Temp: 15 °C
Max: 15 °C Yangshuo - 阳朔
Last Updated
22nd Oct,2008
Yangshuo is an incredibly beautiful
place. The landscape is dotted with karst (eroded limestone) peaks and the Li river winds
its way past, heading south to join the Pearl River before the South China Sea.
Yangshuo is your break from all the major cities
in China. This is where you can experience some real China. Getting out into the countryside to see traditional rural life is easy. Most choose to take a bike but you can also go on foot or by car or boat. You can go with or without a guide; there are advantages to each style - so choose your own.
Yangshuo is a very laid back town with excellent facilities for visitors. The town has a better choice of hotels and guesthouese than most cities, with more top-end ones on the way. There are many agencies offering just about every kind of activity that you can imagine.
This site is here to help you get a grip on all the possibilities and to make informed choices for your time in Yangshuo. Enjoy your visit.
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Yangdi-Xingping
Definitly my favourite trip ......but I have done this trip on a local raft....about 2hrs.
On a lovely sunny Autumn day you could not get it any better. The rafts stop off for photo shots at the 9 horses mountain. ....click here for the rest of the article
There is a commercial photographer there who will develop & laminate your photo for 10Y. The river "mafia" collect 4y per person somewhere along the trip, but to stop arguments with foreigners the raft driver now pays them.
We were dropped off along the river from Xingping which allows for a pleasant wander back into town up through the old street...( which keeps evolving very quickly) to the bus station. At Yangdi there
is a very good restaurant ...the last building before the river. Very good food at a resonable cost. On both my trips we had lunch there before taking the raft. To get to Yangdi catch a local bus at the bus station.
Highly recommended trip.
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Yangshuo tug of war
We just saw the tug of war competition during the annual Cormorant fishing festival here in Yangshuo and I thought that this needed an article to be written about it
The best way to introduce it is to describe it as a tug of war with Chinese Characteristics....click here for the rest of the article
Now, I have to admit that I know very little about the official rules of International tug of war events, but I do think that this one was a bit different
Firstly, the rope used was a thick steel wire rope that was about half a kilometer in length. Now, at this stage I thought that perhaps a big truck had broken down and was going to be towed by a train, but no. I then saw large groups of people wearing the same coloured caps, so I thought this must be it. I got myself amongst the crowd and waited for the fun to begin
After a few speeches that seemed to last longer than the opening ceremony of the Olympics, two teams went to the rope with their nice gloves on and grabbed the rope. Each team was over 100m in length with a mix of men and women. Each team had its own name, such as West street and Yangshuo Electric cars.
The countdown begun at 5 and by the time it had reached 1, both teams were pulling hard on the rope, the crowd yelled their encouragement and eventually someone won and someone lost
It was all just a whole bunch of good fun
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Li River Cruises
There are many different types of cruises that you can do on the Li River, and I have done most of them
Guilin only cruises
These have to be the worst of the lot. Guilin city itself has very few Karst peaks of any real height. You get to cruise within the city and observe 3 or 4 peaks. The rest of the time, you get to glimpse hotels, traffic and shops, ouch!!!
Guilin to Yangshuo cruises
These are by far the most popular cruises in terms of numbers. Every major tour company and some smaller ones will put their groups on these boats. The boats are big enough to hold anything from 60 to 120 people. They usually have a viewing deck at the top which is shared by everyone on the cruise. I have had to use my elbows to get to the railings so that I could see the view.
....click here for the rest of the article
Departure time for these cruises is between 9am and 11am. There are no flights that arrive early enough to meet a cruise on the same day. You can easily arrange a cruise the night before from any hotel in Guiin
These cruises leave from a wharf on the outskirts of Guilin and the transfer from Guilin is included in the ticket price.
Lunch is also something to talk about on these boats. It is included in the cost of the ticket. You get a set meal to share with the people at your table. The meal is very Chinese with rice, stir fried vegetables and some meat dishes. Included drinks are a small bottle of water per person and some bottles of beer. The staff on the boat also try to up sell expensive dishes and drinks such as fried shrimps and `snake wine`. You also get to have this lunch during some of the best scenery on the Li River
Many of the people who do these cruises get dropped off in Yangshuo and have a short time to explore West Street for shopping and then return back to Guilin the same day
Yangdi to Xingping cruises
The Yangdi to Xingping section of the Li River is by far the most spectacular part of the Li River. It is possible to arrange a cruise for just this section of the Li River. However, you need to know that the only boats that can take tourists on the Li River are the big boats from Guilin as they are the only officially licensed boats.
The boats that do the Yangdi to Xingping section are the small `farmer's boats`. These boats can hold about 12 people on them and have an open area at the front of the boat where you can sit down and put your feet in the river
Now, as these boats are not licensed, they can only operate when the Li River is not being monitored by the local authorities which is early in the morning or late in the afternoon which is the best time anyway for these cruises as the river has none of the large boats and is very peaceful. This has always been my favourite cruise on the Li River
Cruises from Xingping
There are many `farmer's boats` in Xingping as the monitoring of licensed boats is a bit more lax in Xingping. You can turn up at just about any time of the day to Xingping and have one of these boats take you on the Li River.
The cruise can take you up river towards Yangdi, but not all the way to Yangdi as there are regular inspections near Yangdi. How close does the boat get to Yangdi? Sometimes almost all the way and sometimes about half way. You can never tell as you would know what Yangdi looks like
The cruises out of Xingping can also go towards Yangshuo with a stop at the `fishing village`. This cruise is not as scenic with very few tall peaks along this section of the river. I find this cruise a bit on the boring side
Yangshuo to Fuli and Liugong cruise
This cruise is downstream of Yangshuo and misses all the big boats coming from Guilin. I like this cruise too as it is very relaxing due to the low traffic on the Li River. The cruise is also done on the `farmer's boats`. Both the old towns of Fuli and Liugong are worth a visit on their own
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