Weekend in Yangshuo!!!

Hi folks.  Guest Blogger Mark here again.  We just got back from our best weekend getaway yet: we went to Yangshuo–the place with all of the amazing mountains and karst formations.  Many people associate those scenes with Guilin–but I think Yangshuo is even better.  There is a saying here in China that translates roughly as "Guilin is the best place under the heavens…and Yangshuo is better than Guilin".  Hope I got that right.  Regardless, I can say for certain that Yangshuo was just pretty amazing.

As Astrid has mentioned in previous posts, since we are not making a home trip this summer, we have decided that this is the time to see as much of China as we possibly can.  Along those lines we have decided that for the summer we will do a big weekend trip roughly every other weekend.  We're finding air travel out of the relatively small Tianjin airport to be easy and more or less reliable, so we have just started taking out our bucket list of travel spots inside China.

For Yangshuo, Astrid did a fair bit of research and found a really great inn (Outside Inn) in a small village outside the main city of Yangshuo.  The place is actually an old traditional farm house converted to an inn by a guy from the the Netherlands some years back.  It gives you a genuine feel for being "in China", while retaining just enough modern comforts.

But enough talk!!!! Here are some photos already!!!

Okay….we arrived Friday night- late at night.  Time to head straight to bed!!!

 **Hi!  It's me,Astrid!  I just wanted to tell you that we took this trip waaaaaay back at the beginning of July (the weekend of June 29-July1).  It's taken us this long to write this post as there were so many fantastic things about this place we didn't want to miss writing about!**

The girls' beds with mosquito netting–they thought this was pretty cool!

Sleep well!  It's been a L-O-N-G day.  Good night everyone!!!

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Ok…Time for breakfast!  Hope you had a nice sleep!

One of the many nice surprises at the Outside Inn was the really good food. More on that at dinner, but this breakfast was really quite nice!

Well, I'm STUFFED!  I think it might be time to go rent some bikes and see if we can't find a bamboo raft that will take us down the Yulong River.

The Inn had a great bike setup for our family…and adult bike for Astrid, a kid-size bike for Annika, and an adult bike with a 3rd wheel trailer for Daddy & Ava. What a great way to see this place!!!

We had to force ourselves to stop and take photos frequently on the ride. Everywhere we looked the scenery was like this…just beautiful!

It is entirely possible that we would never have actually found our destination on this trip (a specific bridge where we can catch a bamboo raft & ride back down the river) without the help of this very friendly lady who "just happened" to be going the same way. Turns out she was connected in some way with the people doing the raft trips…so she had some interest in making sure we got there…not a bad thing really…

Make sure to stop frequently to drink some water…it is HOT and HUMID here…we were all having a blast with this ride though!!!

Interesting to watch the ladies wash their laundry with soap and river water- today seemed to be washing day! Several ladies were doing this near the place where the rafts were launched.

Mmmm….corn on the cob! And it was actually good!

Lots of other rafters headed down the river while we wait our turn…

Ok…We're finally on our way. We had to take two rafts. Annika and Daddy rode one, and Ava and Mommy rode the other. It was nice that they could put our bikes on the rafts too so that when we got to the end of the ride we had a way to get back to the hotel!

Wave to Ava and Astrid!

Daddy's little River Princess seems to be having a great time!

These are (we think) Cormorants. They are traditionally used by locals to catch fish. We didn't see them actually doing this, but apparently the birds are fitted with something around their necks that prevent them from actually swallowing fish. Then they are turned loose to dive for fish. When they come up with a fish, the person grabs the fish and calls it his own. Pretty clever if you ask me!

There were several of these little "rapids" that the rafts had to go over. Feet got wet, but everything stayed the right way up, so it was all good.

 Not exactly white water rafting but lots of fun and thrilling all the same!!!

And of course a closeup of Daddy's other little River Princess…

So here's the end of the raft ride. It was everything we hoped it would be–a great way to see some of the most unique scenery on this planet!

But now, let's go find some lunch!!!

Heading back towards the hotel on the bikes, we stopped at this roadside "eatery" because we coould see a lot of people eating there.  In most situations, this is a good sign.  In this case, it turned out very well.  Between the restaurant's 7 words of English and our 5 words of Chinese, we managed to order some "food", which turned out to be a real treat, at least partly due to the adventure of not really having any idea what we just ordered.  Ok we figured out it would be some kind of fish, but more details would have to wait until it arrived.

In any case, I can say with fair certainty that this was the BEST food we have EVER had while on a bike ride through the backwoods of interior China following a raft ride through surreal mountain peaks and rice fields.

All of the tables had a view, as there really weren't any walls…

We are ready…bring food please!!!

