China - Impressions 1 (Freezing my butt off in Yangshuo)

First impressions from China ..... After interesting days in Hong Kong we took a local train to reach the border to China. It was much, much easier to cross than I was expecting. In Shenzen we boarded a night train to Guilin. Boy, 16 hours on a train, the sleepers so short and narrow that I was running out of ideas to position my slender figure pretty soon .... sleeping was basically impossible. In Guilin we took a bus and after another 3 hours we finally arrived in Yangshuo.

It is absolutely freezing cold by the way, I am freezing my but off .... but other than that it has been amazing so far. Yangshuo is probably a good starting point since it is fairly tourist oriented, so we gradually adapt to this culture. Below find some first impressions.

The streets of Yangshuo, at least in the tourist quarter it seems that the old charm of the city has been retained. Narrow alleys and low houses. Some of them probably old, many newer constructions in the same style. There are many shops selling fake products, art work and other stuff and also many restaurants and cafes. Unfortunately this changes as soon as you leave the tourist area. The charm disappears quickly and makes room for ugly but functional concrete buildings.

On the 2nd day we did a bike ride through the country side. It was beautiful. There are many small hills of limestone that have been carved by the water over many, many years. You can see some of them in the background. The landscape was something I had not seen before. Too bad there was no sunshine and blue sky, it was foggy, overcast and cold.



More of these limestone pillars or hills, you see them for miles and miles and miles. This photo taken from the top of "Moon Hill".



On our bike tour we encountered this farmer plowing the field with the help of a water buffalo. I did not see a single tractor this day, the fields were small and all labor was done manually.



The limestone hills reflected in a small fish pond. I just tried to capture this strange atmosphere.

"Moon Hill", the hillside has a natural round "hole" at the top. As an American I would say it rather looks like a doughnut than the Moon, but ..... The hike felt great. After so many days without exercise I really enjoyed working a sweat and climbing this mountain. It is actually possible to climb all the way to the top, which I did by myself. It was a treacherous hike, small muddy single trail, lots of rocks to navigate. Especially coming down it was so difficult that I had to crawl on all fours several times. However, the views have been worth the effort.

"Propaganda" ..... Could not help it .... The ad for the "New Socialism Country Model Village" .... we were wondering especially about the western couple kissing in the lower left corner of the billboard.

The night of the 2nd day we went to a "culture" show by the river. Hundreds of actors were involved in this production called "Yangshuo Light Show". Our tour guide compared it to the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games .... he had a point there. Nevertheless I enjoyed the show very much, despite the drizzling rain and freezing cold. They were renting pillows and Red Army coats to keep you warm.

The photo shows a group of fishermen .... all of them in individual small boats, fishing together with their "red" nets.

A chorus of small children singing just in front of us. It was amazing to watch the smiles on their faces and the enthusiasm they had to perform in the rain.

In preparation of our cooking class we went to the local market to shop for food. It was a trip .... I was not sure if I should show the photos, but some of you said that they wanted to see things different from hoe so here we go. This lady is selling poultry, primarily duck, displayed on her table.

Don't ask me what this man is grinding here .... it seems pretty much every part of the animal is being put to some use .... and if it is ground to small pieces it is not that bad anymore. I decided not to show photos of dogs / dog meat that is sold as well. It was really difficult to see dogs in kennels, waiting to be slaughtered right there on the market.

An old man working the field close to the cooking school. No particular story behind this, just capturing how people live and work here.

The continuation of my beloved theme "Mode of transportation". Here we see a door being held by a passenger on a little scooter .... ready to take off?