See What Tim Is Doing: Li river

The last leg of my China adventure, and couldn’t of picked a more ideal spot to finish. Yangshuo is a small town (for China) with a population of approximately 300,000 people (yep that’s a small Chinese town) and located on the Li River in China’s Guangxi provence, with towering peaks surrounding the town.

After taking the bamboo raft from Guilin to Yangshuo, it was already a good start to my visit. We arrived in the town and I quickly located a taxi and was off to my hostel, which is located a little out of town (15 minute walk) but is perched up on a hill overlooking some rice paddies with a backdrop of huge mountain that reach for the sky. Nice, relaxed and out of the hustle and bustle of Chinese tour groups and their microphone-wielding guides.

Free of my bags, I took a stroll along the Li River and into town to see what was going on and what Yangshuo had to offer. The town itself was smaller, no high rises and not a town I could see 300,00 people fitting in, but it was nice and I was glad to not be confronted by skyscrapers battling with mountains on the horizon. The only down side of the town, thousand of Chinese tour groups. All with group flags, matching hats and shirts and guides with microphone packs turned up 10 notches higher then needed. So I explored, ate some food, got my bearings of the city and checked out some shops and bars then retired home pretty early as I wanted to be up early the next day.

Day two I got myself a bike and a map and set out on a journey north along one of the smaller rivers and away from the crowds. I have discovered that 90% Chinese people don’t like straying from the main area or main tourist attractions so it made it easy to escape the crowds with a bike.

I rode in total for over 7 hours in 30+ weather (first case of decent sunburn) and it was an amazing day. Although nothing amazing happened, it was just really amazing to ride along the river, with amazing scenery surrounding me. Riding through small towns that all stopped and watched as the white guy rode past, kids in the small villages would stop me and laugh and jump around me. I had to dodge a few rouge water buffalos cruising down the dirt road as well. I don’t know exactly how to explain it but it was just a really different kind of experience. Seeing how basic some people live, and how content they are with it. Seeing 80+ year olds carrying heaving baskets of wheat and vegetables without breaking a sweat, it was just really interesting to see, and the backdrop to all this the whole time was towering mountains and peaks, amazing!

At one point as well I could not cross the river as there was no bridges, so I jumped on a bamboo raft and was taken down river and across to the other side (with bike and all on the raft) and then the raft man insisted I join him on his break to eat lychees and drink tea which was pretty cool!

I decided I would visit Moon Hill as well on my way back into town, and about 10 minutes from Moon Hill, the clouds opened and the rain fell in giant, cold, hard drops that started as a few drops, and quickly turned into heavy down poor. I took refuge under a giant tree for 15 minutes and was still getting wet, so I gave up, rode home in the rain and on the way home took a sweet tumble on my bike in front of a large group of Chinese people which must of looked hilarious as my bike slid from underneath me and I continued to slide for another 4 metres along the ground as well. Don’t worry though mum I am fine, it was an extremely smooth, slippery bit of road so I lost next to no skin and rode away with nothing hurt but my dignity.

The following day, I braved the bike again (this time in dry conditions) and made the choice to try return back to Moon Hill in the morning before my afternoon cooking course, and more so, before the hordes of Chinese tour groups! I soon realised that getting to the top of Moon Hill consisted of climbing over 800 steep marble steps in 37 degree weather, and this was something the Chinese are too keen on, if the bus doesn’t take them there, they don’t seem to want to go, which in a way was perfect as the path was near empty.

I was already sweating like mad before I even started the climb, and it was only getting hotter, so this was not going to be the most enjoyable task, but still I got on my way and began the climb.

The actual climb up was nothing overly spectacular, it was pretty, but the vegetation was thick and you could not see how high you actually were, which was good in a way as when you make it to the top and saw the view, it was more rewarding.

Ascending the mountain took less then an hour and when I got to just about the top, there was a path to the right and a sign saying no passengers for the path to the left, but I read in the book at the hostel, to ignore the sign and go to the path on the left, so of course being alone, I took the path on the left, which soon disappeared and was more like a tiny break in the trees that I followed for another 15 minutes and finally got to the opening, and what a view. I was literally on the very top of Moon Hill, with a very, very long way down. Even though it was of course, like every other day in China, hazy, the view was still epic. I could see hill and mountains as far as the horizon. If it was a clear day, I think the view would’ve been one of the best I have ever seen!

