Yangshuo, the nicest place in China

Arrrhhhhh Yangshou….easily the nicest place in China.

Not polluted (yet!), stunning limestone hills, winding rivers, paddy fields…this place is great. The small town, as a feel of a backpacker or holiday resort. Really laid back. But also has a number of outside activities.

When I arrived, Suzanne, who I met in Beijing had sorted everything!!!! A boat ride was the first thing on the list. An bus ride and then 4 hour cruise down the Yulong river through the limestone hills…simply beautiful!!! Yes there are people trying to get you to hold there cormorants or ride there water buffalo, but not huge amounts of hassle. A a good way to start the Yangshou adventure. that night i got a stinky head ache from too much dodgy Chinese chemical beer and the drinking abilities of the Irish.

The next day, I awoke to limestone hills again..what a sight!!!! Today we hired bikes and made our way to moon hill for a trek and more views. Of course we got lost for a couple of hours, maybe a good thing as we saw more of the country. Then sweeted are tits off climbing the hill, however it was worth it for the view.

On the way back we managed to annoy some locals how wanted 1 yuan to take a picture of their water buffalo, then it pissed down with rain. So sweaty, wet and smelly pair returned to the hostel.

The evening was really entertaining. I had seen a documentary in the past of Chinese dudes fishing with birds, I didn’t know it was here where they did it….so we went off cormorant fishing!!!!

The poor buggers are tied by their feet to a boat and tied around the neck to stop them swallowing!!! So the local fisherman ride his boat, the birds do a great job catching fish, but cant swallowing them. So when their gullets are full, the birds are hauled onto the boats and strangled until the fish pop out into the basket…a very effective technique. Also got to hold the birds, which are quite tame and don’t seemed to worried that they have been robbed of their meal, so they must be fairly well looked after.

The next day, something I had done for a while…climbing. Now I know why. the first and second climbs were fairly easy. the third, ripped my hands apart and took almost an hour to get up…mostly due to an over hang about 15 meters up, which I just couldn’t get passed, but stubbornly I would let it beat me!!!!! After losing half my body weigh in sweat and battered, we went back to the hostel and did some brief shopping.

That night a horrific bus ride to the Hong Kong border on a sleeper bus…the drivers here are some of the worst in the world. After no sleep I welcomed a quick and easy border crossing back away from the chaos of China.

Reed Flute Cave in Guilin

I’m now in Guilin which used to be the capital of Guangxi years ago but now it’s Nanning.

We found our Palace of fluffy pillows and TV switches right near the train station. Good position to be in..NOT! But I’m not complaining I could be at home in Australia digging holes for the government! I love Guilin and the Guilin area, it was my favourite area last time and it’s just gets more beautiful! Hell of a lot more people here now though.

Seems the Chinese also love the area. OK, what have we been up to?

On Sunday: went to Reed Flute Cave or Ludi Yan. Entry fee is a bit high, around 65 Yuan, but hey, I’m not digging holes, so why not spend some time underground! It was just stunning even with some of the tacky coloured lighting. Sooooo BIG. They reckon a part of it called ‘the Crystal Palace of the Dragon King’ can hold upto 1000 people. Yep, I reckon it could too! The stalactites and stalagmites were awesome, but my favourite cave is still in Loyer.

This is bigger, grander but if I was to be trapped in a cave, I’d like my last breaths to be in the cave in Loyer. Like all caves in China, it was also used as an air raid shelter during war time.

Betchya they fit more than 1000 people in the Crystal Palace then!

After the cave we went for a walk up the mountain. Stunning views as promised of the area around us. Argh, to be a lucky boy! The Lotus Pond was so almost too inviting…hot, water, swim! But I thought against it, never know what’s in there. Why is everything Lotus this and Dragon that in China?

One day I’ll find someone who can give me a good answer.

Jinkeng Rice Terraces in Longsheng

An unknown  rice terrace in Longsheng is Jinkeng Rice Terraces, which is home to Yao minorities. Jinkeng Rice Terraces are located around 25 miles (40 km) away from Longsheng, where you will be rewarded feats of farm engineering going all the way up a string of 2400 feet (800 m) mountains, there is a 66-square-km network irrigation project was began by the ethnic Yao in the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), and finished by the Qing (1644-1911). There are two villages here in Jinkeng. The first village at the foot of the mountain is Dazai Village. The village on the summit is the Tiantou Village.

