Thursday 1 September 2011

Yangshou

My most recent jaunt was to a place called Yangshou, near Guilin in Guanxi Province. A fellow climber and friend I met over the summer was heading back to America earlier this month and fancied a trip down. We were there about 4 days in total. The guys at Beijing Climbing Club arranged everything for us in advance, so for us the whole trip was relatively effortless, bar the climbing.

Yangshou has these amazing Limestone Karst mountains that pop up everywhere in the midst of this beautiful sub tropical area. The landscape is featured on the back of the 20 RMB note. Most of the rocks, at least the climbable ones have names, such as this one known as the egg


This next shot is the view from on the Egg. Almost looks like something from Jurassic Park. 


We spent two days climbing here. It was a beautiful place. The only downsides were mosquitos and the ability to get sunburnt, even when stood in the shade (apparently due to the reflection from the paddy fields). Yangshou was the the first place in China, where I really felt like I was in Asia. Perhaps because it's the first time out of a major city. It was great to see straw hats and water buffalo, and people living such a simple life. 



The town itself, surrounded by this beautiful scenery is probably about half the size of Chester. And, as well as being a popular destination for climbers from around the world, it is also popular amongst Chinese travellers. It's easy to see why. A little over two and a half hours flight from Beijing and an hour from Guilin. Anyway, here are a few more snaps of one of this magical place.



I hope to go back to Yangshou before I return to the UK. having said that, I seem to be saying that about quite a lot of places I write about. Perhaps I will just have to keep it as a fond memory and a place where I enjoyed 4 great days of climbing.