Well, we arrived in Guilin after an entertaining train journey from Shenzhen. We had to get two cabins as we went for the cheapest top bunks we could. Tom and Sarah shared with an elderly couple while Laura and Sam shared with five screaming children next door. Apparently the crèche didn't close until the early hours of the morning, which annoyingly was when the train pulled into Guilin station.

We arrived at our hostel and soon began to realise that we didn't really want to be in Guilin at all and would much rather stay in the small town of Yangshuo south of Guilin. Apparently this is where the action is in terms of scenery. After much negotiating with the hostel we managed to rearrange our dates to fit in a few days in Yangshuo and get a refund for the room!

Before we left we had a day to wander around the city and see the sights of Guilin. We saw the twin towers and the pedestrian street where we stopped for lunch. We ordered some chicken and rice through our usual routine of shouting and charades and the food turned up as expected. However, in this particular dish we had two unexpected additions. A cockroach and half a chicken head. Not the usual set of ingredients and I don't think we'll be sticking to these in the future.

Shortly after this the tiredness of the night before caught up with us and we went back to the hostel and relaxed for the rest of the day to get an early night before leaving for Yangshuo.

To get to Yangshuo we had taken the option of cruising down the Li river on a bamboo boat. This was such a peaceful way to travel. It was just us, a rickety raft, a Chinese fisherman and a Canadian silently drinking behind us. We chugged along for over two hours looking at the huge limestone peaks lining the river. It was a fantastic way to make our way down to the town.

Once we arrived, we jumped in a car to take us to the hostel. Sarah had done a lot of research on where to stay and picked a hostel that was out of town. This really paid off as it was a fantastic place! It was out in the countryside with a balcony that looked out at the peaks.

We spent the afternoon planning which trips to take and decided to go kayaking and to the local hot springs the next day. We then reclined on the terrace talking to other people about what they've been doing and listening to the silence (there isn't much of this in China!). We ended up recruiting a couple of guys from Birmingham to join us for the next days activities, Luke and Simon.

We woke up early for the kayaking and arrived at patch of dirt on the side of the river where we found some upturned kayaks and a little man wearing a hat and chain smoking. He seemed decidedly disinterested with us so we hopped in the kayaks and sped of down the river on our own.

Well, sped might be the wrong word. We paddled occasionally, but we tended to let the river do most of the work. It really was a fantastic morning! We cruised along the river soaking in the scenery and sunshine. There was no-one else for miles except for a few fishermen on their bamboo boats and all we had to do was admire the peaks and the giant bamboo which grew along the river banks.

Eventually, our 'guide' caught up with us and told us to stop at a waiting van to take us back to the hostel for a quick lunch. After that we each grabbed a bike and hit the streets to dodge the traffic on the way to the hot springs.

The cycle was fantastic and it provided a completely different view of Yangshuo. It's really nice to look down on the river from the bridges with the peaks as a backdrop.

After an hours leisurely cycle we arrived at the hot springs and were taken on a tour of the caves (I forgot to mention they were in a cave). We wandered through for the best part of an hour until we hit the first fun stop - the mud bath! We all took the plunge and rolled around in a pool of mud. Apparently its very good for you, but I don't think any of us really felt the benefit. We just enjoyed the mud!

After the mud, we were finally allowed to enter the hot springs. The rocks of the cave had formed individual baths so we all picked a bath and soaked ourselves in the fifty degree water. Needless to say, we didn't rush out of this bit.

When we finally dragged ourselves out of the baths we realised we had to cycle the hour home in our newly relaxed state. This would have been fine but since we had entered the cave a few hours had passed and it was now dark. We hit the unlit road with no lights on our bikes and peddled into the darkness. Amazingly, we all made it back unscathed and settled our nerves with a beer and an apple crumble (the hostels speciality).

The next day (after the sun had risen!) we headed out on the bikes again for a longer cycle around the countryside. Within 15 minutes we had hit the dirt tracks and we out cycling between the farms and the river. We dodged the peaks and the water successfully and, after an hour or two, stopped off at a bridge to jump into the river to cool off from the baking sunshine.

After our swim we carried on and completed our loop, all still mesmerised by the scenery. To complete the loop we had to cross the river by bamboo boat. We turned up at the rivers edge and found two old men with a bamboo boat. We explained (in charades) that we needed the 6 of us and our bikes to cross the river. They piled a few bikes and a few of us onto the first raft and punted him over. As soon as we got on the boat started to sink, luckily it made it to the other side OK! After precariously balancing overs a few other bamboo boats we safely made it to the other side.

We had spent the whole day complaining that this was our last day in Yangshuo as we felt there was a lot more to see. Its such a beautiful and peaceful place, we were all sad to leave. To cheer ourselves up, we decided to treat ourselves to a few drinks in the town. We hit the town for happy hour where we enjoyed the super cheap cocktails and then moved on for some dinner. After much nagging, Tom managed to drag everyone to a restaurant where he could have some cormorant caught fish. The restaurant had some fish tanks at the back where you could see the fish and all of the boys were able to pick the fish they wanted. In the UK, you would imagine that this kind of thing would be very expensive. To do this in China, with drinks, costs around £5. Not all of us were this adventurous. The girls had vegetables.

After this we hit the bars and had the usual Chinese night out. It was fantastic! We were mobbed in all the bars being bought drinks and being dragged to the centre of the dance floor. However, the difference in Yangshuo was that we were being dragged by fellow revellers, not the staff! The people here were so friendly, with one man in particular calling us 'brothers' and 'sisters' by the end of the night!

We left Yangshuo the following day wanting to stay for just a few more days. Its hard to put into words (as you have read, everything is very general), but the whole place is just beautiful!

As I write now, we have moved on down to Nanning, the closest city to Vietnam to get our visas. Tomorrow, we cross the border to leave China and continue the Asian adventure! We'll be sad to leave, but we've had a fantastic time in China. It's a confusing place with a bit of a dark side in many places. However, the friendliness of the people and the culture is really something very special indeed.