Yangshuo - a pretty (but touristic) pearl in China

4 november 2012 - Yangshuo, China

We didn't plan to go to Yangshuo actually, as we wanted to head towards the east. Knowing we didn't have too much time left in China, we decided against a Yangtze river cruise and directly went south. (lucky shot, as a co-traveller told us the cruises are a definite no-go). And considering the fact that we will see enough rice terraces in South-east Asia, we decided to hang out in Yangshuo a little longer. Those of you who have been in China might think we are crazy, "hanging loose" and chilling in one of the most touristic places, but we needed to relax a bit. The sunny climate, in an environment full of magic karst mountains, combined with the fact that you can easily rent bikes here, move freely made us feel like being on a holiday :). The bikes gave us the freedom to cruise around and get out of the way of the ever shouting population. It felt good, so we stayed.

Getting there was again a wearing story. This is what we wrote on the way:

It's been a long night (day). Our cost saving-mode might have been a little too much this time. For a change, we had the option to book sleepers, but we didn't. 330 for a hard sleeper instead of the 182 for a seat might have been worth it this time. 25 hours...3 more to go. We don't want to judge other cultural habits too much, but so far it's been a disgusting and horrible ride. Spitting on the floor, munching, smacking, slurping, burping!! smoking all throughout the night in a non-smoking car) and really argueing with us about it... When we finally fell asleep we were brutally woken again at 8:00 by the literally screaming sales lady selling towels (a second whitening toothpaste and a third shoe polish).. 120 decibel in our ears. In one word: hilarious, you can't get more local than this. It's what we wanted, but it's also going to be the last time.:) and somehow we actually got some sleep :).

Most annoying is the fact that we don't have any privacy. In this class, you are facing the other side. And since they have really nothing else to do than observe, our every move is watched. I wanted to draw this scene, but I can't. Drawings don't need verbal explanation, and with always someone standing next to me, staring on the paper, I feel censored. We're reading a (German) book about Mao right now, and are wondering whether the time moved ahead or not. In one way yes, China is getting more and more Western. But on the other hand, the old habits and culture are so strong that it is so different. Take for example the smoking: in Europe it has become so un-cool to smoke, it is just expensive, unhealthy, uncool and rude if done inside any sort of building or car (if nonsmokers are present). Here it is still a symbol of luxury, just like the extremely long fingernails of men to show they don't work on the fields. (although most are really really dirty). The struggle between communistic beliefs and history and capitalistic ways of living is clear to be seen.

Right now, past Róngshui, about half an hour before Liūzhoū, the landscape changes into that what you know from the pictures of the Li River surroundings. Beautiful karst scenery of limestone peaks, with ricefields and little villages in between. And then, shockingly, a massive factory and mine. It's the same feeling we had when we drove past the many Dams in the river. Progress = yes, nature= we don't care about it as it seems. But maybe that is just a stupid observation from the train. Tomorrow we will rent some bikes from Yangshou, and explore the area in a slower pace. Looks really neat and exciting, just the way we expect Vietnam to look like :)

Indeed, the scenery is as magnificent as the drawing on the back of the 20 RMB banknote. While I was drawing it in the train, a group of elderly Chinese were bent over my shoulder, trying to see what I was doing. We got into a hand-feet conversation and we showed some pictures from home. They didn't believe that we were really 9 years older than they estimated :) and we had some good laughs. Our spirits were lifted, and positively we made our way in Guilin towards the bus; of course to be (almost really badly ) ripped of by an unofficial bus-lady. Since the bus driver took the money from her, he must have been in the deal as well, only to tell us after departure with a smile that it is really only 18 RMB fixed price. AAARGH!!! How nasty can people be!!! Thats China...:)