The afternoon I had signed up to do a Chinese cooking course in a little house next to the Li River. The course started with a trip to the local market, which is split, into two parts, fruit and vegetables, and meat and spices. The fruit and vegetable was fruit and vegetable, but the vegetables were pretty interesting as a lot of them I had never seen before! But the meat section, that was a whole new world. The were tubs with live eels, frogs, crayfish, turtles and fish at the beginning of the hall, and then it got a little more grim, with cages of ducks and chickens in the middle, and then along the back wall, freshly slaughtered chicken and ducks (and I mean freshly slaughtered) and then tables of beef and pork, and then in the corner the most sickening thing I have ever seen, was cages of dogs, and two dogs hanging (dead of course) from hooks on display for whoever felt like some fresh dog for their dinner. Yeah it was messed up and made me feel a little off.

Luckily though our course did not involved cooking any dog! We started off cooking an eggplant starter, which had eggplant, garlic, ginger, chilli, oyster sauce and spring onions, and it was delicious. Followed by steamed stuffed tofu ball, mushroom and pumpkin flower. These two were the starters. And the mains were beer fish (which turned out spectacular) and then chicken and cashews (one of your favourites Gem) and then a side of chilli bok choy salad. And if I do say so myself, they all turned out fantastic, I just hope I can pull them all off just as well when I cook them at home!

My final day in China, and an early start, 7:20am bus to the Dragon Backbone Rice Terraces. I have seen pictures of these and they look stunning! Although I was a little sceptical to book it as the hazy weather has not been a photos best friend since I have been here but I thought even still, I have to go check them out.

In total, the outing took 12 hours! Not what I expected (as the tour book said it was from 7am till 330pm, not 7 till 7. The drives were pretty average three hour trips there and same back. We stopped in some random long-haired village and were pretty much told we had to see this show otherwise we had to wait outside for an hour, I wish I had of picked to wait outside as the show was less then enjoyable. Then bus again to park entrance, then had to walk a million stairs to get to the restaurant that served very average food for a highly inflated price. And then finally around 130pm we were finally able to go and see the rice fields were went there for. And luckily the rice fields were pretty amazing, even with the hazy conditions they still made it worth the crappy start to the day.

The rice fields cover a huge area of the mountain town, and they are easy to spot. They cover the mountainside like a bright green, patterned rug, and go for as far as the eye can see. Each season gives the fields a different look. In summer they are bright green, in autumn they turn a golden colour, in winter they are covered in a blanket of snow, and in spring they shine from the sunny skies and clear days reflecting off the water.

And that was my last outing for China. Returned back to the hostel, relaxed, ate some dinner and then got ready to board my overnight sleeper bus to Hong Kong!

Some more things learnt while in China:

• TsingTao (China’s local beer) is the beer sponsor of the NBA

• Everyday Chinese people really do eat dog

• 70% of tourism in China are Chinese

• Chinese people do not travel alone, they are always travelling in tour groups/organised tours.

• China is hot

Overall my time in China was an amazing experience. It was unlike anywhere I have ever travelled before, in many ways. The big cities were intense, but still had a lot of hidden charms about them and providing some good times and some amazing food.

The more rural areas though were definitely my favourite though. Jiuzhaigou and Yangshou were my favourites. The scenery and the people were beautiful and I could definitely go back. The only thing I would change would be the time of year I go, I would definitely visit in autumn, cooler weather, cleaner skies and trees changing colours. (which would make for amazing photos).

Mainland China you were amazing, now for my next stop, Hong Kong!

Taste of home

West Street

Fresh Fruit

Yulong Bridge

Bamboo raft at Yulong Bridge

Yanghsou

Rice fields

View from the top of Moon Hill

I climbed to the very top of that and
the view (above) was epic

Eels

Blue eggs?

Steamed vegetable in the cooking class

Beer fish we learnt to make

View while eating our dinner

Little kid at Longji Rice Fields

Me at Longji Rice Fields

Sunset over the Li River

Bamboo rafts on the Li River

Longji Rice Fields

The thought of spending 24 hours on a train to get from Chengdu to Guilin just didn’t tickle my fancy, so I treated myself and decided to fly, which in the end didn’t work out too much more expensive then the marathon train trip.

