We had taken our longest train to date – 18 hours! But it is amazing how quickly you seem to adjust to these things, it seemed to pass relatively quickly. Just before arriving in Guilin we noticed the landscape changing, instead of rice paddies we were seeing sharply pointed hills dotted around the landscape. This is the area that a lot of people imagine when they think of China, the limestone hills covered in greenery, and here it was laid out in
front of us ready to be explored. Guilin itself is a nice little town and has a lot to offer, but unfortunately it seems that someone has realised this and anything that is even remotely touristy has an (overpriced) entrance fee, be it a park, hill shaped like an elephant, or peak that overlooks the town. We did part with some of our hard earned cash but the sights just didn't seem to be value for money, rumour was that Yangshuo 2 hours South is the place to be, so we booked our ticket. The evening before we left redeemed Guilin slightly as we had a nice time wandering the night market and then the tastefully lit lakes.Yangshuo:
A short bus ride and we were in the small town of Yangshuo. The friendly staff from the
guesthouse we had booked came to meet us at the bus station. They were really helpful with any questions we had and sorted out our first excursion – a bamboo boat ride from Xing Ping. We had to get a small local bus to get there over bumpy unmade roads past paddie fields and farmers. Our starting point for the boat ride was a famous Chinese spot, as featured on the back of a Y20 note! The bamboo boat turned out to be made of plastic but we didn't let that take anything away from the incredible landscape sprawled in 
front of us. It was so peaceful and serene, again our timing was good as on the return journey the sun was setting behind the limestone peaks. This was the China I had dreamt of seeing!That evening we took to West Street, a backpacker haven of bars, restaurants and clubs that doesn't quite fit with the peaceful setting of Yangshuo. While wandering around we met an Israeli called Asaf who joined us for beers. The following day he came to our hotel so we could all go for
a bike ride, at this point we were also joined by a guy we had briefly bumped into the night before, Simon from Ireland. So the 4 of us set off out of town into the dirt tracks between paddie fields and limestone peaks. It was nice to be back with nature after so many big Chinese cities, water buffalo wading the rivers, local farmers going about their business, and butterflies fluttering about. Fran and I both picked up punctures on the unmade road, but luckily there was a friendly Chinese man in his shack doing repairs. While waiting for him to fix the punctures we walked to the river and had a swim in the refreshing blue waters. What a great way to spend a day!While in Yangshuo we also went to a show that is directed by the same man that put together
the opening ceremony for the Olympics, the stage is the river that runs through the town and while parts of the show were impressive the time between scenes while they moved around the boats was a bit much. Fran also took a cookery lesson with Nancy from Hong Kong whom we had eaten with the night before, so you can all look forward to home made Kung Po chicken, spring rolls and beef noodles when we get back! Unfortunately we had booked our onward bus journey while we were in Guilin, otherwise we may well have stayed in Yangshuo for longer as there was still much to do and see.
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