Moody Li River Portrait

Now that I have reached a dream destination of mine, what do I think about it. I must say that the dreamy beauty of Yangshuo and its surrounding areas are very real. The limestone mountains and winding rivers combine to give the wonderful Chinese painting feel. I have been to quite a bit of limestone/karst areas but I would have to say that Yangshuo is one of the prettiest I’ve seen.

Karst Scenery All Around

Of course, this place will also have its downsides. Because of its popularity, Yangshuo has turned from a backpacker heaven to a tourist mecca. The famous West Street is now quite cosmopolitan in nature with bars and hotels lining both sides of the road and beyond. Where there is a crowd crime will follow. Having witnessed an attempted picking of someone’s pocket, I’ve learned quickly that Yangshuo is not as safe as it appears to be. Although, one will just need to keep their wits about them and they will be fine.

Bamboo Raft Parking Lot

One thing going to Yangshuo is that the beauty of the place is over such as wide area that the tourist crowds are spread out. Xingping and Yangdi are towns outside of Yangshuo while the Big Banyan Tree and Moon Hill are a few minutes outside of the town. So despite the huge number of tourists going here, they are not in one place at one time.

Beef on Toothpicks

Another thing I like about Yangshuo is that since it is cosmopolitan enough, modern conveniences are easily accessible. I took this opportunity to get my clothes washed at a laundromat. Another result of the cosmpolitan-ness is that food from all over China and the world is available here. So, for a foreigner who is sick of eating Chinese food, Yangshuo is a welcome break from all of this.

Yangshuo is a place everybody needs to visit at least once in their lifetime, I need to go back there just because the photos I took weren’t that good since the weather wasn’t cooperating. It is nice to visit any time of the year just make sure the it won’t rain.

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Moon Hill 月亮山

One of the more bizarre sights in Yangshuo is Moon Hill 月亮山. This hill is just a bus ride away from the the main town. It was still early in the afternoon when I got back to Yangshuo town from Xingping and I decided to visit the other sights of Yangshuo. I thought of visiting the Big Banyan Tree 大榕树. So I took a bus to the park where the tree was but found out that there was an entrance fee. I didn’t feel like paying to see some old tree so I forgot about that.

Closer Look at the Hole

Fortunately, just a short distance away was Moon Hill. From the Big Banyan Tree, I just followed the road until I reached a small village full of inns and restaurants. This village solely exists because of the Moon Hill which is nearby. In case you were wondering, Moon Hill is so named because of the prominent hole it has on the top. The hole is said to resemble the moon and it was thus named the Moon Hill.

Locals Tilling the Field

To see the hole one will have to walk through the village where there also a viewing deck of sorts. From different angles, the hole takes different shapes much like the phases of the moon. The hole was formed through millions of years of erosion. Since practically the entire area of Yangshuo is made of limestone this is just another product of natures creativity.

Moon Hill From the Street

Past the village is lovely field which serves as a great foreground for taking photos of the Moon Hill. More adventurous folk can climb the stairs all the way to the top of the hill to get a spectacular view of the surrounding area. For lack of time, I had to forget the idea of climbing the hill besides, I was already tired from the hike from the Big Banyan Tree. The Moon Hill is yet another stop in this wonderful place called Yangshuo.

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RMB20 View of the Li River

My boatman decided to wait with me until his friend comes and picks me up. Very good idea, since I do not even know what his friend looks like. We only waited a short while before his friend really came. He was on a motorcycle and this will be my official transport going back to the town of Xingping.

Xingping Countryside By Motorcycle

I really appreciate them taking the effort of sending someone to fetch me. I was expecting them to just leave me here to figure out how to get back to town. I guess this type of thing happens quite often to them that they already know what to do if the river police stubbornly refuses to leave.

I paid my boatman and we were off in the motorcycle. It was a very exhilarating ride since we pass by the Xingping countryside with the karst mountains lining the dirt path. Yes, it was a dirt path though it wasn’t that rough, only some parts were. Fortunately for us the road dry so it was quite easy to navigate.