That was…a fish…cooked with some vegetables, garlic, ginger…other delicious things. It really was very, very good. Watch out for bones though…

Choose the beer favored by barnyard animals everywhere!!!  Yes I know it looks like they are playing with a poo…buy the beer anyway!!!  (I should go into Marketing!!!)

After that excellent lunch we pedaled back to the Inn…

Our little home for the weekend…Beats the Hilton any day!!!

Other rooms at the Inn…

But let's not wast time just sitting around.  We heard that there is a nice "easy" hiking trail that starts off from behind the Inn.  Let's go take a look and along the way I will explain the quote marks around "easy"…

Fact is we are a pretty hardy bunch where hiking and outdoor activities are concerned. And for the first part of this hike, we would have agreed with the local guide flyer listing this as "easy"…(Wow–look at those mountains!!!)

Ok…here's the old farmhouse as indicated on the map. But this is where the trail starts to get a little less obvious…and a little less "easy"…

Ok now we're not so much walking a trail as bushwhacking up a mountainside. I REALLY wish I had brought my bullwhip and machete…(already have the hat…good thing I brought that at least)

I think what Annika is saying here (and she is speaking for us all) is "it is HOT, HUMID, and I'm not really 100% sure we are still on the trail at all".  Absolutely incredible views though…don't forget to take them in.  You can worry about bug bites later!!!

Ok good…I think that is where we are supposed to be headed. Maybe we WILL make it back to civilization…

A plantation of some sort??? I'm guessing perhaps green tea???? Now doesn't this look like the setting from "Jurassic Park"?????

It really feels like "natives" are going to start shooting poison darts at us with blowguns…or dinosaurs are going to jump out and chase us.  Too many movies???  Maybe…

The grass is taller than Ava!!!!

Finally coming back down to the "flat" land…

And there's the old bridge shown in the map…good…we are on track. Still can't believe those mountains!!!

Back on a "road" now…must be doing it right!!!

Lotuses (Loti???). Maybe a lotus farm? Not sure…

Aaaand…we made it back to the main road in the village. Note the truckload of bamboo rafts heading back for the next set of river tourists…

Some views from the road on the way back to the village…

It's fun to get a glimpse inside the buildings to get a tiny view of the local's world:

We made it!!!!!!!!

Dinner!  Did somebody say dinner???? I'm starving!

yum!

Nighty night!  Get some rest as tomorrow will surely bring another huge day!

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Today we've asked at the front desk where we should go and what we should see.  They recommended we head out on our bikes in the direction of some caves.  Sounds interesting, no???

This looks like it could be interesting:

Moon Hill….or "Moom" Hill as this sign sometimes calls it. Apparently they don't have spell check in China!

Oh WOW! Are we really going to walk up there and check out that giant hole in the rock???

Yes, we are going to walk up to the top!  And annoyingly enough, so are these three ladies.  They have been following us from the very bottom, fanning us with their fans.  They are obviously not along out of the goodness of their hearts.  I'm pretty sure they are going to ask us to buy something out of the coolers they're hauling.  On the one hand, they do speak a fair bit of English so it's fun to talk to them. 

Goats.  Just a few goats trying to find some leftover lunches.

Hot and humid!  And the three ladies that, ahem, so kindly accompanied us stood in the shade.  They've obviously done this a few times!!!!

 And yes, we felt nearly guilt-tripped into buying drinks from the ladies.  As in we did buy three drinks from them but we didn't feel as guilt-tripped as we should have.  ;-) Not sure if that makes sense!!!!????  

Random Chinese families wanting photos taken with us.

Time to head back down! Minus the three ladies.  Whew!  We got rid of them!!!!

 Okay, we're hungry!!!!!!  After all that bike riding and hill climbing who wouldn't be?????  I think we spotted several restauarants in the small village we passed by biking to the Moon Hill.  Let's find one!!!

A table for four along the river???? Yes, Please!!!

Very interesting dish- a rice & meat mixture steam in bamboo halves.

and more views around the restaurant.

Our faithful companions for the past two days.

 Ava will show you around The Outside Inn.

And here it's Annika's turn to show you around….

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*sigh* It's time to leave.  I don't want to go!!!  Everything about this trip has been great!  The location, our lodging, the food, the "attractions" and the bike riding = fun & relaxing vacation.  *sigh*  Come on, we've got to get back into the car.  We've got about an hour ride back to the Guilin airport.  

And yes, why not one MORE photo of a Chinese person wanting a photo taken with the girls!!!??

And, you know what? Those still were not enough photos to show you how completely awesome this place is!

So far we've been to seven different cities/places in China- and I think this place is by far my favorite!!!!  We'll be coming back here again!!!!  (in the late fall after all those stupid, pesky mosquitoes are gone!)