Zack and I arrived in Yangshuo separately, on different trains. I left first, at around 9 in the morning, first taking the subway to the train station, then taking the high-speed rail from Shenzhen to Guangzhou, and transferring there to another train headed for Yangshuo. Once I arrived at the station, I had to take a coach bus for another 45 minutes before finally getting to the hostel.
Even at the train station, the karst topography of the region surrounded us from all sides, the hills and mountains rising abruptly from the ground. All the roads we took meandered around them, and since nothing rises above the treeline, it seems as if the entire world has been covered by a shimmering green blanket.
The geography of the region, like many, many things, has been known to the Chinese for thousands of years, and indeed, both literary and artistic depictions of the hills and water have occupied a special place in the culture. In particular, a lot of poetry and watercolor painting has been dedicated to the area, and one of the most famous views, that of the Li River near the city of Guilin several miles to the north, is featured on the obverse of the 20 RMB bill.
20 Yuan bill, obverse.
While the image only shows a single boat being punted across the waters, the density of tourists here, especially in the summer, means that there is an entire row of boats drifting in a single file line downriver.
It was around twilight when Zack joined me in Yangshuo on the first night. After waiting out a massive rainstorm, we explored around the West Street area, an avenue filled with generic shops and street vendors. For some reason, every bar here featured a live singer performing pop covers. We ended up at a German restaurant and it took us an hour after that to find a rooftop bar that didn't have any live music.
The next day, we decided to wander around the city and do some hikes closer to the area. We went to the public park in the center of the city and wandered around for a bit, climbing two of the smaller peaks in the area. We then embarked on a search for water: for some reason, Yangshuo had an almost conspicuous lack of convenience stores, and when we finally came across a place that was selling bottled water, it was unequivocally the coldest water I have ever had in China. My throat stung from the cold.
We then climbed the local television tower, and the head of the trail was hidden behind a farmer's market and an apartment complex. It was a much more difficult hill to climb than the two that we had summited earlier. On the way down, we heard a rumble of thunder and looked up to see curtains of rain headed towards us. In a panic, I took apart my camera and we stored all our electronics in my bag, which somehow withstood the deluge that quickly soaked us to the bone. It was a rain that I hadn't experienced since living in Florida during the hurricane season. The water came down in fat drops that bounced like bullets, instantly dissipating the sticky summer humidity.
Sunshine through the rainclouds.
That night we went to an amazing Indian restaurant that was one of the best meals I have had in China. Everything was seasoned well, both in terms of flavor and spiciness, and they even had a stream of the movie Three Idiots playing in the background. We hit the same rooftop bar again afterwards.
The third day we rented bicycles and rode around the area, following some of the larger county roads until we hit the highway and doubling back to match the course of the part of the Li River that flows through Yangshuo. Biking took us right next to the scenery, and at times the trail would pin us between the mountains and rice paddies. This time, though the sky was grey and menacing, we didn't catch anything more than a light drizzle.
We ended our last night with a sampling of beer fish, a local specialty of river caught fish stewed in a gravy made from beer and tomatoes and chili peppers. The freshness of the fish really shone through, although the beer was more hidden in its taste.
The next day, our last in Yangshuo, I bid farewell to my friend Zack and boarded the train for Lijiang in Yunnan, where I was to hike the Tiger Leaping Gorge. A huge thank you goes out to him for hosting me in Shenzhen and being down for anything, especially when it came to food and conversation. Hope to see you soon.