As my China summer holidays were about to end I decided to take a trip to Guilin and YangShuo, famous for its conical-shaped "karst" mountains and its terraced rice fields. As with most trips it has it's ups and downs.One day was spent on a tour to a mountain where we passed many villages, where there appears to be a gender-role reversal i.e. the women go out to earn a living by whichever means, including catering to the tourists, while the men stay indoors looking after the home chores. Tradition has it that the women rarely/never cut their hair, resulting in a huge "bird's nest" on their head (refer photo 3a). The trip up the mountain, by bus and on foot, was quite exciting - not only for the magnificent views of the terraced rice fields but also for the kamikaze mini-bus drivers who were screeching around the corners racing up the mountain, while we were looking down the ravines below. While I was very confident of their driving skills I wondered how much thought went into the possibility of some rubble around a corner, a tyre puncture, or some malfunction with the bus!
The next day we headed for the more popular YangShuo, some 90 mins away by public bus. As the hotel had offered us a couple of rather long and expensive round-about tours to get there, we headed for the bus terminal. On the way there the taxi driver, ready armed with brochures and prices, talked us into taking a bamboo raft (for two) to YangShuo via the Lijiang River and naturally offered to drive us to the dock (45 mins and ~ $12). Everything appeared to be going well on the river, with great views of the karst mountains, even though we were asked to change to another raft after about 45 mins (without any clear explanation), until well short of YangShuo the boat docked and we were handed 2 tickets to continue by bus (and no bus in sight)! I refused to get off the raft, my Chinese friend called the operators (to no avail) after which I had a long "conversation" with them: the lady shouting at me in Chinese and me shouting back louder in English. When we were eventually shown the "bus" (a small golf-like buggy) we figured we had no other alternative and hopped on... well, it didn't take us to YangShuo - it took us to a small town called XiPing where we were left stranded. Fortunately, via my Chinese friend, we eventually caught the public bus to YangShuo ($1 and 50 mins on rough roads).
YangShuo is a very lively town, full of foreign visitors, and well worth visiting: many street stalls, good restaurants and bars, and bicycles everywhere as there are many good rides by the river and through the countryside. I was able to hire a good (new) Giant mountain bike for 30 yuan (~$4.50) per day. We spent 2 days visiting places of interest, including Moon Hill (refer photos). Another pleasant aspect was the location of the hotel: by the river and where all the action was, with its outdoor reasonably-priced restaurant where we could sit and watch everyone going past.
The highlight of YangShuo was the Liu Sonjie Impression Light Show: a night-time water spectacular show arranged by the same person who choreographed the 2008 Beijing opening ceremony. It was set on the Lijiang river, with a cast of 600 costumed people, with the lit-up surrounding karst hills forming a very impressive backdrop.
On the way back, at Guilin airport, there was a professional photographer asking passengers to pose in front of a poster of the Airbus A380: I think I was supposed to point to the plane but I made a silly motion that the plane "is going down" - I don't think they'll use my photo for their marketing!
Oh well, next Monday it's back to another year of teaching at Dalian Jiaotong University. One thing I can say for Dalian is the weather: in Guiling/YangShuo it was hot and steamy - here it's much drier and more comfortable.
Until the next journey... Renzo
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