Yangshuo Day 3

Ignore the date, this was actually 03/10/10, my 1 month anniversary!

It was a beautiful morning. The haze of the previous day had gone and the sun was shining in all its glory. We got up, but ran late after taking loads of time at breakfast and getting our things together. It was about 10.30 when we hired the bikes (Y20 each). Me and Jeremy had basic mountain bikes, with a pannier, and even gears. Clara on the other hand had a more sedate looking one speed bike. We had to return them before 6.

Off we went. I had a copy of the local map that showed the cycle tracks, so we should be ok....hmmn. Immediately we came upon a problem. The first path didnt exist. It looked very much as though a new block of holiday apartments were being built where it used to start. Not to worry though, we could get to the next track via the road. We missed it initially, but retraced our... steps?...tracks? anyway we found it and were immediately immersed in simply stunning landscape. The conical karst mountains and towers of limestone leaping up at us from out of the paddy fields and orange groves that surrounded us. Every so often we would amble our way through a little village where the kids would smile and say 'hello'. Normally here 'hello' means hello I want your money, but these were genuine friendly greetings for a pleasant change.

It must of been when passing though one of these settlements that we took a wrong turn and came out some distance from where we were supposed to be. Worse was that we didnt realise this at the time. Even worse was that there was a path in the very same place that the real path should have been, so we didnt spot our predicament for a good 30 minutes. Yep, we were lost!

Using the sun, we aimed ourselves in the right general direction and luckily spotted a distinctive mountain called Moon Hill, which gave us our bearing. It took us a good while to get back on track and we stopped for a drink and Jeremy had some food. The following section was busy. We passed a resort teaming with Chinese tourists and the road was rarely quiet. There was a concrete road wide enough for two small cars and then dusty gravel track at the side. Trucks would wizz along and throw up the dust as they swerved past each other. If you timed it wrong you were forced into the bushes with dust in your face. I got a bit flustered! It was a shame, because the scenery here was still wonderful.

Finally we turned off the main road and began a long journey along a bumpy mud track. Again we wound through villages and had to guess which was to turn. The map proved less than helpful. They really cannot make maps in China. This one looks pretty good, but the scale is warped to show the town in good detail and highlight the featured of the rivers. Very handy in some ways, but impossible to judge distances.

We had to return to a section of road and had to pass through an overful coach park. This meant squeezing past 50 seater coaches and trying not to be squashed against a wall, or knocked into a ditch. I have a graze on my leg from where a motorbike hit me! My temper flared a little more, but once we escaped into more countryside and left the throng of tourists behind, I relaxed and enjoyed it again.

It took us much longer than I thought it would (the blasted map) and then Clara got a flat. We were still a good 20 minutes bike ride from the bridge. As the fitter of the two, I went on ahead and took some pictures from the bridge and Jeremy walked with Clara. I sped on, and reached the bridge then sped back and met Jeremy coming the other way. Clara had made it to the main road and they had found a puncture repair man! For Y20 the inner tube was fixed and we were on our last stretch. It was now about quarter to 5.

Luckily the last long stretch of road was downhill and we glided back into town. We dropped the bikes back at 17.56! Jeremy was leaving that evening and went to check buses while me and Clara had some well earnt grub. Jeremy came to say farewell and made off for the bus. We were surprised to see him in the lobby at the hostel when we returned. He had given up trying to get a bus when the crowd had exceeded about 400. He had to pay over the odds to stay on in the overflow room. This place really is a nightmare with all the Chinese on holiday at once, and most of them seemingly here.

We chilled out that evening and planned to be lazy the following day.