Day Six – Biking in Yangshuo

Wednesday 20 January 2010


8:00am Ride bikes to shore of Yulong River
8:30am Board bamboo raft for trip down Yulong river
11:00am Hike Moon Hill
12:30pm Begin bike ride to Dragon Bridge (遇龙桥)
1:30pm Ride through ancient town of Longtang
1:48pm Spend three hours wondering if we are ever going to make it to Dragon Bridge
4:30pm Reach Jinbao, decide that “no, we are not going to make it to Dragon Bridge.”
4:35pm Catch a ‘rescue bus’ from Jinbao through Baisha and back to Yangshuo
7:00pm Eat dinner with friends Thomas and Jessica

Eric: Despite a few disappointments throughout the day, our first day in Yangshuo was definitely a day to be remembered. It was a big change from the ethnic minority villages and rice terraces of the previous two days, but standing atop Moon Hill and looking out, I could not help but stand in awe at the beauty of this area. We had originally planned to ride our rented bikes up to the 600-year old Dragon Bridge, but due to a few wrong turns and maybe a few too many picture stops, we didn’t make it. In fact, we hardly made it half way. But the countryside was beautiful, and I have no regrets at all about making the trip.

Riding through the town of Longtang, I felt like I had taken a step one hundred years back in history. What amazed me about the town, though, was that although there was a stand at the front collecting tourist fees to pass through, the town was anything but touristy. On our left was the schoolyard where children were in class. Down an alley were the sweet smells of a meal cooking on a fire. At the end of another passage was a small girl peeking sitting on her doorstep. To us, this was a stop on our trek through the countryside, but to these people, this was home. I was thankful to be a witness to it, and I admire them for their work ethic, although I know that to them it is all that they know. If they don’t work, then they don’t eat, and it is as simple as that. The weather was beautiful that first day in Yangshuo, though, and we are glad that we got a long bike ride out of it.



Kiersten: Even though we did get lost (we seem to do that a lot!), I had a blast riding our bikes and wandering through the countryside. For one, it felt so good to be on a bike. But I mostly really enjoyed it because of all that we saw. We passed through a ton of little villages and I don’t think we saw another tourist while we were out riding. It was a great contrast from just earlier that morning when we went on our raft ride. We had been really looking forward to the raft ride, thinking it would be quiet, away from everyone- just us and the river and the mountains. Unfortunately, instead we encountered- even on the river- people constantly trying to sell us stuff. They had their own huge raft/stores that our boatman would inevitably stop at. (Nice as he was, I have my suspicions that he was in cohorts with them). So getting on our bikes and riding away felt so good- like we were escaping.

On our raft ride:



Our boatman.

Eric helping to lift our bamboo raft over one of the many little dams that we had to cross.

Off to Moon Hill!



The view from the top was gorgeous!


Things we saw on our bike ride:
Eric took a ton of pictures of cows. I can't tell you how many times we stopped suddenly because he saw another one.

This was in the village of Longtang that Eric mentioned.

I think we were already lost by this point.

But so beautiful!


Do you see the scarecrows?

Our first glimpse of Jinbao. A place never looked so beautiful to our tired legs.
Our 'rescue' bus!