Adventures along the Li River.......

After a pretty relaxing few days in Guilin, we decided to travel further south to the travellers Mecca that is Yangshuo. What mode of transport to take.....bus, train, taxi? Why be conventional when you can travel by bamboo raft along the Li River! We were assured that our rucksacks would be no problem and would fit onto the raft too. I'll admit I wasn't convinced and was pretty sure that something dodgy was going on as it all seemed too good to be true. Tom however, was entirely trusting and convinced that everything would be ok. I was most definitely proved wrong! (I hate it when Tom is right!!) A crazy Chinese guy called Harry picked us up exactly on time and drove us and a bus load of other tourists to Yandi town. On the way, we were all given panda stickers to represent the group that we were in for the day in case we should get lost. The lack of enthusiasm from the older members of the group was hilarious and I don't think they even wore their stickers - tut tut! When we arrived, the rafts (which were not made out of bamboo but huge plastic tubes with a wooden base) were all lined up along the river so we clambered aboard with our bags and made ourselves comfortable. We shared a raft with a couple from Sheffield weirdly enough! Tom made friends with the guy as he thought he looked just like his Dad (see the photo on the blog Dave!) The ride on the raft was beautiful and so picturesque! The limestone karsts rose to either side of the river in particular formations that our guide told us to look out for on our way. Apparently the most famous looks like 'Hello Kitty' but sadly we didn't see this one. We arrived at a small harbour called Xingping a few hours later. After the calm that was our bamboo ride, we were greeted by the chaos of small golf style buggies with loud shouting drivers, waiting to drive us to the local bus station. We were crammed into a small buggy with bags on our laps and driven along narrow dusty lanes to the 'bus station'. The collection of buses waiting for us were tiny and yet again, we were all crammed in bags and all. So much so that they brought out small plastic stools to put down the aisle of the bus for people to sit on when the seats were full. Lucky Tom found himself on one of these for the next 45 minutes to Yangshuo!

Finally, we arrived at Yangshuo bus station and we made our way to our hostel for the next three days. After dumping our bags in our amazing room, with mountain views and floor to ceiling windows, we headed down to the restaurant to check out the food. We ordered way too much, typical eyes bigger than bellies syndrome but the food was delicious! The sizzling beef, vegetable noodles and curried potatoes were amazing all washed down with a local beer for 80p and we went to bed happy (sad that we are so easily pleased but hey?!)

Feeling adventurous the following day we hired some bikes from the hostel and set off to explore, map in hand. Yangshuo is well known for its spectacular scenery and we were definitely not disappointed. Our only obstacle - the crazy Chinese roads! Having not been on bikes for a while, we had to quickly get used to riding on the opposite side of the road, dodge the silent but deadly electric motorbikes that creep up on you out of nowhere and the cyclists riding straight towards you on the wrong side of the road. Not to mention the cars, buses and coaches beeping constantly as they swerve around you and each other. There seriously are no rules here at all! Out in the countryside though it was a different story and we were able to enjoy the scenery and even take a video or two as we rode along, wobbly but fun. We passed through numerous tiny villages and passed many confused locals who shouted 'hello' as we rode on by. Then we came to some farm land and stopped to watch and photograph the water buffalo splashing around. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a woman appeared demanding money from us for taking a picture of HER buffalo! We couldn't believe what we were hearing and had to pretty much empty our rucksack in front of her to prove that we had no money to give. She wasn't happy and was muttering to herself as we rode off, cheeky devil!

When we reached the hostel later that afternoon I can honestly say that I thought I was going to die! Riding around in the 30 degree heat was tough going and possibly the most excercise my poor body has had for a while. We had really enjoyed it though and booked the bikes again for the following day as we locked them away for the evening. After a well deserved shower, we ate again at the hostel restaurant, fulfilling our craving for pasta but sadly not the wine we've been craving for the past few weeks now. A cheap glass of wine here costs about £26, so we will be waiting a while before we get any wine I think!

Love Shell xxxxx