Wonderful Karst Scenery Along the Dirt Road

One of the places I absolutely needed to see was what I call the RMB20 View. I didn’t know if there was a special name for this but my driver knew what I was referring to and brought me there. This spot was along the Li River and is known because this is exactly where the back of the RMB20 note was taken.

There is a reason why they chose that spot, it was absolutely magnificent. And I was there in a very gloomy day. I’m sure it would have been better on a bright sunny day. The spot itself is on an elevated portion of the bank of the river so you get to see an elevated view of the Li River together with its magnificent limestone mountains. Although the illustration on the RMB note is not 100% accurate, you can immediately see the resemblance to the actual thing.

Fabulous View Along the Li River

As I went through my wallet looking for a RMB20 note, I was shocked to find I didn’t have one with me! I frantically went through the wallet again but none. As my luck woud have it, my driver has a brand new crisp RMB20 note and promptly lent me one to take a photo with. It was as if he knew what I was looking for. I guess a lot of tourists have been doing this all this time.

There were two other people also taking photos and they also seemed to be hobbyists as they came complete with tripods. I didn’t bother brining one as it would be too troublesome to lug around such equipment.

Obligatory RMB20 Note Shot

After a bunch of shots, we headed back to the town itself and he left me where I needed to take the bus. I’m thanked him and off we went. I’m glad how this river cruise turned out. I managed to take the cruise, hike and ride on motorbike through the countryside all for the price of one cruise. I guess that not so legal option I chose was a good one.

Will I come back here? I would definitely love to come back, but I need to make sure that the weather is nice since I have too many gloomy overcast shots of this place. It doesn’t do the place justice. Forutnately, Yangshuo is easy enough to get to from the main international airports so coming back here would not be that big a problem.

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Nine Horse Painting Mountain 九马画山

Okay, my boatman is now officially freaked out and now refuses to continue with the river tour, though he does so reluctantly. According to his informant, the river police are still patrolling the Li River, so there is little chance for him to continue the river cruise. While we were waiting for the coast to clear, I was taking photos of a nearby village.

A Calf in a Village Near Xingping

When it became clear that the river police won’t be going away anytime soon, he proposed that we walk all the way to the end. I didn’t really mind it, from a river cruise it became a hike. Besides, the surrounding land is certainly great for hiking and now, I have a guide!

Limestone Mountains Along the River Banks

There is a narrow path along the river banks that allow for hiking. This gives visitors a close up view of the wonderful scenery that is the Xingping section of the Li River. The side where the path is doesn’t have the karst mountains but they are rather on the opposite side, so it is perfect for appreciating this wonder of nature.

A Group of Ducks Along the River

The walk is pretty much flat with a little scrambling through some rocks where there is no path. At the time it seemed to be low tide so we didn’t really get out feet wet. My boatman seems to be very relaxed now that he didn’t need to worry about getting caught by the river police. He just left our bamboo raft where we parked upstream. This should not be that big a problem, who would steal a bamboo raft here?

More Magnificent Scenery

At the end of the hike was the Nine Horse Painting Mountain 九马画山 – quite a mouthful but it is much shorter in Chinese. This limestone mountain right at the bend of the river as a verticle limestone surface that supposedly looked like a Chinese painting with Nine Horses thus the name. The different shades of the rock give the appearance of horses against the rock surface.

Crossing the River With Motorcycle in Tow

One would have to really stretch the imagination to see the nine horses, my boatman asked me how many horses I saw. I couldn’t only see three. He can see only four. At least mine wasn’t so bad. Further upstream is the village of Yangdi 扬堤. As I would find out later, this section of the Li River is even more spectacular than the one I just went through. Unfortunately, I only paid to go up to this point. Come to think of it now I wonder why I didn’t proceed to Yangdi since I did not have a boat anyway.

