Day 150
I've reached something of a milestone today having been on the road for 150 days. If anything the past week or two have been some of the most adventurous comprising walking the Great Wall, a cruise down the Yangtze River, walking along terraced fields tendered by indigenous people, walking through a cave system and taking a mud bath and yesterday cycling along the Li River and taking a swim in the river itself.
This is largely thanks to me being able to tag along with a couple of Brits I met in Beijing as otherwise I doubt I would have done a lot of those things by myself. As it was we've had a lot of fun, although now we've gone our separate ways, me heading North to Chengdu to see if I can arrange a trip to Tibet and they South to Hong Kong. We've also been spending time with a Norwegian couple we met on the Yangtze Cruise who we bumped into again in Yangshou. As it happens everyone is making their way through one route or another towards South East Asia, so chances are we'll meet again at some point.
Continuing on from the last post, from the sleeply and thoroughly Chinese town of Longsheng we made our way to Yangshou which could scarcely could have been more different. Something of a tourist capital it was lined with souvenir and fancy clothes shops, bars, cafes, restaurants, travel agencies, hostel and hotels, the majority clearly catering for the Western visitors who were much thicker on the ground than I've seen anywhere so far. This meant that while you can still eat Chinese food, the Chinese food is more akin to a Chinese restaurant menu at home, the likes of Lemon Chicken being available here but otherwise absent anywhere else in China, and almost without exception everywhere serves sandwiches, steaks, burgers and the like to cater for the Western tastes and for those like ourselves who have been eating rice and noodles for that bit too long. With accommodation so thick on the ground we tried a number of places before we found a place we liked at the right price. Similarly bartering is the way to go with all of the street vendors in the town whether you're buying fruit or a souvenir t-shirt.
The major draw around Yangshou is the landscape and outdoor pursuits available. Along the Li River are the most distinctive if odd shaped mountains, something akin to fingers rising vertically from an otherwise flat countryside. It's easiest if you take a look on my photo website to see why they're so popular. (http://www.flickr.com/photos/eurobahn/). For the particularly athletic the mountains themselves are the challenge, but there's plenty besides to enjoy. On Wednesday we booked a trip to one of the local caves which involved a boat into the complex and a tour through the caves, past the various curiously shaped stalactites and stalagmites, many with their own names, but the highlight was undoubtedly the mud cave. It was probably man-made but it was essentially a pool of mud and a mud-slide to shoot down into the pool using and get completely covered from head to toe. Needless to say the photos will be uploaded shortly! It was great fun and the mud extremely buoyant, much more than we had expected. After that we climbed out of the caves and walked back the entrance where we showered under a waterfall and in the pool. A fine half-day out!
On Thursday we decided to take a minibus upstream to another town and take a boat through some of the most attractive stretches of the Li river. However for some reason all of the minibus drivers were on strike. (I'm sure they don't use the word strike here, but that's what it was for all intents and purposes). Fortunately we managed to get transport and the river trip booked through the travel centre across the road from our hostel and we were set. As opposed to the numerous large boats that ply the route between Guilin city and Yangshou, our boat took on a more modest section of the river, although generally regarded as the prettiest the Li has to offer, and so we got to enjoy the intimacy of a wooden boat that could seat around a dozen or so people. For much of the journey though we sat out in the sun on the front of the boat, taking photos and viewing the passing hills, boats, batheing cattle and cormorant fisherman amongst others.
Yesterday we rented bicycles and after meeting the Norwegians for breakfast we all set out together to the next town which according to the Lonely Planet offered attractive cobbled streets. A hour's ride there the town proved to be modern and wholly without interest so we rode a little further in search of the river and came across a sign for a natural swimming pool with a locally run cafe to boot. Stocking up on drinks and fab chocolate and banana pancakes we had a good swim in an off-shoot from the main Li river. Afterwards the proprietor of the cafe offered to take us and our bicycles across the river on his bamboo raft for a little less than 50p each, so we did that and took a rough but much quieter road back to Yangshou on the opposite bank of the river. My backside is feeling the 'benefit' today but all in all it was a lot of fun.
Last night I took a late flight from Guilin Airport to Chengdu where I am now. I'm staying in a great hostel which even has a small pig snuffling around the place. It tends to like chewing on everything, be it plants, computer cables or shoes, but everyone loves it. Chengdu has a number of worthy sights in the area such as a Panda Breeding centre, a traditional town where part of Crouching Tiger was filmed, and it's also a good place to book flights to Tibet, which is the main reason I'm here. I'll let you know how I get on in my next post.
