Monday April 11th

Guilin - Yangshuo

This morning we had our breakfast which was mostly Western, and we had our own breakfast room – but we had to lay the tables and get our own cutlery though.  No problem, but a little odd...!

Anyway, we had packed our rucksacks for an overnight stay in Yangshuo and left our suitcases in Guilin.  We boarded our boat and set off down the Li River, a tributary of the Yangtze, from Guilin to Yangshuo.

Jessica had packed a lunch bag for us all to have on the boat, as she said that Wendy Wu tours had discovered that when people eat the food cooked and served on the boat, most of them seem to get ill afterwards.  We later discovered from one of the other Wendy Wu tour guides that, to our horror, the water of the Li River is not only used by the people who live along it to wash and cook food, but the caterers on the boat also do the same thing, as well as using the same water to wash everything up..!  Combine that with washing clothes, toilets etc, and the fact the water is thrown back into the river afterwards – NOT good for our stomachs...!  We can probably take a little bacteria but not Li River water!!

Guilin - Yangshuo

Anyway, the best thing about this trip was the absolutely amazing scenery.  We took a LOT of photos of course, but this was seriously stunning – the karsts of the landscape were astounding.  These karsts are created from weathered limestone.  Basically, it was a flat landscape which was eroded by streams of rainwater draining down through the rock.  After so long, this formed lots of peaks on top known as karsts , and some like the Stone Forest (which you’ll hear about later) and lots of caves underneath like the Reed Flute Caves (which you will also hear about later).  Neat! 

Guilin - Yangshuo

After our 4 hour journey, it was getting more and more humid as we arrived in Yangshuo and walked to our hotel which was lovely and cool!  We checked into our rooms and sorted our bags out before exploring the market.  The first thing I bought was a new pair of sunglasses, as mine had broken!  I haggled them down from 35 to 20 Yuan (£2!), and we also got another pack of postcards from the market haggled down from 25 to 15 Yuan.  I was on a roll!  The other thing is, I noticed a lot of other people in our group were buying things left right and centre, but I hadn’t actually seen anything I REALLY wanted (with the exception of the silk mill and the jade necklace), even though I really wanted to buy things.  I WAS looking, but perhaps the markets weren’t where the things I wanted were.....or perhaps I was just being logical with my need or want to buy.....oh, who knows?

"IMPRESSION"

It was SO hot today.  We walked back to the hotel via a park which was just behind it, and had a shower before going to dinner in the same hotel.  Afterwards, we went to a show called “IMPRESSION” – a large scale performance in the Li River Mountain Water Theatres, an open outdoor theatre which seats 3000 people and the stage is actually the river and the backdrop is a view of 12 karsts peaks.  Yes, the entire show was ON the water, and involved over 600 performers who actually come from a number of minority villages, who are all local farmers and other people who have day-jobs too.  This show is very often performed TWICE a night...!!

"IMPRESSION"

It was fantastic.  It was directed by Sanjie Liu – the guy who directed the 2008 Beijing Olympic opening ceremony, and this particular show came into existence before that.  It was full of light, colour, singing, dancing.... it was spectacular and really enjoyable.  I would recommend it to anybody who ever decides to go to Yangshuo, it really was amazing!  And outdoors as well – the temperature outside at 7 – 8pm was perfect, not too warm and not very chilly either.  What a brilliant idea to have a theatre on the river in Yangshuo!

Back at the hotel we stayed in for the rest of the evening.  I had developed a cough which was either a side effect of the Malarone tablets or I’d caught it from Mathew, as he’d had a cough for a few days.  I hoped it would break up soon, as my throat hurt!  Tomorrow we would head back to Guilin and enjoy the countryside, climb a hill(!) and visit the place where they grow and make jewellery with one of Guilin’s treasures – the South China Sea Pearl.  Perhaps I can spend some money there.....!