Yangshuo Warnings and Dangers

This is just a general tip-When you do go on some of these bicycle tours or venture off on your own, beware of being charged to stand on someone's property or being charged for unwanted or unsolicited company. When we went to the Fuli village we were met by a "student" on the road who wanted to hang out with us to learn better English. By this time we new the tricks so we told him up front that there would be no money exchange for this "friendship" When it was time to leave he asked for money for his "tourguide" services and got very angry when we were not willing to cave. We had set the standards up front. However, it is still very scary when you are miles away from Yangshuo with only a bike as your getaway vehicle!

In this region of China, the weather can change very quickly and catch you by surprise... One day, when we were there, it was hot and sunny out... Suddenly, the wind started to pick up speed, and you could see storm clouds on the horizon... Within about 10 to 15 minutes, a heavy rain shower commenced, with high winds and a temperature drop of at least 5 - 7 degrees celcius! In this picture, people have pulled out their umbrellas due to the onset of rain showers...

Climbing Moon Hill can be very dangerous so take special care, especially when bypassing the "no admittance" sign and making your way to the summit. During this final part of the ascent, there is no cement and the path becomes a very thin dirt trail that winds around the peak... When it rains, the trail becomes extremely muddy and slippery, increasing the level of danger... There are some steep cliffs as well, and the trail is also full of sharp jagged rocks so if you fall, you could wind up badly injured as happened to one unlucky hiker on the day we were there... All we saw was his blood spattered all over these rocks (click on photo to enlarge), and it looked like he had a pretty nasty fall...! This is one place you don't want to get injured, because you're a long way from medical help in this area...

Around noon all the boats from Guilin arrive in Yangshuo. Then thousands of tourists from all over the world enter the streets of Yangshuo for souvenir-shopping. After a short time they go back to Guilin by bus. Then Yangshuo is again in the hands of the backpackers, who enjoy the banana-pancake and beer in the many restaurants.