Yangshuo

Hello!
We have arrived safely in Guilin after a pleasant "hard sleeper" journey : we were the only ones in our compartment the whole time, and appart from the cigarette smoke coming from next door it was perfectly comfortable and nice. We saw the city gradually disappear and after hundreds of kilometres of new towns being built (cranes and diggers, brand new houses and motorways) we reached the countryside, with its conical hills, its little fields where people in straw hats are crouching, and its buffalos and chicken.
After an hour on the bus we arrived in Yanshuo, a sort of backpacker's paradise, alongside a river, surrounded by hills, with many cheap guesthouses and restaurants dotted around. Everyone here is very relaxed : in the street people play cards or dominos, women knit or chop up vegetables, children run around or play badminton. Even though it is a touristy area, the place stays very tranquil and relaxing, and for the first time in China we feel like we are in a town, not a city.
The contrast between the local lifestyle and the western influence brought by tourists is quite striking at times : in the centre everyone is fluent in English, cafes serve pizzas and full English breakfasts, whereas a few streets away there are street barbers and dentists working away on the pavement.
Anyway we like the place, especially as the weather is ideal (sunny and temperatures in the low 20 degrees C), so we have booked our room (7 pounds for two with balcony, private bathroom, tv and dvd player...!) for 5 nights and we our treating ourselves to a week's holiday...
I should download some photos later in the week so you can see what we are talking about. Take care, ciao!