We all decided that we should take a chance with the weather and get up early to see the sun rise over Yangshuo. The potential for a picture postcard photo of this small town surrounded by karst mountains was a tempting idea. We all made it just in time to leave at 6am and made our way to the central park which housed a small mountain that had a ideal viewing spot over the town. It was a relatively easy trek considering we had defeated 1600 steps not long before back in Xi'an. At that time in the morning it was quite dark and we passed an eerie looking playground which sparked memories of the creapy music we heard on the sleeper train of a small child singing (Jackie's impression meant we never quite forgot it)

A we came to the foot of the mountain we saw a dark tunnel at the top and let our human instincts take over for a second, hesitating to take the first step up. It doesn't matter how old you are but the fear of the dark always plays tricks on the mind. After a quick shake off, as a collective group we took our first steps up and were relieved to find out the the stairway took a sharp turn away from the dark tunnel allowing us to ascend in slightly more daylight. Sadly mother nature was not on our side and the overcast fog meant that although the light was coming through there would be no sunlight .
We reached the top in no time and were still able to gather some good photos.







On the train to Guillin I had decided having read the China lonely planet book that a cycle around Yangshuo sounded like a good idea which I relayed to the group. With the potential to see Moon hill within the karst mountains, take adventures through caves and see the rural life amongst the rice paddie fields it sounded like a perfect day out of activities. Sadly Mother Nature was not on our side again! I will reveal all in a sec.....
Having met up with the others who chose to stay in bed we made our way for breakfast and despite the overcast weather there was still potential for a good day. Finding a decent cycle hire place took a little longer as we had to try and ask for a tandem bike which was difficult to explain. One women walked past us and did the standard . "You want bike, cheap cheap" approach which we kind of listened to but chose to carry especially when one bike costs 10 yuan to rent but 9 bikes cost 100 yuan! You do the math! .....she realised we weren't up for this and agreed to offer the right price and as it was over the road the decision was made.
The bikes were all second hand but in good nick and were easy to ride. Sam, Sophie and Jenny decided that that wasn't enough when they saw what else was on offer and chose the trio bike which I must admit I thought wasn't the best decision but thought good on them for taking a chance. And chance it was, as they tried to move forward the wobbling and gasps/laughter meant that if anything it was going to be an eventful trip. Jackie and Jude must of seen this as a sign of things to come and chose to give it a miss, which was good timing as the weather began to get a bit worse with the rain coming down.


Despite the weather we were in good spirits and watching the mad trio take on the bike and the traffic was very funny. I was enjoyng being back on a bike having not been on one since being in London, despite it being a ladies bike! Haha...



We had been given directions by Jennifer to the Moon hill and we made our way but as fate would have it the roads in Yangshou were not that easy to follow. A kind of group decision was made to take the road we thought was right and onward we went. How wrong we were! As the heavens opened and the roads became steeper , we reached a point and thought 'this cant be right'. We should have seen it coming having passed a toll booth for cars and ridden for over an hour!
We backed tracked to the town and realised where we had gone wrong and continued our mission. Almost immediately we knew we were on the right track because their were so many many people cycling! And we passed the first tourist destination which was the butterfly mountain.

By the time we reached Moon Hill the weather had dreached us ( Our pruned hands show the proof) ! It was difficult to stay positive but we tried and ordered ourselves some food and hot drinks at the local cafe to build our spirits.



Having eaten and gathered our strength we asked about Moon Hill, unfortunately the weather was not helping us again and the walk had the possibility of being to dangerous without proper walking gear which we didn't all have. We decided the cave was the next best thing.
I think by this point we were hanging on to the original idea and after negaiotions to get into the cave we decided let's head home before we freeze.

All in all you could say that it was a disater but to be honest even with the clamitys of errors and being soaked to the bone we still felt like it was our mini adventure.
That day we knew we also had a evening show to go to which played its part as we had a deadline to stick to. Having dried up and made our way to dinner we found a small place called Lucy's cafe. Unfortunately, mid-waiting for our food the power cut out (it really wasn't our day). Despite the power cut we managed to get back to the hostel in the nick of time.
The reason we had to make a deadline time was that we were going to see a show called Impression that was famous to the area, and was always fully booked throughout the year. The reason for this is that it was directed by Zhang Yimou, who had famously crafted the Beijing Olympic Opening Ceremony. Knowing what a spectacle the opening ceremony was, we knew that this was something not to miss.
The show was purpose built taking 3 years to build and is the world's largest natural theater which utilizes the waters of the Li River as its stage, with twelve mist shrouded hills and the heavens as its backdrop. It was a fantastic backdrop even with the awful weather that had continued on throughout the day. Because of this we didn't take our camera with the fear of it getting damaged. I managed to take a few photos on the iPhone but to be honest it was one of those shows that you really didn't want to take your eyes away from.

The story is loosely based around an old Chinese love story of a singer, a fisherman and noble man. The story goes that the famous singer and the fisherman fall in love but the noble man is also infatuated with the singer and try's to stake his claim. In the end the fisherman and the noble man having a singing competition to decide who takes the girl. As the fisherman is from the local village who have always used singing to communicate he is far better and wins the girl. This story it would seem, is merely a backdrop to the different aspects of rural life in Yangshuo and considering it was all in Chinese the story didn't matter because the lights show and the sheer size was something to marvel.
All the actors and actresses were local people, 700 of them in total, and they came from the neighbouring villages who in turn each have a go at performing which allows them to earn a income outside of their life as fisherman, etc. This aspect added to the charm and as we had great seats we were able to see the performers at the end of the show as they took a bow.

Stay tuned for more tales
Dan