One Year Away

Joseph and Penny

See the new China/Yangshuo photo album.

Yangshuo is described in guidebooks as "travelers mecca" and as the "legendary backpacker hangout".   The town of approximately 300,000 people has become a really popular tourist destination in southern China, in part because of its famous pointy green mountains, know as karst.  Thankfully, you can easily escape the tourist crowds and get into the backcountry rice fields and small villages that make this place special.   It’s sometimes difficult to like Chinese cities; they’re polluted, busy and noisy.  We liked Yangshou and the surrounding area instantly, because it offered an escape from all that. 

We spent our favorite day in China so far riding bicycles around the Yangshuo countryside. Being on two wheels gave us a good perspective into the daily lives of the villagers.  We were able to go along the small dirt paths that connect the villages and rice fields. 

Life hasn’t changed much in the small villages around here in centuries.  We arrived during the rice harvest  and watched as the farmers cut the rice stalks with small sickles and used foot powered threshing machines to remove the grains.  After watching a family of farmers from the path, Joe was invited to help them.

We stopped several times to ask for directions, take pictures or make balloon animals for children.  The local people were always so friendly.  They came out of their homes to offer us oranges or pomelo on more than one occasion.  We gladly accepted their gifts and tried our best to communicate to them how tasty their fruits were.  Hopefully, "mmmm’s" and stomach rubbing are universally understood.

On our second day in Yangshuo we rented an electric scooter and headed for the popular "water cave"  The cave is huge and follows an underground river.  There are immense caverns, stalactites and stalagmites.  We were in a small group of Chinese tourists and had a tour guide to lead us through the caves.  He stopped every few minutes to point out a rock formation that looked like a monkey, an old man fishing or a jellyfish. 

The highlight of the water cave was definitely the "mud bath"  A pool of mud where people can take a dunk.  We got thoroughly muddy and enjoyed wallowing in the muck. 

We are staying at the Yangshuo Culture House hostel, run by the friendly Mr. Wei.  Staying here is more like a home-stay than staying in a hostel.  His family runs the place and provides three delicious meals a day to their guests.  We have gained back the weight we lost while we were sick!  The always plentiful food is traditional Chinese and is some of the best we’ve had in China.  Highly recommended if you are in the area.