Onward to Yangdi 扬堤

As I was told, the authorities have segmented the Li River so the people crossing from one segment to another will need to pay some fees. Also it would be necessary to cross the river several times. There are ferry services to help you do this. Now that I was at the end of my journey, my boatman needed to go back to his boat to make sure that it is still there. He informed me that he had called ahead and make sure that his friend is waiting for me to send me back to Xingping town since we lost the bamboo raft. This trip really turned out to be an interesting one after all.

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Karst Mountains of Xingping 兴平

The following day, I was on my own again. My Chinese friends have left for Guangzhou and I left by myself again. A highly recommended activity here is the river cruise from the town of Xingping 兴平. Xingping town itself is an hour away from Yangshuo itself. I took a bus from the Yangshuo bus station and took the lazy bus ride to Xingping.

Limestone Mountains as Far as the Eye Can See

Xingping itself is blissfully undertouristed. You do not see the hordes of tourists here in Xingping. Actually where the bus lets you off, it is still a distance to the river cruise. So I took a motorcycle ride to bring me to the dock. It was a rough ride which I wasn’t expecting since I thought this was a very touristed area. The rafts here were almost of the same type as the ones I had the previous day.

View from my Raft

As for the rates, there is the official rate and then there is the discounted rate. With the discounted rate they removed the tax. This also means that the ride does not go through the tourism authorities, which means they are illegal, however, this also means that more money would go to the boatman. The danger with this is that there are regular river police which patrol the river for any unauthorized cruises. I decided to take the chance with the discounted trip being the tightwad that I am.

Just Cruising Along the Li River 漓江

The cruise is on the Li River 漓江 and immediately spectacular. The limestone mountains are much closer to the shore here and look very imposing. What I liked about this it that there weren’t as much people here in Xingping than the one in Yangshuo. This probably the idyllic Yangshuo that I have been dreaming of. Unfortunately for me, the sky is still as gloomy as it was the previous day. The gray skies leave the mountains and river with little color.

Stopping the Cruise Because of the River Police

Just then, my driver told me that he was warned of the coming of the river police. So we have to pull ashore or else he will get caught. Apparently, this is a common practice among the boatmen here and they already have a watchdog in place. All of the other unauthorized boat trips also stopped and pulled over waiting for the river police to pass.

Sure enough, the river police passed by, and some of the other boat riders started to brave the river again. My boat man was too nervous that he decided to wait it out. Apparently, they will not catch you if you do not have passengers on board. Oh well, it is not that I don’t want this to happen either. The place is too beautiful to let something like this ruin the moment.

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More Karst Peaks in Yangshuo

There was still quite a distance from where we had our lunch to the main town of Yangshuo. Although the road here is not a main road, it is well paved and is passable by small vehicles, making it perfect for biking. The splendor of the Yangshuo countryside continued to unfold before our eyes as limestone mountain upon limestone mountain continued to appear. I have never seen such concentration before.

Keeping Warm

Interestingly the limestone mountains were all roughly the same size and shape. This place is not unlike the Chocolate Hills of the Philippines where it is also formed by the weathering limestone mountains. The shapes of the Chocolate Hills are more uniform though, while the mountains of Yangshuo all have bizzare shapes. Additionally, there seem to be breaks in between the “moutain ranges” where fields of rice are used to fill the gaps.

Rural China in Yangshuo

Riding by bicycle is the best way to see rural China up close. Along the way, there was a store selling fruit and handicrafts. My companions seemed to be up for some dessert. While I was just taking photos. At this time of the year, it was still quite chilly and the gloomy weather didn’t help either. Fortunately, there were this group of kids tending a small fire where my companions eagerly sat in front of the fire to warm themselves. I brought adequate clothing so I wasn’t really feeling the cold. It was still ok as long as there was no wind.

