Yangshuo and Guilin, Guangxi Zhiang Province

Photos of Yangshuo town

I was in a room full of Chinese again, this time they all came in at about 10 p.m. and carried on talking for ages. At least in Lijiang I never heard my room-mates. I got up early to go to Xingping for the Bamboo boat rafting. The rafting cost 160 yuan and the receptionist explained that I needed to go to the bus station and get a bus to Xingping. She didn't tell me that I would need to pay for transport in Xingping, I was very annoyed when I got off the bus in Xingping only to be told that I had to pay for a rickshaw down to the raft, they charged me 10 yuan for a jouirney of about 1 km!

My 'rafter' easing us on to the river.

The river was very relaxing, interesting scenery. Only me on the raft, for a while I felt like the queen, as I was the only westerner around and all the chinese wanted to take photos of me! For some reason we seemed to go very slowly and all the other rafts overtook us.

The view on the back of a 20 yuan note!

Spectacular scenery.

Bamboo growing up the side of the river.
The hills had a strange 3D effect as they sat one in front of the other.

It kept raining, I was wearing shorts, because it had been very hot the previous day, so fortunately only my legs got wet. we stopped a couple of times then at 10.45 we stopped on a shingle beach and a woman came and told me that we would have to wait until 12.30 as it was

too dangerous to continue as all the big boats were coming up from Guilin, so I got off the raft
and had something to eat at one of the stalls, it was a fritter of some kind of baby fish from the river. Then I wondered for a bit until I discovered I was being bitten, Why didn't I think to put some anti-bite stuff on? I went back to sit on the raft and watch the midges and be bitten some more.

The porta-loo hiding in the trees!

There were dozens of big boats coming up from Guilin, to Yangshuo, we had to wait until 12.15 then we started off again.

Police boats on the river.

When we got back to Xingping the heavens opened and it just poured, the streets were streams. I waited in the shade for a little while then realised that my feet were getting soaked anyway, from the water bouncing off the road, so I carried on walking. I walked back to the bus station and got the bus. Three hours later it stopped raining! It was too early for dinner but all I had had to eat was a croissant, a banana and a small fritter, so I went to look for food.

I decided to cancel my last night in Yangshuo and spend a night in Guilin, that way I could leave my luggage in the hostel until I needed to go to the station, my only problem was that the internet seemd to be playing up again, chinese interenet seemed to do that regularly. I could find a hostel but I couldn't book it.

In the evening there was a video in the hostel so I decided to watch it, I assumed it would be shown on the TV so I sat and watched the TV, it was sound only, no picture, so I gave up and went to bed with a book. I thought it was only me and a Chinese lad in the room, he went to bed with a book as well, more importantly he put on the air-con. I had seen the remote control the day before but didn't realise what it was for. By 10 he had stopped reading so when I finished I turned off the light, when I woke up in the morning there were 4 of us in the room! The other 2 must have been very quiet.

Monday

Another very hot day. I started by wearing shorts, despite my bitten legs. the hostel staff gave me some stuff to put on the bites. At least I didn't feel as unclean as I did the first time, may this be a lesson to me to remember anti-bug lotions.

I had breakfast in a bar I have taken a fancy to, from the window I could see an old man punting a raft with his cormorants. I took some photos, then went for a walk, when I came back that way some Dutch were taking his photo, he was close to the shore so I went to take another photo, this time he raised his hand and said 5 yuan. i didn't take his photo but I felt very mean afterwards, I could easily have paid him the 5 yuan, though I would probably have fallen in trying to get it to him!
I wondered around and then bought an enormous case, too big I think, maybe. Apart from that I had a lazy day, I was harrassed by people trying to sell me things, there are loads of stalls, all selling the same stuff; silk scarves, pashminas, embroidered cushion covers and batik. Anything I wanted to buy I bought in Lijiand and Dali.

When I got back to the hostel I discovered that they did do food, it took me 2 days to discover that! So I stayed in and eat there. I tried to book a hostel again but my credit card was refused, not sure why, I only wanted to pay £2! I also discovered that the video is displayed on the wall opposite the TV, I had been looking in the wrong direction.

Tuesday - I itched!
I got the bus to Guilin and found the hostel I'd been trying to book, it was a bit basic, which was why it had plenty of spare rooms! It was right opposite the main station so there were plenty of taxis around. I believed that my train went from the North station. I was in a room for 4, 1 chinese man and 2 French ladies, one my age and one very young, the young one is doing a round the world tour, the older is spending 2 months in China.

I visited Elephant Trunk Hill and walked around the park and up the hill, there is too much pollution to get a good view. There was a concert in the park, young people performing some Chinese opera and then dancing, what I assume was local dances.
There was very little selling of stuff in Guilin but lots of people saying hello!
Wednesday - still itching!

Slept well with the aircon on. I got up as late as possible. Apparently I managed to leave my passport in reception yesterday! Not sensible. There were workmen around renovating rooms and building new furniture, the place was having a much needed re-vamp. I don't know what wood they were using but it smelt lovely.

I went to the station to check where my train leaves from and discovered that I do not need to go to the North station after all, that was really good news. I went for a wander to kill time, then thought it was after 11 soi rushed back. I found that the cleaners had already been in and changed the bed, what's more they had opened the window as well. I quickly closed it and put on the aircon for a few minutes to cool the temperature down again. After I checked out I discovered that it was only 10.45, so I still had loads of time to kill. I had thought of eating in the hostel but as I had so much time I went out. A lottle man on a bike persuaded me to buy some lychees, then I found a nice restaurant, near the river, with an english menu, they had something called 'green tomato scrambled eggs', I had to try this for the sake of Ling, who ate my green tomatoes last year, it wasn't green tomatoes but green peppers!

When I went back to the hostel I discovered a book that I'm sure wasn't there the day before, it was 'Troublemakers' by Harry Wu. Some brave person had brought it in from Indonesia, I suspect the police would have confiscated it had they been aware. I spent the rest of the day sitting in the hostel reading it. Wu writes about the factories in China that use prisoners as slave labour. he mentions one in Kunming. When I left Kunming I saw 4 watch-towers in the middle of the city, it seemed strange, I suspect that these may be connected to these factories. It left me wondering whether I should have bought anything in China.

Finally I had to leave and go to the station. There I discovered that if you pay 5 yuan you can use the soft-seat waiting room even if you have a hard seat ticket, at least you can if you're a westerner. I wish I had known this earlier.