In May and June of last year I spent four weeks in China, three of them on Intrepid’s China Experience tour. I’ll be writing a lot more about my travels in China, but in the meantime here’s a small taste in an article I wrote for The Journal by Intrepid Travel.
In the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of China, south of the city of Guilin, is the county, and town, of Yangshuo. Yangshuo was one of the best of the tour’s many highlights – for the unmatched landscape of green valleys and karst mountains, for a cycling trip through rural China, and for one of the most spectacular performances I’ve ever seen, anywhere – the entire thing enacted on the Li River.
Hop on over to The Journal and have a look.
WHY YOU SHOULD VISIT YANGSHUO, CHINA (AND WHAT TO DO THERE)
Next post: A day trip to Nikko and the very beautiful Toshogu Shrine.
All words and images by Alison Louise Armstrong unless otherwise noted
© Alison Louise Armstrong and Adventures in Wonderland – a pilgrimage of the heart, 2010-2019.
Adventures in Wonderland 
A fascinating article. That performance alone would be worth the trip.
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Thanks so much Darlene. That performance was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen. A cast of 600! And it was all on the water with spectacular lighting and costumes. I’ll do a blog post about it eventually.
Alison
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Breathtaking photo, Alison.
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Thanks Tish.
A.
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Oh, my goodness. The photos started and ended with a sense of magic. And a bike ride inbetween. I love your little impressions and facts sprinkled in to the text 🙂
Love going along with you!
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Thanks so much Susan. Glad you enjoyed the ride. 🙂
The scenery, the bike ride, the performance – the whole time there was quite magical – one of the best times of the whole tour.
Alison
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Sound very interesting.
I love the mountains or hills. They look very interesting.
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Thanks rabirius. Those mountains are so beautiful – and in every direction you looked. It’s a pretty special place.
Alison
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Yes. I really believe that.
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Alison the Impressions Sanjie Li show looks astounding.What a setting! Hiking the 456 steps sounds like quite the trek but as you say the view even if consitions arent perfect is incredible.
On a practical note I see that on the Canadian governement travel website they are currently advising a high degree of caution for travel to China. With recent arrests of Canadians what are you thinking about current travel to China?
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Mostly Don and I have ignored govt warnings, mainly because they keep them up for way longer than necessary (eg I think the Australian Govt still has a warning about going to Bali). There was a warning about Egypt so we chose to go with a tour instead of travelling alone. The US govt warns about Mexico. It’s nonsense apart from a few of the border states. We’ve travelled quite a bit of the rest of Mexico and been totally safe and loved it. Of course we take normal travellers precautions. Having said all that I’d hesitate to go to China at the moment given that the rift with Canada is so new. Give it a year or two and whatever the warnings are if things have settled down between the two governments I’d go for sure even if there’s still a govt warning not to.
I could rave for hours about Impressions Sanjie Li, and I’ll eventually do a post about it. It was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen. And really really beautiful.
And climbing those 456 steps was so worth it! – if only for the exercise which I know you’ll understand, but it was much more than that. I wish I’d had a better camera to capture more of it.
Alison
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beautiful Alison,
thank you for taking me there!
geographically reminds me
of travels to northern Vietnam,
Ha Long Bay area.
wishing you safe,
happy travels 🙂
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Thank you so much, and you’re welcome. It reminded me also of Ha Long Bay – same spectacular karst mountains. Very similar also to the mountains around Viñales in Cuba.
Alison
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Your photos are masterful!
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Oh Cindy thank you. It means a lot coming from you.
Alison
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Yangshou was definitely one of my favourite places in China too. And indeed nothing can prepare you for the awesomeness of the scenery that unfolds along the Li River on the cruise between Guilin and Yangshuo. Even the low lying clouds and rain did not detract, but rather added to the mystique of the place. You were lucky though to see the night show because when I was there it was cancelled because the heavy rain meant the water level in the river was too high. Looking forward to reading more about your adventures in China.
Lieve
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Oh Lieve I wish I could have done that cruise! It sounds amazing. We did do a 3 night Yangtze River cruise which was ok, but not spectacular. The performance on the river however was definitely spectacular. It was an optional extra, and I’m so glad I chose to go to it.
Alison
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Wow, China. Lucky you. And lucky us that you’re sharing it. TY. ❤️
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You’re welcome Paulette. It was quite the experience! So glad I went.
Alison
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I thought I recognized those Guilin gumdrop mountains! I hope to make it there one day, now even more than before ☺️
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Oh I do hope you get there Ka. It’s absolutely gorgeous.