This is largely thanks to me being able to tag along with a couple of Brits I met in Beijing as otherwise I doubt I would have done a lot of those things by myself. As it was we've had a lot of fun, although now we've gone our separate ways, me heading North to Chengdu to see if I can arrange a trip to Tibet and they South to Hong Kong. We've also been spending time with a Norwegian couple we met on the Yangtze Cruise who we bumped into again in Yangshou. As it happens everyone is making their way through one route or another towards South East Asia, so chances are we'll meet again at some point.
Continuing on from the last post, from the sleeply and thoroughly Chinese town of Longsheng we made our way to Yangshou which could scarcely could have been more different. Something of a tourist capital it was lined with souvenir and fancy clothes shops, bars, cafes, restaurants, travel agencies, hostel and hotels, the majority clearly catering for the Western visitors who were much thicker on the ground than I've seen anywhere so far. This meant that while you can still eat Chinese food, the Chinese food is more akin to a Chinese restaurant menu at home, the likes of Lemon Chicken being available here but otherwise absent anywhere else in China, and almost without exception everywhere serves sandwiches, steaks, burgers and the like to cater for the Western tastes and for those like ourselves who have been eating rice and noodles for that bit too long. With accommodation so thick on the ground we tried a number of places before we found a place we liked at the right price. Similarly bartering is the way to go with all of the street vendors in the town whether you're buying fruit or a souvenir t-shirt.
The major draw around Yangshou is the landscape and outdoor pursuits available. Along the Li River are the most distinctive if odd shaped mountains, something akin to fingers rising vertically from an otherwise flat countryside. It's easiest if you take a look on my photo website to see why they're so popular. (http://www.flickr.com/photos/eurobahn/). For the particularly athletic the mountains themselves are the challenge, but there's plenty besides to enjoy. On Wednesday we booked a trip to one of the local caves which involved a boat into the complex and a tour through the caves, past the various curiously shaped stalactites and stalagmites, many with their own names, but the highlight was undoubtedly the mud cave. It was probably man-made but it was essentially a pool of mud and a mud-slide to shoot down into the pool using and get completely covered from head to toe. Needless to say the photos will be uploaded shortly! It was great fun and the mud extremely buoyant, much more than we had expected. After that we climbed out of the caves and walked back the entrance where we showered under a waterfall and in the pool. A fine half-day out!
On Thursday we decided to take a minibus upstream to another town and take a boat through some of the most attractive stretches of the Li river. However for some reason all of the minibus drivers were on strike. (I'm sure they don't use the word strike here, but that's what it was for all intents and purposes). Fortunately we managed to get transport and the river trip booked through the travel centre across the road from our hostel and we were set. As opposed to the numerous large boats that ply the route between Guilin city and Yangshou, our boat took on a more modest section of the river, although generally regarded as the prettiest the Li has to offer, and so we got to enjoy the intimacy of a wooden boat that could seat around a dozen or so people. For much of the journey though we sat out in the sun on the front of the boat, taking photos and viewing the passing hills, boats, batheing cattle and cormorant fisherman amongst others.
Yesterday we rented bicycles and after meeting the Norwegians for breakfast we all set out together to the next town which according to the Lonely Planet offered attractive cobbled streets. A hour's ride there the town proved to be modern and wholly without interest so we rode a little further in search of the river and came across a sign for a natural swimming pool with a locally run cafe to boot. Stocking up on drinks and fab chocolate and banana pancakes we had a good swim in an off-shoot from the main Li river. Afterwards the proprietor of the cafe offered to take us and our bicycles across the river on his bamboo raft for a little less than 50p each, so we did that and took a rough but much quieter road back to Yangshou on the opposite bank of the river. My backside is feeling the 'benefit' today but all in all it was a lot of fun.
Last night I took a late flight from Guilin Airport to Chengdu where I am now. I'm staying in a great hostel which even has a small pig snuffling around the place. It tends to like chewing on everything, be it plants, computer cables or shoes, but everyone loves it. Chengdu has a number of worthy sights in the area such as a Panda Breeding centre, a traditional town where part of Crouching Tiger was filmed, and it's also a good place to book flights to Tibet, which is the main reason I'm here. I'll let you know how I get on in my next post.
posted by Daniel at 4:16 am
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