15th December: Yangshuo, China

Our first day in Yangshuo was a chilled one. Lazing around and drinking coffee to this view of karst peaks is no hardship! Occasionally, we’d hear cats miaowing for attention outside of our room.

We ventured out properly in the afternoon for a wander along the Li Jiang, the famous river through town which runs to Guilin. It wasn’t that easy as the town is definitely set up for tour groups who get bussed from one spot to another, rather than for our preferred style of wandering. It’s off season here now and there aren’t many tourists, which just means the hawkers pester us even more. We did have a nice chat with one guy though who told us that today was the first sunny day all month! Apparently, the next 3 days, coinciding with our time in Yangshuo, might be the only good days in the whole of December. We’ve been so lucky with the weather on this trip as this kind of story has been a recurring theme.

Along the riverbank, lots of boats with nets and a cormorant were set up for photo shoots but only a few were being used by people dressed in hanfu and their photographers. Most of the tourist boats were also permanently docked. We turned back the other way and found a lovely scene that we thought was a thing of the past. Away from the glare of tour groups, a fisherman was using two cormorants to catch fish from the river. The birds were so quick underwater, and both brought fish back to the boat and regurgitated them into the basket in the time we were watching. They were clearly obedient, but it did feel cruel, especially when they were tied down to move to a new spot.

Heading back to town, we tried a few small restaurants before getting to the touristy area. We had a lovely greeting at the second one by a toddler with an empty water pistol. We played with him, feigning being shot whenever he clicked it much to his amusement, whilst his friend’s mum agreed to make us vegan versions of a couple of dishes. These little places are often the best and this proved to be the case. Everything was made fresh and both the fried aubergine and braised tofu with wood ear mushrooms and tomatoes were delicious. She even brought us a pot of local tea to try, as the kids did their homework on the next table. Prior to this we were feeling exhausted but it’s amazing how a lovely little interaction can perk you up. In the room we did a bit more planning for Yunnan, Laos, and beyond. We’ve built up a hefty selection of teas and snacks too, which we’re working our way through. My favourite today was a chunk of unrefined local sugar. Yes, just a big lump of incredibly deeply flavoured dark sugar! We were also given a big slice of cake by one of the hostel staff, which was delicious too. I’m definitely eating too much sugar!