So after spending all of our time in China in the big cities, the next stop is definitely more rural. Yangshou is a small town in the south of the country and is blessed with beautiful countryside with the Li River and the karst limestone hills its most famous features, so famous in fact it is depicted on a 20 Yuan note.
The route there from Shanghai is not so easy, and to get to Yangshou, we must go via Guilin, a city about and hour and a half bus ride north of our intended final destination. We opt for a flight from Shanghai as opposed to the train (2 hours v 22 hours) and arrive in Guilin in the early evening. As we have a few extra days to kill before our Vietnam visa becomes active, we decide to spend a couple of days in Guilin, so we book into a hostel in the centre of town and head out for some dinner. Now after nearly 3 weeks in China, rice and noodles is becoming a little monotonous and we are grateful when we spot Paul’s Steakhouse and head in for some western style cuisine.
Heather orders a pizza and I order a steak, what arrives resembles neither, Heather’s pizza looks like a bad loaf of bread with some cheese melted on top, and I get some form of Gammon Steak (cooked ham), we also have a buffet included in our meal, but it looks as if its been on display since the rise of communism…. lesson learned. On our way back to the room we witness some bizarre outdoor karaoke, complete with a live band, a fountain show in the city’s main square (it’s no Bellagio) and the worlds largest man made waterfall, in the form of a 10 storey hotel with water cascading from the roof down its facade.
Next day, we go to explore our latest surroundings and with the ever present help of Lonely Planet, decide upon the Seven Star Scenic Spot, a supposed large public park a 20 minute walk away along the river. Along the river promenade are several groups of middle aged Chinese, engaged in various forms of dance, with the music being supplied by nightclub size, portable speakers. One older gent was just jamming out on his own in a style reminiscent of Ricky Gervais in the Office (UK). We arrive at the park, expecting to find a large expanse of green with karst limestone formations and forest, what we get is a Disneyland version, a maze of concrete roads and pathways, man made waterfalls and ornamental ponds and a myriad of hawkers. China has the amazing ability to completely over develop area’s of natural beauty, ruining them in the process, especially in areas of this small scale.
We wander through the park, seeing Camel Hill, which unsurprisingly is a group of limestone formations that look like a camel. Lonely Planet’s advice is that the Zoo is “best avoided” and after our experiences in Shanghai Zoo, we take little persuading. Further on we hear the haunting sound of a Lion roaring, which sounds more like a cry of desperation than that of the king of beasts, and with that sound ringing in our ears, we left the place as quickly as we could find the exit.
Camel Hill
The onward journey to Yangshou is painless, a short, comfortable bus journey drops us in the centre of the very tourist orientated town. Some say that Yangshou is too touristy, but after being away from western style comforts for a few weeks, its nice to have menus in English and shops selling recognisable brands. That evening, we stumble across a Chinese funeral celebration in full swing. Two dragons dancing to live traditional upbeat music, while someone threw huge handfuls of firecrackers into an oil drum fire. What a truly amazing send off!
Funeral wake – Chinese Style
Our hostel had a rooftop bar (sounds glamorous but is little more than a plywood bar with a few seats and low tables) which offers a variety of local delicacies, from dog meat, to a shot of snakes blood, with its still beating heart as garnish. We opted for a Tsingtao beer instead! The hostel itself was a little bit damp and dingy (what do you expect for 6 pounds a night) so we relocated to the aptly named Friend Hotel, who’s owner, despite having very little grasp of English, managed to communicate with us and always with a big smile on her face.
Our first excursion out into the surrounding countryside, was to see Moon Hill an 8km ride away. Based on our previous fortune with 2 wheeled transportation, we set off with some trepidation, but the tarmac was smooth and the bikes in good condition, so the ride was a pleasant one. After locking our bikes, we climb the 800 or so marble steps (yes more bloody steps) to reach the view point at the top. Due to some overnight rain the steps are slippery, yet we still pass Chinese girls who think high heeled shoes are the best footwear for the job. Halfway to the top we meet a hawker lady in her 70’s, who is selling postcards and cans of drink, being used to this we politely decline and carry on upwards. Not taking ‘no’ for an answer, she follows us all the way to the top, showing us a notebook a traveller bought for her, full of comments from people from all over the world. She insists that she takes a picture of us as she knows the best spot to stand and then Heather has a picture with her, as our 70 year old postcard seller throws the obligatory ‘peace’ sign. It is remarkable how hard this lady works for so little reward and for those of you reading that have a postcard from us from Yangshou, you now know where they were purchased!
