Finally it was time to board the train and we now got to join a completely different mass of 600 people pushing down a corridor. Once we'd all made it outside and got on the train it was a much more comfortable affair. We were greeted with carraiges filled with 6 bunk bed semi seperated compartments. And after swapping with a chinese woman we found ourselves on the top bunks. The train journey was pretty cool, the constant procession of vendors selling hot food, instant noodles and fresh fruit kept us entertained as we dared each other to find out what exactly was being served. We even had time to socialise, and I was approached by a teenage boy called Xiao Shao Bin. Within no time we exchanged email addresses, discussed our understanding of each others language and he was pointing out his home town in my lonely planet, while we both munched down on some Shantou pears (that was his home town). At 21:30 I retired to bed and we both decided to get some kip as it was lights out at 10pm. The bed wasn't too hard but the movement of the train made it difficult to lie on ones back as it moved things inside, and the climb down to the toilet in the dark would have been too much.

Next morning, having shockingly had the best nights sleep since we arrived in China we both rose at 6am. By 7am we were standing in the carpark outside Guilin train station. As this is about as far as we had planned we didn't really know how to get to Yangshuo from here, so in tried and tested method we followed the nearest group of westeners. Thank god they got on a bus to Yangshuo or we could have ended up anywhere. By 8am we had arrived in Yangshuo. This place has to have the most stunning scenery I have ever encountered. The large karsts (feel free to look up what that means) rise out of the ground and are dotted throughout the town. These enourmous formations mean that even in the middle of a large town you can still just tilt your neck up a small bit to see some of natures most amazing wonders. Anyway having the bus lady yell yangshuo at us repeatedly and gesture that we get off the bus we worriedly made our way off (we were the only people who got off the bus at this point and as far as we could tell its final destination was Yangshuo). Having been hurried off the bus at the wrong point and not having our wits about us this early in the morning, after being approached by a friendly young chinese chap called Thomas we found ourselves in the back of his car on the way to a hostel. This probably isnt the smartest thing we've done since arriving, or ever. Fortunately he only ripped us off on the price of a room as opposed to robbing us blind and leaving us for dead. On the plus side the hostel was a three storey structure which was connected entirely by outdoor terraces and staircases and built into the side of one of the Karsts had some spectacular views up to the top. The rip off aspect here was that the walls of our room had more mossies on them than paint, the toilet smelt so bad we actually purchased bleach to clean it and the stunning view from our particular window was that of an unimpressive 2 storey dwelling next door.

We now had 3 goals:
1. Explore the town and find west street which apparently is a backpackers haven
2. Get out of this hostel into a cheaper, cleaner one with no midnight curfew
3. Find out exactly what there is to do here in the Chinese countryside

P.S No photos yet as our quest for a computer with a CD or DVD rom drive remains fruitless

written by  Mal and Laura on August 21, 2007 from Yangshuo, China
from the travel blog: A bit of China and Vietnam
Send a Compliment

---

Hey, welcome aboard Blogabond!

I can answer #3, having spent a week in Yangshuo a few years back. Rent a mountain bike and go get lost in the countryside! Head out of town on the uphill side (forget which direction, but it should take you over a hill and down the other side, where the bridge goes off to the left.) Cross the bridge and turn right (or maybe don't cross the bridge and turn right, I forget).

Anyway, head out that direction on the little trails and you'll end up in some cool small villages. One of the header images for this site is of a cow standing by a river in a little village out that end of Yangshuo.

The cool thing about getting lost on a bike in China is that everybody knows where you want to get back to. If you get truly lost, just shout "Yangshuo!" at somebody and they'll point in the direction you need to head.

Good luck, and have a great time in China!

Jason

written by  Jason Kester on August 21, 2007

comment on this...