Limestone Mountains Too Wide for My Camera

There was hardly any modern housing here with the notable exception of this house we saw by the roadside. It seemed like it was a modern resort/hotel with a old Chinese theme. It was still under construction when I visited. I felt a little disappointed with this because it ruins the wonderful atmosphere of the Yangshuo countryside. It think the government should take a little more action into reining in developments such as this. Keep these places in West Street.

Butterfly Cave 蝴蝶泉

Our path was pretty much flat, sometimes though the road would slope following the terrain but it was nothing unmanageable. My companions has noted how my biking has improved since we left. It is true, it has improved, but mainly due to the absence of the hordes of Chinese bikers that threaten to knock me over. It guess this is one of the lesser visited paths and I am thankful for that.

But it was short-lived. We finally reached the main road heading back to the main town of Yangshuo. This is practically the same highway I took from Guilin. Now, instead of merely crossing the highway, I have to bike on the highway itself. There isn’t any marked bike path, so we will needed to ride on the shoulder and hope the vehicles won’t need to use it anytime soon. Since this is a main highway, there were a lot of vehicles plying the road. That was not a problem for me. They would probably try to avoid any bikers, I think. But here along the main road the hordes of bikers have returned and are now all heading back to Yangshuo.

Main Highway to Yangshuo

I reverted back to my amateur biker self and had to wait until there isn’t any competition before I move. The highway, as expected, is completely flat so it was actually easier than I expected. Besides, I have been biking for several hours now, surely, I must have racked up some experience points, right?

Along the way we passed by a place called the Butterfly Cave 蝴蝶泉. This place is basically a butterfly theme park where everything in it is about butterflies including butterfly shapes cave formations, there are real butterflies in there, but this type of thing doesn’t really interest me. The limestone mountains of Yangshuo are more interesting than seeing some butterfly exhibit. There are also caves where visitors and go for mudbaths, but why? Maybe if you live here and are sick of seeing nature at its best.

Evading Vehicles Along the Highway

As we finally got to Yangshou town proper, there were more and more buildings along the road, a sure sign that our journey is almost finished. The last hurdle is a moderate rise heading back to West Street, at that point I didn’t have much strength anymore and I just pushed my bike up. We got back to where we borrowed the bicycles very happy and satisfied with what we saw.

We gave Qingting a token amount for all that he has done for us. Come to think of it, he even paid for our lunch, the bike rental and the raft ride, he even helped to reserved a room for me in Guangzhou. I thought that was a great deal. Because of him I got to have a good time in Yangshuo and I didn’t have to worry about a single thing. Except for maintaining my balance.

My new lady friends need to leave for Guangzhou now, which was the whole reason why we were in such a hurry to get back. I accompanied them back to their hotel and finally to their bus station. They were wonderful companions, I am glad to have known them and I hope to be able to meet up with them again in the future.

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Chicken with Celery

Our boatman quickly brought us back to the dock where we left out bikes. Not before long we were on our way again. This time we were retracing our step back to where we came from. At a junction we turned right for the fields instead of back to the city. At one point along the road we stopped near a house where we were to have our lunch.

Vegetable Dish in Yangshuo

Our guide Qingting, knows this place and always drops by for a visit. With visitors in tow, he will get to eat more than the usual. I let them handle the food since they would be more familiar with it. I should be able to take anything they order anyway. In the end, they ordered some chicken with celery and two unknown vegetable dishes. I didn’t get to their names so I wasn’t aware whether they were native Guangxi dishes.

Vegetable Soup

The dishes weren’t spectacular to say the least, but they didn’t taste terrible either. The vegetable dishes were interesting since these are not the ordinary vegetables I find outside of China. I still had my fill of food there, most especially since they have an almost enldess supply of rice for us to eat. My companions were pleasantly surprised to see that I can keep up with their eating and then some more.

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My Chinese Friend and the Yulong River Scenery

My new Chinese friends stayed in a different hotel which was arranged by A Meng from Longsheng. Their hotel is just a short walk from Yangshuo International Youth Hostel. When we met up the next day, I went to their place and had a small breakfast of Guilin noodles. When they finally came down we all went together to the meeting point with A Meng’s friend which was just a short distance away.

