What's Up Al ? 遊記隨筆 生活點滴

These few nights in Yangshuo (陽朔) as we relaxed over a cup of hot jasmine tea and nursed our aching limbs from our long hikes, we reflected and contemplated the beautiful scenery which we witnessed during the day and wondered almost aloud how our legs just kept going. Of course ! As we set off each morning, we took in a bowl of the well-known Guilin Noodles (桂林米粉) as breakfast and we felt energised to tackle the world. The bowl of nutrients contained yummy ingredients such as fried peanuts, marinated vegetables, roast pork, tasty string beans, a generous sprinkle of spring onions and parsley, topped up with delicious hot chicken broth - all slurped down to our hearts' content ! Having had our customary breakfast, we set off to the upper reaches of the Lijiang River (漓江) to Xing Ping township (興坪), just under an hour's bus drive from Yangshuo. The karst formations in Xing Ping were towering, majestic and intricate; the most well known scenic spot was of course, the 20 RMB Note karst formation - check out your 20 RMB bank note and you would find the famous (黄布倒影) landmark printed for your inspection ! Other stunning and photogenic spots included the Nine Horse Hill (九馬畫山) where one would be hard pushed to identify the heads and tails (and butts) of nine wild horses hidden out of view amongst the rock cliffs, stone edges and green shrubs. Having taken a lunch of fried DUCK eggs and local toufu at the pretty pier of Yangdi (楊堤), we hiked across the town ship of Putao (葡萄鎮) and we climbed the spectacular Lao Zhai (老寨山) and Xianggong (相公山) Mountains for a wonderful all round view of the Lijiang River down below where the tourist motor boats looked tiny from such elevation. We managed to catch a local ferry across Lijiang River (5 minutes) before sunset and headed back to Xing Ping for the bus back - the warm breeze coming through the bus windows made us feel contended in having had such an unforgettable trip, much much more than we had first thought possible - viewing karst formations in all their shapes and sizes, from all angles and all day long !

 

Yeh - 25 KM in a day ! Well, we actually started the day off in a most relaxing style by waving down a friendly old man in his three wheel electric mobile, which looked more like a rather large size lantern and we barely fitted in at the back. He drove almost at full power, at a relatively quiet and fast pace of 10KM/hour, up north to our intended destination of Fu Li Bridge (富里橋), a still-functional bridge built in the Ming Dynasty (about 600 hundred years ago). The scene at the bridge was a gem of a photographic opportunity at 9 AM in the morning as the sun shone at the right angle, the bridge drew a perfect reflection off the Yu Long River (遇龍河) and there were only two other passers-by; besides, we enjoyed the brisk fresh air during our short walk to reach there. We said goodbye to the charming old man and started walking down south along the river, where we came across endless karst formations set amongst the rural villages with local farmers going about their daily lives of cattle-feeding, working the fields, cutting and pruning the local well-known fruit of kumquat, also known as golden tangerine (金桔), without a care to the on-looking outsiders. A friendly local man told us that almost every family in the area had a front or back garden planted with the famous fruit and that kumquat, with its delicious tastes and medicinal properties, had been a major revenue for them for years, especially nowadays, the farmers could sell them directly over the Internet ! My word, times are changing !
Having had a satisfying big lunch at the Yu Long Bridge (遇龍橋), overlooking tourists busying themselves with boarding and disembarking the wooden rafts, we soldiered on, encouraged by more and more jaw-dropping scenery. We passed through quaint sleepy villages, lonely fishermen and hard working village ladies, time just flew and we did not feel the tiredness our legs were trying to convey. Yu Long River ran parallel to its more famous and larger neighbour of Li River (灕江), the local government had great plans for Yu Long and had built a web of inter-linking bridges, cycling paths and paved country roads to connect the river to other scenic parts of this area which included the Ten Mile Picture Gallery (十里畫廊), the Number One Scholar Route (狀元步道) and the Moon Hill (月亮山); no wonder we could just walk and walk, seemingly without an end point ! Luckily, having clicked our camera with 5% battery left, our legs so tired that our knees almost hit the floor, we came across a restaurant with a welcoming buffet decked out at the front and we just pigged ourselves silly before walking the last few kilometers to a much needed soothing hot shower !

In 2001, we only had a fleeting glimpse of Yangshuo as we hurried along on our Guangxi (廣西) trip, we were determined this time around that we would spend a good deal of time getting to know this famous town. And my word we did ! We spent a sunny week based in a most-comfortable abode in the Shibanqiao village (石板橋), about 20 minutes' walk from the centre, to explore all the karst mountains which this area had been famous for over thousands of years (a historically-known town since 590 A.D.). We were absolutely struck with awe with the spectacular shapes and sizes of the many karst hills and mountains all around us. Yangshuo itself was a town well worth visiting in its own right; nestled along the Lijiang River (漓江), there were eateries, landmarks and beautiful buildings everywhere, the night life in West Street (西街) was particularly busy and packed with visitors each evening. We also spent an enjoyable night-out to attend the Liu Sanjie Impressions Show (印象劉三姐); the theatre stage was set with the karst mountains as the backdrop and we were highly entertained with the stunning lights, sounds, singing and dancing. To top it all up, we spent a memorable afternoon, hiking up the TV Station where we had a 360 degrees of the city, a view which we would rank as one of the best in all our travels. The experience was made all the more special as we met up with a few hikers from Germany and a friendly local girl from Guangxi and our cameras could not stop clicking !

A few of the quirky, eccentric, eye-opening, iconic, down-right funky to the weird and wonderful photos from Guiyang.

We spent a much hurried fly-by-night 1-day in Guiyang last time in 2012 and we knew very little of what this provincial capital could offer. First of all, the picturesque ancient fortress town of Qingyan (青岩古鎮), a major stronghold guarding Guiyang since the Ming Dynasty was on our must-visit list. The city bus only took an hour to reach the southern gate of the fortress and on this casual weekday, there was hardly any visitors around. We scaled the fortress walls and took over an hour to walk around the four corners before we took a much deserved lunch break in a out-of-the-way restaurant which had a front row view of the ramparts. Next up was the spanking new Guiyang Museum which showcased the many ethnic groups in the region and the museum was HUGE, as we took over one hour in each exhibition hall and there were four of them ! The history, culture, clothing, decoration ornaments, festivals were on display with detailed explanations in the form of larger-than-life models, short description films and interactive screens where one could take "live" screen shots using different colorful costumes from the ethnic groups. We also walked our limbs to the ground in the enormous city park of 黔靈山公園 where we visited the interesting karst grottoes of 麒麟洞 and steered clear of the hundreds of macaques who effortlessly stole drinks from passers-by, take a look at the cheeky thing in the photo below ! Tiring but rewarding days in Guiyang !