Yangshou - the magic and charm of Southern China

HANGZHOU FAMILY

Yangshuo – The Magic and Charm of Southern China

by Catherine Esser

We moved to China in 2011. We

love to travel and try to take every holiday we can to explore and go somewhere new. During our first year in this country, we went to many of the big cities - Beijing, Shanghai, Xi’An, Xiamen, and so on.

The problem with our travels was that since we were teaching, we always traveled when we, and everyone else, had school vacations. We soon discovered that as we journeyed to the major sites that each city had to offer, we did it in the company of millions of other people. We grew weary of long sweaty bus rides and delayed air travel pretty quickly! Before the end of our first year, we started traveling outside of China instead, during our holidays. Although

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HANGZHOU FAMILY

we longed to see more of China, our school schedule coincided with peak travel periods, and we yearned for quieter trips. Since then we have traveled to over 25 other countries, but there were still parts of China that we so desperately wanted to see.

Fast-forward to this year. At the end of March, our school had their Spring Break coincide with the Qing Ming Festival so we found ourselves with nine days off while the rest of China only had a three day break. This was the perfect opportunity to try our hand at traveling within China again! For the longest time, we have spoken about visiting Southern China - specifically, the Karst mountains in Guilin. We had some friends recommend that we visit Yangshuo, a county in Guilin city. This area is famous for its natural scenery, and is only about 65 kilometers south of Guilin.

We flew into Guilin, and had a private driver take us to Yangshuo. On the ride from the airport to the small village where we would be staying, we were in awe! The views on each side of the road were simply breathtaking - we felt like we were in the movie, Jurassic Park.

Our first couple of days were spent with friends in our village. We ate at restaurants attached to hotels in the

area, walked to a hillside pagoda, and explored a section of the Yu Long River.

By the middle of the week, we started to branch out more. We rented bicycles, one of which had a childseat attached, and biked to nearby villages. With clear skies, and warm temperatures, we were loving every second of the beauty that surrounded us. Being on a bicycle was perfect for this sort of expedition! We were mobile, and were able to cover the spaces between the little villages with relative ease. Our world did, however, really opened up when we borrowed a scooter, and we were able to cover even greater distances!

Our first trip on the scooter, was into the city of Yangshuo to an area called West Street. This popular tourist spot has tons of souvenir stores, cafes, and restaurants. It felt a lot like Thailand or Vietnam, and we could definitely feel the difference between the north and south of China there.

West Street consists of two parts, the new area and the old area. The new boasts a small lake, fancy restaurants, a three-story Starbucks. The old has a distinct charm, with tons to eat, see, and do. Before the Qing Ming break started, there were almost no tourists in the town, and nothing was over-crowded. This really made

our time in Yangshuo enjoyable!

One of our top scooter rides was through the countryside, with no specific destination in mind. We ended up passing big fields of beautiful yellow flowers and decided that we had to stop. The rest of our day was spent combing the magnificent countryside looking for photo opportunities. There was too much beauty to take in. It seemed as though there was a constant fog or mist over the mountains that added a majestic appeal to the area. We were extremely lucky that it only rained for a few hours during our time in Guilin.

Two things really stood out about this trip to Southern China. First, we really enjoyed the simplicity of the people, and life in general, in the little village where we stayed. It seemed as though life just moved slower, and this is precisely what we have been desiring for ourselves lately. The second thing that stood out to me, was that after spending nine days in the area, the awe and grandeur of the surrounding landscape never disappeared.

We left Guilin, wanting more, and already thinking about when we could go back again! This was, by far, the best travel experience that we have had during our time in China.

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