Yangshuo Things to Do Tips by sunshine9689

Boat ride from Guilin to Yangshuo

There are 3 types of boats you can take: big English boat (380RMB per person), big Chinese boat (240RMB), small Chinese boat (180RMB).
We took a big English, hoping that having an English guide on board will make a difference. Wrong thought - it did not matter really, cause we barely paid any attention to what she was saying.. The nature was beautiful, you don`t need someone else to tell you it is or point out to some rocks and say they look like a woman with a baby, etc... :-)

The journey takes about 4 hours and includes Chinese lunch people at the table (up to 6) will share with each other. 2 bottles of Chinese beer are included. The lunch was not that great and we had diarrhea a day later. I`m pretty positive it was a noodle soup which tasted kinda weird. We think it was probably because the boat kitchen uses the river water to cook dishes and that water isn`t clean at all.

We bought our tickets at a local travel agency, located downstairs in the same building as our hostel was.

Bike tour with a local guide

We went on a tour with a local guy, he goes by the name Kevin (see the pic). Payed 100RMB ($12.5) for his services and were not that blown away:
I mean, the countryside was beautiful and everything, but he kept bringing us to the touristic spots which sucked big time (went to Budda cave and were VERY disappointed, not to mention that it was a dangerous place to go to!!!).

Next to the Moon Hill we ate lunch at a restaurant 'Drunk Goddes In The Moon Family Food'. The food was good, but overpriced (80RMB for a fish). Well, we were given an expensive foreign menu instead of a local Chinese one which Kevin could of translated for us, but he never mentioned anything about other menu.. until we saw how locals were given it. Sure, the food in cheaper Chinese menu was not the same, may be it was much worse, but I wanted an opportunity to choose for myself rather than being decided for.

Renting a bike for a day cost us 10RMB each.

I do not want to say that Kevin was a bad guide. He just was not creative, entertaining, did not talk much (probably because his English was not that good). So, if you want to see just tourist spots, he is your guy. If you want something else (like to see a piece of real rural life), go with another guide, preferably a girl (they seem to be better). Heard good things about Maria and Ester.

They all walk along the West street and approach you, showing the book with testimonials their satisfied clients wrote down about them.