Yangshuo
We caught a bus in the morning to the border crossing from Macau and passed through customs into mainland China.
Immediately we were struck by just how many people there were here. From there we caught another bus to a city called Guanzhou about 4 hours or so away. Unfortunately the Chinese driving skills aren't much better than anywhere else in Asia and they too love honking the horn. We arrived safely in Guanzhou (somehow) and there we met a translator/ guide who offered us his services for a small fee of course. That turned out to be the best decision we made to hire him for when we finally made it to the train station to ask about tickets there were so many people there and everything was written in Chinese only. He made enquiries on our behalf and there were no tickets to where we wanted to go to so we trudged over to the bus depot and he got us tickets to a little place called Yangshuo that Olivia had just been reading about in the Lonely Planet. We only managed to get a normal coach and not a sleeper which we were told were not available for that route. Surprisingly enough the seats were quite roomy and we had the laptop with us so we watched one of the DVDs we had bought which helped pass the time. We got to Yangshuo in the wee hours around 4.30am and were met there by a tout that could speak good English and said that he had rooms that ranged from 80-150 yuan. So we went with him along with an American couple to see the rooms. All and all they weren't too bad and we asked him when he showed us the first one 'Is this room 80 yuan' to which he replied 'yes'. After we had seen the next room we aksed again him again 'are those rooms 80 yuan?' and then he said 'NO - they are 200 yuan' We all looked at each other with 'is this guy for real' looks on our face and said to him 'you just told us before that they were 80 yuan'. 'Impossible' he said - there is no way I said that. So we all decided we would go elsewhere to look and this guy followed us - the whole time assuring us that he had the best rooms at the best prices and that we would never get a room in Yangshuo for less than 90 yuan anywhere. We had finally had enough and decided to go and look somewhere else. This set him right off and he said pointing at me 'You are crazy and people of China will not like you. You look like a woman and wherever you go in China noone will like you. You should sleep in the gutter for free where you belong!' We just laughed at him - like I look remotely like a Chinese woman at 6 foot one, black and 110 or so kilos. 
Sure enough the first place that we made enquiries in after that had a room for 50 yuan which we stayed in for the whole time we were there. That morning I asked the receptionist who spoke great English where was a good place to get some noodles etc for breakfast and he said 'two doors down' - and he was so right. I got a bowl of beef noodles for Liv and some wonton noodles for me and a serving of steamed Chinese dumplings and something like Maori fried bread that you break up and put in the soup sort of like dumplings also.
It was so delicious that we ate there for the next 6 days for breakfast and were really sad to leave it behind. 
We loved the food and service there so much that we tried tipping the waitress but she would get all embarassed and refuse. So in the end we would just give her the money and walk out without the change - which worked in the end and she was very grateful.
Our first day in Yangshuo wasn't too eventful as we hadn't gotten much sleep on the bus the night before so we had a nap after breakfast and then went for a walk around the town. It was such a beautiful little place and the main street called 'Xie Jie' or 'West St' was extremely colourful and full of character. So is the area around too. There are hill formations that look just like the islands in Ko Phi Phi and Halong Bay everywhere and they give the area a very serene feel.
We looked through the shops and walked down to the riverside where there were people having a dip and Liv dangled her feet in to coold down. On the way home we stopped at a bar for a cold drink and ended up talking to these two boys (one from England and the other Wales) about all of our travels. They had been to Xi'an and Beijing where we were heading and gave us some great tips, one in particular about a restaurant in Bejing that served the most amazing Peking Duck (which was in the Lonely Planet) So we made a mental note to go there. When dinner and drinks were done we strolled back through the town streets and into bed.
Day two and we decided that we would go bamboo rafting and to one of the scenic attractions called 'The Moon Hill Water Cave'. Included in the cost of the trip was free bike hire and a guide on a motorbike who we followed to the rafting some 25 minutes away. We left our bikes (which they would truck down river for us) and got onto our raft and set off down the Yu Long river. It was magical and we couldn't resist diving in for a swim in the cool clear waters. All along the river there were floating shops selling water, beer and a variety of foods. As soon as we would come within earshot they would start their pitch - even if it was clear that we were already drinkning a cold beer or bottle of water! There were also a series of rapids that we went over and at the foot of each one there were floating photo shops in the middle of the river - complete with computers and printers. 
