🙂 Today, we are into “laziness”.
That means: in the morning, we go to the Moon Mountain by bike, where we climb up 800 steps. As a reward, we get a wonderful view from the top.
The mountain got its name because its peak cut-out looks a little like the sickle of the moon. It is rather huge – and very impressive.
Afterwards, we ride a little through the land on our bikes – just enjoying the scenery. The YULONG rafters are beckoning. The YULONG is the river you can see right next to our hotel at the Yangshuo Resort.
Our room has a view of the river. And whenever we look out of the window, for instance when taking a meal on the hotel patio near the beach, we see the boats passing. The raftsmen are pushing them with long bamboo poles.
A little upriver, there is one of those stations where the rafters start. We go there by bike. We have to buy tickets for boarding the rafters. As always, you have to bargain in order to get the price that is officially considered appropriate.
The bikes can be carried at the rear end of the rafter (for the price of two seats). We go downhill for one hour, passing the hotel. Afterwards, we ride our bikes back to the hotel and have a (late) lunch.
In the afternoon, we are really lazy. At night, we go to see a musical theatre with “light show”. They play a historical story, allegedly it is very trashy and sentimental.
They say a few hundred people are on stage. And there will be perhaps around four thousand spectators. It is an impressive theatre on the river. With many boats and ships, surprising effects, beautiful music, great choirs, ballet and impressive mass scenes.
It is a little like Oberammegau on the river. Not quite as long and not quite as bloody, but even more monumental. With illuminated mountains. I am sure it is quite spectacular for tourists. But since we are here already, we definitely have to go and see it!
Here you can see out hotel at the Yangshuo Resort
When buying those tickets, you also have to bargain. Initially tickets are offered for around 300 RBM, but finally you pay 200 RBM – including the shuttle transport to the huge open-air stage on the water.
And it was really worth it – this was a wonderfully emotional finish to our short stay at Yangshuo.
Now we also learned why the region with its several thousand (8,000?) cone-shaped mountains is so beautiful in a bizarre way. We are actually at the bottom of the sea! The ocean changed the landscape. And then it withdrew and left behind this flat landscape with its rivers and mountains in such strange shapes.
Tomorrow, we will leave this land of cone-shaped mountains. We are going north-west to Wuhan – where the “official part” of our trip will take place.
Our first week in China is over. Here are some short impressions:
China is huge and has many faces. Economically, they are moving up, consumption has become an important value. To me, current China looks a little like the FRG looked after WW-II, during the economic miracle time.
Although most Chinese seem to be well off as far as food is concerned, they remained slim. I find that rather remarkable in modern times. The few obese persons I saw are the exception to the rule and those few who have a belly to show do so with pleasure. If the weather is hot, the t-shirt will often be pushed up. Then you can see the rounded stomach between the trousers and t-shirt. I, too, tried it. It is great fun.
In China, you say hello with Ni Hau, that means “you well?“. This is easy for me to remember: do not beat me in German sounds like Ni Hau… No problem phonetically!
So far!
RMD
(Translated by EG)
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