Yangshuo

I wanted to write very briefly about my experience in Yangshuo.

Yangshuo is a very beautiful city which sits in a lovely location surrounded by pointy mountains, flowing rivers, and thick forested jungles. These all hold outdoor adventuring opportunities like rock climbing, hiking, biking, kayaking, and white water rafting...along with the famous, more lazy bamboo boats which putt down the river.

We arrived the first day under a bit of rain. It took us a little while to find our hostel. But the rest of the day was spent exploring and discovering most of downtown Yangshuo...all the shopping that was offered. It was a pretty crazy place, not gonna lie. Vendors were everywhere trying to sell us stuff, just because we were foreigners. Literally every 5 minutes we were interrupted by someone. I spent the whole first day shopping and bartering...it was great, I really felt proud of myself. I also, took a long walk along the river which was enjoyable because it was nice and quiet for a little while, which I hadn't experienced in a few days.

Day two was the bike day. We rented a bike and a scooter and rode around the entire Yangshuo area it seemed. Following rivers and cruising through little villages and rice fields. It was awesome. That is all I can really say...it was amazing. We got lost and turned around a few times, but overall it was a really special experience and a beautiful one as well.

We rode out to a place called Moon Hill and my sister and I decided to hike up it. It was certainly a beast to climb. About 700 or so steps straight to the top. And we picked up two friends on the journey...two ladies who were trying to sell us water walked all the way to the top with us and chatted away with Emily. They were actually really funny and it was good to have their company.

Day three was the bamboo boat day. We took a bus to the northern portion of the Li River and met up with our boat driver, Mr. Xie (not sure how you spell it). In my opinion, this topped the bike. Another amazing experience. We just got to cruise (very slowly) down this muddy river on a PVC raft, basically, with high mountains all around us, and tons of Chinese people in boats around us waving and taking pictures of us. But the sheer beauty really was phenomenal! I have never experienced an outdoor beauty such as the Li River and the mountains of Yangshuo. Certainly one of the more phenomenal places I have been. And not because it is the most gorgeous per say, but because of the rawness of the experience. We were just out there in the midst of it. It's hard for me to put it into words, obviously.

After the boat we were dropped off in the village of Xingping and from there we walked back to the bus. All in all, one of my favorite days in China. Definitely.

Be sure to check out these videos as they speak to a lot of what I did not...if that makes sense.

The next update will be of Beijing and the Great Wall of China.

Tomorrow morning I am heading to the beach on the Florida panhandle...until next time. So long.

-b garrison