Guilin and yanshou
30th Apr 2006 1:42 AM
Hey guys, been a while since i last had a chance to update, and as its a rainy sunday afternoon i thought i would sort it out.
We arrived a few days ago in Guilin, easy flight and the view of the hundreds of paddy fields and mountains at sundown was amazing. Guilin was an alright town, quite rural but also touristy at the same time. but very explotative of tourists. pauls bank had decided to not let him have more cash due to the fact they are muppets (got it sorted now) so i had to foot the bill for everything which has been a big drain. Some good scenery in Guilin but as soon as we arrived the humidity hit us like wall of something unpleasent and sticky, hostel room was very damp so more annoynace but some interesting poeple were around. not much to do there so only stayed a couple of evenings before takling the boat down to yangshuo.
The boat trip down the famous river Li was something i had been looking forward too for ages, supposed to be amazing scenery. and weather i was hoping for was either sunny or very foggy for atmosphere. would have dull just being overcast.
before the boat we visited crown cave, the biggest cave in china. this place was mad, loads of coloured lights on the weird rock formations, an underground boat tour and even a train inside the cave!
but as we left o go on the boat the weather turned EVIL!!! massive tropical thunderstorm, [pouring rain loads of fog and crazy stuff.......so onto the tiny chinese fishing boat. cant see much inside so i decided to go sit out on "deck" under a plastic bag. got uterly soaked but the karst mountains and waterfalls in the rain looked amazing. so that was very cool. then got too yangshou.
very odd place, very rural out in the country only a couple of main roads and surrounded by mountains and next to the Li river. one of the main roads is called "west street" and this is appropiate in every sence of the word, place is crammed with tourists, western bars and hotels, even a KFC has turned up. so a good place for an english breakfast (they still havent got the hang of a cup of english tea though).
day after we arrived decided to rent bikes and go for a ride through ther country, pauls bike was a bit rubbish so he heaed back earyl. but got cycle through some really rural towns and a beside few rivers. was raining slightly which was really nice. Absolutely gorgeous scenery, nice enough cycling, no hills (except very sudden vertical ones) and had my MP3 player going away as well (although i did think it a tad ironic cycling through rural china singing along to the team america theme song "AMERICA!! FUCK YEAH".
got some cool bars here, although geenraslly there is only one busy one at a time which is where all thewesterners who live here end up and so keep running till about 5. met some really nice guys (and girls) dirnking lots of the local beer,
Met up with girl i messged on myspace who goes out with one of the rockclimbing store owners and she helped us out alot with ideas, suggested another cave which has a natural mud bath, sounded like fun so headed there for a day. Was kinda cool, much less gaudy then the last cave, needed torches and helmets and things, was interresting except tiring for the tall, whcih was me in our group. Mud bath was very odd, got absolutely covered in the stuff which was the consistency of very thick chocolate (got some great photos i will have to show you when i get the chance).
was saterday night by this point and was one of th bars 1 year birthday so there was a free barbeque and 2 for 1 drinks. so spent most of evening there, which was a very fun evening. one point i got bored of my shirt (i dunno) so spent a pound on a new one next door trowing old one away,cause you can in china. (though i later ruined it by ripping it open during the "nay we are but men....ROCK" part of tribute.).
ended up going down the night markets at 5 in the moring and having chilli noodles (not recommended due to bowel destruction)
we moved hotels cause our hostel was booked so we are now staying in "Fawlty towers" cause we had too with that name. whcih is very nice, best beds we have had in a long time annd a bath! althought its chinese sized so can barely fit in it.
Just been taking it easy today, walking by the river and walking up some mountains. tomorrow moring got an early start as we are going rock climbing, raining at the moment though so hope it picks up. in fact its been overcast as long as we have been here, only seen the sun one afternoon. but its still beutiful.and finally need to worry aout mozzies after ebing in big cities so long.
tomorrow evening we take the overnight bus to Hong Kong, will be back to childhood home for the first time in 13 years. should be good.
Right thats all for now guys, wish me luck on the rock face tomorrow.
Law