A Horde of Other Tourists

Our contact here in Yangshuo is Qingting 蜻蜓 after the chat ID he normally uses. He is tall, slim and very friendly. He and A Meng are good friends and would regularly refer customers over to each other. He doesn’t speak English though, so I have to make do with my meager Chinese. I’m glad they understand me at all! It was also fortunate that my newfound friends’ Chinese didn’t have thick accent or I would have been truly lost. After exchanging some pleasantries, we proceed to get some bikes for the tour.

Bamboo Raft Passing By A Limestone Hill

Wait a minute, bikes?! No one said anything about that. It turns out that we will be riding bikes all the way to the river then take the river raft tour from there. I must confess that I am a very poor bicycle rider and would oftentimes lose my balance. I find it more a challenge this time since it has been a year since I last rode one and second, this is China, the land of bicycles.

No Obstacle Too Tough for our Rafts

I managed to remember how to ride one and we were off, the first challenge quickly came in the form of the main highway to enter Yangshuo. I had to cross this with all the buses and cars zooming through. I had to wait extra long to make sure there are absolutely no cars or buses or bicycles passing by before I crossed the road. Made it!

Endless Karst Mountains Line the River

The second challenge was less apparent, but I came to realize this would be tougher. There was a gazillion other Chinese bike riders and for someone who doesn’t balance very well, it is a nightmare to have bikes passing you every few seconds. This is survival of the fittest. I had to stop several times to let the groups of bikers through before resuming. I was really embarassed because my companions would need to stop each time I stop.

Tourists Enjoying the Yulong River

Lost in the commotion is the beauty of the place, I could hardly look a the surrounding area since I was too busy looking forward and maitaining my balance. Anyway, after about an hour of biking we made it to the docks where the bamboo rafts are. This is the Yulong River 玉龙河 a tributary of the Li River 漓江. The scenery here was really breathtaking.

We left out bikes with the raft guy and got two bamboo rafts each of which is no wider than a meter. It is a lazy cruise along the river with the boatman using a long bamboo pole to push the raft along. The river is quite shallow so it was easy for him to do so. Both sides of the river were lined with marvelous karst mountains and hills producing a very surreal scene. It was like a Chinese painting come to life.

A Flotilla of Rafts Tour the Yulong River

It was too bad that the weather wasn’t that good when I was there since it was really gloomy. A lot of the mountains start to lose their definition and colors because of the clouds and the mist. I would have loved to get a photo of a sunny Yulong River scene but I think it will have to try again next time.

Wondrous Yulong River Scenery

At one point of the cruise, there was a part where we need to get off the rafts and onto land. There was an elevated portion of the river and it was difficult for our rafts to cross. Our boatmen would push and pull our rafts across the obstacle, without us of course, and let us back onto the boat to resume our tour. The tour though didn’t reach the famous Yulong Bridge 玉龙桥 because of lack of time. More accurately, it was because I was too slow in getting to the raft docks. So because of this, we had to turn back. Actually, if I had been alone I would have made to the bridge but the ladies needed to catch a bus back to Guangzhou that afternoon. Yet another reason for me to come back here.

It was a truly inspiring ride, seeing all the wonderful karst scenery. It was as if God ran wild with His imagination and created this. A proper tour of this area would probably need a hike along the Yulong River. Walking along this river would have also been a wonderful experience. Just the terrain is flat and the path is easy, just make sure you have a torchlight when you hike here in case you don’t get back by nightfall.

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Having Some Dessert in West Street

By now, West Street 西街 in Yangshuo is packed with people. This is definitely the most famous street in Yangshuo and it shows. The street is lined with restaurants both western and Chinese, it has Chinese souvenir shops from the lame to cool water color paintings. Both foreigners and local Chinese are walking along this area apparently enjoying this busy street in Yangshuo.