Back to Yangshuo after 14 years

After 14 years, I have returned to the most beautiful place I’ve ever visited, Guilin, China. Guilin has changed and grown up a lot as with the rest of China. Where there once were boiled whole dogs piled up on dirt roads, now stand multi-lane main roads with your standard tourist fare, but that has not changed the natural beauty of the landscape surrounding Guilin.

Although the tourist boats down the Li River are extremely just that, touristy and over priced, it’s one of those things that you just have to and want to do when you are with a friend that has never been. Once again the 30Km journey down the river from Guilin to Yangshuo was full of beautiful scenery. Since there was over 100Y difference between the Mandarin and English boat trip down the river, we decided to take the Chinese one. The only difference is that they tell you what animal or feature the rocks are supposed to look like as you pass them down the river. I can never see the 9 horses or the turtles anyway so I figure it’d be more fun to spot our own formations. What do you think that long thin one with the mushroom on top looks like? It may have been the same the first time I came here, but I sure don’t remember it this way.

I remember beautiful sunsets and sunrises set amongst the karst topography of limestone rocks surrounding Guilin. I don’t know why they don’t just stagger the start times of the boats by a few minutes so the river doesn’t look like a procession of tourist traps.

Arriving in Yangshuo was a shocker! There were so many vendors and touts for rooms that you couldn’t see the street. As soon as you shook one, the others circling would attack. No amount of “Bu yao” or “Wo yao le” (don’t want or I have already) worked on them. Maybe I should have just punched them in the nose. It’s supposed to work on sharks, right?

We had a reservation already so all we had to do was find the place. Unfortunately, it was called Backstreet Youth Hostel for a reason. It was well hidden down a back street alley and it took us about 30 minutes to find it in the heat of the midday sun. If not for the natural beauty of area surrounding Yangshuo, I would have had to leave immediately, but even in the dump we stayed in the view from the window was awesome! Unfortunately, I was still a bit sick and was trying to recover from all the antibiotics I had been taking and whatever the original illness with me was. At least I had a nice view from bed.

When I finally got better，we rented a electric scooter and cruised around the countryside. Wandering around we met a local with a lot of determination to show us around the countryside on his own personal tour. Even when we said no many times, he followed us on his bicycle and even passed us a couple times while I was taking pictures. He waited for us with an “I told you so” look on his face where he knew we had missed the turnoff for the back road trail. He showed us where we went wrong so we decided to pay him the mere 10Y he was asking for his services. Unfortunately, we had an electric scooter and he had a bicycle. The path he took us down was not really meant for a scooter as it was a single track trail in every sense of the word. I had some difficulty navigating the trails with 2 people on the scooter so my friend had to walk some of the way. He took us through some of the most amazing scenery and pointed out the best spots to stop and “smell the roses”. Even when we came across a bridge full of steps, he just took us another 2Km down the road to the next bridge where we could cross the stream. He was a great guy. We ended up giving him double what he asked for. I found out he was an old army officer in the area. I wondered if he ever crossed paths with my father when he a kid.

We passed very close to Bai Sha, a town my dad lived in just north of Yangshuo back in 1943. I can’t even imagine how remote a village it was back some 64 years ago, but I can imagine the tears flowing down my dad’s face if he were to walk into Yangshuo and see the devastation that tourism has done to his peaceful little town. It’d probably be much like my experience in Had Rin Beach on Ko Phanghan. I would recommend our guides tour to anyone visiting the area. He has a hand drawn map that he will sell you for 2Y if you don’t want his personal tour. The best way to find him is ride around aimlessly until he finds you. Sorry, but that’s how he found me.

Morning sun Hotel Yangshuo

At Morningsun, it doesn’t get any better than this. Open your window, Guilhua stream flows peacefully across the town. A tea break by the stream in the late afternoon makes us totally relaxed. At night, within a minute walk you’ll find yourself at the bar and shopping paradise – West Street.

With more than a dozen western style restaurants to choose from you can almost certainly find what you want, no matter how your mood swings. Turn right instead of left as you leave the hotel and you enter the real China. Rice noodles, a Yangshuo specialty! These traditional restaurants may not offer the most elegant dining but they make up for it with delicious food and incredibly low prices.

The hotel has traditional styling with wood trim throughout providing a comfortable look and feel. All rooms feature private bathrooms with floor to ceiling tile and modern fixtures. Double rooms are tastefully decorated and feature air conditioning, TV, private bath, and wood floors.

Western style breakfast available in the hotel. 10 more steps around the corner, the best Chinese rice noodle shop is my favorite. I can have my three meals in a day here. Rosewood Restaurant, a nice small restaurant nearby offer the most delicious fish hotpot in the town.

