Yangshuo

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  Yangshuo, China
Wednesday, February 20, 2008

We arrived in Yangshuo to be greeted with the pure luxury of a bus station pickup up! We shook hands with four fingered Mr Wei and drove off to his house. Our tired, boot-heavy aching feet heaved a sigh of relief when we were presented with a pair of slippers each, although this probably worked out better for me than Rob, whose heals were dragging on the floor. It was a perfect hostel. We were staying in the family's home and had lunch together before checking in and seeing our room.
 
We then headed out of Yangshuo on bikes. The scenery was stunning as we cycled outside the town and witnessed Chinese rural life - a stark difference from the hustle and bustle of the city life to which we had become accustomed. As we cycled along the earthy tracks elderly people sat smoking, playing cards, chinese chess and mahjong while children ambled about in the paths. The pushing and shoving of Chinese men, and the ear-splitting shrieking of Chinese women seemed a long way away

Karst scenery

. Through our time in China we had almost become deaf to the constant shouts of 'Yes...Hello..Hello..Woman...Hello?' and blind to the massive variety of staring, yet here we were greeted with a refreshing total disinterest. There were crops growing in the fields surrounding the clusters of houses flanked by curiously shaped mountains. The mountain range was a serene picture of narrow, sheer limestone peaks covered in bright green trees. Difficult to describe, incredible to be surrounded by.
 
The following day we headed an hour out of Yangshuo to complete a hike along the Li river. It was only when a live chicken (being carted around by its ankles) and a gentleman with a plastic bag that occasionally spasmed around got on the bus, that we remembered we were back in China, whose difficulties are also her charms. You have no idea when to get on/off the bus, you have no idea what's dying in the plastic bag, and you have no idea how to complete the next step of your journey, but someone will always help you out, and once you work it all out it'll be interesting, fascinating, and beautiful. It was this side of China that we experienced once the bus finally ground to its very slow halt. The engine turned off, the chicken and the (now decisively dead) thing in the bag got off and we assumed we'd probably arrived. The next 15 minutes were typically tricky. We had no idea where to go, where to start, whose permission to ask, or where we actually were, but I think if we take one thing from our time in China it will be that China rewards those who try

Walking the Li River

. Today was no exception.
 
We walked 25km along the riverside cutting through the mountain range we had begun to experience the day before. Suddenly, after a month of sharing each place we stopped in with a good few million people, it was just us and there was silence! We were very lucky with what we saw that day, more truly beautiful countryside and stunning views (although Rob appears to be calling them 'vistas' at the moment for some odd reason).
 
We left to move towards Vietnam the following day (via Nanning.) As I type Rob is writing his Chinese memoirs, so I shan't repeat him (though mine would be much cooler) but suffice to say we miss China, it treated us well, I managed to live through the cold, and experienced a fascinating culture set for many changes in the years ahead.

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Karst scenery	Karst scenery	Rafts at Yangshuo	Yangshuo
Yangshuo

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