Have I said I Love This Place Yet?
Posted by Scott Calderon on Monday, August 30, 2010
I just can't say it enough. I LOVE YANGSHUO. This is the kind of place I could just stay at for a very long time. It looks sort of tropical. It is very relaxed and laid back. The weather is nice (at least this time of the year). The scenery is too die for. I am finally being able to relax in China. Shanghai was just stressful and boring. Beijing was better, but still very busy. Xi'an and Chengdu were just not very friendly and accessible for westerners. Yangshuo is just perfect. Just about everyone can speak some English. The town is small so you can't get lost or stranded. I just don't know what else to say about this place. I know I will be back one day. I will come back to China just to come here. There are a few other places I would like to see in China, but this would be the only place I would come back too. Maybe Beijing because there is a lot to see there and I did not see it all. But Yangshuo for sure. No questions asked. Tomight I had a local Yangshuo style noodle dish for dinner with a local Guilin Beer.
They were both good, especially the noodles. In fact I need to make sure I eat lots of local food here in Yangshuo because both of my meals here so far have been delicious. I actually had 2 of the local beers. I just sat at a table overlooking the river and relaxed with a nice cold drink. Relax. This is something I haven't really been able to do in China so far. That is until now. I was so relaxed (not drunk) that I almost fell asleep at the table. I had a nice breeze blowing on me and I could hear the sounds of the river. It was very soothing and relaxing. Did I mentioned that the local beer only cost about $1 and was big (about 2.5 regular beers). The noodles were less than $2. They had eggs, ham, peanuts, onions, green onions, and of course noodles. Well eventually I forced myself to get up and walk around West Street at night. I have to admit the same street looks different depending on the time of day. It looked different in the morning compared to the afternoon, dusk, or evening. I think it was the way the colors of the street showed themselves in the different amounts of light that just made a huge difference in how the eye percieved the street. I don't know how well it will translate to film, but here it is at night.
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It might just be one of those things you have to see in person to understand what I am saying. Also it wasn't that crowded so either I was too early or this is not the busy season. However, it was more crowded than during the daytime probably because it was not as hot. The weather here has been very nice. I hace actually seen the sun for the first time in China. Usually it is too smoggy in the cities to see the sky. It is hot during the daytime, but like a warm summer day hot. It is not too hot or humid at all. The evenings are nice and warm. It is perfect. Well I am off to bed so I can get up and go on my bamboo raft river cruise down the Li River. This is the kind of boat I will be on tomorrow.
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The day after that I will go explore Silver Cave and then the next day I leave for Cambodia. I wish I could stay here a lot longer, but at the same time I want to leave things to do here so the next time I come I will still have things to do here that I have never done. It will give me more of a reason to come back here.
They were both good, especially the noodles. In fact I need to make sure I eat lots of local food here in Yangshuo because both of my meals here so far have been delicious. I actually had 2 of the local beers. I just sat at a table overlooking the river and relaxed with a nice cold drink. Relax. This is something I haven't really been able to do in China so far. That is until now. I was so relaxed (not drunk) that I almost fell asleep at the table. I had a nice breeze blowing on me and I could hear the sounds of the river. It was very soothing and relaxing. Did I mentioned that the local beer only cost about $1 and was big (about 2.5 regular beers). The noodles were less than $2. They had eggs, ham, peanuts, onions, green onions, and of course noodles. Well eventually I forced myself to get up and walk around West Street at night. I have to admit the same street looks different depending on the time of day. It looked different in the morning compared to the afternoon, dusk, or evening. I think it was the way the colors of the street showed themselves in the different amounts of light that just made a huge difference in how the eye percieved the street. I don't know how well it will translate to film, but here it is at night.
It might just be one of those things you have to see in person to understand what I am saying. Also it wasn't that crowded so either I was too early or this is not the busy season. However, it was more crowded than during the daytime probably because it was not as hot. The weather here has been very nice. I hace actually seen the sun for the first time in China. Usually it is too smoggy in the cities to see the sky. It is hot during the daytime, but like a warm summer day hot. It is not too hot or humid at all. The evenings are nice and warm. It is perfect. Well I am off to bed so I can get up and go on my bamboo raft river cruise down the Li River. This is the kind of boat I will be on tomorrow.
The day after that I will go explore Silver Cave and then the next day I leave for Cambodia. I wish I could stay here a lot longer, but at the same time I want to leave things to do here so the next time I come I will still have things to do here that I have never done. It will give me more of a reason to come back here.