October 1st is Chinese National Day and the start of a week long holiday. This is also when the people of China descend on tourist spots and everything (tours, taxis, activities) double in price. For that reason, Ryan and I decided to hit the hot spots in Yangshuo on September 30th. We rented bikes and spent all of Monday biking around the town, through some small neighborhoods, across the Yulong River a few times where bamboo rafts were launching, taking multiple wrong turns, but greatly enjoying the scenery.
     

Eventually, we got ourselves on the correct path and stopped at the Big Banyan Tree and the Gold Water Cave, also called Buddha Cave. The cave is fascinating, with stalactites and stalagmites, but our tour guide focused more on what the formations looked like (ie. buddhas, elephants) rather than the history of the cave and natural formations. Ryan took a mud bath in the cave at the end of the tour. I passed, as the mud, really more liked dirty water, was a bit on the chilly side, but it allowed me to get some great pictures of Ryan.
     

(3 washings of the swim trunks were required to remove the stench of the muddy water).

After the cave, we biked over to Moon Hill, hiked up to the top for picturesque views and watched a few rock climbers. As you can see below, the Chinese are real sticklers for following the rules.

     

At the top, we chatted with a Chinese man and his two sons. The man lived in Austin for 4 years while attending McCombs, and then Chicago for a few more before moving back to Shanghai. Two nice Austrian girls then traded picture taking duties with us.
     

Traffic and driving in China, even in smaller cities like Yangshuo, is crazy. The bike ride back to our hotel was probably one of the most stressful things I have ever done. Ryan tends to disagree. He thought it was pretty easy, cause everyone is going slow and steady, but he’s more comfortable on a bike than I am, and my bike was a little too big for me. I was not too fond of getting squished between another biker on one side and a moped on the other, or trying to go around a huge traffic circle with buses cutting us off, or mopeds weaving in and out around us. Oh yeah, and don’t forget dodging the pedestrians. Stressful! It did help to just be able to follow Ryan though, as he was a good leader. And the scenery outside of town, and even in the town, was beautiful.

A nice shower and dinner at the hotel was followed by the Liu Sanjie Impressions Light Show. On the shuttle to the show, we came across our first Americans in China! A mother and father from Chicago, visiting their son who teaches in Shanghai, and another nice girl from Texas, also teaching in Shanghai. The show was created in 2004 and depicts daily life of the people living around the Li River, with beautiful music. The highlight, though, is the mountains in the background beautifully showcased by the lights. Have I mentioned that the natural scenery here is amazing?