Xingping

We took a 1 hours bus north from Yangshuo and ended up in a village called Yangdi. Because we intended to hike for 5 hours to Xingping we left are big luggage in Yangshuo. In Yangdi we had to cross the river which involved a lot of bargaining skills because the locals charge exorbitant amounts to cross a 50m wide river. We managed and started walking. Freddys camera broke somewhere on the road and didn't work anymore. The hike was beautiful even though there was no sun at all and mist was hanging over the river. We crossed the river 2 more times and were pretty much alone. Only on the river there were big cruise ships zipping through with big laud speakers shouting at the Chinese people on board. Eventually we arrived in Xingping and checked into a hostel.
Bill Clinton has visited this area a bit more than a decade ago. We hiked on top of the nearest mountain and enjoyed a great view. The first night we got woken up by laud construction noise in the lower level. We had to change hotel and ended up in the nicest place in China. The third day we took a river cruise to a fishing village downstream. Souvenir shops were lined up along the path from the pier to the village itself. After we fought are self through locals followed us almost screaming to sell a boat trip back to Xingping. We said unusually clearly that we don't want a ticket and that they could fuck off. But they just wouldn't stop so we had to leave for the hills, from where we walked back to Xingping. Xingping is the best base to explore the nice setting of this landscape.