Yangshuo itself it no big surprise: The favorite place of western tourists to stay overnight in the Guilin region, it's quite touristy, but nevertheless okay. They say it's famous for pickpockets, but luckily I didn't get in personal contact with them.
Fuli Old Town is half an hours drive out of town, an old farming town with old to 'near-to-destruction' houses with red lucky new years posters and Mao photos on the walls. We also passed the hairdresser's. An old rusty seat with a broken mirror in front, but seems to fit the purpose. Right now those small agricultural village have one challenge: all the young people who can are leaving for the big towns. Mainly old people live there.
The highlight of the day was Moon Mountain. That's the formation you can see in the first photo! with me in front. The view down the mountain was also amazing and was worth the exhausing thirty minutes hike up the hill in 30 degree, sunshine and extremely humid air (the last one being the factor which makes it hard for me).
Last but not least 'Shangrila'. Well, who knows where the real Shangrila is? China has at least two, one near Yangshuo, one in Yunnan. Shangri-La is a fictional place described by British author James Hilton . In his book, "Shangri-La" is a mystical, harmonious valley, the people who live there are almost immortal, living years beyond the normal lifespan. The Shangri-La near Yangshou is a park of minorities where you drive around with a boat through the karst landscape and see minorities dancing and / or singing. Not quite what the book describes Shangrila to be, but nevertheless not bad. So I still have to continue looking for my personal fairyland of Shangrila. But often things you are searching hard are just in front of you...
Keine Kommentare:
Kommentar veröffentlichen