Yangshuo Off The Beaten Path

This is the small brother of the Li River. It's got the same landscape, though the mountains are not so high and the landscape is no so majestic. But the sailing is far more relaxed, there much less traffic and the landscape of rice fields is amazing. I found no other foreigners here, just chinese people.

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The pretext to visit the fabulous bank of the river was... an invitation to have a glass of local wine.

Great.

A fabulous convivial moment, in a marvelous site, and the wine... was it important?

No! But, to be fair, I must say that it was a decent red wine, with nothing in common with the "poison" that I drunk in a Chinese restaurant in New York, for the price of a small diamond.

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Not included in most tourist packages, this is something you should not miss. For 50 RMB you may book it in advance in West Street, and it only takes on hour, with departure at 7.30 PM. I posted a video of this.

Be prepared against mosquitoes.

Once more, I've been in Asia without tasting... Durian.

Forbidden in the hotels, in Thailand, I saw it in the streets of Yangshuo, but I decided not to try it, before testing... the smell. And that, once again, didn't happen.

I think that we, Portuguese, have a good way to prepare to durian's smell - tasting the delicious cheese from Castelo Branco. Its smell is... just come and try it!

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Yulong River, also called Little Li River, rises in Lingui County near Yangshuo. The river is about 43 kilometres (26 miles) long, with a drainage area of approximately 158 square kilometres (39,043 acres). The part of the river that stretches from Yulong Bridge in Baisha Town (about 10km/6 miles) north-west of Yangshuo), to Gongnong Bridge near the Big Banyan Tree, is known as the Yulong River Scenic Area, and includes some spectacular scenic views along each river bank. Hire a bike and cycle along the river as this is one of THE things to do in China.

The Chinese word 'Yulong' refers to 'meeting a dragon'. Local legend has it that a dragon from the East Sea strolled across the Yulong River and, being deeply impressed by the attractive landscape, decided to stay there forever. The villagers living on the river bank saw the dragon several times, and hence named it the Yulong River.

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There is a decent indoor farmer's market right off Pantao Lu, though there is also talk of moving it elsewhere. For right now it's a local market with not all that much to see inside, but if you're planning on long hikes or want to cook for yourself, there's lots of fresh stuff to buy.

Heading out of Yangshuo towards the village of Yima is a nice walk. There's no sidewalk, but traffic's fairly light and, unlike in the cities, motorcyclists and bikers will move toward the center of the road to give you space. It's kind of refreshing. On the way there's a cave you can visit called the Yulong Cave- it has lights and all, I gather from the photos on the sign outside, but looks unkempt at the stairway from the road, so who knows if it's still running. But the walk is nice and you can get to the Dragon Bridge if you keep heading north.

Beside the road, on the left if you're going north, is a sign for a scenic spot, 300m. Take the road to the left and be on the lookout for a small path on the right that crosses a little bridge. The path takes you to a dead end, but opens onto rice paddies and a trail you can walk on out into the paddies. I don't know if you're trespassing or not, but it's worth it.

You can take the Yulong Cave tour, or you can go in the back entrance... through a man-made wall that's been knocked through, probably by curious locals. I don't know the quality of the rock and I can't be held responsible for you if you go, nor do I know on whose property you'd be trespassing, but if you're into spelunking and want to explore, it's there. I don't know how far back in it goes, but I figure the walls were built to keep people out of something. If you do go, go prepared.