Charmed by Yangshou
Topic of the day: A fantabulous weekend in Yangshou
There's a Chinese saying that goes something to the effects of: "Guilin's scenery surpasses all the lands". That's a heavy claim to make, but after a weekend in delightful Yangshou (a great little backpacker town located about 60 kms away from Guilin), I'm starting to believe that whoever started that quote were right about something!
To get an idea of what Yangshou's like, think Vietnam's Ha Long Bay, minus the water, insert picturesque town. What makes Yangshou special is probably a mix between the laid back atmosphere of a "typical" southern Chinese village, friendly locals, the cool little restaurants/bars and shops on Yangshou's West Street, and the stunning karst mountains that surrounds the town. Spending a weekend there turned out to be a perfect getaway from the hustle and bustle of Beijing (all done, of course, with the great company of a select few from Shanghai ;) ).
Instead going into too much detail, I thought I would just briefly write down some trip highlights instead...
Trip highs:
- Renting bikes and riding a few kilometers outside of town to a close by water cave. Turned out to be almost like a touristy version of splunking. I thought it was very interesting and had a great finish - a big waterfall inside the cave!
- Breakfast/brunch at Cafe Del Moon.
- Cruising down the Li River and enjoying the 20 kuai scenery.
- Beer fish...yummm...
- The GORGEOUS drive from the Li River back to Guilin. It's a shame I'm such an inept landscape photographer - I took no decent landscape shots this whole weekend!
Trip Low:
- There was only one - when Digs lost one of his Havaianas flip flops during our cave trek!
Overall, what a productive weekend (what a change from all our other weekend getaways!)! I'm keeping a mental note to myself: if ever in the future I need some time away from Beijing, I'm going to Yangshou! (or anywhere in Tibet... ;) )
To view pictures from the weekend in Yangshou:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/96434059@N00/sets/72157594227481374/
7 Comments:
surprised you didn't mention getting punched a few times by yours truly. ;)
Great trip, great memories, great company, great food... great loss (my sandals).
What can I say, you love touching me too much. Very understandable, but at the same time, quite disturbing... ;)
And plus I got bruises!!!
yangshou is right up there with the best of them! good job you didn't waste any time in Guilin
great pictures :) counting down to beijing and home stay ;)
what's beer fish?
i can imagine Devrim's reaction to losing his flip flops. He thought he lost the pair in Phi Phi island and he cracked it!
Beer fish is a dish in Yanghsou where fish is first fried and then stewed in a thick sauce of soy sauce and beer. Very, very yum! ;)
Miss you, mish!! :)
Mish,
Thank you for REMINDING ME JUST HOW PRECIOUS THOSE FLIP FLOPS WERE TO ME!!!!
I'm so pissed off right now!
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