Today marks our departure from Yangshuo, and we are very sad to be leaving such a beautiful place. The Yangshuo mountain retreat is the nicest hotel I have stayed at and the staff were so welcoming, we even received a free water flask as a thank you for staying. Before our flight to Chengdu we stopped at the Reed flute caves, one of the largest nature caves in Guilin. The stalagmites/tites had formed over millions of years and created amazing shapes. The only di...

Today unfortunately marks our last day at the Yangshuo mountain retreat. A blissful country side resort bursting with charm. Words cannot justify how grateful I am to this little place which has certainly changed my outlook on China, its people and its beauty. We rose once again to an excellent breakfast and sat by the river preparing ourselves for another very hot day. The rain only served to fuel the humidity in the air and we were informed by the weather boar...

We started the day off with a relaxing breakfast by the river, the closest we have tasted to a breakfast from home (they even had proper tea)! We then ventured in to the town of Yangshuo to visit the shops and markets in West street, where some of the locals in the shops helped improve our limited Chinese. The stalls were mostly the same, offering an array of hats, fans, "Ralph Lauren" shirts, "Kippling" handbags, oriental gifts, and more fans. We finally found a...

Today I write this from my bed looking at the view of a mountain and the sound of the river in an air conditioned room at the lovely temperature of 17 degrees. After an early morning we woke to another interesting breakfast in the Guilin Bravo Hotel (see previous blog) as per usual I stuck to my trusty toast and New Zealand anchor butter. I may sound like a philistine but Chinese really do not do breakfast well from what we have seen! After checking out we met ...

The day started with breakfast at the hotel, they had tried to offer a selection of western options. Grilled sausage (Cut up Frankfurt), Continental breakfast (included plastic cheese!) and a bakery section (Coconut roll, marble cake). We then met our tour guide for the trip to the Dragon's back rice terraces. Despite the long hot car journey and the 'toilet' stop which had a communal water bowl in order to 'flush' the toilet, the trip was worth it. The stunning...