This place was great. It is a tourist town for both Chinese and Westerners but there's loads to do and the sights are pretty special. I took a 5 hour coach from Dali to Kunming and then the hard sleeper train from Kunming to Yangshuo. I'm getting quite used to the 18 hour travelling days between places, and the trains are really good. The hole in the floor toilets that release straight onto the track are a novel idea as well!

I got a bike on the first full day and just headed out out with a map. I obviously got lost and didn't really end up where I'd intended but the Yangshuo is that secenery is great everywhere you go. One of the only words I have picked up in China is Lajiao (chilli sauce) that I ask for to spice up the odd stir fry. After a 4 hour ride I stopped at one of the many stir fry joints that the locals eat at. Language generally isn't a problem as you just pick the ingredients and point to the meat you want and just hope that it's pork, chicken or beef. Anyway I always give it Lajiao...Lajiao so that they spice it up and they are often quite chuckled at my fluency! Anyway on this occasion the lady was only to willing to make this stir fry atomic in it's potency and I suspect she took a bit of pleasure seeing me have to wash the food down with 5 local beers whilst sweating profusely in a bid to walk out head held high. Needless to say it was the end of the cycling!

Next day I tried my hand at rock climbing which is very popular here. I was told that a half day would be plenty, I'd say it was about 2 hours too long because after the first couple of climbs I was knackered. It was really good and a complete buzz, but I didn't really appreciate how much it takes out of you. I had to crash out for a couple of hours when I got back to the hostel

I also went to see the comorant fishing where birds are used as fishing tools. They bascially tie a piece of string round the birds neck that prevents them from swallowing the bigger fish that are then coughed up by the birds into a bucket, quite clever really but I didn't fancy any fish for dinner.

On my last day I got a bamboo boat down the Li river (between Yandi and Xideng) to take in some of the scenery. I was told this was a better option than taking the big tourist boats, and it didn't disapppoint. I shared the boat with a Chinese couple and it sort of turned into Chinese English lesson over lunch, all of which I have long since forgotten.

I'm leaving China mainland for Hong Kong and will be quite sad to go. It's a really interesting place which varies quite a bit from place to place and I'm glad I stuck it on my travel plans. I've no doubt that I only just scratched the surface with places that I've been to but you have to move on. I can't believe it's been a month already!