We stayed at Monkey Janes in Yangshuo, named Monkey Janes, because Jane...the owner, looks like a monkey. She was funny but a little too westernised, this was probably down the lad from Durham named Dan who lived there with her, he was cool though. We also randomly bumped into a lad called Chris who lived about ten minutes away from Elliot back home in Croyden, they didnt know each other though. He was the spitting image of Eddie Gordo and even had some capoera skills behind him too. He joined us throughout our time in Yangshuo.
Our first adventure in Yangshuo was a trip to the mud caves. To get to the caves we had to take a boat through a hole in one of the karsts (watching our heads in the process) and sail through to a opening in the cave. Here we walked the length of the cave, swimming at the very far end in deep water pools, then bathing in mud about half way back, and finally relaxing in some hot springs back at the begining, a lot of activity for one cave dont ya think? On the way back to town we stopped off at moon hill, a natural bridged shaped monolith poking out of the ground, which is climbable, so of course we had to ascend. As the area was closing within the hour and the sun was setting we had to be quick, so on a full stomach the four of us bolted it to the top just in time for some great pictures. Back at the bottom we had a fair trek back to town (15 km maybe?) and we were a little worn out after the running so we managed to flag down two motorbikes and hitch a ride back to Yangshuo, 2 on each bike. The guy driving mine and Maj's bike was definitely pissed, his breath reaked of rice wine! And his driving sucked too.
Oh plus, this day fell on my birthday so it was a great way to spend my 23rd. This time last year I was getting high in Amsterdam, how the time flies. In the evening we played beer pong at Monkey Janes, and I was awarded a free T-shirt, since it was my birthday and all. Elliot was autistically good at beer pong, hardly ever missing a god damn shot. He smoked us all, but as beer pong goes, the more games you play, the more mash-up your gonna get. His night ended by passing out on the balcony area and getting sexually abused by everyone, except for me and Maj of course. We were reading. Oh, one point I must make is that this hostel had Tekken 6 on the x-box, and I had to rep the ends by destroying all of the competition in the room.
So after an amazing birthday and night we of course felt a little weak the following day. We decided to relax along the banks of the Li River listening to songs and playing some easy going game that involved throwing rocks at a marker, with a curling esc point system. Me and Chris did a swim across the river to a nice little diving rock, and we all pulled a moony to the Chinese tourists having a lovely day of sailing. The cameras were out as usual.
On our last full day we hired bikes and went on huge cycle through the country. Chris had been around Yangshuo a little longer than us and showed us a great route, crossing farms, rivers and of course, all of the hills/karsts. On our return to Yangshuo, we couldnt help but be pulled into climbing one of the gigantic karsts. It had to be done. The climb was difficult at times because of all the overgrowth but we scaled it, and the view was phenomenal. I could only wish that the Peak district had this kind of landscape, truly breathtaking. And a definate contender for the number one spot in China.
Yangshuo photo link:http://www3.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=3214311011/a=2264773011_2264773011/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/
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