Going Neon on bamboo rafts

I soon found a decent hostel in Yangshuo which was in the middle of West Street, which is the main street in the town. The town itself is not that big at all, and it is very westernised, but it was perfect for me. This was definately somewhere I could stay and relax for a while. The bars were pretty busy, some had upstairs lounges where you could watch movies, and aside from all that, the town itself is in a beautiful location. There were lots of day tours to do various activities, or you could just hire a bike and explore on your own.

The main attraction in and around Yangshuo are the massive limestone peaks that dominate this part of the province. The Li River also runs through the town, and old people punt along on bamboo rafts. When I went down to have a look at the river, the road alongside it had been closed off with a heavy police presence. I stuck around to see what was going on, and then a very important-looking man in a suit walked past, clapping the crowd like a footballer coming off in the second half after a great game. Needless to say, I liked this guy's style. I later found out that he was the Vietnamese President.

After having to fish for the dog-eating admission in Guilin, I found that here in Yangshuo they are far more proud about it. I asked some locals about what type of dogs they ate. Apparently, it's not a normal one like Labrador or Poodle, but in fact a type bred especially for it's meat. I'm not sure whether that breed has a name, or whether it's just a 'meat' dog. Whatever it is, it's on the menus in restaurants and everything. In one it had 'Stir Fried dog. (Honest)'. I'm not sure whether this was as in, "Yep, it's dog. But at least we're being honest," or, "Honestly, it's dog." Either which way, I don't think the word 'honest' ever really bodes that well on a menu.

I'd managed to keep a bottle of Russian vodka with me up to this point, but it lasted no longer as me and some of my room-mates decided to sneak it out with us to make the night a bit cheaper, before heading to the night market. This was much like the one in Beijing, but less sanitary, with chickens and fish being variously killed and butchered right next to the woks. Delicacies on offer here included dried River Rat (which looked like a bat), snake, raw chikens' feet, and of course dog. We bought something that looked like an umbilical cord wrapped around a stick. The suspicion is that it might have been a skinned baby eel. Or maybe it was just an actual umbilical cord. It was fairly inedible.

The next day, me and a girl from my dorm decided to go bamboo rafting. We got a day's free bike rent with this to get us to the raft, and for us to explore the area afterwards. Having not ridden a bike for so long, I got pretty saddle sore and fairly terrified having to negate the Chinese roads. And, as I stupidly forgotten to put suncream on, or even bring it with me, I ended up with florescent legs and pin-striped feet. I knew it was happening, but there was no escape.

The trip itself was really cool, and we had a pretty funny driver/punter who started the day the way he meant to go on by necking a beer. After we got off the raft, we headed up to a place called Moon Hill, which has great views of the area.

I'd managed to find a cheap flight to Bangkok, so decided to go there next, and hopefully straight on to Chiang Mai.

written by  olliejohnson on August 25, 2006 from Yangshuo, China
from the travel blog: A man from Cockshutt.
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