In and around Yangshuo

I spent a few days in Yangshuo right after my Guilin days. You've already seen that I floated down the river to get there and how beautiful the water and mountains were on the way so let's see what Yangshuo is like. While in Yangshuo I stayed in the dorm of an English school and traded teaching an English class and doing English corners for a free bed and lunch and dinner. Not a bad deal. Being on the road so long, I've met many ex-pats who were English teachers and it's been something I've considered doing, as it lets you immerse yourself into the culture on a much deeper level. So this was a good intro experience.

Yangshuo is a town known for being full of backpackers from all over the world. Usually cities full of ex-pats can be a bit too overwhelming or a bit too much, but Yangshuo manages to maintain a really laid back and happy feel. And while the rest of china is cashing in on any sort of tourism, Yangshuo's prices still have remained pretty cheap.

One highlight of my stay here was that I was given my chinese name, 高华 pronounced Gāo Huá, and meaning tall magnificent. I'll take it! :)

Yangshuo is known for it's beer fish, the dish on the left. However, it's more of a western fusion dish and most of the locals don't or wouldn't eat it. I tried it but truthfully wasn't the biggest fan.

Yangshuo in the morning. This was a lake in the center of the town.

A few of us went to a local cave known for it's stalactites, hot springs and mud baths. this was the entrance, you had to canoe your way in.

Leaves covered in drippings and turning to rock on the outside.

stalactites.

This was a cool looking "scene" formed naturally from the rocks. I forget exactly what it looked like and of course a camera doesn't work too well in a dark cave.

more stalactites and a huge pole like one in the middle.

this one looks like a dragon. if you look to the far left of it you may be able to see it's face.

crossing a set of very cold pools

Having fun in the mud bath

For some reason none of the chinese on the tour would come in with us but all the foreign travelers had a ball getting dirty.

Yangshuo's famous Moon hill, a hill with a huge hole in the shape of a half moon

Yanghshuo sunsets from a pagoda on top of one of the hills.

The view of Yangshuo from the other side of the pagoda.

The sunset with me trying to be creative and using the pagoda window as a frame.

A vendor pulling sugar candy

ginger coffee. putting ginger in crappy coffee. would have been better with good coffee :)

Delicious dumplings. Lonely planet recommended one dumpling place, I couldn't find it but found this one. The reason i went is that they had a huge sign outside saying "Not the place mentioned in Lonely Planet but we guarantee you'll like ours just as much." I thought this was so clever of them and probably true. The dumplings indeed were great. the ones on the left were a shrimp and the right ones were what I really wanted to try. Melon and mutton. the melon was actually more of a zucchini but it tasted great and slightly different than what I expected. It was at this dinner that I received my chinese name.

A great breakfast of xiaolongbao and tofu skins in chili sauce.