First, some context. Its November/December 2022 and the whole country is getting very tired of endless daily (sometimes twice daily) COVID tests, QR scanning, lockdowns popping up at a moments notice, forced quarantines, online classes and a serious lack of reliable information. In these months, there were several high profile tragedies/disasters that were caused by the COVID prevention measures. People were getting tired and angry.
All of a sudden, all testing was suspended, restrictions lifted and we were told everything was back to normal and that COVID had basically been cancelled. People went from angry to scared, they panic bought everything in sight and every single person got sick all at once. Cities were silent and deserted, no shops or restaurants were open, no deliveries and no hospital beds. All of this happened in the space of about 5 weeks and then everyone started to emerge and try to get back to some semblance of normality.
Our last two months of the school semester was online; but the end was in sight. The Xmas party was cancelled and so the holidays just started early. I jumped at the opportunity to get out of my tiny flat and get somewhere, anywhere that wasn't Qingdao. International borders remained shut and so that particular route was denied to me, but the warm and toasty south still had some appeal.
I started off in Guangzhou for a night before getting on a train to YangShuo. Guangzhou itself seemed fine and back to a busy state as they were a few weeks ahead of the north in their recovery, and so the trip started off smoothly and calm. YangShuo is somewhere that I have traveled to before and so the need for tourist sightseeing wasn't really a priority.
I wanted to chill, recover from being sick and just generally be somewhere else with a book and no-one making demands on me. I did manage to get in a lot of wandering about and people watching and even
climbed one mountain.
The 'mountain' in question is actually a bridge between two peaks with a cable car to the top. It's completely man made and totally for the tourists but that doesn't stop it from being a beautiful view.
YangShuo as a town has changed a little bit from the first time I was here back in 2010 but the scenery remains some of the most beautiful in China. It is a fantastic and awe inspiring sight to see their crazy little
karst peaks for miles and miles. I love it!
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