Yangshuo Day 7

I had a terrible night's sleep :-( The girls were up at 5.45 and left at 6.15. The rock climbing was due to start at 8.30, so I tried to get a bit more sleep, but only managed a little. The room was next to the kitchen of the resteraunt next door and it was really noisy. I could hear every word and every bang and crash.

Anyway, I pulled myself out of bed. I was really looking forward to the climbing and the weather was great again so that served to motivate me enough. I didnt have much time for breakfast so I grabbed a dough dumpling and went to the climbing store.

We had to wait about an hour for the pick up to arrive, but I was pleased to see that it was just the three of us. We drove for 20 minutes up the yulong river and parked up. It was just a 5 minute walk up to the rock face. Happily we were in the shade, though I had smothered myself in sun cream just in case.

The guide was quite a cool character, who spoke just enough English. He led the routes with an easy, effortless style. Throughout the day I became to realise that he knew the routes so well that he could probably climb them blindfolded. This was good, because he could guide us up each route, shouting 'left hand change right hand', 'right foot to right knee' etc, in an almost comical Chinese accent. He tried to learn our names and could manage my name and just about managed Toon (pronounced Toeon), but Jenthe was known as 'hey lady'!

Needless to say the scenery was fantastic. When we got to the top we could turn round and take in the views. The only down side was that the food promised to us was forgotten, so we became very tired and very hungry. We had expected to be back in Yangshuo by about 1.30-2.00, but we actually finished climbing at 3.30!! Value for money for certain, but we were getting ratty with lack of food.

We found a really cheap restaurant in the town and gorged on noodles. Once suitably stuffed, we parted ways and shared email addresses.

I spent the early evening chilling out in the hostel. I now had the room to myself, which was a relief. I showered and did the compulsory uploading of photos and so on. The internet in Charming Inn was the best I have found so far, so I managed to get loads on. I decided to head out for a small dinner around 8.00 and ordered some dumplings and a side dish of cucumber. The simple vegetable dishes are often some of the best food you get here.

I am getting used to eating along now and sit back and watch the world go by. I glanced over to my left and spotted a lone Chinese lady sat on the table next to me. It is quite unusual to see the Chinese women eating alone, and,catching my gaze, she immediately smiled and said a very cheerful 'hello'. My heart sank. Not another person trying to take advantage of me or sell me something? But to my surprise she seemed to be genuinly friendly and just wanted to join me for dinner. She obviously felt some embarrasment at eating by herself. She went on to tell me that she enjoys travelling by herself around China and is consequently considered a bit of a freak the people in her home town. We ate and then went for a drink in the quietest bar we could find. I enjoyed chatting to her about the changes in China and she seemed very switched on to all the political issues. It is the first time i have really managed to discuss such topics with a local person and it was refreshing to see that she was not taken in by the goverment propaganda and was well aware of the goverment's real motives.

I got to bed, in my private room, around midnight and probably fell asleep the instant my head hit the pillow.