More hotels in Guilin and Yangshuo

I left for Yangshuo

I left for Yangshuo, this great place of natural scenery in South China with winsing rivers and limestone pinnacles with thousands of jagged peaks creating an amazing landscape and skyline. The problem is that the weather is so bad, its constantly drizzling and overcast with dark grey clouds, which really puts a damper on outdoor activities.

In Yangshuo, I stay at the Yangshuo Culture House amd the owner Wei picks me up at the bus station. Wei just might possibly be the nicest person in the world! First, he created his guesthouse for cultural exchange and to help foreigners. He’s from the area and worked for many years with the local travel bureau and became tired of foreigners being ripped off with bad prices and information, so his place is wher you can learn about Chinese culture through free Chinese language lessons, calligraphy, tai chi chuan, cooking, etc. and he can set you up with the best prices for the tours and tell you what you should be paying when shopping – basically just a really genuine guy and now I feel bad that I was suspiscious of him because the place is so cheap and it includes free meals that I figured there must be some catch! Bad Trent! Anyway, Kate (Vermont) and her boyfriend show me the way to town and around the area.

Yangshuo is a famous backpacker town because of West Street, an rarity in China with tons of coffee shops and restaurants with western food and movies and most people in the cafes and restaurants speak English.

That night I met two Brits, Matt and Chris, at the movie restaurant and we hang out and have a few drinks at a local Australian pub and watch pretty Chinese girls flirt and go off with lonely and, sometimes very old foreigners! It’s a good laugh and we end the evening playing Jenga with two of the girls while their “boyfriends” are trying to drink their morals away at the bar!

The next day the weather is still so bad and I realized I left my earplugs in Guilin, so I didnt sleep so well, but I layed in bed until 12 and then went down for lunch with Wei and Robin (from Guilin) has shown up. Then Robin and I go down and look around the shopping plaza for scarves, so that my mom will get off my back about buying her a scarf…everytime I hear from her it’s scarf, scarf, scarf – she’s literally scarf crazy, but I love her and she gives me great excuses so when people ask me “whats wrong with you?”,I can just point to my mom and they’re like “oh yeah, sorry, nevermind”! haha (The weather is progressively getting worse here) So then we chill at on of the lovely little cafes, Drifters, and have some coffee and meet with another YCH guest, Kate (Boston) and all walk back for dinner. Tonight, Wei has cooked up this wok-boiled mix of Taro and the peel from a local fruit (like a grapefruit but bigger) and its really good, I mean REALLY good! After dinner, Robin and I head back to Drifters for a famous apple crumble dessert and sit with Annie from Germany and Katie from England (yes, thats 3 Kates in 1 day) who were studying in Shanghai for one year.

Annie and I had a great talk about people and relationships and it was really nice to speak with someone intelligently and in-depth about anything really,as I can’t get that in Taiyuan. Then Robin left and I stayed and the girls turned out to be pretty religious, but I didnt mind really as they had some interesting ideas but in the end it killed all conversation as it wasnt a true and open discussion because they didnt listen too much and more tried to prove or disprove certain ideas, example – one girl was a creationist and just wont discuss evolution,a proven scientific fact – she just pretends all the information is false and doesnt exist!! I mean, faith without doubt is nice in a certain sense, but faith withour reason is just scary because it leads to that “I’m right, you’re wrong” mentality that history has proven doesnt work so well.

More tours in Yangshuo

Taxi service in Yangshuo and Guilin

Taxi service available in Guilin and Yangshuo. In Guilin, many taxis available, and drivers use meters, about 1.70 RMB for 1 KM, less than 20 RMB for one way to anywhere in Guilin.

Be careful of the taxis near the railway station or airport. If you have not reserved a hotel in advance, they might be KIND to take you to a recommended hotel, usually a little bit far away out of town center, commisons available for the taxi drivers. Why don’t you find a good hotel on the Internet first. A laundry list of hotels in Guilin and Yangshuo available.

You might also rent a car or taxi for a whole day. For instance, RMB 250 per day is pretty enough for a city tour in Guilin or Yangshuo, if you need to go to the mountain area of Longsheng or Sanjiang, an extra RMB 400 will be charged.

Generallly speaking, taxi service in Guilin and Yangshuo is not bad. Usually people will ask a local person to book hotels, Li River cruise, train tickets, hotel/airport pickup together, this person might also be your tour guide, you might stay in his/her home and have meals there, the taxi driver might be his/her brother, you might buy some souvenirs from the shop opened by his/her cousin.

