Tue 22nd

Spent the day paddling in and chilling by the River Li, watching the tourist boats tip in and out and an old man with a Cormarent pose for their photos for money. We then walked around Yangshuo some more. Another purpose made tourist town. Nice though. Cobbled streets, lots of shops and restaurants, cafés, hotels and hostels. 

Found a nice park, where the usual karaoke, Tai Chi, cards games and dancing were taking place. Again, small fair ground rides were there, closed as children were in school. Mango juice and a (stale) doughnut - obviously they keep them until they're sold.

Across China we have noticed that couples wear the same shirt. One in a man's size, the other a woman's - they don't walk around two in one shirt, that would just be silly! But yes, more younger couples do it. It's almost cute or sweet, if a little strange. People tend to rock their own style in China. Where Japanese women look well groomed and preened, Chinese women, girls, boys and men are more willing to experiment and find their 'look'. People still wear jeans even in the 36°c heat too.

The shop assistants follow us around the shops still. There are yet again more motorised bikes/scooters here, with far more bits missing off of them. I managed to graze my right leg on a broken front light of one scooter and drew blood. Oh dear, where's the sudocrem?

Dinner was in the same place that we had with Dan and Lou the day before. There are mosquito swirls under the table, it's definitely a background smell everywhere here. The lady serving us said that "Yangshuo, is very unique." She's right it does feel different to the other places in China we've been to.

Back along the river, in the opposite direction, at night we found a long walkway which must be full of stalls during the day. Got bitten a lot by mozzies, Frank got the worst of it. Back to 'Bad Panada's' after checking out other bars for a couple of night caps.

Wed 23rd May

Looked for and found where our sleeper bus would pick us up.Bus number 6117, Lisa told us. Felt better about finding the spot (not an offical bus stop). Explored this side of town and had our daily ice pop. Back round town for the day. Spying more little lizards here and there.

Dinner in the hostel. Mandy cooked fried vegetables for us. Thank goodness, some greens. After dinner a Chinese woman would catch our eye and beem at us. And a younger Chinese guy kept saying 'hello' (yesterday too). He then asked, very nicely if we would have a photo with his mum - the lady who kept smiling. Ah ha, yes of course. They both seemed very impressed.

Relaxed and waited for 8pm to depart the hostel for the bus. We had gone over the instuctions for the journey so we knew what to do. I had taken a photo on my phone of the poster. Around 7:30pm, whilst I was in the loo, the hostel phone rang. Mandy and Frank said something then Frank called through the door, "they're going to be there early at 8 not 8:30!"

Ah quick. We scrambled our bags together, bid farewell to Mandy and swiftly went on our  way....