Day Twenty-Four

Exploring Yangzhou

We woke up a bit late but soon got ready quick enough so we could run up to the rooftop terrace of our hostel to check out the amazing views now that we had daylight. Everything looks so different in the daytime compared to the night. After checking out the views we decided to head to a cafe place that we had seen last night as we had already checked out the breakfast menu & they had something similar to an English breakfast. The cafe was called Lucy's & the food wasn't that bad but we had still failed to find anything that even remotely reassembled a good old English banger.

With breakfast demolished we decided to take a walk around the town to see what's about. We headed back up West Street by where our hostel is & we strolled past all the shops, there are hundreds of shops selling all kinds. At the top of West Street was the Li River water front. We stopped for a while to take a good look of the river. The sun was shining, the rivers clearness was reflecting the suns rays - this was the warmest & most scenic place that we had been to in China. I think we're going to like it here!!!

We decided to follow the river round & walked passed all the lovely little market stalls. The stalls by the river were selling lovely Chinese style fans, silk scarfs & some traditional Chinese clothing - some of the things look very Tibetan but it's all very colourful & pretty. There was a lovely walkway which was lined on one side with more & more stalls & on the other was the river. We walked right the way through & I couldn't help but look at the stalls. I stopped at one stall & the lady was selling lovely handmade colourful material bags & I just had to have one so I bought a lovely pink one. I couldn't risk looking at any other stalls because I would spend all day just shopping. Walking further down we came to a lovely spot were we could access the river front properly so we walked down these stone steps & on to the river embankment. There were quite a few people milling around the river but we sat on the edge of this wall catching the rays & watching the world go by - it now felt like a proper holiday. After sitting there for 20 minutes we realised that this part of the river was easily accessible because it was a dock for the ferries. We soon seen about 6 ferry loads of people heading our way so we decided to scarper quick.

We carried on walking down the side of the river but the pavement had now turned in to dirt tracks. We continued down the dirt track & followed the river, it appeared that we had entered a woody lane & there was lots of trees & bamboo trees leading up slopes all around us. Ever so often we would catch a glimpse of the river through the trees. We carried on walking round & there was an opening where we could see the river properly. There were people bamboo rafting on the river & it looked fabulous. The water was crystal clear & we felt like we could have jumped straight in as the sun was really hot.

The further down the track we went the more we realised that we were going to be entering villages because driving past us on motorbikes were local people & some had produce on the bcd of their bikes. As we had been walking for hours & we had actually trekked for miles we decided to head back as it would take us a while. On the way back there was a motorbike that was driving towards us & on it was a man & a woman but when we looked behind us at the bike there was a makeshift seat on the back & there was an old lady who looked about 75 sitting there. She had 2 baskets dangling off a piece of bamboo that spread across her shoulders & neck - it was a mad sight to see & only in China.

It took us at least an hour & a half to walk back the way we came. It was surprising to us how we just keep walking not knowing where we are going or what we are going to see. Back at the hostel we bought some beers & headed up on to the rooftop. Our hostel has got the highest rooftop in Yangshuo & you can see for miles around. We chilled out, drank our beers & cuddled up to watch the sunset. It was fantastic & the views we amazing & hard to believe that we where in China. We looked past the mountains & far in to the distance we could see by the river where we had trekked, gosh it was miles away!

After the sun had set we headed out for some tea. We found a lovely restaurant bar type of place so we checked the menu & found food we liked so we went in & sat down. The meal was lovely, we had noticed that Yangshuo is a bit more expensive that other places in China that we had been too but it was still really cheap compared to back home.

Back at the hostel we sat around the common area by reception & chatted away to other guests staying in the hostel. There is a traveller from Hong Kong & he can speak brilliant English, he is hysterical & his sense of humour is wicked. We were also talking to this lovely Argentinean lady called Anna, she was giving us advice about places to see & go in South America. At this point it was getting quite late so we decided to go to bed.

Bike riding in the countryside tomorrow, that should be fun......