They would snap a shot of you coming over the rapid and then try and sell you the 'VERY BEAUTIFUL' picture they had just taken. We didn't get one as the looked pretty tacky as you can well imagine.
When we finished rafting we got our bikes off the back of the truck and then followed another guide on motorbike to the ticket office for the Moon Hill Water Cave. We got our ticketand waited for a van which then took us to the cave entrance about 15 mins drive away. At the cave we got our helmets and torches and got into a small boat which took us inside.
It was very cool and peaceful inside the cave and when we reached an embankment we got out and continued on foot. Our guide was very enthusiastic and sweet and she showed us many 'features' throughout the 3.5 km trek. As in the caves in Halong Bay there were the rocks shaped like buddha and various animals etc. We came across what she called the wishing stone and we placed our fingers in grooves that were shaped like a hand and made our wishes there. The hightlight of the cave was the mud pools where we got to swim in mud. The water was so dense with mud that you floated.
It was impossible to sink which was a very strange sensation. There was a mud slide that I had to try and when I slid down into the pool mud went everywhere!
We cleaned ourselves off in some freshwater, then continued on our walk through the rest of the cave. When we reached the exit we still had about a 15 min walk back to the entrance and it was through beautiful countryside and the views were spectacular. Back at the entrance we went for swim in the pool that was there and there was a diving platform also. I couldn't resist again and had to do some bombs. Olivia laughed at me saying what a little kid I was and to tell the truth that's exactly how I felt. 
After the swiim we were taken back to our bikes and then we rode back to our hotel for a well earned shower and some dinner in town.
The next day we slept in and after a meal in town at a nice cafe and some emailing (with the free wireless) we decided we would go to a town called Xingping about 45minutes drive away in the public bus and then go on a river cruise up the upper reaches of the Li River. On the way there we saw some really beautiful countryside and were determined to come back the next day to take some pictures. We arrived in Xingping and were met by a guide that put us in tuktuks that would take us to the boat. What we didn't know was that this was about 25 mins drive away. The scenery was stunning and about half way through our trip we stopped on embankment to allow people to stretch, take photos and get refreshments from the hawkers set up there. We got a couple of ice cold beers and some taro croquettes ( like potato fritters only with taro) which were scrumptious.
One of the sights we pasted on the way was the '9 Horse Fresco' cliff face (see photo) we weren't sure we could see 9 horses in it, more like 9 kind of humps but it was pretty none the less! 
On the way back to Xingping we stopped to check out the rock formations that are printed on the 20 yuan note. Next thing you know all the tourists on the boat (including us) had 20 yuan notes out and were taking pictures with the rocks as the backdrop.
Later we met up with a couple of Swiss guys we had met briefly the day before as one of them knew alot about Nikon cameras and in particular Livs model. He had one previously and he generously showed us how to set the self timer mode and some other functions that neither of us had any clue to do. Liv was so excited that now she would be able to take self timer shots!
After another amazing noodle and dumpling brunch we went looking for a post office to send some mail and whilst walking through the town were approached by a number of groups of young children who were in Yangshuo for a summer camp learning English.
They all asked very politely if would like to join them at a party that night at the College where they were staying. At that stage we had planned go to a lightshow but we changed the tickets for the next night instead so we could go along and check it out. We were supposed to meet some school reps at a cafe at 7.00pm but somehow we missed them but we ran into a Kiwi couple that we had met briefly in Hong Kong. Taki and Simone were also travelling through China after stints teaching in China and Korea.
