Yangshuo in Goulin is about 600kn from Ha Long Bay in Vietnam, but you could be forgiven for thinking they were the same place. The 'karst' limestone scenery is almost identical (apart from the sea level), and equally as beautiful! The town itself felt much smaller and more cozy/touristy than the bigger cities we had been in.
NOTE: I just went to try and find the link to my blog post about Ha Long Bay in Vietnam and I've realised it's part of the month I've not yet written up. Doh!
Free time the next morning split the group, about half of us going on a cycle ride out in the carst landscape, and the sensible half of us going to visit a vast limestone cave system. The lighting in the caves was well done if a little garish and psychedelic, and made for some interesting photos.
Towards the end of the cave was a massive luminescent sphere of (supposedly) natural rock, though if the rock was local or not I've no idea. It was pretty darn pretty though and you could make patterns on it by holding your torch close to it. I succumbed and bought a small one as a souvenir.
Outside the cave was more carst scenery, with a 'half moon' arch up at the top of one of the hills. Also outside the cave were some 'full sized' Transformers statues, I think created by a local artist. They were quite impressive too!
In the afternoon we headed to the Lijiang River for a 'Bamboo Boat' ride (though I complained when I saw them as they are metal shaped like bamboo, not actually bamboo). The trip was pleasant and we got some relaxing time to enjoy the scenery.
On the way back to town there were a bunch of people with fishing cormorants on bamboo poles who were desperate to let you hold the pole (and then of course charge you for the privileged). They were fantastic birds, but I'm not really keen on paying locals for photos, or on animal 'exploitation'. There were some working cormorants on a proper bamboo boat down on the river though, and that was too picturesque to pass up.
Early dinner that afternoon was at a restaurant partly funded by the tour company as a community space for a local village. We walked there through rural fields and away from the touristy bustle of the Li River. Very pleasant to see more of the local rural activity and scenery, though we did come close to loosing 2 members of the group on the way there as they stopped to take some photos (no, it wasn't me!).
That evening a few of us took in a cultural/light show directed by the same bloke who did the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony. Most of China (92%) is Han in origin (that makes 18% of the world!), but there are many other groups, and this show was about them. The stage was a square kilometer of river, the karst hills behind, a couple of pontoons and hundreds of small boats (Google for 'yanghsou light show'for more pictures and videos).
It was definitely spectacular, but I've not got a clue what meaning they were trying to convey, other than 'we've got lots of people and lights'.
It was also odd in that the mostly Chinese audience would not shut up. They talked constantly throughout the performance and that seemed to be 'normal' for them. I suppose there wasn't much in the way of dialog going on, but it was very distracting and did detract from the experience a bit, though I think several of us felt that while the show was definitely 'spectacular', it wasn't necessarily 'enjoyable'.
Next day we had a trip out to a tea plantation to see how tea is grown, picked and processed. A pleasant drive up into the hills and the doning of a traditional style hat and we were off to pick the tiniest freshest greenest leaves off the tea bushes.
It was very peaceful with beautiful surroundings till a bus load of Chinese tourists turned up. First it was a drone buzzing about the place, then they came over and started very intrusively taking photos of us picking tea! No suggestion of asking us if it was OK. No subtlety or tact and taking them from a distance. Camera in your face, 3 in a row. Some of them started poking their cameras through the bushes to get photos of some of the girls in our group - very creepy indeed. One of the guys on the tour, Josh, a tall, fit, handsome, blond bloke, had been having this happen to him for most of the trip. Lots of (Chinese) people wanted photos of or with Josh. He found it very annoying. Before the tea plantation, I had been a little jealous of all the attention Josh was getting, but after I had a better understanding of how frustrated he was.
Our guide, and one of the ladies on our tour who speaks Chinese asked them not to ('Please don't take photos of my foreigners'), but it didn't make terribly much difference. I however did manage to find a way to make them stop. You stare at them and give them the finger. They don't want photos of you giving them the finger, so they stop and unsurprisingly get the message! I don't really like being rude to people, even having to tell tuktuk drivers and other sales people I don't want a ride anywhere, or a cobra charming flute for the 5th time, but I have to say that I felt a bit of guilty pleasure when one of these Chinese tourists looked really shocked at my gesture, gave me the finger back, and stormed off in a huff.
Anyway, with the picking done, it was off down to see how it's processed. First the pickings were gone through to remove anything that was too old/big. The lady seemed pleased with the quality of the pickings we had gathered. The leaves are then 'withered', either by leaving them to dry out a little, or in our case by being heated gently in a big wok-like thing. Next they are rolled/broken/munched a bit to expose them to more oxygen before 'fermentation' (not technically accurate as no alcohol is involved) - warming at specific heat and humidity for 20 or so minutes to encourage oxidization of the leaves. The longer it is 'fermented', the darker the tea. We did of course then get to sample a variety of types of tea, from green, through oolong to black.
