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TRAVEL BLOG ENTRY
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Jan 2nd, Monday
Catching an express train to Guangzhou (not speaking Chinese starts to become a serious issue...but God provided helpful English speakers!)we embark on a 13-hour overnight train to Guilin. Despite going for the luxurious 'soft sleeper' ticket - that is in a cozy compartment with comfy beds etc (see pic) - we have a quite bumpy and short night but...
Jan 3rd, Tuesday
...we arrive safely in Guilin, Guangxi province, which looks huge and industrial but set within the most amazing karst landscape. With the help of the friendly, extremely helpful and English speaking state tourism officials, we travel to the more tranquil Yangshup by boat down the Li Jiang River, and past the most amazing scenery. Looking at the pictures and knowing us you can imagine the camera didn't have much of a break! Despite our worries that the fog wouldn't allow us to see much of the landscape, it actually provided a brilliant effect as more and more peaks started to slowly emerge out of the mist in the most magical way! After 1 hour we landed near a little village to which we had a lift on the back of a motor tricycle down the most horrendous roads....glad we made it in one piece. Distractions were provided by villagers joining the cart and laughing at our Chinese phrase cards, or people carrying around all sorts of things, including 2 pigs, dangling on either side of a man carrying them with a carrying pole! :-) After a 1 hour bus trip from the village to Yangshuo we checked into a nice hotel and explored the town. Lots of shops with very cheap outdoor wear and Chinese arts and crafts - we had difficulty restraining ourselves... . We had a lovely meal and then went to do all the emaling and website business.
NEW FROM HERE:
Jan 4th, Wednesday
To see more of the Yangshuo area we invest in hired bikes and a guide, a lovely Chinese lady called Karen. Being dwarfed by impressive Karst peaks we cycle along small roads, between rice paddies, grazing water buffaloes (now is their holiday season as the rice cycle is at its end) and little villages, and learn lots about Chinese culture, how it has changed through cultural revolution and the advent of tourism. All very interesting! As there are lots of caves around we decided explore one of them. Unfortunately, their electricity had broken so that we could only rely on torches we were given (see photo). As most of the cave was extremely low ceiling and slippery this made for quite an adventure - Health and Safety totally out of the window! :-) For lunch we ate at our guide Karen's place, finding out more about Chinese food but also learning more about her family. They are very poor and hope to save for her son (an only child as almost EVERYBODY in their 20s-30s in China - the 'One Child Policy' is real!) to go to University. After returning back to Yangshuo we relax in a book store, where we meet a great American Christian guy. He has got an exciting story to tell, that despite persecution, lots and lots of people are becoming Christians in the province where he teaches English - the gospels seems to fill the spiritual emptiness in peoples' lives that we got am impression about from what Karen told us.
Jan 5th, Thursday
Our last day in Yangshuo and we weren't able to resist the urge to climb a Karst peak any longer. So we make for the top of 'TV Peak' (it's got a TV antenna on the top) and after a 45 were rewarded with stunning views of the Yangshuo area. There are peaks for miles (see pics), an amazing landscape! Back from the top, we then caught the bus back to Guilin from where (after exploring another peak - Elephant Trunk Mountain) we catch the overnight sleeper train to Wuhan. Entertainment on the 13hr journey was provided by a hilarious Chinese menu (our favourite was 'Hot of acid Perch') and trying to eat a Pomelo, a grapefruit-like fruit sold everywhere in Yangshuo (see pics).
previous travel blog entry
thelionheart says:
From Guangzhou to Yangshuo, what a contrast!