China watered down for the masses. (Yangshuo)

Member Name: Sexyrice

Product:	Yangshuo
Date:	05/06/01 (240 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Everything is easy., Loads of tourists.

Disadvantages: Overrated., Loads of tourists., Expensive

Your opinion of Yangshuo will depend on the reasons why you came to China in the first place and where you have arrived here from. Lonely Planet might well advise not to make this your first or second stop, yet I am certain that I would have appreciated this town more had I done so and if I hadn't seen so many more interesting places before I got here.

Certainly as you leave Guilin (the most popular gateway to Yangshuo) you can't help but feel pleased that you are leaving one of the most overrated tourist destinations in China, but are you heading to another? First impressions of Yangshuo (after the short and smooth 90 minute journey - but don't pay more than 5 kuai) leave you feeling a little cheated by the eulogising of the place you will have read in various guide books and heard from other travellers. The town (and it is most definitely a town and not a village even by Chinese standards) appears at first to be yet another version of Chinese white tiled building hell. Your pleasure at reaching your destination is blighted by the feeling that 'this can't really be the place, can it?', and you hope that the bus will carry on further into the beautiful scenery to empty you into the village you dreamed Yangshuo was.

After being dumped off the bus you will have no problem in finding somewhere to stay. As you stumble out of the bus station you are faced by a bustling yet quiet street along which you have a good choice of places to stay. On my first night tired after a long journey I settled for the Good Companion Holiday Inn (one of the first places you see as you exit the bus station) which promised private facilities and a decent price after a spell of good natured haggling, 30 kuai (under 3 quid) for a room with a big bed and shower and WC. Certainly most of the accommodations around here are much of a muchness and the owners will have no qualms about letting you view rooms beforehand although the Faulty Tower Hotel (around
50 kuai for 1 person to 30 kuai each for a room with 3) nearby was recommended by travellers I met.
If you can resist the urge to dump your bags in the first place you come across a walk of around 5 minutes down the first road you come to if you turn right on exiting the bus station will take you to the tourist centre of the town where every building is a cafe, guest house or shop catering to tourists and you will have no trouble finding someone to point you in the direction of a guest house they recommend. Expect prices which are relatively high for China (due to the high number of people who make there way here) and less success in haggling than you may be used to during peak times of the year. A good compromise for those who want the scenery without the baggage of the town can be found a few km's out of the town on the road to Moon Hill (you should have no trouble finding somebody willing to take you here everyone knows where moon hill is)where a double can be haggled down to below 100 kuai. I heard good reports about this place from those that stayed there.

The town itself is most definitely not the highlight of your visit here. During all times of the day and night you will be offered the same souvenirs that you can buy anywhere in China (ranging from tacky junk items you wouldn't buy for a joke to eye-catching silks and paintings) but due to the popularity of the place you will be offered these goods at prices far higher than you can get them for at most other places. Lets face it the sellers are hoping that your presence in a place which requires no imagination whatsoever to find and reach means that you have only visited such places during your time in China and will therefore not know that you are being ripped off. Judging by some of the prices I witnessed people paying (250 kuai for a silk robe I could get for 40 or 50 in Beijing) they are wise to try this. Sure you have to haggle in most places but here it is a necessity and the sta
rting prices will be a lot higher and the sellers are unwilling to sell for a good price as they know that in a few moments another wallet will walk down the street who will pay more.
It is a criticism of a place that is all too easy to make that its inhabitants see the hordes of visitors as a way to make money fast, but this is the case here. If you don't mind paying these prices (that are in most cases far less than you would pay at home) then fine. Simple economics tell me that if I can avoid being ripped off (without being too stingy on the people doing the selling) then I can travel for longer so I’d rather not be ripped off. So rather than pay 20 kuai to internet (slowly) here I’ll pay 3 kuai for speedy internet in Chengdu. The same goes for CD’s, cheap though they may be here compared to home, as little as 5 kuai in most towns and cities (even Guilin) rather than 15 or 20 here.
Indeed a few days spent in Yangshuo can work out to be expensive due to the constant temptations.


The scenery around Yangshuo is at times spectacular, and whilst many of the destinations themselves (Moon Hill etc.) are not that impressive the journey to them is well worth the hassle, and a few hours of aimless cycling can be very rewarding. However, there is little that you can see here that can't be seen elsewhere in this area. The most impressive Karst scenery I saw in China was tucked away in little visited Guangxi province.

The town is not picturesque and due to the high number of tourists and the amount of facilities which cater to them and the fact that its residents are by now used to high number of tourists you will certainly not find the 'real china' (whatever that might be) here. This is a place remember which is becoming popular for the Chinese to visit as much for the chance to ogle at the westerners as for the scenery. If you are looking for your own piece of China don't believe the hype about the place
and search elsewhere. Where Yangshuo scores highly, though, is in the way that tourists are catered for here. The novelty of eating reasonable copies of your favourite dishes from home will be too much for some and it is easy to arrange onward travel to your next destination. It is also a good place to stock up on books and tunes (of course you do pay more for this here). Also the large number of tourists will be a huge draw for many. It can get lonely tramping around the places off the tourist circuit and at times the chance to converse in your own language is too much to resist & I made good friends whilst I was here.

Maybe I’m being too hard on the place. It tries hard, a little too hard for my liking. It all depends on what you are looking for.
The best thing that can be said for Yangshuo is that the time I spent there felt like a holiday from travelling. However, I don't remember Yangshuo as fondly as many other places I visited because it was all there on a plate for me. I have no tales to tell about this place, it was somewhere I tuned out for a few days.
I would have loved to have visited this place say 15 years ago before it became a 'destination'. It must have been a special place then. If you have been to Dali or Lijiang (or even Xiahe) there is nothing here that you need to see. Yet if you liked those places this provides more of the same.

Just don't believe the hype, Yangshuo is easily missable and the real magic, surprises and madness of China can be found elsewhere.

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