Enjoy your holiday in Yangshuo!

Hong Kong to Yangshuo by sleeper bus

We got onto our bus from Hong Kong and started our journey to Shenzen, which is just across the border in China. On the bus ride out of Hong Kong we got some spectacular views of skyscrapers along the shorelines of the harbor.

We after about an hour the bus reached the border. We were told to go inside a building for customs. We got a stamp in our passport and reloaded onto the bus. Then a short way down the road we were told again we needed to get off the bus and go into a building. The difference between Hong Kong and China was immediately apparent. People were pushing and shoving past us to get into line. The crowd was literally crawling over our bags and us! I was getting no where fast and finally had to start fighting to get to the correct line. I think I took out a couple of people with one of my bags, but I didn’t have much choice. I had no site of Jack and just hoped he was somewhere following behind me. A uniformed man was flagging the foreigners down to the the last set of lines.

We got in line and had our first introduction to the different social etiquette of China. The small lady in front of us continued to expel loud gas out of her body for most of the time we were in line. Jack and I tried not to laugh and held our distance from her. We also witnessed a guy finish his last sip of a soft drink and just let the can drop to the ground. He was only a few feet away from a garbage can.

We made it through customs and came out the other side of the building. We had blue stickers on our shirts to indicate which bus company we were with. We were immediately attacked by two girls at the exit doors. They pulled us over to the side and told us to wait. We had taken to long in customs and missed the first shuttle bus. It took about 20 minutes for the next one to show up. We were put on the bus and then sat for another 20 minutes. Jack approached the driver and tried to ask when we would be leaving. He held out four fingers in the air. We had no idea what this meant. It was past four o’clock so it had nothing to do with that. We were the only ones on the bus so maybe he meant we had to have four people before the bus would leave. The driver seemed to be getting tired of waiting too. He went down to the far end of the bus depot and came back with some more people and luggage, then we were finally on our way.

We’re not sure why, but this bus takes us to the Shrangri La Hotel instead of a bus depot. We were the only ones to get off there, the rest of the people must have been going to other hotels. The hotel staff started to help us out with our bags and Jack quickly informed them we were not staying at the hotel. They said it was okay and helped us with our bags anyways. We found out that we needed to get to another bus station to catch the bus to Yangshou.

We decided to go inside the hotel and get something to eat. This in one fancy hotel chain! The Shrangri La Hotel line is among the top hotels in the world. We didn’t know if we could afford anything to eat, but were starving so checked it out anyways. They had a small coffee bistro with light foods in the lobby. We got two tuna sandwiches, they were half price because it was past 6pm. They only cost $1.50 Canadian each, but then we had a pot of tea and two cookies and it came to $15! We finished up our food and made our way to the bus station.

So far everything was going smoothly, we had managed to get onto the correct buses and find our way around. The next bus depot was quite large and had a few different areas. Even though the people I approached at a ticket counter did not appear to speak English it wasn’t too difficult to figure out what we wanted. I showed them our tickets and they wrote the bus stall number we needed to go to and the time it would be coming there.

We were told it was a sleeper bus. We would be traveling through the night and arrive in Yangshou in the morning. We expected a large bus like the Greyhound ones at home where the seats can recline somewhat for sleeping. It was nothing like we expected. It was truly a sleeping bus with beds! There were 3 rows of bunk beds. One row going length wise from front to back of the bus along each side and one row in the middle that created two aisles down the bus.

The beds were barley two feet wide and not designed for tall people at all. Jack hardly fit in. The part of the bed your upper body rests on is raised up and the person sleeping behind you has a compartment under your head where their feet tuck in. Pillows, sheets and a blanket are all provided. I had a window bed on the bottom and due to a nice girl offering to switch beds, Jack was across from me.

Everyone loaded onto the bus, it has 30 beds altogether and they were all full. The driver didn’t waste anytime, we barely got tucked in and we were moving. Jack and I kept looking at each other grinning. It was quite funny to be lying in a bed as we traveled down the highway and looked at the traffic and sites out the window. Definitely on the list of most bizarre travel experiences.

It turned out to be a long 12 hour ride with little sleep. Once we got away from the city of Shenzen at the border the roads turned ugly. We have been on better logging roads at home then what we were traveling on. It seemed most of the roads were under construction. Other ones through small villages were full of potholes. The trip was hell, between the bus driver beating on the horn through the night, the bumpy roads and the many stops we made, we got no sleep. The bed seemed to get smaller through the night!