They were a wealth of advice and knowledge and taught us some really useful phrases too. We told them we were going to the kids party and they said they were going to an Aussie pub later on for a pub quiz so we agreed to meet them there. There was another man at their table from New Zealand who was also a teacher in the Northern reaches of China who took us to the College a short walk away. It was an awesome experience with the kids who ranged in age from 4-12. We were amazed that children this age came away on camps like this without their parents, especially as it was for two weeks. They all made huge efforts to ask us questions in English and have small conversations with us and they all had English names that they had chosen for the camp. All and all we had a great time with the children and they certainly gave us an insight into the modern Chinese way of life. We then went and met up with Taki and Simone at the pub quiz but we didnt fare to well as the questions were nigh on impossible but we still had alot of fun. We agreed to meet up the next night after we had finished going to the lightshow and they walked us back to our hotel and we all called it a night.
The next day was special in that it was day 100 for our trip! We hired a motorbike and rode out to the road to Xingping to take some photos. It was a stinking hot day but Liv managed to get some amazing shots before we decided to ride back so we
would have enough time to get showered and ready to have dinner and catch the bus to the lightshow which would be picking us up at 7.00pm. For dinner we went to a restaurant right nextdoor to our hotel and had these rice-hot pot type dishes where you got to chose what would be cooked from a buffet like set up. We both chose all kinds of vegetables and Liv had chicken and I pork.
The resultant meal was out of this world! The rice had a sort of paella/ risotto consitency and the veges and other accompaniments were cooked to perfection. The bus arrived shortly after and we drove out to the outdoor theatre where the lightshow would be held. There were so many people there and in typical Chinese style people were hoiking and spitting everywhere and pushing and shoving each other out of the way in the rush to the stadium. We found our seats that weren't too great but still we got see a pretty decent show. It was all in Chinese so we really didn't understand what they were talking or singing about but the lighting on the surrounding hills and on the performers themselves was brilliant and all and all we had a nice night.
We met Taki and Simone and went for a night cap and had some desert and made plans to meet before we had to leave for Guilin to catch our train the next day where we would get our flight to Xi'an.
We caught a bus in the morning to the border crossing from Macau and passed through customs into mainland China.
Immediately we were struck by just how many people there were here. From there we caught another bus to a city called Guanzhou about 4 hours or so away. Unfortunately the Chinese driving skills aren't much better than anywhere else in Asia and they too love honking the horn. We arrived safely in Guanzhou (somehow) and there we met a translator/ guide who offered us his services for a small fee of course. That turned out to be the best decision we made to hire him for when we finally made it to the train station to ask about tickets there were so many people there and everything was written in Chinese only. He made enquiries on our behalf and there were no tickets to where we wanted to go to so we trudged over to the bus depot and he got us tickets to a little place called Yangshuo that Olivia had just been reading about in the Lonely Planet. We only managed to get a normal coach and not a sleeper which we were told were not available for that route. Surprisingly enough the seats were quite roomy and we had the laptop with us so we watched one of the DVDs we had bought which helped pass the time. We got to Yangshuo in the wee hours around 4.30am and were met there by a tout that could speak good English and said that he had rooms that ranged from 80-150 yuan. So we went with him along with an American couple to see the rooms. All and all they weren't too bad and we asked him when he showed us the first one 'Is this room 80 yuan' to which he replied 'yes'. After we had seen the next room we aksed again him again 'are those rooms 80 yuan?' and then he said 'NO - they are 200 yuan' We all looked at each other with 'is this guy for real' looks on our face and said to him 'you just told us before that they were 80 yuan'. 'Impossible' he said - there is no way I said that. So we all decided we would go elsewhere to look and this guy followed us - the whole time assuring us that he had the best rooms at the best prices and that we would never get a room in Yangshuo for less than 90 yuan anywhere. We had finally had enough and decided to go and look somewhere else. This set him right off and he said pointing at me 'You are crazy and people of China will not like you. You look like a woman and wherever you go in China noone will like you. You should sleep in the gutter for free where you belong!' We just laughed at him - like I look remotely like a Chinese woman at 6 foot one, black and 110 or so kilos. 
Sure enough the first place that we made enquiries in after that had a room for 50 yuan which we stayed in for the whole time we were there. That morning I asked the receptionist who spoke great English where was a good place to get some noodles etc for breakfast and he said 'two doors down' - and he was so right. I got a bowl of beef noodles for Liv and some wonton noodles for me and a serving of steamed Chinese dumplings and something like Maori fried bread that you break up and put in the soup sort of like dumplings also. 
