Yangshuo
Trip Start
Aug 07, 2008
1
22
79
Trip End
Ongoing
Yangshuo,
Guangxi Zhuang,
China
Thursday, September 11, 2008
the swedes decided to join us at least until yangshuo. and we got there all in one piece after a 1 hour minivan ride to lijiang airport, 1 hour flight with 1 hour delay to kunming, a 5 hour layover there, another 2 hour flight to guilin, a 1 hour taxi ride to guilin train/bus station, 2 hour bus ride to yangshuo and another hour or so looking for a hostel to stay at. phew... that was a LONG LONG day. BUT we got there nice and sweaty... the humidity went from 0% to about 80% in one day and the temperature went up about 20 degrees i think. so it was nuts. that night, eunice and i dropped our bags and went searching for some food. they say "beer fish" is the local delicacy where they cook the local river fish in beer. so we had that while sharing a table and conversing with a new zealand guy and an australian girl.
byoung on bike
they gave us great info on vietnam, our next destination, and shared insight about southeast asia (they were coming up into china from southeast asia and we were heading down, so we gave them what we had in terms of what we did and where we've been). one cool place that they told us about was Laos. there is a river in northern Laos where people rent intertubes float miles down the river with drinks in hand, only stopping to either swing from a tree into the river, grab another drink, or watch reruns of Friends at bars along the river called "Friends Cafes"... now doesn't that just seem sereal?!? and to complete, they say "Family Guy Cafes" are beginning to sprout everywhere... ok... back to more on Yangshuo. we did one activity per day... after all, we are on a budget. (BUT let's just say that China is probably one of the CHEAPEST places to visit).
but first, let's get oriented to Yangshuo:
"The area around Yangshuo is renowned throughout China, and probably the world, for its Karst landscape where there are hundreds of limestone hills dotting the countryside. The beautiful scenery here is a common subject of Chinese paintings as well as the inspiration for poetry." Yangshuo is absolutely gorgeous... these limestone hills are EVERYWHERE. it really makes for a unique landscape. there are also two rivers that run through this area: the Li River and the Yulong River. the Li River is the famous one where there are ferrys and smaller boats that do tours all throughout the day. then there is the Yulong River, the much smaller and peaceful one that many say, rivals the scenery of the Li River.
chinese style dol sot
The town itself is a bit of a touristy area. white folk everywhere.. both backpacker and tour groups; hundreds of bars advertising "western food", multiple travel kiosks and what seems like a million different accommadations. BUT, it's got its charm about it. anyways, moving on....full Day #1:
Water Cave. because of the rivers and the multiple limestone hills, caves have been made through centuries if not millions of years. the main one is the water cave just south of town. eunice and i had a great time here walking through 5km (3 miles) of caverns, playing in the mud pool, swimming in underground crystal clear lakes and washing up in a small waterfall.
full Day #2:
Li River Cruise. we met up with two french people from the water cave as well as the new zealander we met the first night at dinner and shared a small boat up and down the Li River. STUNNING scenery! i can understand why this area was the subject of both chinese paintings and poetry. eunice and i just sat and enjoyed the 2 hour cruise that ended up costing us about $8 per person. the one bad thing about the cruise was that there were so many other boats (motor boats) on the river; this kinda ruined the ambiance of things as we constantly heard the "putter putter" (speaking of putter... i miss playing golf!) of these boats. but you learn to ignore it.
full Day #3:
my personal highlight of yangshuo. we rented bicycles for the day, loaded them onto a public bus where a bamboo raft waited for us at the top of the Yulong River.
Cormorant Fisherman
we then loaded the bikes onto the bamboo raft and for the next two hours floated down this river while sitting on bamboo recliner chairs. the rafter (is that what you would call the guy that does the raft??) pushed us along as we enjoyed the majestic scenery. and the awesome thing was: NO MOTORS ANYWHERE! often times, we were the only boat in sight and mostly no more than four or five boats were to be seen. but, the drift down the river was not without its adrenaline inducing excitement (add a bit of sarcasm here). there are these 4-5 foot man made dams throughout the river; and doing down river meant dropping down these small dams. i guess it made for a welcome bit of danger during a two hour peaceful ride. at the end of the bamboo raft ride, we unloaded the bikes and road through the rural countryside taking pictures and peeking into village like. it was AWESOME! an another twist added was that it was the afternoon of the moon festival. so all along the bike ride and throughout the day for that matter, we heard fire crackers and saw ducks and chickens being carried home for dinner. eunice even saw one chicken being killed and claimed she would turn vegetarian (now we know that's a blatant lie!!!). it was a wonderful bit of insight into everyday chinese life.Last day in Yangshuo was the beginning of another travel day. this time it was to Nanning southwest of Yangshuo. But because Yangshuo is kinda remote, we had to backtrack through Guilin to get there. mind you, it was the day after the moon festival, a holiday where people go home to families, AND Yangshuo is a big holiday spot for both foreigners and the chinese alike.
countryside road
as a result, trying to catch a bus north was NUTS. at first, we played the nice foreigners looking to purchase a ticket. after 45 mins of utter failure, i put on my "when in Rome" mentality and pushed/shoved/sometimes bit my way into a seat on the bus. (through my travels, i've developed a full prove way of making room... it's called the BO semi circle technique. with my 50 pound backpack on, i start making 90 degree turns. because of the backpack's size, no one wants to be in the way when it swings. that way, i create a semi circle behind me to keep people from crowding me and pushing up against me. try it, it works!). anyways, the bus got SO crowded that people were sitting in the aisles. and i thought that was bad. the 5.5 hour train ride from Guiling to Nanning was even worse. People were sitting two to a seat and standing shoulder to shoulder on the train much like a mosh pit. BUT thank the Lord, eunice and i had seats throughout the journey! we finally landed in Nanning and tomorrow we're off to VIETNAM!!! eunice and i are really excited for the food!side note: if you guys are ever in Yangshuo, you have to stay at the Yangshuo Culture House. it's the home of a guy named Mr. Wei. He and his family live in and run this guesthouse. the cool thing about this place is that they serve you three meals a day! and the dinners have like 15 different dishes shared family style with other travelers; these dinners were some of the best meals i had in china. along with dinner, he teaches people that stay at his home chinese calligraphy, mah jong, tai chi and even cooking courses on basic chinese cooking (i think these cooking courses are pretty much watching and helping his family cook dinners). unfortuneately we didn't take advantage of any of these course as eunice and i are in a bit of a hurry to get to Vietnam (visa issues).
ok.. tis all for now... next time we write, we'll be saying "Good Morning Vietnam" while eating spring rolls, pho and rice vermicelli!!!!
Comments
hi!
Eunice, you can do it! (turn Vegetarian)
Can you guys ship me some pho from Vietnam?