I had to go to the washroom at one of the stops. I decided to follow the rest of the girls who were using the toilet. There was a small closet washroom on the bus but no one ever used it. If the locals were not using it I decided I better not either. We had been told many China toilet stories and I was about to experience one of my own. I went into the small building. I stood in line with the others and looked ahead to the toilets in horror. Of course they were squat toilets, I expected that, but they had no privacy. You were fully exposed to everyone waiting in line and squatting next to one another with only a small foot tall divider in between you. I decided I better just suck it up and go. This was not even 1 day of traveling China, I better get used to it. I’m sure many other privacies we are used to will go right out the window while we are here.

We were woken again early in the morning at another stop. It was about 5am. It was still on the darker side. When we started to drive again we could see the outline of tall pointy mountains. It was very misty and made for an eerie feeling. As it got lighter we could really take in the scenery. We both got goosebumps as we looked out the window and realized where we were. China! How surreal it seemed. It was like no other scenery we had experienced. Parts of Laos resembled this area, but it could not come close to what were were seeing.

The land was flat with scattered tall pointy hills jetting out of it at random. Small farms were dotted in between the mountains. We started to go through small villages. People were already up and going about their day. It was just like you picture rural China. People were small specks out in the vast fields. In the towns we passed there were little old ladies in rounded triangle hats. Men sitting around smoking pipes and people washing clothes in buckets. A lot of buildings had a pump to get the water out of the well, it was situated right outside the front door of the houses. We passed by motorbikes strapped down with dozens of wire cages. We whizzed by too fast to see what kind of animals were in them. There were lots of bicycles pulling wagons full of produce and goods.

We were told the bus was going to drop us of at the bus station in Yangshou. If the gas station was what they meant I guess it was right. We pried ourselves out of the small beds and got off the bus. The hotel touts were on us like glue. We could barely get our bags out of the bottom of the bus. I hate when this happens, we were so tired and disoriented. This is what they prey on. You can’t get a moment to just gather yourself together and try and get your bearings. They won’t stop shoving their pamphlets in your face and yapping at you about their hotel.

We had no reservation, but had a place in mind that we wanted to check out. Unfortunately it was supposed to be right across from the bus depot we were to be dropped off at. There was a guy claiming to be the manager of this place, but we decided to ignore him and just find it ourselves. We gathered together with the other tourists on the bus, there were 5 of us in total. We headed in the direction we thought was the bus depot. Then one girl asked for directions to it, we were pointed back in the other direction. When we turned around the touts were all over us again. We made our way down a small street with fresh fruit and produce stalls set up. It all looked very yummy! We got onto another street and headed back in the same direction we were going in the first place. By this time touts must have been looking at us as if we were lost mindless tourists.

Now it started to rain. As we trekked down the street with our bags one tout kept going back and forth between all of us. He was desperately trying to get us to come with him to see his hotel. Jack and I were onto his scam right from the gas station. He wanted us to get into his vehicle to take us to his hotel. This is usually when you get taken to some dump way out of town. We asked him to show us where it was on the map. He said he had no map. Then when we showed no interest he suddenly had a map. We asked the name of the hotel. He wouldn’t show us the whole pamphlet he had in his hands, only the picture of one of the rooms. He kept covering up the name of it, but when he said the name of the hotel we could see it didn’t match what was on the brochure. It was obviously another hotels picture that he was showing us.

As we all kept walking down the street we came to the side street where his place was, he became frantic and pleaded with all of us to come with him. Everyone decided this guy was trying far too hard and something must be wrong with the place. The other touts had given up long ago. We could finally see the bus station and started to look for the hotel. We didn’t have to search too hard, a lady soon approached us that was with the hotel. She said to follow her and she would take us to it. Jack asked if she was the manager. She replied yes. Funny, the other guy at the gas station said he was the manager.

This hotel is not in the Lonely Planet book, but had been recommended to us. We also saw good reviews on the Lonely Planet Thorn Tree travelers forum. It turned out to be quite nice and has a good price for a double room with ensuite. It comes to $12 Canadian. If we decide not to use the air conditioning it knocks another $3 off the price. The place is called Fawlty Towers Hotel, and yes it has a guy named Basil and a Manuel.

The staff have been really nice and helpful. They do try to get you to book tours with them, but all places here will do that. They haven’t been overly pushy though. Our only complaint is the room feels a bit damp. It has been rainy and misty here the entire time, which doesn’t help. Our books pages have all gone wavy and a few clothes we hand washed and hung in the room were still damp 3 days later. We love the view from our window, right smack outside is a pointy mountain with a small temple sitting on top of it.

