Those of you that are planning trips to China, I suggest you quickly escape the glitz of the East coast, and go West. Yangshuo is easily one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. My only complaint this trip -- all four of my flights (NRT - PVG - CTU, return) were late and/or cancelled. I was stranded in Shanghai airport for about 20 hours on the way home.
I don't usually do this, but I kept some scribbly travel notes during the week that I was on the road. Here are some random excerpts:
Day 1, on flight: "Chinese people carrying Swarovski bags from Ginza. These are the privileged ones, clearly."
Day 3, in Chengdu: "Strolling through People's Park. Awesome. Everybody is staring at me. Why is that guy taking a video of me?"
Day 4, in Guilin: "Free WiFi seems standard at (backpacker) hostels now. Why is it still not free at hotels or airports?"
Day 6, in Yangshuo: "16 dumplings for 10 yuan."
Day 9, in Chengdu: "Getting ready for one last round of ma-po tofu before heading home."
Enough talk, here are some photos from my trip.
The human-interface counter kindly informed me that my flight had been cancelled, but couldn't give me a reason why.
Giant Buddha, in Leshan. Biggest one in the world.
Panda Breeding and Research Center, just outside Chengdu. This is just one of many, many panda pictures I took that morning.
People's Park, Chengdu. There are people chilling out here at all times, day or night. Amazing energy.
The view from atop Fubo Hill in Guilin.
Biking through the countryside, in and around Yangshuo.
More Yangshuo countryside from that same afternoon.
This might have been the first scarecrow I've ever seen in real life. I know, I'm a city boy.
Waving hello as I cross the Li River by bike.
Kayaking down the Li River, between stunning karst formations.
