Final port

I was sorry to leave Lijiang, it was a beautiful town in a great setting, but all good things must come to an end. So we took a couple of local flights to Guilin then a bus to Yangshuo, the last stop in China. The weather has been getting progressively better the further south we've come (the Beijing fleece has long since been discarded) and it was a distinctly balmy 25 degrees in Yangshuo. It's another beautiful landscape, one unlike anything I've seen before. There are about 20,000 karsts dotted across the region, cylindrical or steep pyramid limestone formations ranging from 100m to 300m tall. They give the landscape a magical, ethereal feel, particularly in the early morning mist. We went out for a bike ride a couple of days ago which was just great - unlike the one in Dali, this was proper off-road biking, through little villages and paddy fields being harvested (all by non-mechanical means). Then in the evening we went to see a light show at one of the lakes in town, choreographed by the guy who designed the light show at the opening ceremony of the Olympics. It featured a cast of hundreds, many of whom were local fishermen or farmers, and was highly impressive, aided by the stunning backdrop.

Then yesterday a few of us went kayaking down the Li River which was good fun and a nice peaceful way to appreciate the landscape. It's been good to have 3 full days here - the town itself is not as pretty as Lijiang but is still a very enjoyable place to stay (in spite of a rat running across the floor of our restaurant yesterday!) In fact the last week or so has been brilliant - I'll be sorry to leave China when I get on the overnight train to Hong Kong tonight.

Yangshuo, China