Yangshuo, the beginning of my group trip

It was time to leave Beijing (for now) and head to Hong Kong for the start of my 3-week Intrepid trip through central China. I was being cheap so I took a flight to Shenzhen and then got a bus across the "border" - the Chinese don't consider Hong Kong within "mainland China", so flights to HK are way more expensive. I was struggling big time, mainly because I didn't sleep the night before thanks to a heavy night out.

I was in Hong Kong for less than 24 hours, but I did manage to have lunch with Sachin and Sheryl, get a temporary AMEX card (as I had lost of my cards in Beijing), and met the people I would be travelling with for the next 3 weeks.



It was a very different experience being with a group, especially having been travelling alone with all the freedom in the world for the previous 2 months. There were clearly some who would struggle with the Chinese culture (spitting, no privacy etc) and food, but I was hoping this wouldn't lesser my experience. Only time will tell.

We left Hong Kong, back across the border to Shenzhen and then an overnight train to Guilinm, a city in the southern Guangxi province of China. We were in the hard sleepers cabins, ie 6 beds to an open cabin. Some of the group weren't very unimpressed with the standard of accommodation (which shouldn't have come as a surprise), but I actually thought it was pretty good and got a good night's sleep. But before I did, a few of us spent some time in the dining cart and bar where the barman was getting molestered by some female waitresses, but I think he enjoyed it!

When we got into Guilin, we took a private bus to Yangshuo, a small town situated along the Li River and surrounded by karst peaks. It was a very touristy town, but most of the tourists were Chinese, and even though there were several hawkers trying to sell you anything and everything, I found it very pleasant. The views of the surrounding peaks were awesome, especially from the Monkey Janes bar.

During our two days there, I went bamboo rafting along the Li River and cormorant fishing, which is a strange method of fishing whereby cormorant birds are released into the water to catch fish. They have thin piece of rope around their necks so they cannot swallow the fish and the fishermen grabs the fish out of their mouths. Never quite got to the bottom of why they used this method of fishing.

We also went for a light show in the evening, which was designed by the same guy who masterminded the opening ceremony for the Beijing Olympics. Most of the performance was out on a lake and quite spectacular.



The highlight of my stay in Yangshuo was definitely the bike ride around the surrounding hills. We walked up to Moon Hill where there were good views od neighbouring peaks, although it was fairly smoggy. The short walk to Moon Hill was very slippery. The Chinese built very slippery stairs everywhere! We then had lunch at our local guide's house before heading back into town.



The town although very small had great food and a few good nightspots. Nicola and Chris, a couple from London, and I went for dinner and then a few drinks at Coco Bar where we learnt a game with dice. Dice games are a very popular pasttime for Chinese people, especially on the streets and in the bars and clubs. The following night I also tried beerfish, the local specialty, which was delicious, and then the group played the dice game, which was very entertaining!