So from rainy Chengdu, which was a welcome break from the 30+ weather I had all trip, I was back to 36+ weather in Guilin. It was hot, humid and hard work. My hostel was not far from the bus station where the airport shuttle stopped, but navigating the streets with 30kgs of bags in weather pushing 37 was not appealing, so I grabbed a cab and took the easy option.

The rest of the afternoon, like most of my first days was spent exploring on foot and getting to know the town and just checking out some sights that were around, including several lakes and of course, the Li River.

That night I decided to venture to the night markets (have seen my fair share of markets this trip) and this didn’t exactly go to plan. I pointed to my desired destination and the taxi driver spoke to me, of course in Chinese, and the conversation was going nowhere, and eventually we were on our way. Soon after, we arrived at the hotel that was near the markets, I paid, left the cab and soon realised that there must have been more then one Austrian Hotel. So, I was lost and equipped only with an extremely basic map, which soon proved useless. I wandered the area for over an hour and a half, thinking I was making ground and knew where I was, only to have my hopes shattered when I realised, I still had no idea where I was. Sweaty and frustrated, I finally hailed a motorbike cab and pointed to somewhere else near the markets, and we were off, zipping in and out of traffic, hopefully to the correct destination this time.

Second time around, success. I was where I wanted to be finally! So I strolled through the markets, looking at what good and bad things were on offer. Brought a piece of watermelon the size of my head for about 25p and met some locals who were really nice, spoke good English and invited me to sit at their table outside and have a beer with them as they had just finished their meal. Now I have heard horror stories about people being asked for a drink or tea etc and getting locked in a room and forced to pay hundreds of pounds to get out, but I thought I was safe here, as if they dropped a bill on me, I could just run as I was outside. In the end, no bill, no problems. They were just a nice bunch of people who just wanted some foreign company.

Day two, I decided to be brave a get a bike and ride the city. Now if you have ever been to China, if not, then pictures thousands of Chinese drivers on the road, no real road rules and no patience, and times it by three and you might be close to the chaos of their roads. Although it looks like hell, it actually wasn’t too bad, I just followed the read of other Chinese people and in the end, I figured out how it all works and I had a great time!

First stop was the Seven Stars Park, which is just a smaller sized park containing lakes, bridges, temples and also a cave full of stalactites and stalagmites illuminated by fluorescent lights. I strolled around the park, sweating like mad as the weather again, in it’s high 30’s, took photos of some wild monkeys until one charged me just as I was about to take a photo and I visited the cave that contained the stalactite and stalagmite lightshow. The cave was pretty cool, but the pictures on the brochure I think may have been from the Reed Flute Cave, which was my next stop on my bike riding adventure.

Back on the road again and time for quick lunch pit stop. Tried to find a dumpling restaurant that had been raved about my lonely planet and also a few travellers I met in the hostel, but couldn’t. Instead I ended up choosing a restaurant with chickens, ducks and geese hanging from hooks in the window. Was it a good move? Oh yeah. For the equivalent of £1.15, I received a plate loaded with rice, tofu, goose, chicken, soup, some weird salad, chilli cabbage salad and of course some tea. The cheapest meal I have had so far (besides some 10p street meat kebabs).

Reed Flutes Cave was my intending destination, instead I ended up riding non-stop for nearly three hours around in a big circle trying to find the cave, and of course, I never found it. I gave up and decided to just ride around the city, explore some more parks and the river side, and then head back to the hostel in time for the all you can eat BBQ. So the night was filled with meeting new people (again more Dutch! They are everywhere in China), playing a new card game ‘Phase 10” with some Spanish and of course some Dutch, drinking a few beers and just having a nice low key but fun night.

I decided to head to Yangshou, and instead of getting there by the conventional method of a bus, I opted for a trip on a three-hour bamboo raft trip down the Li River, which is said to have some of the most amazing scenery in China. And they didn’t lie. Huge peaks coming out of nowhere, mountains covered in greenery, buffalo swimming at the waters edge and score of bamboo rafts floating down the Li River, it was picturesque. Like The Great Wall, it was a bit hazy which was a real shame as if it was a clear day, the pictures would be absolutely mind blowing. So I am hoping for a nice clear morning one of the days I am here so I can go for a nice early morning ride and get some quality snaps. I have a feeling Yangshou is going to be a great finish to the China leg of my trip.