We made all the check in arrangements and went to our room to crash. It was now about 9:30am. We both fell asleep instantly and didn’t wake up until 2pm. We spent the rest of the day just vegging in the room and watching the one English channel our t.v. got. We made prior arrangements to meet up with the other travelers for dinner. All of us had checked into the same hotel. We had a nice meal with them in town and decided to check out some shops. We were surprised to see how modern some of the shopping was as we walked thorough town. There was brand name clothing being sold at shops. There seemed to be more selection here than a lot of places we were at in southeast Asia.

More Guilin tours

How to go to Yangshuo from Guilin

Airport Pickup

There are airport shuttle buses that go to Downtown Guilin (25 minutes) and cost ￥20 per person. If you take taxi, the charge is about RMB 100 for one way from airport to downtown Guilin… There is no airport shuttle bus to Yangshuo, you have to go to Guilin General Bus station first.   If you take taxi to Yangshuo, the cost is RMB300.

Taxi from Guilin to Yanghsuo

About RMB 250 one way, and RMB 400 round trip. Recommend you to book a taxi in advance. Most people book round trip airport/hotel, Li River Cruise and hotel before going to Guilin. Other activities can be arranged accordingly after you arrive later. Ask a question here.

Public bus Guilin to Yangshuo

From Downtown Guilin, you can go to Guilin Long Distance Bus Station to take public bus to Yangshuo, the charge is RMB 13.00 per person, or you can hire a cab, the cost is around RMB 200 one way to Yangshuo.

Hong Kong to Guilin

Hong Kong to Guangzhou by bus

We left Hong Kong at 11am. We travelled by bus to the China/Hong Kong border which took about 1.5 hours. I breezed through the Hong Kong Immigration section, but the woman at the Chinese border looked me up and down about 4 times before letting me into the country. Do I look that different to my passport photo? Anyway, without any trouble whatsoever, I entered this amazing place with a mind-boggling population of 1.3 billion people. Following this, the local bus switched to the right side of the road to take us to Guangzhou, in the Guangdong region of Southern China. This region of China is one of the wealthiest, as evident by the beautiful garden-manicured surroundings, huge level of industrialisation and commercialism and abundance of very tall apartments. Wow, what an eyesaw!

Guangzhou to Guilin overnigt train

We had about 2 hours in Guangzhou before bording our 14 hour overnight train to Guilin. I’m glad I’ve had experiencing travelling in overnight trains in Thailand and Vietnam for this train was even worse than anything I’ve travelled on. There were six people to a small compartment… we were packed in like sardines. The toilets were a hole in the floor… feel sorry for the women who have no choice but to squat. Oh boy, Grandpa had nothing but complaints… I feel for the guide. I’ve resorted to switching off and ignoring him… thank god for the Ipod. There are two main classes of sleeping carriages in China… soft and hard class. We travelled in hard class which was definitely not to his satisfaction. I was quite neutral about the situation because I don’t mind travelling it hard now and again, even though I’ve paid a premium for this tour. Talking about grandpa, because he has been to China 5 times, he thinks he knows everything there is to be known about the place. Sometimes it comes in handy, but most of the time it’s a pain in the *** especially when he is belittling the guide which is a big no no in this culture.

I like the guide… his name is Ciao. He’s about 29 and getting married next year. I’m glad he is quite young because the other two guys on the tour are more than double my age. The oldest being 81. His wife is 72. I have nothing but admiration for this couple for they look absolutely fantastic for their age and have such positive attitudes on life… so refreshing. My roommate, on the other hand, is quite a bitter old man. He’s recently been divorced and most things that come out of his mouth are negative. Probably the most difficult person I’ve met on my RTW travels so far. The 32 year old woman from Spain, Ari, is an absolute crack up and I love being around her. I’m sure we will have many fun times on this trip.

Arriving Yangshuo

We arrived into Yangshuo a few hours ago. We have two nights and three days to do a multitude of things including a river cruise on the Lijiang River, seeing a light show, going on a cycle tour tomorrow out into the countryside etc. It is a beautiful destination, full of western comforts. After I finish this entry and try to upload some photos of Hong Kong, I will go out to explore before joining our river cruise at 2pm. We are staying in a beautiful hotel called the Yangshuo Morning Sun Hotel which is Chinese style.

The immediate surroundings are quite spectacular, with beautiful mountains and very high rock mounds etc. I haven’t seen much yet…