Category: Yangshuo

Impressions of Sanjie Liu show

7/8/2015

I wasn't altogether fussed by going to the show I have to say. I fancied a quiet dinner and a sunset walk round the village where we were staying but the tickets were bought so off we went.

I was expecting some sort of tacky light show with high pitched warbling Chinese music. The show is absolutely stunning. A true spectacular!

The whole thing is put together by the same guy who did the opening ceremony to the Beijing Olympics (This seems to be a water-tight badge of his brilliance as far as the Chinese are concerned!) and has over 600 performers. It is billed as using the mountains as a backdrop for the lights. Hence my concern for some sort of terrible floodlit affair. However, it's night so you can't really see the mountains and it is the spectacle of the 600 performers on the water that makes. it.

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Li River

6/8/2015

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On from Chengdu to Guilin in Guangxi province. This is a largely rural part of China and is absolutely wonderful. It is rice fields flanked by weirdly shaped peaks (Karst peaks, apparently!). Most Chinese tours stay in the main town of this area, Yangshuo. We would highly recommend avoiding this and finding something smaller and quieter in the countryside. I have to say, not impressed by the town itself, but the area that surrounds it is hard to beat... anywhere. This is doubly true if you have only experienced the mega-cities of the Eastern seaboard of China.

Before we went, a friend told us how much we would like it as it was like a different country. Hmmm! I'm sure it will be nice and different from here, but a different country? He was right and I was wrong. It is like a different country. Fresh, clear mountain air, lush green scenery, different food, faces. Everything is different.

The famous view is this one:

Very pretty, but if you don't know China you'll be wondering what the fuss is about. The reason it's famous is this is the reverse of the 20Y note.

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Cycling around the Yangshuo countryside

3/8/2015

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This was a lovely way to spend a morning. Once you are off the main roads there is very little traffic and it is mostly flat and very pretty.

Family cycling the Yangshuo. You will notice Mrs. Peel and boy child on a tandem on the left.

Farming around Jiuxin

Another popular option is to take a bamboo punt down the river. Although I have to say, this place was much busier than where we went from. Apparently, it's cheaper and shorter so very popular. They punt downstream, take off the seats, then man-handle the rafts onto a truck and drive back up. You frequently see these lorries piled ridiculously high with the rafts. Despite how it looks, it was a really peaceful hour or so floating down the river.
The rafts only last about three months as the bamboo wears out through crossing the weirs in the river constantly.