Cycle Yangshuo & Guilin, China

Friday, 11 October 2013

Day 1: Circuit West of Yangshuo

Yangshuo is surrounded by distinctive rock formations called "Karsts" which form a spectacular backdrop to the countryside. Roads, rivers, towns and villages all fit in around the karsts on mostly flat land. The karsts are only accessible by rock climbers!

Yangshuo from one of the surounding Karst peaks

After our arrival by the night bus, we checked in at our hotel, the Riverview Hotel next to the beautiful Li River. We were keen to get out and cycle! Day 1's cycle consisted of a circuit to the south, west and north of the town. So after a noodle breakfast in the town, we set off on the G321 southwards, taking a right turn after 5Kms along the Yulong River (just before the bridge). We crossed the river at Aishanmen (Km 11) on one of those long bamboo boats, and then doubled back south along tracks by the rice paddies, then back over the river, and eventually back to the G321. We then took the G321 westwards until we found a right turn to the old village of Longtancun, which you can visit if you pay a contribution to maintenance and repair. Here we met an old couple and spent sometime chatting to them, for a small contribution (of course). On leaving the village, we stopped at Ashley's cafe for lunch, where we ate catfish, which was ok. Then back to the G321 back towards Yangshuo, turning left just after the river bridge and back along the concrete road to Aishanmen. This time we didn't cross the river here but continued on the east bank to cross the river by a bridge higher up at Doshi Zhai. Then onwards along the west bank, along nice smooth concrete village roads to Dragon's Bridge (Km 45). Dragon's Bridge was lovely, views in both directions from the bridge, the early evening sun providing lovely colours. We then headed northeast along County Road (CR) X099, crossing the G321 and along CR X054 to Bacantung (Km 55). We turned right there and started climbing. By Km 60, we were at 375m on Pingling Mountain. We then had a nice long descent for about 10kms back to Yangshuo, It was nearly dark as we entered the town, which was bustling with vehicles and people. We headed straight for a restaurant in West Street, sitting on the pavement surrounded by people and buskers, enjoying our meal and nice cold bottles of beer.

Circuit from Yangshuo initially along
Yulong River - 73Kms in total

Cycling into Yangshuo after our overnight bus ride

Arriving in West Street

Riverview hotel by the River Li, although the view was a little obscured by the trees - still a nice location

Amazingly smooth farm roads we found

Asking the way at Aishanmen before crossing over

Bamboo boats at Aishanmen

Crossing to the West Bank

More checking of the best route

Following tracks by the rice paddies

Heading back to the river

Yulong River

Sherman using his professional camera to photograph the old couple in the village

The old couple with Chairman Mao looking down

Cafe at Dragon's Bridge

View north from Dragon's Bridge

South view from Dragon's Bridge

Dragon's Bridge

Dusk on Pingling mountain

Thursday, 10 October 2013

The Night Bus

This was a short tour organised by my very good cycling friend, Sherman Kwok. Sherman and I started riding regularly together at weekends in Hong Kong, and now are exploring further afield. We had a great trip to Taiwan, with our friend Shun Yeung (Dave) Yip, and now we are off to China…..without Dave :(( We decided that this was to be a folding bike tour, more relaxed than the road bikes, but also more practical in terms of using trains and buses.

We met up at the Central Ferry piers in the centre of Hong Kong in the afternoon, and took the MTR train to Lo Wu. Lo Wu is one of the two border crossings into China for foot passengers in the north of Hong Kong's 'New territories'. We crossed even with the mid afternoon flood of Chinese school children returning home after school, and were soon in Shenzen sorting things out for our journey.

The place felt very different from Hong Kong, even more people, and not so orderly and clean. So many more smokers everywhere you went, and the toilets wouldn't win any awards. But things seemed to work fine, and the buses and trains were pretty good, and the food was good also.

We went to buy the overnight bus ticket to Yangshuo, the return sleeper train ticket back from Guilin back to Shenzen, visit the cycle shops selling cheap goods, and have a meal. And at 7.30 pm we boarded the 'night bus', and settled into our bunks for the night. The bus wasn't very full when we left but it stopped several times as it passed through Shenzen to pick up more people (unoffical passengers as Sherman explained). Then on into the night. Mostly it was motorway, but at one point in the middle of the night I awoke to find we were on a single track road which was very bumpy, and just full of trucks in both directions (were they saving the motorway tolls?). Around 2am we stopped at a service area, and the bus stayed there for about 2 hours to kill some time and give the drivers a rest, as apparently we couldn't arrive until 7am in Yangshuo. At 7.30 we were in Yangshuo, the bus stopped and we rapidly gathered our luggage and bikes, and were left standing by the roadside on the edge of the town, needing to unfold our bikes and set off to find our hotel.

Sherman - On the train to the Hong Kong/China Border at Lo Wu opposite Shenzen

Sherman's bike is a Taiwanese make called a Birdy; a more sturdy bike to ride but less compact than the Brompton I was riding

Lo Wu Border Crossing - very busy at 4pm with all the Chinese children returning home after school in Hong Kong

A daily routine for hundreds of Chinese school children

Arrival in Shenzen - a city of 20 million people,
more than 2.5 times the size of Hong Kong

Shopping in Shenzen

Sleeper Bus from Shenzen to Yangzhuo
- 11.5 hours on the bus - 550kms

Sleeper Bus - take your shoes off!

Arrived in Yangshuo, not feeling too bad but glad we are returning by train!

What are Karsts?

With over 70,000 karst peaks, Yangshuo is a paradise for climbers, and provides a stunning and distinctive backdrop to the area. Here is some more information on the formation of the karsts.

Karst topography is a three-dimensional landscape shaped by the dissolution of a soluble layer or layers of bedrock, usually carbonate rock such as limestone or dolomite. These landscapes display distinctive surface features and underground drainage, and in some examples there may be little or no surface drainage. The karstification of a landscape may result in a variety of large or small scale features both on the surface and beneath the ground. Mature karst landscapes, where more bedrock has been removed than remains, may result in karst towers or haystack/eggbox landscapes. Beneath the surface, complex underground drainage systems and extensive caves and cavern systems may form. A karst river may disappear underground a number of times and spring up again in different places, usually bearing a different name.

Yangshuo karst formation:
The entire region is surrounded by mountains, while the central part is covered with hills and plains. The karst geomorphy around Yangshuo is an area of irregular limestone formations in which erosion has produced fissures, sinkholes, underground streams, and caverns. This is wide-spread in the region, creating numerous natural scenic spots.

Two crustal movements of the earth took place about 200 and 180 million years ago, thrusting the limestone sediments out of the sea from its seabed, more than 200 meters below the surface to form a large expanse of land. The karst formation became the hills and rocks with the unusual shapes through many years of erosion by the wind and rain. There are many complete karsts, which are of high scientific and tourist value.

Karst caves and stone forests are a key feature of the natural environment of Yangshuo, and being located within the subtropical/monsoon zone, has a warm and moist climate.