China Trip: Yangshuo

Days 16-19: Yangshuo

Another long day of travel. Took a bus from Yichang to Wuhan, where we caught an overnight train to Guilin. We were thrilled to be back in the hard sleepers - once again safe (well, relatively) from Tricky Ricky the Rat and all his relatives. On the short bus ride from Guilin to Yangshuo we began to get a taste for the scenery that makes this region so famous. The karsts grew steadily in number until finally we were right in the midst of them, signifying our arrival in Yangshuo. I can't describe a karst too well: it's a little like a very steep, tall limestone hill. Check out the picture for yourself. At any rate, we were right in among them in Yangshuo.

Now, I have to say this about Yangshuo: A beautiful place, but extremely Western. That is to say, you saw as many Westerners as Chinese there, and Chinese food was a struggle to locate amidst all the Western cafes selling pizza and baguettes. It was a bit of a shock coming from Xi'an, Chengdu, Emei Shan, etc. and I admit I wasn't a fan. Fortunately there were so many things to do I didn't have much time to get wound up about it. Our first day was filled first with a two-hour calligraphy class and then by a cooking class at a farmhouse in the countryside. The cooking was a real blast - I enjoyed getting to flip things around in the wok, and of course the food was ten times more delicious since I made it myself. The following day our entire group rode out on a bike ride through the countryside. It wasn't long before the smooth pavement gave way to rutted, stony dirt paths that were a challenge to navigate but took us through some amazingly stunning scenery. After lunch we broke off into "long ride" and "short ride" groups. I was one of the four long riders, and I thought the ride back was even better than the ride out. Our guide Sally picked fresh peanuts out of the ground for us to try and even led us to a weir, which we had to walk across with our bikes (before it got too slippery, at which point we took a bamboo raft). We got back at 4, tired and dirty but very happy with the experience.