Yangdi to Xingping hike

A spectacular 24km hike along the Li River, says the Lonely Planet guidebook.

We started at Yangdi, a tiny place with nothing but a ferry to take us to the other side of the river. Before starting, the bus driver showed us the map of the hike. As you can see, we had to cross the river several times before reaching the end:

Many small bamboo boats are roaming across the river. Actually, the ONLY phrase the locals can say is "Hello, Bamboo?", and EVERYONE is asking you, whether it is a lady selling food, or a person working in a store!


We crossed in a ferry, a bit larger than the bamboo one:

And with unbearable heat, we started our hike.

Notice the new bags we bought in Guilin. They were pretty cheap, weigh almost nothing and have a good back system. Excellent for short hikes.

The scenery is breath taking!



After hiking for about one hour, we reached a local village.

where an old lady (literally) jumped out of her house and offered some fruit:

Along the way, the most common view is of crops that are being dried.

We mainly encountered rice, corn and red peppers. They are dried on large concrete platforms.

Local people are extremely poor. Notice the clothes drying as well:


Moving on, one can not be impressed with the landscapes:

Just as we were thinking about preparing lunch (i.e., noodles), we found a lovely local restaurant.

We eat one of the local specials - Beer fish (p.s., we know how to cook it already!)

A local boy pointed us the way, and was glad to be photographed:

Shay also got a new backpack, and its yellow! (well, portions of it)

Roughly at that time, we stopped to take a break near the river. There were several tiny black bugs that flew around us, but we paid little attention, since they didn't seem to sting us.

Oh, how wrong we were.... (continue reading...)



Finally, we reached a gorgeous place and decided to make camp. It was near a tiny local restaurant, and the people did not understand where we landed...

Near by, there was a stream and both of us took bath in the wild. How refreshing in the unbearable heat!

We talked to the owners of the local restaurant and Mai showed them the bug bites we got in Xiamen. They laughed and showed us the local medicine they use as bug repellent. We took a picture to buy one in the future...

During the night, we discovered that the tiny black bugs did actually bite us, and that their bites are much more painful than regular mosquitoes. Shay's elbow and back were covered by several dozens bites, and Mai legs as well. Oh, the horror, the horror! If you want to see, continue reading...

Anyhow, we got up next morning, and continued the hike:

Crossed the river once again:

Went through some more tiny villages,

And finally reached Xingping, where we took a minibus to Guilin. A minibus, mind you, that actually hold more than the capacity of a regular bus!

Back in Guilin, we realized how bad the bug bites were. We couldn't MOVE!

Notice, the following pictures are not for the faint of heart...

(Note, this is just a small portion of the leg. We spare you the rest...




Mai went to search for Anti-Histaminim, but found something only the next day. She sufferred all night and got almost no sleep.