To the Yulong!
Driving through the back country roads at night from Guilin airport to Yangshou I could not see them.
Rising with a rooster's crow and stumbling from my room in a traditional yet restored farmhouse – now the lovely Outside Inn – I see they loom everywhere. My eyes adjust slowly to a panorama they’ve never before seen. Some resemble thick bull horns, others some kind of granite vegetable. They rise conspicuously from the ground and dot the topography of lush rice fields and slow moving rivers. Formed over millions of years ago by the earth’s crustal movements, the Karst peaks are composed of limestone sediments. Each one’s unique body a result of endless erosion and whipping winds – nature always proves to be the best artisan.
I stay in the farming community of Cho-Long a mere 4 kilmometres from the more well-known Yangshou - that famed ‘town’ sitting on the Li River. Yangshou is no longer a town: tourism and industrialization have transformed the sleepy hamlet into a thriving and bustling city. Although the city itself is pleasant to stroll through and many other excursions require a visit, Cho-Long breathes and breeds more tranquility.
One gets the impression that Cho-Long mirrors what Yangshou was: a farming community in one of the prettiest corners of the world. The narrower and quieter Yulong river – compared to the bustling Li River and its ferry boats - flows past Cho-Long through pancake-flat rice fields to even more serene and time-less villages. Concrete paths dissect the farmlands, ideally suited for bicycles or intrepid legs (bicycles may be borrowed from the Outside Inn). An idyllic swimming hole rests not 10 minutes from the Outside Inn where you can bathe and gaze adoringly at each soaring, oddly-shaped peak. In Chinese, ‘Yulong’ means ‘meeting a dragon’ and it is not difficult to imagine a row of karst peaks resembling the back or torso or head of such a mythical creature. Along the river, entrepreneurial locals try to convince you to take a ride on rafts made from striking bamboo pieces – a reminder of tourism’s growing impact.
For my money, simply meandering along the river, past farmhouses and rice fields and over ancient bridges is the best way to enjoy this slice of Guangxi province.