Stepping into a movie set

Scenery around Yangshou - so famous this part is on their 20 yuan note.
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On an impulse I decided to book a trip to Guilin, as I had read in my extensive research (while pretending to audit) that it was a beautiful place to visit.  And I am very glad I did!   Guilin is in South China, about 2.5 hours flight from Beijing, and is famous for its karst scenery.  This means there is many limestone mountains rising sharply out of river valleys, shrouded in mist (well, when I was there at least).  The movie 'the painted veil' with Naomi Watts was filmed here evidently, if anyone has seen it.

Water buffalo in one of the small towns we biked through
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After I had checked into my hostel I went on a walk to suss out the town of Guilin, heading down the main road with a vague idea of seeing an ancient palace from before China was unified.  However I ended up beside a river, having taken a wrong turn somehow, when I was supposed to be following just one road.  Go figure.  This was a happy accident though as strolling along the heavily developed river side looking at the mountains and water features was a nice way to spend the afternoon.  I eventually found the palace, which is actually a recreation in an awful yellow colour, which cost 50 RMB to get into - more than almost anything else i have been to in China and not worth it!  the best thing was climbing a peak that is in the complex, but you can do this anywhere in the region.   Oh, and i managed to take another wrong turn walking down the same road on the way back to the hostel and ended up at another river on the other side of town.

The entrance to the cave, not made for western sized people!
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After my quick look around Guilin I decided to spend a night at a small town 70 mins away called Yangshou.  Yangshou is really a tourist town, set right in the mountains and beside a couple of rivers, and people go there to hike in the mountains, bike around them, climb them or generally hang out.  I wanted to go on a bike ride through the back country lanes, and the sister of the owner of the hostel i was staying at showed me around using her local knowledge.  I have to say its been a while since I have been on a bike, but after a few wobbles I was off.  Biking through tiny farmer villages, seeing the rice paddies being ploughed by water buffalo, smelling the orange groves and gawking at the amazing scenery was awesome.

Intricate carvings on a shutter in the fishing village
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I decided to go on a cave tour that afternoon also, like Waitomo (also a karst landscape, though obviously not as spectacular) but much bigger than the one I went on earlier in the year.  I couldn't help but think Chinese tourism has a little way to go in the sustainable stakes, as I was scrambling over delicate limestone formations including using still forming stalagmites as foot paths through river crossings.  The cave was beautiful though, and in summer it must be even better to visit as you can have a mud bath, and swim in clear pools under underground waterfalls.

Just as i was cursing KFC for being in a small town like Yangshou I turned the corner and found this sign for NZ Natural icecream - world domination!
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The next day I went on a river cruise, organised by my hostel.  We went down the Li river, after first taking a bus to a small town of Xingping where I was met by the tour staff.  The cruise was lovely, as these things usually are, relaxing and lazy after my busy few days of wall climbing, walking and bike riding.  It was on small boats open to the air to maximise the views of the karst mountains.  On the boat was a friendly german guy, a retired teacher, who befriended me and invited me along to a bamboo boat ride on a different stretch of river that afternoon.  He had a chinese guide with him, so I got the benefit of her knowledge as well!  The bamboo boat went to a little fishing village which has recently been opened to tourists, after a visit by Bill Clinton.  While it sounds touristy the buildings are still in their original condition and it is where 500 people live, with the only access by boat, so interesting enough to visit.

Me and Lin (the guide) on the bamboo boat
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I got back to Guilin late that night, wishing that I could of extended my visit to Yangshou by a few days, but now I am on my way to Bangkok!