Wanderlust | Yangshuo | Summer getaway (part 1)

We had been in China for 6months and hadn’t really gone out of Shanghai.  Mister, rather last minute (as usual), bought us a trip to Yang Shuo / Guilin… in the MIDDLE of JUNE.

As we arrived Yangshuo by air, I looked out the window… and it looked just like Belgium.  Beautiful little plots of fields.   Blue skies and white clouds…

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T booked a lovely place in the midst of nature.  It was H. O. T.  Hotter than India!!!!!  THAT HOT!!!!!!  All I had to do was just stand ….. and do nothing…. and sweat like a pig.   Hadn’t felt such heat in a LONG time.  It was hard because we sweated SO MUCH, but when travelling in China I always avoid DRINKING to avoid going to toilet….!!!   We rented a scooter….and it was FUN.  It reminded me of the song “Take it easy” by the Eagles because when I was little, Bajaj Scooter (indian brand) would have an advertisement for scooters with this song, and scene of a pretty scooter driving down beautiful nature.   The only time we did not sweat was when we were moving ON the scooter!  Highly recommend to get a scooter…. and just drive around and get lost in the valleys!! ! Just remember to charge them each time you make a stop at some place to eat.

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The view in Yangshuo was undeniably STUNNING.

I could just imagine those painters sitting there painting….

I never imagined I would one say tour and visit these places in China.
They were only in Chinese movies and paintings for me.
It was surreal…despite the heat.

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T wanted to show off Yang Shuo to me… but it had become so commercialized.  There are soooo many such little shops selling crap…. what I never get is… most tourists are Chinese.  These tourist junk items are made in those very small towns, why would tourists coming from small towns buy this crap that was made in their town in the first place?

We wanted to see the famous water show by the famous direction Zhang Zhi Mo (I think that’s his name).  it was like 300RMB per person.  Then one evening tom saw someone selling it for 50 RMB.  I told him… NO WAY this is legit.  He insisted that it might be last minute tickets.   A beautiful SUV  car came to pick us up – there was one other couple inside.  And then it drove a while…PAST the show entrance!   It stopped at a neighbourhood gateway.  There were old men at a desk, collecting money from every car that went in and kids playing around.   The car was the allowed to entre the neighbourhood and drive down a dirt path.  It then stopped and the driver handed us plastic stools and asked us to go down a hill to see the show.   Yup… you could see the show alright…from the BACK SIDE.   where the PERFORMERS were preparing and getting on boats!  The show is designed in such a way that u need an ARIEL view to enjoy it…needless to say the 100 bucks was wasted.  But still….I couldn’t help but admire the HUSTLE that went into this operation: women selling ticket, driver, nice car, and then the neighbourhood gateway had to make its cut.  SO MANY people involved… just to make a very small cut…to help probably with basic stuffs like a lunch or dinner for the next day.  Strive.  HUSTLE.  For just a little bit more for a little better life.

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all we could see!!! from this “illegal” spot!

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