After not really doing much in Kunming (another city like any other really) I headed off to Guilin to get a bus to Yangshou. I arrived in Yanshou around midday and soon enough met a scottish girl who was also travelling on her own and with whom I was sharing a dorm. We headed out the next day to cycle around the town and went to place called Moon Hill. The scenery here is picturesque. There are endless limestone peaks everywhere. They just look so bizzarely amazing. Would love to know how they were formed but there is no detail. There is a picture of Yangshou on the back of a 20 RMB chinese note!. After climbing moon hill (which wasnt that hard) we went to some local caves. Sadly we didnt have our swim gear so had to give the mud bath a miss but it looked like fun. The caves themselves were quite pretty and thankfully I only saw one bat. Sadly my scottish friend was leaving later that evening to head to HK but it was really nice spending the day together and I do hope to catch up with her in NZ where she is headed with her one year working visa
Later that evening I met lovely swiss couple and would you believe it - a chap from Hove (whom I had not met before) who lives a few streets down from me and low and behold we have a mutual friend in common (my ski buddy who is now a budding salsa dancer!!). It was nice to meet someone who knew and hung out in the same places back home. How I miss it.
We ended up going for another bike ride today to a place called Dragon Bridge but with a guide this time cycling through some wonderful country side and local farm villages. I was amazed by how many wonderful colourful and very large butterflies and dragon flies I saw - all different and vibrant colours. They were just beautiful.
Going to a light show tonight and then hot air ballooning tomorrow morning - I am quite liking this travelling business I must admit.
x
Update: light show was rubbish but hot air balloon more than made up for it. Getting up at 6am was well worth it - didnt realise how quickly the balloon itself inflates and defaltes. Gas burner inside was very loud and hot but an awesome view of Yanshou from above nothwithstanding the early morning mist/fog. The only "health and safety" tips given by our guide were 1. No smoking and 2. bend knees when landing. Thankfully my co-balloonist stubbed out his fag before getting in!. Other than that it was all systems go - no emergency parachutes in the basket or anything. Very serene and quite up in the air - that said, it wasnt a patch on my helicopter ride over the South Coast early this year in Feb. Would deffo do it again though.
