Currently writing to you from Hong Kong but haven't yet covered our final stop in China which was the amazingly scenic Yangshuo (slap on the wrist for us). We arrived in Guilin after another night train (you know the drill by now) and immediately got on the 90 minute public bus to Yangshuo. Southern China is totally different and Yangshuo is firmly in the countryside which was a lovely contrast to the previous cities we had visited.
In the centre of the town (the Chinese call it a village but with a population of c.300,000 it doesn't really qualify as this) there is a load of small souvenir shops and restaurants catering to the tourists who have invaded the area over the last 10 years. Outside of this the landscape is completely untouched with mountains covered in greenery and rice paddies.
On arrival, we checked into out hotel and grabbed some food. Cantonese food comes from Southern China so what we ate was very similar to home where this is the most common Chinese food sold. Both the sweet and sour and the lemon chicken we ordered were some of the best food we've had in China so far. After lunch I headed to the Li river to go kayaking but with Rob not being the strongest swimmer he gave it a miss.
Kayaking was awesome. The river is surrounded by mountains and we passed through some reasonably fast rapids. We kayaked and swam about 14km down the river so we got to see quite a lot of the scenery which Yangshuo has to offer!
I was very proud of myself for not falling in, but the same cannot be said for another member of our group Tom, who managed to do so three times.....
Going down the river was cool as we saw loads of local people going about their daily lives washing, cooking and fishing on and around the river. While I was kayaking, Rob was relaxing in the room, having a mooch around the markets and getting shouted at by shop keepers for being 'too cheap' with 'no money'.
When we all met back up, we went for dinner to a local German restaurant which was so good! I had schnitzel and Rob had German sausage with sauerkraut and mashed potato. We also sampled some German weissbeer (true globalisation). After that we went for a few drinks in the local bars which were conveniently located right next to our hotel!!
The next morning, we went for a full day guided tour around Yangshuo stopping off at many places on the way. Our mode of transport for the day ended up being a tandem bike after much hilarity when Rob fell off a motorised push bike somehow managing to jam it into a moped which the rental lady found hilarious! The tandem thankfully was easier than first expected and we soon got into our groove riding through the countryside.
We rode for about an hour away from the centre of the town and into nearby farmland. We saw some rice paddies, some mountains and learnt some more about the locals daily lives. After this, we headed to a different section of the Li River for a more relaxing way to travel- a bamboo raft. We were punted along the river by a cool guy who took us down mini waterfalls and past some more amazing scenery through the narrow streams.
Casey and Emily did not have such a relaxing experience as their rafter was very forward and seemed to be quite affectionate. They ended up about 15 minutes ahead of everyone else! Halfway through the raft the heavens opened, but we were lucky enough that our raft had an umbrella which many didn't. We still got soaked to our skins though which was unfortunate right before the next cycle!!
We took a quick pitstop at a local farmers house and then headed on our way to the next stop- the dragon caves where we were to experience our first mud bath and hot spring. First we walked through the caves looking at the different shapes in the rocks with our favourite being the dragon throne...
A stranger one was the 'maternal love' area.....
After our walk, we stripped down to our swimming gear and went into the freezing cold mud! A strange , yet not unpleasant experience. The bath had a mud slide which was super fun. The mud was incredibly buoyant which made it impossible to sink...
After frolicking for a while, we headed to the nearby hot spring (after a shower) and relaxed in the revitalising water for a while, almost falling asleep in the process! Soaking wet (again) we then rode back to the hotel stopping at Moon Hill on the way....
We eventually arrived back absolutely exhausted and went for the most needed shower of the trip so far! Not being bothered to look far, we went for dinner at the original Chinese restaurant from the first day, this time swapping the food orders and enjoyed a well-earned beer! We headed to a rooftop bar with an excellent view and a good beer selection and after a couple of drinks and an unbeaten streak at pool for Rob, we called it an early night!
The next morning, with my muscles aching, we headed to a cookery class where we learnt to make four local specialities! First, we went to the market to pick ingredients, and learn about local foods, some of which didn't look so appetising....
After the market, we moved to the school and cooked Eggplant with spicy garlic and oyster sauce, Kung Pao Chicken (minus the nuts for Rob), beer fish (a Yangshuo special) and of course some dumplings. All of it was super delicious and we can't wait to try to make it at home!!
After a final walk around the shops and several impulse buys, we left for the train station for our night train out of China. More on that to come....
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