Alison
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Interesting post Alison, with gorgeous photos. Those karst mountains are gorgeous and definitely remind me of the landscape we experienced South of Hanoi in Viet Nam. Wow, quite the trek. But often the end is worth it and the journey to get there is part of the adventure.
Peta
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Thanks so much Peta. The landscape is very like Ha Long Bay, but you reminded of a trip we did along the Pearl River – I think south of Hanoi – to an amazing temple in a huge cave. And the landscape was like that too. The trek was definitely worth it, and yes, many adventures along the way.
Alison
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It all looks magical. Especially the bike ride part. Another place to add to my ‘list’!
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Yes, do add it to your list – it’s a really beautiful part of the world. Cycling through the rice fields was one of the highlights of the entire tour. And if you do get there I’d really recommend exploring more of the Guilin area – rice terraces and cormorant fishing – we were so close but didn’t see either so I want to go back!
Alison
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Nice article, Alison. The show seems spectacular; this was not even on my radar when I went to Yangshuo ten years ago. I wonder if it even existed then. I LOVED the trip down the Li River from Guilin to Yangshuo, and I also fondly remember our bike ride out into the rice paddies and countryside. Such a wonderful contrast with all the big cities!
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Thanks so much Lexie. I would have so loved to do that trip down the river from Guilin, but just being in the area around Yangshuo was pretty amazing. I loved finally being in the countryside after the big cities – it was a very welcome change.
Alison
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Beautiful photo Alison. What a backdrop for a performance. –Curt
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Thanks Curt. Yes, fabulous backdrop. The whole show was totally amazing.
Alison
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We were there 3 years ago and also rode bikes and saw the Sanjie Li show – both highlights of the trip after the business of Beijing. I could have done without the grating Chinese music for 2 hours. Did you have a chance to go into the local market that is at the end of West Street? Definitely got the local flavor there with the foods for sale. Our experience in the terraced rice fields nearby was not as wonderful as the weather was raining/foggy and we hiked for 7 hours barely seeing 20 feet in front of us. Memorable in a different way!
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Honestly I don’t remember the music – I presume you mean at Sanjie Li? I guess I was too amazed by the show and the costumes and taking pictures. I did get to the market, but not until later in the day so it was pretty quiet – but yes lots of local flavour. We didn’t go to the rice fields. I wish we had, but then we may have gotten the same weather as you did. Mostly it was cloudy/misty when we were in Yangshuo. And I had the same experience you had at the rice fields at the Great Wall – totally fogged in. Sometimes the weather just won’t cooperate!
Alison
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Looks really outwordly with those peaks! Nothing like the cliché idea of China that I have.
Fabrizio
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It’s quite special scenery there. Sometimes in the cities it can be overly noisy and crowded, but my (limited) experience of rural China is definitely positive, especially with scenery like that.
Alison
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Of all the wonders in China, this is what I most want to see. The karst landscape is like something out of a fantasy movie and riding along the path by the rice fields looks dreamy. Is that show ongoing or only at specific times of the year? Fabulous article Alison. It definitely makes me want to book a trip with Intrepid.
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Thanks so much Caroline. Intrepid is a good company to travel with for sure. I must admit I enjoyed their Egypt tour better than China mainly because there were hardly any tourists in Egypt so we had all the big attractions (mostly) to ourselves. As far as I know Sanjie Li runs year round, but don’t quote me on that. Lieve said the night she wanted to go it was cancelled because of too much rain. If there’s a rainy season perhaps it doesn’t run then.
If you do get to Yangshuo I’d also add in time to visit the rice fields, and get to some cormorant fishing, and do the boat trip from Guilin to Yangshuo. Hope you get there!
Alison
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Wow!
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It’s pretty fabulous isn’t it!
Alison
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It sounds ;like you enjoyed yourself, especially during that performance, which seems akin to Olympic Opening performances, if anything. I’ve always loved images of those karst hills….glad the area has not been spoiled!
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I did enjoy the Yangshuo area a lot. It was one of the highlights of the tour for me. And the karst hills are gorgeous.
The Sanjie Li performance was simply stunning – I did not see the Olympic opening ceremonies, but I vaguely remember it was created by the same director.
I’ll be writing a lot more about the time I spent in China eventually, for my own blog rather than for Intrepid.
Alison
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Yet another fantastic article Alison! You have increased my curiosity of China and Japan exponentially!
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Thanks so much LuAnn. Both countries are definitely worth exploring – so much history, and, for us, very exotic traditions and cultures.
Alison
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On my list! Headed to the article now!
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Thanks Lisa.
Alison
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