Road Rules on a Motor Scooter
Riding on a motor scooter provides an even more acute sense of the lawlessness of the roads. I never felt unsafe, but I rode with white knuckles.
Karst Mountain Formations
The Karst Mountains were formed by ancient rivers cutting into the mountainsides. Over time, tectonic activity has pushed the mountains upwards. Between the Karst Mountains, all sorts of agriculture is being grown (e.g. cumquats, oranges, tea, radishes). Farmland here is measured in Mu's. We saw these types of mountains later in our trip in Thailand and Vietnam.
Austrian Bars
There is a tightly packed row of German and Austrian bars in Yangshuo, serving both local and German beers. We heard the majority of these bars are owned by the same person.
Coming Soon - Train Station Boom
Yangshuo is planning for a boom in tourism. A major train station will connect Guilin with other major Chinese cities. Construction is everywhere. Today, it is a 2.5 hour bumpy drive from Guilin to Yangshuo. You can take a ferry from Guilin to Yangshuo in the direction the river flows. The downstream ferry takes about 6 hours between the cities. The captain drives an empty ferry back upstream to pick up tourists, which we heard can take up to 12 hours depending on the season.
Our First Rude Encounter
Not everyone is nice to tourists in China. 4 young boys were rude to Annie as she rode the scooter. We’ve been away from home for almost 6 weeks, and this is the first rude interaction we’ve had with anyone, and it was a group of 14 year old boys. Not hugely surprising.