Dian Shan Lake Redroof Vacationland Wujiang

... rivers and down silent rural paths. After donning protective helmets we entered the creepy, dripping cave by boat, then spent the next 3 hours scrambling up and down slippery rock staircases. The high point of the tour had to be the mud bath...which was too much fun to describe!

... trip to Yangshuo. We avoided the expensive boat trip along the Li River. We had done it successfully last time at a good price. [Other people who did it through the hostel were not at all happy with it.] As we had not eaten for some time we went for a buffet breakfast at Café del Moon, part of the Rosewood chain. Though there were some okay dishes - the usual bacon and eggs and unlimited coffee and juice - too many items were not fresh, so we won't be going back to any of the ...

... their faces off and I think 2 or 3 succeeded. They tried to teach me this dice game that everyone was playing but once again language was a big issue. First full day weather was cold and cloudy but I figured that was going to be it for the duration so decided to hire a bike and a guide to take me around the nice spots in the countryside around the city. About 15 mins in it started pouring and would not let up. We stopped at a small shack near the road where ...

Calling Yangshuo home for the last few days has been easy with a huge western backpacker following who have either settled or passing through it is also growing ever popular with the Chinese tourists aswell. Arriving in town it was hard not to notice the little limestone cliffs and hills surrounding the town and no wonder why Yangshuo has got the reputation that it has. My Li river cruise was a treat when we all hopped on a small boat ...

After 13 hours of train ride we finally arrived in Guilin. We didn't sleep that well on the train but it didn't matter. Already around 6 a.m. you could tell that the weather wasn't gonna be the best. There was a thick haze on the rice fields and you couldn't see very far. At the train station we entered right away a tourist bureau and found an english speaking man, what a luxury. We made bookings for the next 3 days. We ...

... tigers on whom the Chinese eagerly sit and pose for photos, and a poor pony who had almost strangled itself to death on its very short rope. I only spent one night in this Chinese tourist circus before taking a bus about 70km south along the river to the much more backpacker-friendly town of Yangshuo. The main tourist street of Yangshuo is known as "West Street", and is filled with shops selling souvenirs, fake ...

... from a train. Massive Pawls of grey smoke were illuminated bright orange by the fires that had created them, thin clouds of drifting smoke filled the entire valley. Small villages could be glimpsed through the slowly moving vail of smoke like tiny models nestled on the valley floor. This dramatic scene gradually disapeared into the night as the train made its way out of the valley and towards Guilin. A lasting mental picture and one of the unexpected highlights of our travels so ...

... it has dome such a good job of attracting foreigners that its one main street (coincidentally called Xi Jie - 'West Street') is lined with cheap guesthouses, bars and shops with silk, clothes and more CDs and DVDs. Similarly to Lijiang and Dali, it's a great place to crash for a few days and do nothing much except wander or bike around. Most Chinese tourists by the way really get ripped off here - they are all kept in big hotels in Guilin, which is expensive for ...

... I've been using the dehydrating myself tactic to avoid using squat loos so far but I reckon I may have to get used to them since we have another 3 and a half months in Asia. I just don't understand how women are supposed to use them, we don't have aiming equipment like boys! Anyway anyway, enough about toilets! We are leaving Yangshuo tonight for a 26 hour train journey to Shanghai leaving at 3am, nasty!! I've read that the Chinese trains are pretty good ...

... worried cos our bus ticket was in chinese so we could have been going anywhere!! But luckilly it was the right bus in the end, an 11 hour overnight ride on the coolest bus ever..there were beds on it, although they were designed for small people and the road was so bumpy we only slept about half an hour the whole journey! BUT, the WORST thing of all was.....the awful toilets! I'm not joking I've never seen anything like it! In the station ...