Shanghai to Dragon Teeth Mountains, Mar.2009

Ni Hiao! I left Xi'an and the Terracotta soldiers nearly a week ago, and since then moved further East to the booming metropolis of Shanghai. To be honest I wasn't too impressed with Shanghai...The crowds were starting to make me insane.

The sights are interesting enough, the Bund (home of the old foreign quarters (pre-dating the Communist take-over), the amazing acrobats show we saw (Chinese people are insane and not afraid of anything!), and the riverfront would have been nice if we could have seen any blue sky through the grey smog-fuelled air. I think after Shanghai I was going a little concrete crazy; I was itching to get to some fresh air and the countryside...So we decided to leave Shanghai early and get out of the cities.

Shanghai to Guilin, 24 hour train ride (yes that's right, 24 hours locked on a train), and a 2 hour bus trip later...I've finally made it to the countryside! So now, I'm in Yangshuo. In the southern Hunan province, this old town is popular for the Chinese as a honeymoon destination. It lives up to its reputation! The town is small, and tucked along a riverfront unlike anything I've ever seen before.

The mountains along the river look like Dragon Teeth, craggled, sharp and pointing in every possible direction. The town is constantly lit up with christmas twinkle lights, the night markets are always playing music, and the local specialty Beer Fish is absolutely sublime! This is also where I'll be spending most of my money: I'm signed up for river bamboo raft trips, Tai Chi class (this afternoon!), water-color painting (why not???), and a traditional cooking class. You can do everything here--take mandarin chinese courses, kung-fu classes, calligraphy...I can see myself staying here for a while. Atleast until I've recharged enough energy to make it to Hong Kong.