Yulong River – Yangshou
Moon Hill
Heather and the Postcard Lady
Encouraged by our previous days cycling experience, we hire mountain bikes again and aim for the more testing destination of the Dragon Bridge, 10km away along the river, although the route there was along dirt farmers paths. The sun was shining brightly (for the first time in a while) and this made our surroundings even more spectacular. At times the route was a little confusing, but luckily for us a local lady was heading the same way, so pointed us in the right direction on more than one occasion. This part of the countryside really is too beautiful to be able to put into words as the pictures below will demonstrate and we are busy soaking it in when a frog hops furiously into our path. “Look at that frog” shouts Heather, it’s at that moment, I spot the reason for this frogs burst of speed, the five foot long snake that is trying to make Senor Frog it’s lunch! “SNAKE!!!” I shout at Heather and we both skid to a rapid halt on the gravel pathway. The snake is as startled by us, as we are of it, and it makes an 180 degree turn and disappears back into the rice paddies, leaving Senor Frog to fight another day.
We are only 500m away from Dragon Bridge when Heather’s bike gets a puncture. Unsure of what to do we decide to head to the bridge and try to find a bamboo raft to take us back down river towards Yangshou. Fortunately for us, our local directions guru catches up with us and tells us she lives in the village and to follow her to her home so she can fix the puncture. We follow our little Chinese saviour to her home, where between us (mainly her I may add) the puncture is quickly repaired (not before she brings out chairs and insists we sit down while she fixes the puncture). The only way we can think of fully expressing our gratitude is by giving her a small amount of money, she is reluctant to take it, but we won’t take no for an answer and are soon on our way again.
Scenery on route to Dragon Bridge
Direction / Cycle Repair Guru
The bridge itself is a bit of an anti-climax, so we set about trying to negotiate a ride on a bamboo raft. Our lovely Chinese lady also happened to have a husband who had a bamboo raft and we feel almost obliged to use his services, but for the right price. The bikes are put on the raft and we take our seats for our hour long trip.
The tranquillity of the journey is only surpassed by the outstanding natural beauty of our surroundings. Our raft man cuts up a huge unidentifiable fruit and hands half to us, it looks kind of like a watermelon size dried up orange. I politely eat a segment and Heather gets stuck in, despite claiming she didn’t like it! Every few hundred yards, we had to negotiate a small waterfall (about a 5 feet drop), somehow we always managed to get stuck, with a good portion of our raft hanging in mid-air, before our raft man jumped out and repositioned us, letting us slide down to the lower level.
We’re dropped off with around 5 miles left to go and begin our journey back. We’re about a couple of miles outside of town when Heather’s bike gets another puncture, so our the last part of our journey is carried out on foot, with Heather, in between swear words, vowing never to get on another bike again.
Unidentifiable Fruit
Bamboo rafts on the Yulong River
Floating down river
We leave Yangshou by coach, for the 6 hour drive to Nanning, the jumping off point for the train into Vietnam. Nanning is a pretty non-descript city, there’s nothing wrong with it, there’s not really anything to see or do there…. kind of like Milton Keynes. After a day or so of exploration, we board our overnight train at Nanning station, destination – VIETNAM!!
China really has been an experience, both good and bad. I think we have both been shocked by the general rudeness of its people, especially somewhere where I thought their whole ethos was based on respect for others. I also believe you can tell a lot about people by the way they treat their animals and from the conditions in Shanghai Zoo to the dog fighting that we saw on TV, does not improve my image of the Chinese people. That said we have met some wonderful people along the way, but unfortunately they have been in the minority.
On the plus side we have seen some of the most amazing sights the planet has to offer; the Great Wall, The Terracotta Army, the shimmering lights of Pudong in Shanghai and the jaw dropping beauty of Yangshou. China really has been somewhere that will stick in the mind for a long time to come.
- Mark ‘saddle sore’ Cleverly
More pictures of Yangshou can be found here
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