Back from the Paradise of Yangshuo, China

So I’m back from my summer holidays, and even though it’s a luxurious two months, it still seems to go by so quickly.

I was in the small village of Yangshuo in Guangxi which is in southern China, studying Chinese. I’ll write another post about what it is like to go to a month-long intensive Chinese course soon, but first I wanted to share some pictures.

Yangshuo is beautiful. I first went there almost seven years ago during my first winter holiday in China. I stayed for a few days and moved on and I had great memories. But being there for a month gave me an opportunity to really explore the karst peaks, the secret spots of the river, and tiny ancient villages in the countryside. Except for the jagged karst mountains shooting up everywhere, the land is flat and is perfect for biking adventures.

So before I delve into the reason I went there, the studying, here are some pictures I wanted to share of some amazing sights I saw this past month.

Watching the sun rise is a must-do even there.
This was the view from my hostel room. I loved waking up tp these mountains and some rainy mornings they were covered by a wispy, thin clouds that twisted and curled around them like a traditional Chinese painting.
This was the view from my hostel room. I loved waking up to these mountains and some rainy mornings they were covered by a wispy, thin clouds that twisted and curled around them like a traditional Chinese painting.
One weekend we went to Gudong waterfall, a place where you actually hike up in the middle of the river. You had to wear safety helmets that seemed more harmful then helpful to be honest.
One weekend the school had a trip to Gudong waterfall, a place where you actually hike up in the middle of the river. You had to wear safety helmets that seemed more harmful then helpful to be honest.
Climbing one of the many waterfalls!

There was a lot of tourists at the beginning, but as you can see from this pic, soon everyone spread out and it didn't feel very crowded.
There was a lot of tourists at the beginning, but as you can see from this pic, soon everyone spread out and it didn’t feel very crowded.
But it wasn't all waterfalls, yangshup is a small village (for China) and the surrounding countryside has even smaller and more ancient villages.
But it wasn’t all waterfalls, Yangshuo is a small village (for China) and the surrounding countryside has even smaller and more ancient villages.
In one village I left my friends behind and wandered around on my own. Some had their ancient houses open to the public (like this one in this picture) but when I looked into the doorway of an old couples house, the old man waved me in and showed me his clearly ancient (though also delapitated) house. It had some very old woodwork in it, but he was only speaking local language, not Mandarin, and I couldn't understand what he was saying. I thought it was a scam, that he was gonna ask me for money or try to sell me something but he just let me look around and said goodbye. It was very nice.
In one village I left my friends behind and wandered around on my own. Some had their ancient houses open to the public (like this one in this picture) but when I looked into the doorway of an old couples house, the old man waved me in and showed me his clearly ancient (though also dilapidated) house. It had some very old woodwork in it, but he was only speaking local language, not Mandarin, and I couldn’t understand what he was saying. I thought it was a scam, that he was gonna ask me for money or try to sell me something but he just let me look around and said goodbye. It was very nice.
Lots of swimming! The clear Li river was long and winding and we could always find a cool and quiet area to swim in by ourselves.

So it was a great summer. It wasn’t as active as my summer trips usually are, but it was very peaceful and quiet. Yangshuo is a big tourist center, but it’s not a city and there are more bikes than cars on the street, which is always a nice change from the big city life of Xiamen. But my purpose there was to study Chinese, and in my next post I’ll talk about what that was like!

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3 Comments

  1. Autumn

    Great pictures! I’ve never seen scenery like that, with all the mountains (hills?) around in those shapes. Very cool. Was there a particular period that was Yangshuo’s heyday?

    Reply
    • Becky

      I’m not sure although I will say it has changed a lot from even 6 years ago when I was there the first time. The town is basically the same, no large buildings or large apartment complexes which is nice, but it is SOOOO touristy now. Like I’m not sure one local person makes a living outside of tourism. Luckily the tourism is centered around a few places and it is such a big,open county you can easily get away from the crowds, but before it was a much sleepier place then it is now.

      Reply
  2. Autumn

    Bummer. I like sleepy!

    Reply

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