuo is everything you think China should be in the countryside. It is absolutely, without doubt, the most beautiful place I've seen in China. It is on the back of the 20 yuan note. The landscape is striking. So now that the bar has been set (and set high at that), let's begin the trip.

Erin and I arrived at almost the exact same time in Guilin. Her plane landing right ahead of mine. We took the bus into Guilin, and stumbled around for a bit. Guilin is known for it's Li River cruise, which Erin and I had heard was extremely underwhelming. We arrived too late anyways. One person started to talk to us about it, and said the "special price" was only $75 per person. Yes, $75 US. I told him I work in Guangzhou, and that he was about 10 times high, and he promptly stopped.

The bus to Yangshuo takes about an hour, and runs along what is considered a major highway. Don't think freeway, more along the lines of country lane. A small village, by China standards, Yangshuo has about 300,000 residents. It's Minneapolis sized, but feels like Onalaska. We were able to walk the length of the city many times.

The main drag is West Street, or Xi Jie. It's a pedestrian street filled with shops, bars, cafes and hotels. It is where the action is on a Friday night.
We stopped for dinner at a local cafe. Almost all the cafes offer a mix of Chinese, Western, and Southeast Asian cuisine. I did not partake of the hot pot, however.
This is the bar we hit after dinner. We met two Brits who had just taken a hiatus from their jobs, and were travelling Asia. Lucky.After the Brits left, we saw the table next to us playing a dice game, so we inquired. Easy to play, although Cox has the worst luck in the world. I think she lost 65% of the games.
Of course, with enough to drink, karaoke becomes a real threat. This was the worst band ever, and my singing wasn't much better. They had no clue on how to play the western songs in the book, but they tried.

Saturday brought exploration. We had agreed to a sightseeing trip with a local, which at the time seemed like it may have been a bad idea. Most of the sights around Yangshuo are accessible by bike. So the trip started off with a bike ride thru the local scenery.

The rock formations are called karsts, and they're everywhere. This one was in the middle of the city.
Biking down a country lane.
Awesome scenery.
There was a bull with a decoration on it's head, and a local farmer. I totally had to get a picture. Unfortunately I had to pay 5 yuan for 3 pictures.
After a while, we headed off the road, and into the farmland. We were biking along the paths that separate plots of land and crops.
Eventually we came to the end, and got on a boat trip. These were bamboo rafts, about 3 or 4 feet wide, and 20 feet long. The first thing I saw was a fisherman.
Erin heading over the spill way of the Yulong He.
More scenery.
The boatsman told us to jump in and go swimming. The water was perfect! And clean! I think the others going down the river were impressed that we jumped in. Not many others did.
After the boat trip, our guide met us and it was back onto the bikes.
We were biking out to Moon Mountain, which is a natural arch in one of the karsts. It was pretty neat looking. You can climb up it, but we didn't.
By this time, it was about 1 pm, and time for lunch. I figure we were a few kilometers from Yangshuo, so we ate at a local restaraunt. Traditional Chinese meal of rice, veggie, and lots of spice. We were coughing from the plates brought out. But it was all delicious.

After lunch it was time for some spelunking. We toured the Buddha Cave and Water Cave. The cave was pretty interesting to walk thru.
This was the shortcut.
I'm supposed to fit thru there?
I made it! At the bottom of the Water Cave is an underground river, with absolutely freezing water.
It does feature a huge mud pit, though! Just what I needed, an exfoliating treatment. The mud bath was fun, and very very dirty.
Saturday night we were obviously exhausted, so it was lights out early. Sunday we thought about sticking around Yangshuo, but decided to head back to Guilin early, and see what's there. That is for another post, however.