Yangshuo

in China

From what I had read, I had imagined Yangshou as a relatively small place - a kind of idyllic village - but in reality, walking from the end of town where my hostel was located to the other end, where the river was located, took a good 45 minutes. It had far less of the trendy shops that the big cities in China had, and no high rises. Instead, hundreds upon hundreds of tiny shops lined the street, doing everything from selling bottles of drink to welding grids of metal together (with no safety equipment at all - mind the sparks).

The area down by the river itself was fairly pleasant, but the real reason to come to Yangshou isn't so much for the town itself but what surrounds it. (That said, despite it being rather bigger than I'd expected and with plenty of traffic it was still a good place to kick back for a bit after a couple of big cities.) There are loads of gorgeous karst limestone pillars rising up, in the middle of the countryside and along the sides of rivers, making it a really quite fascinating landscape.

Top Picks

• Take a hot air balloon ride over the surrounding countryside. OK, it's a tad unnerving to see the pilot yank the gas lead off the empty canister and ram it onto the next one, or to see the techs attacking canisters with a spanner just before take-off, as you stand in the basket. But soaring amongst and over the karsts, just clearing tree-tops and seeing the really rural bits of China, with the crop fields stretching out for miles, is an experience I'll never forget. Compared to western prices, it's really quite a cheap place to go ballooning too.
• Take a boat ride - preferably on a smallish craft - along the Li river. Most likely you'll end up having the hard sell tried on you at some stage along the way, to get you to buy trinkets that you likely don't want, but the views make it well worth putting up with. If you're not very Asian-looking, expect hordes of Chinese tourists on passing boats to greet you noisily. :-)
• I rarely scribble about places to stay in the Top Picks, but in reality one of the things that'd most motivate me to go back to Yangshou is the Yangshuo Culture House. An incredibly cheap home-stay experience, the food (included in the price) was gorgeous: everyone saying there sat around a table and there were ten or more dishes to take from. Wei, the owner, is also very helpful at booking excursions - he helped me organize the hot air balloon ride and the river trip. Good place to meet other people too.

Photos

Dinner on the train	Mr Wu and family, who I met on the train	Near the bus stop
The main street	A park in the center	Typical Chinese architecture
The river running by the town	The river running by the town	The river running by the town
The river running by the town	A view from the hot air balloon	A view from the hot air balloon
Inside the hot air balloon	A view from the hot air balloon	A view from the hot air balloon
A view from the hot air balloon	A view from the hot air balloon	A view from the hot air balloon
A view from the hot air balloon	A view from the hot air balloon	A view from the hot air balloon
A view from the hot air balloon	A view from the hot air balloon	A view from the hot air balloon
A view from the hot air balloon	A view from the hot air balloon	A view from the hot air balloon
A view from the hot air balloon	A view from the hot air balloon	A view from the hot air balloon
A view from the hot air balloon	A view from the hot air balloon	A view from the hot air balloon
A view from the hot air balloon	A view from the hot air balloon	A view from the hot air balloon
Me in the hot air balloon	A view from the hot air balloon	A view from the hot air balloon
A view from the hot air balloon	A view from the hot air balloon	A view from the hot air balloon
The balloon after we landed	The balloon	The balloon
The balloon	Man with bird-catching fish	On the river
On the river	On the river	On the river
On the river	On the river	On the river
On the river	On the river	On the river
On the river	On the river	On the river
On the river	On the river	On the river
On the river	On the river	On the river
On the river	On the river	On the river
On the river	Boats we had been on	Looking along the river
Street	Friends from my hostel