Yangshuo Shopping

Each square centimeter seems disputed by shops, restaurants, and street vendors in West street.

The name was given by the cafes and restaurants selling western food, but everything is quite Chinese, even those "western" establishments.

Western food is just a detail in a street market that sells everything from early in the morning untill late in the night.

A delightful, small shop in the main street of Yangshou. Airconditioned and very attentative personel. Great number of chopsticks, beautifully displayed. No bargaining!

What to buy: Hmmm, chopsticks? One pair? Two? Five?

What to pay: All price classes, up to $100

It's not a shop, but a string of different stores that sell many different things from crafts such as cloth bags made by hand by the minorities of the area to stores selling modern clothing- precisely why we go there, right? I can't say that I really believe the brands are real... a lot of people wearing what would be really expensive jackets...

Anyway, there's a lot of souvenir shopping to be done here, not only in the stores, but along the river where the cruise boats dock, many vendors line up to take your money. I know for many people bargaining and haggling isn't common or comfortable, but please, bargain with them so that post cards don't cost 100RMB per ten... (they cost 50RMB per 10 in places because people have paid that). Better yet, move away from the water and buy stuff farther up.

There are also many people wandering around with a few things to sell in-hand. They will find you, don't worry.

What to pay: I would ask for half or less of the offered price, then work from there.

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This is Yangshuo's wet market - a place where all the sundries, vegetables, fish, pork and fruits are sold. . We went into this market in the later part of the day and still see that a lot of people are busy selling and buying. There were also some small stalls inside the market where they sell small dumplings, roasted pork, chicken and ducks. We bought some small dumplings ("pau") for our tea break. They were really steamy hot and delicious and cheap. We paid 1yuan for 3 small dumplings.

See more pics attached on this market

A small departmental store, which is at one end of the corner of West Street - a flight of stairways that leads down to the store. Don't think many will visit this outlet as the variety of stuff sold are not as interesting as those sold along the West Street shops and stalls. We went down to the store one afternoon basically to get some air cond as the weather was really hot. But when we went "downstairs" we can't even feel the aircond - either the aircond is not working properly or they could have switched it off. We took a round the store and did not find anything interesting.

What to buy: Mostly clothes

What to pay: Fixed prices

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Walk the whole stretch of the long Bin Jiang Road which is parallel to the Li Jiang river. The lower portion of the road which is nearer to West Street is as vibrant . If you just walk further up the road toward Dragon Head Hill Quay (where the passengers disembarked after their cruise along Li Jiang from Guilin), more stalls are seen. All you have to do is just walk along the Li Jiang river, Bin Jiang Road is parallel to it.

See more pics on stuffs sold along Bin Jiang Road

What to buy: As usual, same stuff as those in West Street and Pantao Road

What to pay: Mostly negotiable prices.

Another shopping area like West Street - you can get lots of stuff here too. Concept is the same like West Street except that there are lots of makeshifts stalls. Pantao road is one the main roads in Yangshuo. I find that more foodstuffs are sold here than in West Street. Lots of fruits and dried stuffs along the main road of Pantao. It is as busy as the famous Xi Jie.

What to buy: As much variety as those in West Street but more foodstuffs are being sold here especially fruits.

What to pay: Some are of fixed prices and some are bargainable.

Shops are in the form of small stalls on both sides of West Street. You can get almost anything here. You will definately find the appropriate souvenir for your friends or your love ones. Some goods can be bargained for but some are of fixed prices.

What to buy: Lots of stuff - Clothings, Paintaings, Musical instruments, ladies costume accessories, scarves, shawls, table runners, all kinds of embroidery, traditional ethnic wears, foodstuffs....wide, wide range

What to pay: Some are of fixed prices, some will depend on your negotiating skills

What to buy: Rice wine, plum wine and herbal wine from the one and only wine factory. Miniature wine bottles are collectibles too. Prices from RMB20.

Chinese tea from Fong's Tea Plantation. Eg: Golden Throat tea (RMB30 for 150g), Chrysanthemum and Oolong Ginseng tea (RMB150). Golden Throat tea has nourishing properties for the throat, to soothe and to prevent from sound hoarseness. Whereas, Oolong Ginseng tea is a revitalising drink for energy and Chrysanthemum tea is a refreshing drink for the tired mind.

See Off The Beaten Path for more details.

What to buy: You can find all sorts of chinese souvenir here like paintings, porcelain, curios, handicrafts from minority people, etc. Some of the special souvenirs from Yangshuo are embroidery balls, painted fans and T-shirt with funny chinese wordings. If you would like to shop for local produce, there are two supermarkets here. There are also an underground shopping centre and two CD/DVD shops here (approx RMB15 per copy, many foreign albums are available).

What to pay: As a norm for shopping in China, bargain and slash the price for at least half.