China - Yangshou

Monday 10th I got picked up from my hostel in Guilin for the bamboo raft trip. In my group I had a German guy and his Chinese girlfriend who were both very sweet and an American woman called Tina. She was nice enough but had the bizarrest personality. Actually, she was your stereotypical American except she was aware of the stereotype and told us the entire time what it was as if she didn't fit it! Anyway, she was good fun for the day. We got a bus to a port outside town and boarded the raft putting our rucksacks on the back seats. We drifted down the Li river for about 3 hours. It was really beautiful and after seeing the massive tourist ferry's going past I was really pleased I'd opted for the raft option. We even had moments of peace which I am sure is rare in such a popular Chinese tourist spot.
Pictures from the raft:

At the other end we caught an electric bus to Xingping and then another bus to Yangshou but all went very smoothly. I managed to ring the hostel I wanted to stay at and they came to pick me up from the bus terminal which was a bonus. I wanted to stay in Yangshou Culture House which had been recommended to me. It lived up to my high expectations. Breakfast, dinner and cultural activities are included in the cost and I was in a dorm with 2 other girls which was great. I immediately met a girl called Sara from England and we walked into town together. She went off to a cookery course so I wandered around the market and tried to get my bearings. I bought some dried mango which turned out to be dried sweet potato! Not as nice.

After dinner, which is served around a big round table with everyone from the hostel together, I went back to town and met Sara for some drinks in a Regge bar. It wasn't very happening so we went else where. It was nice to go out for a few drinks and a chat, we had a lot to talk about, but we headed home about midnight and avoided the seedy looking clubs on West St.

Breakfast was great, again everyone sits together and there is an ongoing supply of toast, fruit and tea which you end up eating far too much of. Sara and I rented bikes and went off into the countryside. It is such a stunning area with the strange mountains sticking up everywhere and the Yulong river. It's not at all peaceful but I'm convinced nowhere in China is peaceful if there is a tourist attraction. We cycled to moon hill and had a light lunch in the cafe at the base. We eventually started the climb up which wasn't difficult but it was so, so hot. When we got half way up to the view point for the arch we came across a group of Chinese teenagers who actually screamed when the saw me. I was completely shocked and thought something bad had happened but no, they just wanted numerous photos of me. I looked foul - sweating, red, puffed out but that didn't put them off!

Yulong river and the bamboo rafts:

Chinese teenages/my fan club:

Eventually they left and we were approached by a fit old lady with silver teeth who spends her days running up and down the hill after tourists trying to sell them water. She had a little note book which she gets all the tourists to write in, it was so sweet so we bought some postcards and wrote in it! This is her:

We then climbed the rest of the way and sat at the top taking in the view and chatting for over an hour. On the way back we stopped by the river and dangled our legs in and watched the hoards of Chinese tourists doing the mandatory bamboo raft down the Yulong:

Here's some pictures from the cycle back:

After a well needed shower we had a lovely extended dinner where everyone sat around drinking beer and chatting for nearly two hours. A group of 7 of us got picked up from the hostel about 8.30pm to go to the light show on the Li River. It's called Impression and is directed by Sanjie Liu who did the Beijing opening ceremony I think. It was massively crowded and the Chinese don't half push and shove for absolutely no reason but we had good seats. The show itself was surreal, I really enjoyed it. The wierd thing was the audience, they talked thoughout the performance and then didn't applaude the ended, instead they got up and left before the actors had even left the set! Very bizzare!

I had a really slow start the next morning, breakfast took over an hour due to chatting. Eventually I went into town and bought some snacks and went to sit in the park and read. It was so hot that I didn't have the energy to do anything else. I did climb the small peak in the park to get views over the city which evidently, is a small place only in Chinese terms. I got stuck up there for at least an hour chatting to a Chinese guys from Guangzho, nice chap.

Views over Yangshou:

Before dinner I went to watch them cooking which was interesting but I couldn't get involved at all. After dinner I had a beer with Laura and Nicola who had moved into my room but they went to the light show so I watched a rubbish film with a Spanish/Colombian couple.

The next day was equally slow starting but about 11am I went into town and found a massage parlour. I had 100min massage which was about 40mins on feet and then a full body massage afterwards. It was very painful! At four I did a Chinese language course with Mr Wie and various other people from the hostel. It was useful but I lost the plot after 1/2 hr or so. In the evening I went with Nicole and Laura to watch cormorants fishing in the river which was strange. They put bands on their necks so they can't swallow the fish and then they force them to regurgitate the fish into a basket. Wierd!

From there we went shopping and drinking. We eventually ended up in the terrace bar in Monkey Jane's hostel which was good fun. It was nice to hang out with L&N because they were very much on my level. Before that we were drinking at a table on the street but we had people constantly taking photos of/with us like this guy and his friends: