Christmas In Fairyland

This is fairyland! And I managed to be here for Christmas as I had hoped.

Even though the weather does not cooperate much, the countryside is so lovely that you have no choice but to enjoy it. If you asked a little child to draw hills and mountains he would draw the countryside around Guilin. The more scientific word for it is karst - karst formations. In other words there are lots of caves and the erosion has created some bizarre shapes in the limestone. But the climate favouring lush vegetation has added its personal touch to it and so the hills are green and you wonder how some of the trees could grow where they did.
To get here from Beijing with an overnight stop in Xi'an I took 2 overnight trains ( of 14 and 26 hours, respectively) to reach Guilin and from there I got to Yangshuo - my intended destination to spend Christmas - by bus (there were 3 buses because I did a boat tour on the river on the way).

Yangshuo is a small touristy town in this fairyland scenery. It is small (on a Chinese urban scale) and peaceful. It lies on the shore of the Li river amidst these green bumps. It is a pretty place to stay, very un-Chinese. The main tourist strip could be anywhere, Italy, Portugal, Nepal. From here a lot of opportunities open up.

I did not take the hot air balloon, though I would have liked bouncing off the hilltops in the balloon, but I did something I longed for.

I rented a mountain bike (working brakes, gears shifting!!!) and went on a tour through the countryside. That was great. There were several options here, to bike and hike, bike and take a boat or just bike. I just biked and it felt awesome. I could stop for pictures and go fast enough to not be bugged by hustlers in the "tourist" spots.
Not all the ride was on the riverside but the ride along the calm shallow river where bamboo rafts take tourists for some of the most scenic boat rides possible was lovely and is definitely a must for anybody visiting this area.

I got to see a lot more than just the funny hills, as I traversed small villages (ugly, I have to admit) and rice fields. I got stuck in orange and pomelo orchards many times while exploring narrow trails which usually dead-ended.
The people in the villages at work or walking on the muddy roads were all smiling and saying hello. Children were playing on the road and saying hello as well. Orange, tangerine and pomelo orchards were quite often along the countryroad.
There was a man wading barefoot through the swamped rice fields chasing his ducks. A little farther an old woman offered me flowers. She was completely bent-over resembling an upside down turned "U" but smiling friendly.
Somewhere farther down the river was a chicken farm. Two small buildings on a small ploughed field and hundreds of brown chicken invading the road. The chicken invasion.

The river-crossing was short but fun and smooth on a bamboo raft.

The road was narrower and muddier on the other side along the river.
A barefoot man was steering his ox-drawn plough on a small patch of land between river and road.
An old couple were transporting an orange tree the way you see hunters carrying big trophies. They had dug it out and left a lump of soil around the root. The tree was green and bigger than the 2 people together.

The road changed to a very rough and bumpy narrow trail amid fields. Many sections were muddy after the recent rains. With the heavy camera dangling dangerously around my neck I just had to be more careful. My bum started to feel sore after a while but little did it matter.

Later, on the return stretch there was a highway in construction like a big dust-bleeding cut through the green bumpy scenery. I took the opportunity and rode on the freshly paved lanes. It was better than inhaling the dust from the big construction trucks. But then I was back in the peaceful rural land when I turned left along the Jinbao river. Here too were bamboo rafts gathered along the shore. But there were hardly any tourists being low season and not so good weather. Cormorants used traditionally for fishing and now kept for entertaining the tourists were dozing bored on a raft.

The last stretch of the tour went on paved road with quite heavy traffic. The reward was the stop at Moon Hill - a bump with a hole in it near the top. You could call it a huge arch. You can hike up the hill on top of the arch from where you have an awesome look over the surrounding scenery. I can imagine at sunrise and sunset it is absolutely breathtaking with the layers upon layers of bumps in the distance. I was there at sunset but on an overcast day...

While admiring the scenery from the top I saw a ball bouncing off the bumps... A hot air balloon was navigating skillfully among the bumps up and down and around them. It really looked like a ball bouncing off the hilltops.

Back in town I rewarded myself with a delicious icecream, good food and fresh tangerines. Then I strolled along the street looking at postcards and all the souvenirs.

I did not go rock climbing, though I could have if I wanted to and had more time. But I did something else: birdwatching. Birdwatching while having breakfast on one of the patios. And listened to the beautiful twittering and chirping of the many birds around. Lovely.

I read and wrote postcards while sitting outside on the patios. I forgot to mention: though it was neither sunny nor very warm I had all meals on patios for 2 days. That was wonderful after the cold from the past month and with all the vegetation around.
It was here in Yangshuo that I finally took off my winter jacket after such a long time.


On top of all this I discovered that Santa has fulfilled my wish. Thank you very very much!