Up, Up and Away in Yangshuo

From [09.04.07] Yangshuo

I’ve been a lot of breathtaking places in my still young life — the moonscaped landscapes of Iceland, Mt. Fuji at sunrise, the misty morning peaks of Machu Picchu, to name a few — but I honestly think I’ve found the most beautiful place on earth: Yangshuo.

Granted, Chinese and foreign tourists abound and downtown Yangshuo, while cute and offering what is the most picturesque McDonald’s I’ve ever encountered, isn’t my idea of ideal. However, get out of the city and into the countryside and the breathtaking karst scenery makes magic right before your eyes.

Yangshuo is famous for its limestone karst peaks. The peaks aren’t traditional hills and mountains that rise from below thanks to the whims of tectonics, but rather were carved by the elements thanks to the relatively soft and porous — read: easily erodible — limestone. Green bamboo and other vegetation blankets the peaks, and couple that with a cerulean sky and you have a bit of heaven.

The first day we arrived, we decided to split up so Sean and I could tackle some more strenuous activity, namely a climb to Moon Hill (so named because it resembles a moon bridge), biking into Yangshuo town, and then 3 more hours of biking through the local countryside, including some of the muddiest fields I’ve ever tried to get two wheels through.

That night, we opted to see the cormorant fisherman do their thing (which these days is unfortunately mostly solely for the benefit for tourists like us thanks to commercial fisherman). For hundreds of years, local fisherman have employed cormorants — water fowl known for their mad fishing skillz — to do the dirty work for them. The fishermen tie a small string around the birds’ necks to prevent them from swallowing the catch, then set them free to do their thing. When they catch a fish, the birds are trained to return to the boat, where the fisherman shake free the fish into a bucket. At the end of the night, the birds are rewarded with a portion of the haul.

The next day, we embarked upon the “must do” Li River cruise, opting for a shorter 2-hour highlights tour on a private raft instead of the full 6-hour big boat journey from Guilin. As you meander down the river, the peaks undulate on either side, many of them named for animals or scenes they may or may not resemble.

However, all of this activity paled in comparison to our afternoon adventure: an hour-long hot air balloon ride soaring over the hills and valleys of Yangshuo. We were all a bit nervous, but consoled ourselves by remembering that the teams do this twice a day everyday. And boy, was it worth it! We floated up to over 900m, gliding silently through the mist, gazing at the neverending dreamscape. It was definitely one of the most memorable experiences of my life.

[09.04.07] Yangshuo