The funky tourist town of Yangshuo about 90 minutes by road south of Guilin is located deep in karst country. Yangshuo is certainly not representative of China but is a fun place to visit for a few days and to enjoy a change of food. It’s a foreign backpackers’ mecca and magnet to Chinese tourists wishing to see a “western-themed” town. It also has some of the best natural scenery in the whole country.
Millennia ago the whole region was seabed, covered with a thick limestone deposit. Then about 250 million years ago, the Indian and Asian tectonic plates that meet here collided, causing a massive up-thrust that lifted the land above the ocean. Since then, selective weathering and erosion by percolating acidic groundwater has created the bizarrely-shaped limestone karsts that cover the countryside in all directions to the horizon.
We checked into the Paradesa Hotel in the main tourist street, West Street, and booked some tours for the following days. The heat and humidity were still punishing and we restricted our outdoor activities to the mornings and late afternoons, using the midday hours to shelter in our air-conditioned room and sharpen our Shanghai Rummy skills.
Dick and I went on an early morning bamboo raft trip down the peaceful Yulong River 15 km west of Yangshuo. The Yulong is a small tributary of the River Li and gently winds its way through stunning karst scenery that has the appearance of a “middle-earth” fantasy land. The only hazardous part of the trip was at the beginning when we had to clamber over many bamboo rafts tied up at the water’s edge to get to ours. Within an hour or two, all these rafts would be floating serenely down the Yulong.
That evening, Lee Tuan and Dick attended the nightly performance of Impression Liu Sanjie, a theatrical extravaganza set on the River Li itself with literally a cast of hundreds – 500 singers and dancers in fact. Several surrounding limestone karsts are illuminated with floodlights to provide an impressive, eerie backdrop to this unique show.
Dick also went on a morning boat trip on the River Li, downstream from Xinping. A young Belgian woman travelling alone through China was the only other westerner on his boat. The River Li is a big river surrounded by towering karsts and its scenery is grander than that along the Yulong, but the latter is more other-worldly and atmospheric we think.
Yangshuo is less well-known than Guilin, but has much more to offer to visitors who like the outdoors. A day in Guilin is enough; several days in Yangshuo can easily be occupied doing different, interesting things. Certainly, our four days here passed quickly, and with Dick’s time in China drawing to a close, it was time to be on the move again.
Millennia ago the whole region was seabed, covered with a thick limestone deposit. Then about 250 million years ago, the Indian and Asian tectonic plates that meet here collided, causing a massive up-thrust that lifted the land above the ocean. Since then, selective weathering and erosion by percolating acidic groundwater has created the bizarrely-shaped limestone karsts that cover the countryside in all directions to the horizon.
We checked into the Paradesa Hotel in the main tourist street, West Street, and booked some tours for the following days. The heat and humidity were still punishing and we restricted our outdoor activities to the mornings and late afternoons, using the midday hours to shelter in our air-conditioned room and sharpen our Shanghai Rummy skills.
Dick and I went on an early morning bamboo raft trip down the peaceful Yulong River 15 km west of Yangshuo. The Yulong is a small tributary of the River Li and gently winds its way through stunning karst scenery that has the appearance of a “middle-earth” fantasy land. The only hazardous part of the trip was at the beginning when we had to clamber over many bamboo rafts tied up at the water’s edge to get to ours. Within an hour or two, all these rafts would be floating serenely down the Yulong.
That evening, Lee Tuan and Dick attended the nightly performance of Impression Liu Sanjie, a theatrical extravaganza set on the River Li itself with literally a cast of hundreds – 500 singers and dancers in fact. Several surrounding limestone karsts are illuminated with floodlights to provide an impressive, eerie backdrop to this unique show.
Dick also went on a morning boat trip on the River Li, downstream from Xinping. A young Belgian woman travelling alone through China was the only other westerner on his boat. The River Li is a big river surrounded by towering karsts and its scenery is grander than that along the Yulong, but the latter is more other-worldly and atmospheric we think.
Yangshuo is less well-known than Guilin, but has much more to offer to visitors who like the outdoors. A day in Guilin is enough; several days in Yangshuo can easily be occupied doing different, interesting things. Certainly, our four days here passed quickly, and with Dick’s time in China drawing to a close, it was time to be on the move again.
