To the End of the World...and Back Again (Guilin, Ping An, Yangshuo)

Like the Hobbits in their famous story, I feel like I've travelled to the end of the world and back again.

The end of the world would be the open fields with the yaks in the middle of Gansu, where we spent a night together with a nomadic family in their yak-hair tent. Before getting to Gansu, however, we spent about a week in the rice fields and rice terraces near Guilin. Here are some pictures of this amazing spot on earth.

In the bus from Guilin airport to Ping An. We're traveling with our friends from The Netherlands.

In Ping An, one of two touristy villages in the Longji rice terrace area just north of Guilin, you can't drive all the way to your hotel. Some nice ladies come to check out our luggage and offer to carry it uphill. We're a little bit embarrased that "grandma" is carrying our luggage, but have to admit it is pretty convenient...

Our luggage goes uphill.

View from our hotel--the Longji One Hotel--in the middle of the rice terraces.

We walk up, along, and in between the rice terraces. On the way up the boys take a rest.

The rice terraces and me.

More rice terraces.

Rice grows with its feet in the water.

In addition to rice, we also spotted lots of bamboo. The bamboo is used to build irrigation pipes in the rice fields.

After a night and a day in Longji, we head a few kilometers south to Yangshuo, home of the Yu Long and Li Rivers.

Bicyling around Yangshuo.

Thomas' red "Lightning McQueen" trailer-bike.

Breakfast at the Outside Inn, our guesthouse in Yangshuo.

Paul discovers a new brand of coffee: Yunnan Coffee.

Thomas and the limestone hills.

With our bikes on the bamboo raft to cross the river.

Swimming with the best view ever.

Lots of things to do at the guesthouse.

Art on the wall (a Beijing Opera face) in Xing Ping near Yangshuo.

Street view in old Xing Ping.

"Can you hear me now?"

We go bamboo rafting. Following ancient customs (but paying modern tourist prices) we use a bamboo raft to navigate the Yu Long River. During the trip we go down nine small waterfalls.

Two Guilin fishermen.

Absolute peace.

Note the Heineken t-shirt :-)

Sunset over the Yu Long River. Tomorrow we leave for Xi'An.

(...to be continued...)

In het nederlands: We zijn net terug van vakantie: een rondje China. Samen met vrienden uit Nederland reisden we naar het gebied bij Guilin dat bekend staat om de vele rijstterrassen en het karst gebergte. Over dit gebied gaat de blog post van vandaag. Na Guilin gaan we nog naar de stad Xi'An en naar de staat Gansu. Het was een prachtige reis, maar het is ook weer lekker om thuis te zijn. :-)