一。Reed Flute Caves
It was pretty cold and rainy when we got to Guilin. We arrived on Valentines Day. It's not something I've ever actively celebrated but Beth and I decided to 'celebrate' by grabbing some western food and later met up with Tom for a little explore of the nearby town area - making our first day there pretty chilled out. The following day, we took a little bus trip to check out the Reed Flute Caves, an impressive tourist attraction consisting of caves over a thousand years old filled with stalactites. Although it's artificial, the stone formations are lit up with rainbow coloured lights, making the whole experience quite trippy but beautiful.
Each formation is named after something it resembles. For example, 'The Mosquito Net', 'The Fairyland' or 'The Snowman'. It might takes some relaxing of the eyes or some squinting, but it makes for a fun, if not abstract, game to play whilst you're there.
After finishing the cave tour, we bumped into a few people who happened to be staying at the same hostel as us. As a group of foreign tourists, equally indecisive but up for anything, we all decided to spend the rest of the day (and in the end, the rest of our time in Guilin and Yangshuo) together.
One of the best things I found about Guilin was how incredibly friendly everyone was. There were many occasions where we were stopped in the street for photos. Especially sweet were the little kids that approached us to welcome us to their hometown and practise their English (which was impressively good for their age if you ask me).
二。Blame it on the River Li
We'd had such a nice day exploring Guilin together, we managed to convince our new friends to change up their plans and come to Yangshuo with us the next day. We took a bamboo reed boat up the famous River Li where you are surrounded by amazing karst mountains and are able to really take in just how beautiful China can be.
Even better is that you can compare the surroundings with the scenery presented on the 20元 note.
Living the actual 20元 life
It's a slow and easy ride along the river which serves as a better way to get to and from Guilin to Yangshuo as opposed to a bus you can take. When we arrived in Yangshuo, we got stuck straight in by trying out the locally renowned dish of beer fish. It's genuinely delicious and I think that if we had known each other longer, we'd probably have been less polite and ravaged the entire plate much quicker than we did. Beer fish is a must try if you're in Yangshuo!
So I hinted back when I first started writing this Spring Festival series that during my travels, I'd come away with approximately 10 bruises and crashed into 2 people. It shouldn't come as a surprise then that both were the result of me taking to the streets on a bicycle, despite the fact that I'm absolutely terrible on a bike. By this point, I hadn't ridden a bike for any extended amount of time since I'd been to Xi'an in November - and even then, it was pretty touch and go. But when one of the 'must-do' things in Yangshuo is to take a relaxing and scenic bike ride out to the countryside, you gotta do what you gotta do...
Despite my terrible cycling ability which left me with quite a few bruises, scrapes, a bit of a dodgy shin and some ripped jeans, I did genuinely enjoy the ride (when I wasn't almost riding into canals... or other people). It was the first time we'd had genuinely lovely weather so we definitely picked a good day to go and although this is a 'touristy' things to do, the cycling routes aren't over crowded and you can really enjoy the unique Yangshuo landscape in the sun. My only tip would be to rent a mountain bike rather than the basic ones on offer. It only costs a little more to rent the bike for the day, and it's worth it if you're planning to go a long distance.
四。Fuli Village
On our last full day in Yangshuo, Beth and I decided to explore one of the nearby villages which is famed for the creation of hand painted silk fans. We took a very rogue looking 'bus', arriving in what seems like 'real China'. People lazing around in the shade on a sunny day, people visiting the local market to buy whatever vegetables and meat they needed for their dinners, people getting their haircut at outdoor barber shops. In Fuli Village, you'd never guess you were a mere 45 minutes away from the more tourist-y Yangshuo.
We strolled around the winding backstreets, peering into the open doors of people's homes to find families crowded around a TV or drinking tea. We also came across a few shops displaying and selling silk fans and were lucky enough to watch a craftsman at work.
He was happy to just let us observe so we stood for a while as he added small details to his paintwork.
六。Not quite done yet...
Although I haven't mentioned in detail every little thing we did during our days in Guilin and Yangshuo (amongst other things, we went to a trapsed up and down the busy and bustling West Street, tried our hand at dumpling making for our own dinner at the hostel, watched the impressive Yangshuo Sanjie Lui Impressions show and had a great last few nights at some of the local bars, complete with beers, dice games and a hilarious few rounds of Cards Against Humanity), I don't feel like I'm quite done with either of these places. After my first few days in Guilin, I'd already felt like it wouldn't be the last time I'd visit. There's so much to do and see in both places so it certainly won't be my last time to visit.
The plane back to Tianjin was bittersweet. I was ready to get back to Tianjin and rest up before I had to start teaching again, but we'd also had a really great few days making new friends and ending our Spring Festival travels in some of China's most popular spots. But there we have it, 37 days and lots of places in China ticked off my list! As exhausting as it was at points, given the chance, I'd do it all over again...
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