Day 53 (Yangshou)

The next day saw the two of us travelling down river from Xingping towards Yangshou, by inflatable canoe, although the water was so warn that I spend half the time rather drifting alongside the boat.

Large passenger ferries also travel up and down between Guilin and Yangshou, and with currents being what they are, our inflatable canoe nearly got a little to close to the propeller end of one of the ferries. Yet the rest of the day was great, just cruising downriver, swimming, eating and having fun. We reached Yangshou just before nightfall, and just in time for supper!!!

Cormorants used for special fishing by the locals.

Day 52 (Yangshou)

Woke up feeling much better, and with two days of exploring to catch up on, I left for the bike shop at sparrows fart. Yangshou itself is a very touristy place, a small town surrounded by callosal rock collumns, some accendable only via climbing. The Li River flows past the town on its Eastern edge, and is where much of the towns entertainment is. Almost ancient looking stone pavillions line the bank, where dragon boats once used to race, now used for the bamboo rafts to moor.

However getting out of Yangshou and away from everyone else could not be easier, myself and a Frenchman I met (JB), cycled West of Yangshou through small villages and between tiny valleys to Dragon Bridge, an ancient bridge over the Yulong River. Naturally cycling along the river included plenty of swimming and jumping from bridges. Later we found ourselves riding between picture perfect green rice fields that stretch out forever, before making our way back to Yangshou. Whether you love or hate cycling the the scenery and atmosphere around Yangshou are worth spending a few hours on a tiny bicycle seat.

Day 50(Yanshou)

I can tell you about day 50 in one short sentence.

Travelled to Yangsou, pumped on antibiotics and expired orange juice, walked into a hostel asked to see the room and went to sleep before checking in or paying.

More photos

Sunset in Beihai, a fishing metropolis.


Well the good news is no-one drowned, unfortunately somebody forgot the insurance...oops.

Day 47-49

"readers note: I must have dishonered some chinese god, because for two days I got nothing but terrible photos, so please excuse, the following"

My journey to the islands took me through Beihai (a big fishing city, gone tourism crazy), where I stayed in my first proper hotel (and honestly I could get used to that), then it was off to North Qinzhou (South Guanzi), arrived at 10pm, a local took me down a dark alley to some place that you would never call a hotel. Accomodation was "dirt" cheap, plus the rats stay free of charge. Next day was a 10km hike through some farms to Qinzhou port, however getting a lift from here to the islands proved more difficult than previously expected......HORRAY, more hiking, this time along train tracks!

But just five Kilometers further and suddenly it all became worth it...

The islands stretched out to sea as far as you could see. They varied in size, some small like football fields others as big as city blocks, all covered in pristine forests, the occasional stilt house and circled by small fishing barges. The funny thing is that not 500m from the most inland island was a fairly big town (could have used the bloody bus!!!), anyway other than this town the further out you go the fewer people you see, oh and there are no Mac Donalds... . The islands were great the people really freindly and the water really warm. The first set of islands are surrounded by a large estuary, while the ones further out are in the sea. Unfortunately I couldn't explore out as far as I wanted to, I had been a little ill for two days, and by 6:00pm I was really feeling sick, so I called it a day and made for Qinzhuo. Although this short taste of island life has got me wanting more...lots lots more!!!