The scenery in Guilin is the best in the world. But the scenery in Yangshuo is even better than Guilin.
The West Street at night
A flute seller in the West Street
There is an old Chinese saying: The scenery in Guilin is the best in the world. But the scenery in YangShuo is even better than Guilin.
Yangshuo is 4 hours by boat and 1 hour by bus from Guilin. The famous Li river connects the two cities. The surrounding countryside is incredibly beautiful and peaceful. The landscape along the Li river is sometimes referred as the 100 li (50 km) of pictorial painting. It is dotted with Karst peaks and the Li river winds its way around them.
Yangshuo is located in GuangXi province and very close to Vietnam; It is a perfect place for weekend getaway for Chinese and the last stop in China before heading for Southeast Asia for international travelers. Many travelers find Yangshuo a worthy escape from the evils of the modern world.
Yangshuo is a laid back small town. Yet, the local tourism is surprisingly well developed with excellent choice for hotels, restaurant, and cafes. Most of the commercial activities are concentrated in a short street called the West Street.
We went for a visit to Guilin and Yangshuo during the national holiday. We flew off from GuangZhou to Guilin and spend the first night in Guilin. We then took the Li river tour, a 4 hour boat ride upstream from Guilin to YangShuo. The tour traveled through some of the most pictorial water ways along the Li river. It is definite a highlight from the whole Yangshuo experience.
We booked the Macro Polo hotel which is in the center of the West Street. The National Day holiday (golden travel week) brought many tourists. The price for our room was significantly inflated. We paid some serious money for the room which offers the best view in the West street. The West street is bustling with backpackers, travel groups and globetrotters. The noise of the disco downstairs lasted well into the late night.
We moved to the Morning Breeze hostel the second day. It is a nice little guest house on the edge of the city. It offers quite retreat, friendly staff and free bike rent. We stayed in the hostel for the next three days. We had to pay over 200RMB/night for a room that normally should cost no more than 80RMB. We spend one day in the ShiWaiTaoYuan or Shangri-La, a small village 20 km out sided the city. We also watched the night show of impression. ShanJie Liu, directed by the renowned Chinese director ZhangYiMou.
The best way to experience YangShuo is on a bike. We took bikes from our hostel and rode to the country side. It was truly an unforgettable experience. We rode on a less known track and went through some remote villages. The villagers and their cows, the local ethnic buildings are mixed with the lush vegetations in the mountains, the endless rice fields, and the tranquil rivers. The distant local folk song just added more flavor and left us an ever lasting impression.
Yangshuo is filled with restaurants which offer variety of food. We had a very good western style dinner in the Red Star caf