Crowded West Street at Night

I came to Yangshuo hoping to see the fabled West Street, but I when I got here I felt a little disappointed with the reality that is West Street. It is far too commercialized, hawkers also line up the streets of West Street hoping to cash in on the tourists. Even people who offer massages and river tours roam the street. This didn’t feel like the Yangshuo I was hoping for, it felt more like a more Chinese Hong Kong streets or a Shanghai. But that was not all.

Restaurants Line the Street

Despite my disappointment, I still found the place interesting enough to walk through. After all this is my first time here. My friends also felt this disappointment and I agreed with them, though we continued walking through the crowd. There were some dessert stands along the way where the ladies got a cup of sweet dessert.

Souvenir Stalls Also Join In

As we were walking, an ugly side of West Street reared its head. We were walking along it when I noticed that a young man was using some kind of very long forceps (for lack or a better word) to get into a pocket of a more elderly man in front of him. At first I thought he was just playing a prank on him but when the elderly man realized this, he turned around and the young man quickly disappeared into the crowd. It was a brazen attempt to get his wallet. I should have realized this can happen since there are just so many people here. A little bump will go away unnoticed and so will your wallet.

Drying Silk

My Chinese friends also saw the whole thing happening and realized how unsafe this place was. We made sure to hold on to our valuables the rest of the way. Later they would tell me that it woud have been unwise for the elderly man to call for help since these thieves work in groups and would have been dangerous for someone who is alone. The thieves survey the field looking for easy prey, so this means that as long as your wallet is secure there is nothing to worry about. As another Chinese friend told me, thieves can be common but robbers are not.

For the rest of the trip here in China, I have become more careful of my stuff. I hope the authorities can do something about this situation since in can ruin the tourism industry. West Street can be a nice place to visit but the commercialism takes away a lot of the charm. So until the crime situation improves, brave the crowd, but make sure to hold on to your wallets – tight.

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Beer Fish 啤酒鱼

I managed to contact the two Chinese ladies I met at the Dragon’s Backbone Rice Terraces. I borrowed a phone from the Yangshuo International Youth Hostel (actually I had to pay for it) and managed to contact them while they were still touring around Yangshuo. I needed to wait for them to come back and freshen up before meeting up in front of KFC along West Street.

Inside the Restaurant

By this time, it was already around eight in the evening and I was starving. We chose to eat at one of the Chinese restaurants within the area. The one we entered was a local food type of shop. We quickly got seated and there were a lot of patrons, so I hoped it was good. They had newspaper clippings of how famous the place is, most especially their chef.

Claypot Eggplant

The ladies ordered our food, I sure hope they know better than me what to order in these types of places. Turns out they already went to the village of Xingping and toured the river there. They were raving about how great the place was. I believe them, since I have already seen photos of the place, more especially so since the weather was very good that time of the day. I do plan to visit these places too but I’ll probably have to do it on my own.

Our food finally came, the main dish was the Beer Fish 啤酒鱼. This is a specialty food of this region and it does look impressive. The fish used here is fresh water fish, something I’m not really used to because all of my fish I’ve every had is from the sea. Their fresh water fish has a little bit more bones than the salt-water fish but it was okay. As the name implies, the fish in this dish is cooked with a little beer, but I couldn’t really taste the beer but it still tasted good.

Eating the Beer Fish

The other dish was eggplant in claypot. It was an ordinary dish but still tasty. The fish was the really star of the show, and it seems that every other talbe is having the same thing. I can’t blame them, it was really nice. The restaurant was busy the whole time we were there and it seemed that service was suffering. My dinner mates were trying to get the attention of the waitresses to no avail, the waitress just kept popping back into the kitchen. I also tried to help but was also ignored. Only after 10 minutes of trying did we manage to get their attention. It would seem that popularity has its price.

This place is just a few stores down the KFC along West Street and should be quite easy to spot. Unfortunately, we didn’t get the name of the place. After a wonderful meal we paid the bill and head out to West Street to digest.

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