Yangshuo

Yangshuo had been the place I had been looking forward to the most as I thought it would be a tiny village full of locals going about their daily life surrounded by the amazing karst mountains. To a degree I was right, except the local’s daily lives it seems is in fact to please the many western tourists who flock there each year for the same reasons I did. So rather than small stalls selling near-by grown vegetables and homemade goods I actually found tourist gift shops and neon lit nightclubs. It sounds as if I was disappointed by Yangshuo, but actually I found that although it was very different to what I expected it was in fact one of my favourite places so far. I must have walked up and down West Street, basically the only street in the town, a dozen times just because the bustling atmosphere and clean and friendly setting were so enjoyable to stroll along. I stayed in Yangshuo for three days but did nothing but walk around and lounge around my accommodation, yet highly enjoyed myself.

West Street with an illuminated mountain in the background

Finding my pre-booked hostel was easy enough due to the size of the town and everything leading off West Street, and within a few minutes of leaving my tuk tuk from my Li River trip I arrived at Monkey Jane’s youth hostel. At just £1.87 per night I wasn’t expecting much but the four bedded dormitory was clean and had its own bathroom, and the building was one of the tallest in the town, so it’s rooftop bar had an excellent view. In the evening I went up to the fourth floor bar to use the internet but ended up finding myself in a four way international poker match with a German, and Aussie and the Chinese Monkey Jane herself. I haven’t played poker in years and even then I wasn’t very good, but somehow managed an English victory beating everyone following some outrageous bluffing much to the German’s annoyance. However, following this Monkey Jane’s all went a bit downhill. As the evening got later more and more unsavoury characters appeared in the bar and I was finding myself more and more out of place, culminating in the moment I realised Monkey Jane was not just the hostess but in fact your friendly neighbourhood drug dealer operating out of her own bar. After my first night I decided I’d spend my poker winnings on a night in a considerably less dodgy hotel and moved to the Holiday Inn just up the road (not the Holiday Inn chain from the UK I must point out). Here I spent one night in my own room for the first time, with a balcony and great view of the mountains which I could enjoy comfortably knowing a large part of the bill was being covered my Monkey Jane. The locals are fully aware it is the mountains surrounding the town that draw the tourists in so at night they illuminate the nearest ones with huge lights which was quite a spectacular sight just beyond my balcony.

The view from my hotel will struggle to be beaten

However, as I was moving by bag from one hostel to another disaster struck. The strap on my backpack, which I need to carry my stuff in for the next five months, ripped above my right shoulder and was just held together with thin fabric. It was clear it wouldn’t survive my next long journey so I needed to fix it. Remarkably, in a situation not dissimilar to finding a needle in a haystack, I found thread and a sewing kit in a town where no one speaks English and there are few shops which aren’t just selling tourist goods. Having never sewn anything in my life I emptied my bag and arranged everything I needed on the desk in my room comparable to a patient in an operating theatre and got to work. Complete success! After a good hour going back and forth with the needle, only stabbing myself once, I was satisfied it would last at least a few weeks provided I was gentle with it.

The rip almost clean through the strap

The following morning I headed back to the bus station where I was pleased to find a coach waiting to take me back to Guilin as opposed to the three wheeled bus I had arrived in. Two hours later I was dropped off at the Guilin train station where I had a mere 7 hours to wait for my train to Shenzhen, where I could cross the border to Hong Kong. I had used the internet connection at the Holiday Inn to download a film onto my laptop so killed some time in the station by watching it. If you would like some advice, if you ever choose to watch a film in a Chinese train station make sure of two things: firstly that you aren’t sitting with your back to a window where half a dozen locals can watch over your shoulder without you noticing, and secondly and most importantly don’t make the film your watching Jackass 3.