On Tuesday we hired some bikes and took to the road (well, track really) out to the river. The scenery on the way and along the river was great - paddy fields and water buffalo abounded - stereotypical traditional China I guess. Similar to the last few days, it also felt seriously hot and humid. The cycling provided a nice breeze to take the edge off.
The journey took a slightly comical twist when my back tyre got a puncture as we were between villages. Almost put of nowhere a friendly chap jumped out of a ditch and suggested (through his broken English and our broken Mandarin) that we pop the bike on the back of his motorbike (waiting just off stage in another ditch) and go off to the local village to get it fixed. So we strapped it on and went on our way. An old chap (who reminded me a bit of my Grampy who was also in the bike trade) did a meticulous job identifying the puncture, checking the tyre and adjusting the brakes. We were then on our way again to the 600 year old Dragon Bridge. Having waived our helpful motorbiking friend goodbye, the going seemed to be getting tougher again. Hey presto - the same tyre was flat and we were again a little way from the repair shop. As we pushed our bikes back towards the main road, our new friend happened to be riding by and deja vu struck as we strapped my bike back on and went back to the same old man for a second go (perhaps he wasn't quite as meticulous as I had thought first time around!).
Anyway, the second time was a complete success and we were soon at the bridge - not that the bridge itself was anything spectacular, but the scenery around was stunning. The Lonely Planet had a field day in its description of the area (only a thesaurus was really lacking) - "otherwordly" and "karst" appeared about 3 times in 3 paragraphs. We crossed the river and made our way down some lovely tracks by the river and through what appeared to be paddy fields in people's backgardens, but they didn't seem to mind too much. As our legs were tiring, a guy driving a little 3 wheeler electric pick up truck suggested we throw our bikes and me in the back (Eve was nice and comfortable sat up front with him) and he'd take us home for 20 yuan (about 2 quid). We couldn't turn that down! Particularly as we had tickets for a show that evening - 600 performers set on the river just outside Yangshuo. It was seriously impressive - directed by the guy who did the opening ceremony at the Beijing Olympics, who is a well known Chinese film director I'm told.
Paddy fields, water buffalo and no punctures
The next day we played it safe and went for a trek. Again, paddy fields and water buffalo were the order of the day - as well as spectacular mountain scenery. Yangshuo itself is packed, but we didn't have to go too far to avoid the crowds. Apparently, it gets something close to 15 million visitors a year and it doesn't feel any bigger than Witney. I think most people come on organised tours, so you only have to step off those well trodden paths to get some peace and quiet. After our trek, we were chauffeured back down the river on a bamboo raft - the perfect way to end the day with the sun setting, locals fishing with snorkels and the water buffalo cooling off in the water.
After a quick noodle snack, it was off to the airport to fly up to Chengdu. We were served the most extraordinary tasteless snack on board - I saved the packet because the English was so special too. I'll post that next time. Although it did remind me of some of the comedy translations we have seen so far - my favourite one being at Huang Shan where we were warned that we should not look at the scenery whilst trekking.
Tomorrow is the day Eve has been looking forward to like no other - the Pandas!
[posted by jonnyjpg for tricky mouse who is in google free china]
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