Discovering Yangshou, China

Yangshou is somewhat like the Kao San Road of Southern China. Touts are everywhere, shopping trolleys with wares for sale and little men selling wooden flutes are every ten feet. Lights with blinking neon and flashing disco balls brighten the streets at night and thumping music echos up and down the alleys pretty much all day long. A bit too much if you ask me but it does have a lovely location along the river and rolling hills once you’re able to get out into the countryside – which we indeed tried to do!

The rain hasn’t stopped for several days so Cara and I stayed in bed for much of the day yesterday. We haven’t had a day off to do nothing since we started our China backpacking trip. Today, all of the shops and cafes are closed, and our beds were warm – the perfect excuse to sleep in and catch up on books. We tried to watch Chinese T.V for a bit and were mildly entertained by a cheer-leading competition for a good hour.

This quaint little town of Yangshou will keep us occupied for a few days and then it’s off to Hong Kong to renew our Chinese visas. We have a few things planned here if the heavens ever stop pouring down. There are several small village schools in need of volunteer English teachers if only for a day or two. I might take advantage and relive my Cambodian classroom experience. Until then, we have a full restaurant downstairs as well as internet to keep our minds occupied while the skies remain dark and angry.