Yangshou - Rivers and Rice Paddies
Trip Start
Oct 07, 2007
1
13
42
Trip End
??? ??, 2008
Yangshuo,
China
Thursday, December 20, 2007
On one of the days we did a bicycle ride along the Yulong River, the smaller river in the area. As with most places in China it's not exactely a haven of tranquility and we are accompanied by hordes of other tourists and the so-called dirt track is even tarred in places!
We manage to pick up our own personal guide who keeps showing up in strategic locations to give us directions in the hope we'll come back down the river on her bamboo raft. That's the big thing here - touring the river on bamboo rafts. It's a bit of a local joke - they greet all tourists with the shout of 'bamboo' instead of hello, even ages away from a river. Anyway, we manage to lose the unwanted attentions of the guide by tearing of in the wrong direction through the rice paddies. It's great fun and our mountain bikes finally see some real action.
On the way back we try to go the back road through the mountain valley and find it's now the construction site of a major road
Li River Hike - 1
. Undettered we continue through the building site and with the directions of the roadside workers find our way back. It's good craic and the workers seemed to be as amused as us by it all but you've got to wonder about the safety standards here!On another day we did a 5 hour hike along the Li River. This is the larger river in the area and is famous for the karst mountains lining the banks. It's a popular cruise route andthe boats were still trying to struggle through despite extremely low water levels. At one stage we saw a queue of about 10 boats trying to get through an extremely shallow area! In anotyher area a cruise boat had gone aground and all the passengers had to disembark! Loved the hike though and there were so few people doing it it was extremely peaceful.
Did a bit of the culture thing as well in Yangshou and went to see the Impressions show. This is a night time show involving a lot of music, lights and people performing on the river (according to the brocure these are fishermas but they looked a bit pre-pubescent to us!). To be honest we found it a wee bit boring!
Other than that just took it easy in Yangshou and enjoyed the laid back atmosphere. Definately one spot in China that I'd recommend for anyone travelling here.