The hostel was nice and quiet, luckily not right in town (which was one of the reasons why we have chosen this one). Yangshuo is somewhat of a party city, full of vibrant life, bars, souvenirs and Western people! We ran into a lot of people we met before, real fun. One night we experienced the fun at Monkey Jane's, really crazy. Looking for drinking warm snake blood? this is the place to be.... Most of the time we preferred just hanging out on our hostel's rooftop (enjoying the scenery) or eating a 1 euro claypot-speciality for dinner. We cycled through the fields, watched the Chinese separating the rice from the plants and picking the mandarins and pomelos. We ate more passionfruits than we had before in our whole life :), simply marvellous! and took a Scooter to get even further out :)

With Jen & Blain we went to the mud caves. A fun thing, although the pricing is created with a ridiculous system. A short explanation, as it says a lot about any other stuff you do in China as well!!!

the tour operators in town will charge you anything between 80 and 180 RMB, depending on who you are talking to. Hostels are most reliable apparently.
the 'official looking' stand/ticket office and lady before entering the terrain will charge you 320 RMB without the blinking of an eye.
the real ticket office lady will charge you 200 RMB; although when you ask for a price list, there is none.
the 20 (old) ladies surrouding you directly before the ticket office will bargain agressively, but go as low as 50 RMB per person (local price).

So Jen inquired at the ticket office what the real price is, and why there are no price listings. The lady didn't change her face a minute (not even when the old lady next to us negotiated with us even harder and went down to ' 50 RMB - but it is our secret!!' ... ). The official lady's answer was simple: ' Why don't you buy it from the old lady then?'. Bargain hard and you win a bit, but we will never know what the real deal would have been in this corrupt system.

Inside is really nice, many stalactites and of course, all colourfully lit up by colourful electric lights. Parts of the rocks were carved away to make space for the lighting, and in some areas you can see the concrete that they used to paste some more stalactites on the ceiling. But if you ignore that and the fact that the 'guide' will rush you through the caves (she made me sign an "I've done an excellent job"-note by the way!!); it's a pretty scene. And knowing in Europe this whole theatre with touching the stones, building artificial slides and stairs, making pools in the cave, etc. would never be allowed, we enjoyed our time as long as possible!

We so gave in to doing to tourist attraction of the bamboo rafting. At least it was a real bamboo raft, not a plastic nutshell as you can find further upstream. You cannot bike around Yangshuo without the continous sound of ' HELLOOOOOO!!! Bamboo bamboo!!! OK Ok OK, good price!!!??' being yelled at your face. We finally got a good deal and went on the raft. Of course, not without the many floating cafes trying to sell you beer at a price which is about 10 times the normal price. We also didn't buy the photos that were made of us 'Look here, lady lady, look here, no here!!!' which obviously annoyed our bamboo raft 'driver' and he put up some more speed to get us home before the promised hour was over. But think all of that away ... we really enjoyed the scenery from the water! Best part was the last where our rafting guide miscalculated our weight at one of the little waterfalls, and... fell into the river himself!!! (we just were able to cling on, only our butts got wet :) ). Shivering, without his umbrella, shoe and wallet he paddled like hell to get rid of us and away from the laughter of the other rafters :-) crazy!

On the last day, we rented a scooter, together with 2 British girls and a Dutch couple. We loved cruising around and made our way to the old village of Xingping. It's scenery is on the back of the 20 RMB note! And the best, it's free of charge (first thing in China ever without entry fee!!!), so is the mountain you can climb to obtain a fantastic view over the village. Ignore the ladies that want to charge you for parking (it's fake!!) by the way! Unfortunately, Bas, one of the Dutch we hooked up with, sprained his ankle. On the way back, he and his girlfriend Vera were hit by another scooter!!! Which of course rushed away without helping them or clearing insurance situations...His ribs still hurt a lot :S We hope he will feel better soon!! We closed off the otherwise splendid day with a (still cheap) beer and made our way to the bus, heading off to HongKong. Sadly saying goodbye again but we are optimistic to meet again in Nepal or in SE Asia!!

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Yangshuo - a pretty (but touristic) pearl in China

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