China: around Guilin

I was looking at some of my photos from China and came across a few crazy ones from the very end of my trip (my final week before returning to Shanghai). By this stage Tess and Stephen were already out of the country, and I was traveling on my own, and with limited time to spare. The end is always the sweetest though!

Here are some photos from a touristy boat ride in Yangshuo, near Guilin in the south. I grew my beard out for most of my time in China - ain't nothing wrong with teaching physics or backpacking when you've got a bit of stubble - so by the end it was something to be proud of. A local college student decided I looked funny enough to be worth showing around for a few days - she's the one who took the photos. Hanging out with her definitely made sightseeing more fun.



In this one you can also see the pretty background:



After you quit crew, you've only got limited means for propelling boats across a lake:




Crazy landscapes...


Evidently the pretty tourist town wasn't quite fun enough - so this club came in:




After a few days in Yangshuo and a night in Guilin, I continued on to the Ping'an rice field terraces. I was planning to hike from the smaller village on the mountainside to the bigger one and thus make all the cool viewpoints in my short time there. I got lost quite often in the walk, was drenched by a few sudden rains, and finally arrived at a family run hostel somewhat after sundown - it was awesome.

The now-touristy buildings in the main village were quite pretty;



And the rice terraces delightfully dreamy.