Next up was lunch followed by a climb up to a viewpoint above the river we had a bamboo-like boat trip on the day before.
Last stop was an interesting old stone built village. Most housing in China is wooden, so this is rather unusual for the area. It was quiet and peaceful and quite picturesque. I don't think we found out why they used stone rather than wood, or even why it was abandoned.
As a final send off, there was an incredible thunderstorm in the middle of the night. It was loud enough that it woke me up, and I've slept through falling out of bed!
NOTE: I just went to try and find the link to my blog post about Ha Long Bay in Vietnam and I've realised it's part of the month I've not yet written up. Doh!
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| View from my hotel room |
Free time the next morning split the group, about half of us going on a cycle ride out in the carst landscape, and the sensible half of us going to visit a vast limestone cave system. The lighting in the caves was well done if a little garish and psychedelic, and made for some interesting photos.
Towards the end of the cave was a massive luminescent sphere of (supposedly) natural rock, though if the rock was local or not I've no idea. It was pretty darn pretty though and you could make patterns on it by holding your torch close to it. I succumbed and bought a small one as a souvenir.
Outside the cave was more carst scenery, with a 'half moon' arch up at the top of one of the hills. Also outside the cave were some 'full sized' Transformers statues, I think created by a local artist. They were quite impressive too!
In the afternoon we headed to the Lijiang River for a 'Bamboo Boat' ride (though I complained when I saw them as they are metal shaped like bamboo, not actually bamboo). The trip was pleasant and we got some relaxing time to enjoy the scenery.
On the way back to town there were a bunch of people with fishing cormorants on bamboo poles who were desperate to let you hold the pole (and then of course charge you for the privileged). They were fantastic birds, but I'm not really keen on paying locals for photos, or on animal 'exploitation'. There were some working cormorants on a proper bamboo boat down on the river though, and that was too picturesque to pass up.
Early dinner that afternoon was at a restaurant partly funded by the tour company as a community space for a local village. We walked there through rural fields and away from the touristy bustle of the Li River. Very pleasant to see more of the local rural activity and scenery, though we did come close to loosing 2 members of the group on the way there as they stopped to take some photos (no, it wasn't me!).
That evening a few of us took in a cultural/light show directed by the same bloke who did the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony. Most of China (92%) is Han in origin (that makes 18% of the world!), but there are many other groups, and this show was about them. The stage was a square kilometer of river, the karst hills behind, a couple of pontoons and hundreds of small boats (Google for 'yanghsou light show'for more pictures and videos).
It was definitely spectacular, but I've not got a clue what meaning they were trying to convey, other than 'we've got lots of people and lights'.
It was also odd in that the mostly Chinese audience would not shut up. They talked constantly throughout the performance and that seemed to be 'normal' for them. I suppose there wasn't much in the way of dialog going on, but it was very distracting and did detract from the experience a bit, though I think several of us felt that while the show was definitely 'spectacular', it wasn't necessarily 'enjoyable'.
Next day we had a trip out to a tea plantation to see how tea is grown, picked and processed. A pleasant drive up into the hills and the doning of a traditional style hat and we were off to pick the tiniest freshest greenest leaves off the tea bushes.
Our guide, and one of the ladies on our tour who speaks Chinese asked them not to ('Please don't take photos of my foreigners'), but it didn't make terribly much difference. I however did manage to find a way to make them stop. You stare at them and give them the finger. They don't want photos of you giving them the finger, so they stop and unsurprisingly get the message! I don't really like being rude to people, even having to tell tuktuk drivers and other sales people I don't want a ride anywhere, or a cobra charming flute for the 5th time, but I have to say that I felt a bit of guilty pleasure when one of these Chinese tourists looked really shocked at my gesture, gave me the finger back, and stormed off in a huff.
Anyway, with the picking done, it was off down to see how it's processed. First the pickings were gone through to remove anything that was too old/big. The lady seemed pleased with the quality of the pickings we had gathered. The leaves are then 'withered', either by leaving them to dry out a little, or in our case by being heated gently in a big wok-like thing. Next they are rolled/broken/munched a bit to expose them to more oxygen before 'fermentation' (not technically accurate as no alcohol is involved) - warming at specific heat and humidity for 20 or so minutes to encourage oxidization of the leaves. The longer it is 'fermented', the darker the tea. We did of course then get to sample a variety of types of tea, from green, through oolong to black.
Next up was lunch followed by a climb up to a viewpoint above the river we had a bamboo-like boat trip on the day before.
Last stop was an interesting old stone built village. Most housing in China is wooden, so this is rather unusual for the area. It was quiet and peaceful and quite picturesque. I don't think we found out why they used stone rather than wood, or even why it was abandoned.
As a final send off, there was an incredible thunderstorm in the middle of the night. It was loud enough that it woke me up, and I've slept through falling out of bed!
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