Day 112 Yangshuo 14 October

 

The area around Yangshuo is renowned throughout China, if not the whole world, (even making it into the backdrop of Star Wars Episode 3), for its karst landscape where there are hundreds upon hundreds of limestone hills dotting the countryside. The beautiful scenery here is a common subject of Chinese paintings as well as the inspiration for poetry and illustrations on the 20 RMB note. 

Today we decide to travel like the locals and hire yet more tandems for the short ride to the Yulong  river where we will use yet another form of transport to take us down river towards Moon Hill which we will climb (oh yes - another Handley climb!) The whole region is dominated by karst peaks and the countryside is simply stunning - as if stepping into the pages of a National Geographic Magazine article about the "real China". One of the most fun ways to see these amazing countryside scenes is by Dragon River bamboo raft.

 

 Dragon river is the biggest branch of Lijiang river, it's about 43Km in total. Along the Dragon river, there are dams every 200 meters, used historically by the local farmers to store water for the paddy fields in the winter season. Not in use for agriculture any more, the dams bring an added dimension to an otherwise  pretty quiet, peaceful and harmonious voyage.

 

- apart from a steady procession of toothless old crones sitting on their own bamboo rafts in the middle of the river yelling "Beer, Beer, Coca Cola, Water Gun, Water Gun" as if they have been posessed by the voice of a strangled cat! Still, there are worse ways to spend a morning! Tiegan is offered the chance to "bamboo pole" and it is obviously a lot harder than it looks!

 

One of Yangshuo's most visited sights is Moon Hill. This karst peak obtains its name from a large, semi-circular hole in the top of the mountain which is visible from far away.  Moon Hill can be climbed in 25-40 minutes, depending on your fitness. It's steps all the way  so we just keep plodding and eventually arrive at the summit.



The route takes us right up through the hole and out onto a platform on the other side and has great views down over the Yulong Valley. The experience could have been ruined by local ladies trying to persuade us to buy drinks and postcards for the duration of our walk. Hawkers are not unusual - but their persistence (nay, insistence) at Moon Hill is a serious detraction for many. Our stalker hawker is apparantly quite a veteran and even has a guest book she has been here so long.