It was so delicious that we ate there for the next 6 days for breakfast and were really sad to leave it behind. 
We loved the food and service there so much that we tried tipping the waitress but she would get all embarassed and refuse. So in the end we would just give her the money and walk out without the change - which worked in the end and she was very grateful.Our first day in Yangshuo wasn't too eventful as we hadn't gotten much sleep on the bus the night before so we had a nap after breakfast and then went for a walk around the town. It was such a beautiful little place and the main street called 'Xie Jie' or 'West St' was extremely colourful and full of character. So is the area around too. There are hill formations that look just like the islands in Ko Phi Phi and Halong Bay everywhere and they give the area a very serene feel.
We looked through the shops and walked down to the riverside where there were people having a dip and Liv dangled her feet in to coold down. On the way home we stopped at a bar for a cold drink and ended up talking to these two boys (one from England and the other Wales) about all of our travels. They had been to Xi'an and Beijing where we were heading and gave us some great tips, one in particular about a restaurant in Bejing that served the most amazing Peking Duck (which was in the Lonely Planet) So we made a mental note to go there. When dinner and drinks were done we strolled back through the town streets and into bed.
Day two and we decided that we would go bamboo rafting and to one of the scenic attractions called 'The Moon Hill Water Cave'. Included in the cost of the trip was free bike hire and a guide on a motorbike who we followed to the rafting some 25 minutes away. We left our bikes (which they would truck down river for us) and got onto our raft and set off down the Yu Long river. It was magical and we couldn't resist diving in for a swim in the cool clear waters. All along the river there were floating shops selling water, beer and a variety of foods. As soon as we would come within earshot they would start their pitch - even if it was clear that we were already drinkning a cold beer or bottle of water! There were also a series of rapids that we went over and at the foot of each one there were floating photo shops in the middle of the river - complete with computers and printers. 
They would snap a shot of you coming over the rapid and then try and sell you the 'VERY BEAUTIFUL' picture they had just taken. We didn't get one as the looked pretty tacky as you can well imagine.
When we finished rafting we got our bikes off the back of the truck and then followed another guide on motorbike to the ticket office for the Moon Hill Water Cave. We got our ticketand waited for a van which then took us to the cave entrance about 15 mins drive away. At the cave we got our helmets and torches and got into a small boat which took us inside.
It was very cool and peaceful inside the cave and when we reached an embankment we got out and continued on foot. Our guide was very enthusiastic and sweet and she showed us many 'features' throughout the 3.5 km trek. As in the caves in Halong Bay there were the rocks shaped like buddha and various animals etc. We came across what she called the wishing stone and we placed our fingers in grooves that were shaped like a hand and made our wishes there. The hightlight of the cave was the mud pools where we got to swim in mud. The water was so dense with mud that you floated.
It was impossible to sink which was a very strange sensation. There was a mud slide that I had to try and when I slid down into the pool mud went everywhere!
We cleaned ourselves off in some freshwater, then continued on our walk through the rest of the cave. When we reached the exit we still had about a 15 min walk back to the entrance and it was through beautiful countryside and the views were spectacular. Back at the entrance we went for swim in the pool that was there and there was a diving platform also. I couldn't resist again and had to do some bombs. Olivia laughed at me saying what a little kid I was and to tell the truth that's exactly how I felt. 
After the swiim we were taken back to our bikes and then we rode back to our hotel for a well earned shower and some dinner in town.The next day we slept in and after a meal in town at a nice cafe and some emailing (with the free wireless) we decided we would go to a town called Xingping about 45minutes drive away in the public bus and then go on a river cruise up the upper reaches of the Li River. On the way there we saw some really beautiful countryside and were determined to come back the next day to take some pictures. We arrived in Xingping and were met by a guide that put us in tuktuks that would take us to the boat. What we didn't know was that this was about 25 mins drive away. The scenery was stunning and about half way through our trip we stopped on embankment to allow people to stretch, take photos and get refreshments from the hawkers set up there. We got a couple of ice cold beers and some taro croquettes ( like potato fritters only with taro) which were scrumptious.
