Tue 17/7 (TODAY)
Thank god today was a travel day because there was thunder and torrential rain! Sat at the hostel till around 4pm when we finally bit the bullet and headed out to catch our bus for Yangshuo! Thankfully it wasn't too heavy when we left! After sitting on the bus longer than we should have we realised we had gone past Yangshuo (we were told Yangshuo was the final stop!lol) But luckily we knew where we were (thank god for our lonely planet guides!) It only took about 15 minutes to find a taxi/bus back in the right direction and cost us a £1 each so not the biggest mistake we are likely to make! After finally getting to the hostel we headed out for food. Arrived in West Street which was pedestrianised, all we could see in front of us were a sea of heads! Not seen anywhere so busy for a long time! Picked up a map and the few brochures there was in English, looks like we are going to be here for 8 days rather than 5! We love it already and its only been a few hours! So much more we want to do than we had planned, cutting Chongzuo out of our itinerary so we can stay here longer, think we will enjoy here much more! Roll on the next week, lets hope the rain holds off! :D

Wed 18/7
First proper day in Yangshuo and we rent bikes and head out into the countryside! It was great fun! Along roads, dirt roads, narrow paths amongst rice fields, we got some beautiful views. It was terribly hot tho so stopped off in a random village for a cold drink and a cool down! It was a lovely little courtyard style guesthouse, first we have seen here in the south! Did have one accident when we were on the narrow paths amongst the rice paddies! I blame Cam coz he was shouting and carrying on behind me, thought he was gona run into me or something, tried to stop but there was a small slope to either side so nowhere for my foot and did one of them slow motion, you know whats coming but cant stop it fall off the bike!lol. Luckily I was ok, no thanks to Cam nonstop laughing at me! :D Maybe we rested for too long coz when we were not far from Dragon Bridge our destination we had to take cover in a small shelter with locals as the heavens opened and a thunder storm passed by! Pretty good timing to be going through a village at the time! Feel sorry for the two guys we passed 10 min earlier in the rice paddies who had a bike puncture! Would have been a long miserable walk to where ever they were heading! There was some amazing thunder and lightening! Much better than what we experienced in Africa! Didn't think it was possible! Sat until the worst of it passed and then took the short cut back along the main roads, not so scenic but far enough in the rain! Met up with Vincent our next couchsurfing host in the evening, so glad to get a shower and change out of our dirty, wet clothes! Unfortunately got burnt for the first time today! Not cool but not bad either considering we have been travelling for 4 months! Must remember to pack suncream!! Vincent took us to a nice local restaurant for tea! Love meeting people who live in the area as we get to go to local places we couldn't otherwise because of the language barrier!

Thu 19/7 (TODAY)
Well not much doing today! It was so hot we were sweating just walking for breakfast! No point hiking or cycling today! (although got a sore bum after the bikes yesterday so prob out of the question anyway!lol.) Explored the streets and markets for a bit, grabbed a few bargains but so hot we ended up taking shelter in front of a fan in a cafe! Beer, food, internet, who could ask for more! :D