China Bulletin 6

Hi Kids!

I spent an hour typing this last night and then the screen went blank. Let's hope for better luck tonight. Yesterday was a super day. We were in Yangshuo and started with a hot-air balloon ride which was interesting, exciting, beautiful and 50 quid well spent. All five of us were squeezed into a wicker basket with an 11 year-old boy who was in charge. Well he might have been a bit older than 11 but he didn't look it. Anyway he was bloody good at his job for which much thanks. Those Karst hills look pretty hard if you hit them. For those of you who don't know about Karst hills ask Chris Devereux, he'll bore the pants off you with all that geological stuff he knows about.

Then we returned to our hotel for breakfast and a look round the town and left after lunch on back roads that were unmade but flat and very rural. We loaded the bikes onto a ferry to cross the Li river and then followed it to Xingping about 50kms in total. We booked into a rather simple hotel and immediately left to walk to the river for the classic bamboo raft at dusk ride on the Li armed with a few beers and some peanuts. We saw some cormorant fishermen at a distance but not in action; we did see a real wild cormorant in action and that was very impressive. Then it was back to the hotel for an excellent meal and a local artist visited to show us some of his works. He was a truly gentle man. Ormerod offered him a drink, but the bottle was empty. All heart, our Michael!

This morning we were up for 8 o'clock breakfast of banana and honey pancakes with boiled rice and off at 0900 for 32kms on unmade roads including a climb over a pass of about 10kms. This had some spectacular scenery but I was not in a fit state to appreciate the later stages as I was in extremis. My legs went completely and I was reduced to sub-walking pace. Graham waited back with me but I should think I was about 30 minutes down at the top. Finally we regained the flat well-surfaced road and after lunch we rode very gently to our destination of Guilin where we are booked into a posh hotel overlooking the river. Guilin is a big city that has really embraced the new commercialization. We ate at a fine restaurant and mixed with the crowds shopping until late in the evening. Tomorrow we have 90kms to ride to the rice terraces at Longji, our last day's riding.

Take care,

Michael John xxx