One of the sights we pasted on the way was the '9 Horse Fresco' cliff face (see photo) we weren't sure we could see 9 horses in it, more like 9 kind of humps but it was pretty none the less! 
On the way back to Xingping we stopped to check out the rock formations that are printed on the 20 yuan note. Next thing you know all the tourists on the boat (including us) had 20 yuan notes out and were taking pictures with the rocks as the backdrop.
Later we met up with a couple of Swiss guys we had met briefly the day before as one of them knew alot about Nikon cameras and in particular Livs model. He had one previously and he generously showed us how to set the self timer mode and some other functions that neither of us had any clue to do. Liv was so excited that now she would be able to take self timer shots!After another amazing noodle and dumpling brunch we went looking for a post office to send some mail and whilst walking through the town were approached by a number of groups of young children who were in Yangshuo for a summer camp learning English.
They all asked very politely if would like to join them at a party that night at the College where they were staying. At that stage we had planned go to a lightshow but we changed the tickets for the next night instead so we could go along and check it out. We were supposed to meet some school reps at a cafe at 7.00pm but somehow we missed them but we ran into a Kiwi couple that we had met briefly in Hong Kong. Taki and Simone were also travelling through China after stints teaching in China and Korea.
They were a wealth of advice and knowledge and taught us some really useful phrases too. We told them we were going to the kids party and they said they were going to an Aussie pub later on for a pub quiz so we agreed to meet them there. There was another man at their table from New Zealand who was also a teacher in the Northern reaches of China who took us to the College a short walk away. It was an awesome experience with the kids who ranged in age from 4-12. We were amazed that children this age came away on camps like this without their parents, especially as it was for two weeks. They all made huge efforts to ask us questions in English and have small conversations with us and they all had English names that they had chosen for the camp. All and all we had a great time with the children and they certainly gave us an insight into the modern Chinese way of life. We then went and met up with Taki and Simone at the pub quiz but we didnt fare to well as the questions were nigh on impossible but we still had alot of fun. We agreed to meet up the next night after we had finished going to the lightshow and they walked us back to our hotel and we all called it a night.
The next day was special in that it was day 100 for our trip! We hired a motorbike and rode out to the road to Xingping to take some photos. It was a stinking hot day but Liv managed to get some amazing shots before we decided to ride back so we
would have enough time to get showered and ready to have dinner and catch the bus to the lightshow which would be picking us up at 7.00pm. For dinner we went to a restaurant right nextdoor to our hotel and had these rice-hot pot type dishes where you got to chose what would be cooked from a buffet like set up. We both chose all kinds of vegetables and Liv had chicken and I pork. The resultant meal was out of this world! The rice had a sort of paella/ risotto consitency and the veges and other accompaniments were cooked to perfection. The bus arrived shortly after and we drove out to the outdoor theatre where the lightshow would be held. There were so many people there and in typical Chinese style people were hoiking and spitting everywhere and pushing and shoving each other out of the way in the rush to the stadium. We found our seats that weren't too great but still we got see a pretty decent show. It was all in Chinese so we really didn't understand what they were talking or singing about but the lighting on the surrounding hills and on the performers themselves was brilliant and all and all we had a nice night.
We met Taki and Simone and went for a night cap and had some desert and made plans to meet before we had to leave for Guilin to catch our train the next day where we would get our flight to Xi'an.
After our final noodle breakfast (boohoo!) we went shopping and Liv bought a 'REAL PRADA' leather wallet (leather is actually real, passed the lighter test!). The price has started at 1800 yuan and she ended up getting it for 120! The girl in the store told her that she was a very good bargainer (should be after 4 months practice). We had some ice cream and watermelon with Taki and Simone and they walked us back to the hotel to get our bags and then helped us take our luggage across the road and gave us our first send off since Wellington. Thanks guys and hope to see you both somewhere again wherever in the world that will be. 
Arohanui
Liv and Tama xx
Liv and Tama xx
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