Ida Bjerga: Y A N G S H U O

Yangshuo - definitly one of the most amazing places I´ve ever been! Its incredible beautiful, with its countryside, lazy rivers and karst limestone peeks. Its like living in a fairytale.

We spent five days driving around on scooters getting lost in the mess of karst mountains, ancient Chinese villages and endless ricefields.

Dancing in the sunset

Beautiful Yangshuo

Ashlie in the rice fields

WHAT TO DO:
There is different areas to explore, and different activities and shows to check out.

Longsheng Rice Terraces
Spend one day walking around in the amazing Longsheng (Dragons Back) Rice Terraces, its located around 1 hours outside Guilin (3-4 hours outside Yangshuo).

Endless ricefields, old villages and beautiful view

West Street

West Street is the main pedestrian street in Yangshuo. Its fairly laid back with cafees and small shops selling clothes and souveniers. In the evnings its a crowded party district, with bars and discoes playing music late into the night.

Rent a scooter and a map, explore!
It takes 10-15 minutes to ride out of the city through some chaotic traffic. But ones your through the traffic you get into the countryside and things get more fun. You can drive for hours through rice fields, small villages, green farms, muddy lines. You get to see an amazing scenery and the generally life in undisturbed rural China, with farmers, buffaloes and children playing in the streets.

Small Chinese village

Everyone was really friendly and saying Hello or "nǐ hǎo" when we drove by

Children on their way home from school

Giving locals a ride

Beautiful scenery - ricefields with limestone mountains

Get lost:
Because of the undetailed maps with only some roads marked on it, we got lost all the time. Sometimes we had big troubles finding our way back, and it did not help that most of the people we meet spoke no english, and we had a hard time pronousing the chinese name for Yangshuo. But thats half the fun..

Jump of Dragon Bridge
You´ll find Dragon Brigde on Yulong River, surrounded by small villages and a breathtaking view. The bridge is 600 years old. Under the bridge the water is app 7 meters deep, and perfect for swimming and a jump of the bridge.

Moon Hill
Moon Hill is a moon shape rock with a big hole in the middle. You can either enjoy it from the ground, or climb the hill. Apparently it looks great during sunset (we only saw it from the ground.)

Moon Hill Water Cave.
A 10min drive after Moon Hill, you´ll find the Moon Hill Water Cave were you can take a bath in the mud and enjoy some hot water springs.
A boat takes you into the caves, and from there you have to do some walking and crawling up throught the caves to the mudpool. Enjoy a bath in the mud, before you can relax and get clean in some hot water springs.

Yang Di - Bamboo River Cruise.
Li River is famous for the wonderful weird shaped limestone hills that have inspired artists for centuries. Take a bamboo river crusie down the river and enjoy this magical view. Cruises can be taken from Guilin to Yangshuo, or as we did - taking a bus from Yangshuo to the top of the river, and from there cruise back to Yangshuo again.

Impressions of Lju Sanjie - Lightshow Li River.
Every evning in Yangshuo theres a performance called "Impressions of Lju Sanjie".
The audience sit on the shore of Li River, and Li River are the stage. The performance is spectacular, with 600 people performing, incredible lightsshow and with the hills and night sky as backdrops.

Fishermanshow
At 7.30pm a boat leaves for the river, with a man paddling at its side. A few comorants swim and dive, catching fish attracted by the light. The fisher has a ribbon tied in the neck of the comorants, which allows them to swallow only very small fish. The big fishes the fisherman empty from their necks into a basket. Its definitly a show you´ve never seen before.

Enjoy a beer and beerbong competition on the hostel roofs.
Every evning there is a great party on the hostel roof, with music, beer bong competitions, snake shots.. A great way to end a perfect day. From the hostels rooftop you can see all over the city and till the other hostels rooftops, this way you can check out were the greater party is and where to go next.

WHERE TO STAY:
Monkey Jane's Guesthouse - Its cheap, clean, and has a perfect view over Yangshuo. They have a great roof top bar which serves food all day, and has beer pong contests in the evning.
You can book the activities you´d like to attend in the reception, and there is a massage next door.

Great view from Monkey Janes!

WHERE TO EAT:

Backstreet cafe
Great cafe with cheap, tasty food, and very good selection of vegetarian dishes.
They also have a two for one deal on drinks, and their location is in a cosy backstreet (therefor the name I reckon).