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We’re now a step further south in a town called Yangshuo. It’s the premier destination for Chinese tourists who come for the Li River cruises to see some of the most spectacular scenery in the world. The number of large cruise boats, medium boats and bamboo rafts defies belief as it replicates the M25 on a Monday morning.

Sadly, as China is home to more than 1.3 billion people it seems that they all want to be here, especially on Saturday nights! It’s not all bad. The limestone karst scenery is stunning so we understand why they come here and they do come to have fun…..lots of fun! It is party town for the Chinese so who are we to criticise……after all it’s their country.

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We had a couple of nights in a quieter part of town and then we moved to a much calmer and smaller village called Xingping, pronounced “shingping”. It has a really quaint old quarter that is pedestrianised with couple of very good restaurants. Whilst also very touristy in the day it becomes very sleepy at night with most places closing around 20.00.

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The title of this blog is “Hello Bamboo?” The reasoning is simple as everywhere you go in Yangshuo and Xingping you are stalked by ladies asking “Hello Bamboo?” This simply means “would you like an overpriced tour of the river on a bamboo boat?” Firstly, the modern boats are not made of bamboo but plastic pipe and second, the way the ladies sidle up to you makes it all sound very illicit, almost as though bamboo was a form of marijuana…if only!

Our first experience in Yuangshuo was a touristy thing to do…..to watch a fisherman with his cormorants’ fishing at night. Whilst it was a show for tourists, it is still an art practiced by the older fisherman throughout the length of the Li River. Neil saw it on a TV nature programme about 5 years ago, probably David Attenborough, and decided that if he were ever to visit China then it would be on his list of things to see.

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Since seeing the show, and visiting Xingping, we have seen a number of bamboo rafts carrying fishermen and their birds doing their stuff in a much more private manner. It is quite amazing. The birds have a small constriction around their necks and are trained to free swim the river, catch fish and bring them back to the raft for the fisherman to disgorge the birds and deposit the catch in a basket. Every 6/7 fish the master allows them to eat thus ensuring their loyalty. It’s very, very clever and fantastic to see man and beast working together so well. A bit like a shepherd and his trusty mutt!

Xingping is quite revered in China as on the back of the 20Yuan note there is a picture of one of the groups of limestone karsts that dominate this area of China. Here we are doing what all the Chinese tourists do…pose with their note (value £2)!!

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The room in our guesthouse here in Xingping has the most impressive view we think we’ve ever had…….let us know what you think!

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This area is also great for trekking and we’ve done a number of routes some of which have been quite tough….especially up the 1500+ steps (Fiona we didn’t count them) up the nearby karst to the viewing point to catch the sunset……boy was that steep and tricky. It was well worth it as the view below was breathtaking making the village on the opposite side of the river look like toy town. Again, see the pics as nothing we can say can adequately describe what we have seen, especially the sunset over the myriad peaks.

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Yes, we did take a dawn bamboo raft trip up the river. By going at dawn we missed the “M25” rush hour and had the river almost to ourselves. Our boatman, whose name can best be described in syllables, (Sin, Chin, A), was great and pointed out some of the most interesting karsts. The locals have given them some amazing wonderfully poetic names like, The Eight Super Naturals, Tortoise Climbing up the Hill and Chicken Cage Hill.

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The trip up the river took just over an hour and we decided to take the trek back which took us about 4 hours. Again, take a look at the pics which our “point and shoot camera” really doesn’t do justice to. If there are any camera buffs out there (Alex can we have your camera when you’ve finished with it?) then you need to visit this place! We did name one of our own karsts, Snail Crossing the River, and Neil was good enough to pose as usual.

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We returned back to Yangshuo to stay in a different guesthouse where all the food is included in the price. Whilst breakfast is no great shakes, dinner is served for all the travellers around one big table. It’s very sociable and it offers a great opportunity to swap stories and pick up ideas. In addition, the food that Mr Wei and his family put on the table is quite excellent.

What is also lovely about this hostel is that when you walk in the door everyone puts on a pair a cutesy knitted slippers which means that all the floors are kept so clean. You also need to ring the doorbell when you want to come in so it feels like being a teenager again…..”and what time do you call this?!” We have Brits here, Austrians, Germans, French, Spaniards and an Chinese/American….it’s such a friendly social place to stay. Sadly, we leave tomorrow for Nanning.

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