Well, the 4 days we booked to stay in Yangshou seem to have somehow turned into 9 days... Apparently that's what Yangshou does to you! We arrived on a rainy afternoon after the train journey from hell (no sleepers available so a hard seat all night. Not a whole lot of fun). It wasn't exactly the best start to a new location, but it's amazing what a relaxed beer in the bar and friendly people to chat to will do to brighten the day. By the next morning, however, everything had changed. The sun had come out in a way that we haven't seen since arriving in China - clear blue skies and a roasting heat, and suddenly the deserted streets we had arrived to see were packed full of people - foreign and Chinese tourists alongside locals selling everything under the sun. The town itself is very touristy. Very. However it only takes a short trip out of town to see the absolutely stunning countryside surrounding it.
The next day got up early and went on a trip to the Dragon Backbone rice terraces - more stunning scenery and a lovely walk through the terraces. I think it's Autumn when these are really shown to their very best advantage as the terraces fill with water, giving the impression of mirrors all the way down the mountainside. Even at this time of year however they are impressive and were well worth a trip. We also visited a local village nearby where the women are only allowed to cut their hair once in their lives (at 18). To show us about their way of life they put on a show a few times a day for tourists. I was unsure about this initially as it felt very much like we were watching them in a zoo - however I couldn't help enjoying watching Kev finding himself up on stage taking part in a 'marriage' ceremony with a local girl. This involved, amongst other things, him dancing with her and singing an English love song to her. in front of a couple of hundred tourists. With a microphone. What did he choose? That well known English love song 'I should be so lucky'... And yes, it is on video.
The following day we hired bikes (as mentioned in a previous post this is quite a novel concept for me). It took me a while to overcome my fear of anything that passed me on the road, and luckily it wasn't long before we were cycling on almost empty lanes past the River Li (complete with plenty of water buffalo) and limestone mountains. We had originally aimed to reach some caves that we planned to visit, however our first bike ride became mostly a chance for me to get used to being back out on a bike. At one point we got stuck the wrong side of the river and ended up catching a bamboo raft back over which was a new experience! A massage (5 pounds for 60 minutes - a bargain!) and a couple of gin and tonics finished the day off nicely for me. We also made sure we booked ourselves onto a climbing trip the following day. This seemed like a great idea - and then someone mentioned that I would, again, be taking to my bike to get to the climbing spot. Aargh!!
The climbing was great. I found it pretty tricky but it was really good fun and a huge sense of achievement on reaching a spot that seemed impossible. After we finished we were taken by our guide to a part of the river which was particularly good for swimming and we had a relaxing dip (and jumped off a bridge a few times). Then I think we pretty much collapsed under the air-conditioning - it's pretty hot here for all this activity! By this time we had also met quite a few people here and arranged to go with a few of them the next day to the caves we had been aiming for on our first bike ride. This time scooters seemed like a far better idea!
The caves we visited are advertised as Water caves, with a cold water pool, a mud pool and hot springs all within the caves. The journey there alone was pretty fun, although as we went through a tunnel (admittedly only at 40km an hour, the electric scooters don't really go faster)I did wish that Kev had located the lights a bit earlier! The caves themselves were entertaining though didn't entirely live up to the expectation of the posters that advertise them. They have pretty impressive stalactites and stalagmites, however the cold pool was REALLY cold and the mud pool felt a little like sitting in a muddy puddle... The hot springs were nice and hot after all the muddy water, but a little crowded. Still, we managed to have fun and stopped on our way back at a restaurant/bar for a beer, dinner and a few games of pool.
Then it was time for the big bike ride - a 25km ride to Dragon Bridge with Doug and Rosie. Which is really just a big bridge but with a lovely swimming spot and more amazing scenery along the way. I was, I must admit, a bit apprehensive about this epic ride, and yes, my bottom was quite sore by the end of it. But it was a really fun day and the swim when we reached our goal was fantastic. Watching Kev and Doug jump off the 10 metre bridge made for good photos. Rosie and I declined to join them.
Kev and Doug decided they wanted to do another half day climbing, and I was really keen to do a Chinese cooking course so the next day we split up and the boys did boy things and left the girls in the kitchen. The course was really good - we each had a our little cooking stations and learnt to cook Kung Pao chicken, spicy aubergines and beer fish. Even better, it actually tasted really nice! We also visited the local market complete with live bunny rabbits and dogs. Luckily we didn't see the imfamous dog skinning, but we did see the end result hanging up waiting to be sold. After all this activity we decided we needed a rest day so the next day we hired a DVD player to our room and bought some 'genuine' DVDs (haha) and had a properly lazy day (with a couple of drinks in the evening) We really needed it by then as it had been a pretty full on week.
Which, I think, brings me to yesterday, although I have to admit I'm a little confused and may ahve missed a day somewhere along the line. Yesterday it was back out on the push bikes to the river where a group of 6 of us spent a lazy day swimming and relaxing under a mini waterfall with a couple of beers and then a nice meal together in the evening. Today has been mostly doing useful things like booking bus tickets, posting cards and packing, although I have found time for a lovely free foot massage ( a reward for staying at this hostel so long). So tomorrow it's off to Nanning where we buy our Vietnam visas, and then it's goodbye to China!
PS 2 things you should never try if ever in China - pig penis and snake wine. Neither one comes recommended by us.
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