Yangshou

Our final day in Yangshou was, mercifully, warm and sunny.  The mist around the mountains lifted, and we finally had a clear view of the peaks around us.

We decided to rent bikes for the second time to cycle 25km north to the village of Xingping.  The cycle, this time on considerably less dodgy bikes, was incredible.  Despite the terrifying Chinese driving that went on around us, we were totally distracted, once again, by the overwhelming beauty of this place.  The peaks were even more stunning on a backdrop of blue and the surrounding landscape luscious, green and littered with orange trees.

Xingping was a picturesque little place that was only slightly spoiled by the hoards of middle-aged women demanding if "you want bamboo raft?"  After a suitably Western milkshake (as China goes, this area is particularly geared towards tourists), we took one lucky lady up on her offer, and after some haggling we, and our bikes, headed off down the Li River on a bamboo raft.

It wasn't so much bamboo, however, as plastic masquerading as the real macoy, and fitted with one exceptionally noisy engine.  But none of this could detract from the unbeatable experience of viewing those limestone peaks from the river.  Such overwhelming beauty cannot be adequately described, and one has to wonder if the locals realise how priviledged they are to be living amongst it.