Hello Yangshuo
Well, I sit now on the 21st storey of a Hong Kong highrise in soho, staring out over the phallic monuments of supercorporations and their mightly lightshows, drinking a large Heinekin while thinking what a unique experience it is to be a traveller. It is about being present, reacting to the world and situations around you, and ultimately its about taking opportunities as they arise and paying attention when you find yourself in awesome places. I'm staying with Kris tonight, he's a pilot for Cathay Pacific, the brother of a girl I met in Yangshuo climbing, and one hell of a host. His cat is flying in from Edmonton today, he's very excited.
Yangshuo was amazing as the pictures will soon illustrate. To begin with the bennifits of making India one's first travel experience are fantastic: everything is absoluely good and easy and relaxing after you've travelled in India. Sample conversation re: the bus.
Xiao Si (Thick Scottish Accent): "There's things you just don't need to do. For example I've never slept on the street before, but I don't need to do it to proove that its not something I want to do."
Michael: "So you wouldn't take the bus in China."
Xiao Si: "No FUCKING way man, its absolute terror. They flip all the time."
Michael: "I thought the bus was pretty pimped. The beds were dry, there was glass on the windows, they even provided a blanket!"
Yangshuo is small and overrun with tourism but most of the tourism Chinese or older folks who are a cultural phenominon all of their own and who don't much get involved in the climbing scene. I arrived in town eager to climb these limestone Karst towers I'd been reading about but nothing would have prepared me for the how much I got done.
A small guiding business called ChinaClimb is home to 30 or so serious climbing bums from all over the planet. They come to work here for the season, living and eating cheap, guiding kids during the week and taking every other day to crag, crank and bolt new routes on 20 or so of the 70,000 towers in the area. Being only one of three non-China Climb staff in town I quickly became part of the group roping whomever had a day off into cragging (not a tough sell.)
The climbing is beautiful, from endless rain pockets, to obsene over-hanging jug-haulin' thuggery. I found myself pushing through some mental and physical barriers, and on my last day sending some difficut routes.
The scene here feels like the beginning of something prolific. I would find myself lowering off a climb, arms throbbing, chest pumping with humid sweat pouring down my face and would say something like:
"That was amazing. What's that one called."
"Don't know, some English guys put it up yesterday."
"SO AWESOME!"
Like all climbing excursions life is good and simple, working your body to the edge, eating well, sleeping hard and taking the occational swim. The community here is such that you can emerse yourself in the ambience of climbing. By the time you notice you've been smiling for 10 days you're allready bargaining for your bus ticket home: time slips through your fingers like water. I left late last night, pretty damn drunk on 3 yuan beer and a descent ChinaClimb sendoff and managed to surive another sleeper busride back to Shenzen.
Tomorrow begins a new adventure: further south and for the first time in my life... south of the equator. I'm gonna take a photo of my first flush.
Yangshuo was amazing as the pictures will soon illustrate. To begin with the bennifits of making India one's first travel experience are fantastic: everything is absoluely good and easy and relaxing after you've travelled in India. Sample conversation re: the bus.
Xiao Si (Thick Scottish Accent): "There's things you just don't need to do. For example I've never slept on the street before, but I don't need to do it to proove that its not something I want to do."
Michael: "So you wouldn't take the bus in China."
Xiao Si: "No FUCKING way man, its absolute terror. They flip all the time."
Michael: "I thought the bus was pretty pimped. The beds were dry, there was glass on the windows, they even provided a blanket!"
Yangshuo is small and overrun with tourism but most of the tourism Chinese or older folks who are a cultural phenominon all of their own and who don't much get involved in the climbing scene. I arrived in town eager to climb these limestone Karst towers I'd been reading about but nothing would have prepared me for the how much I got done.
A small guiding business called ChinaClimb is home to 30 or so serious climbing bums from all over the planet. They come to work here for the season, living and eating cheap, guiding kids during the week and taking every other day to crag, crank and bolt new routes on 20 or so of the 70,000 towers in the area. Being only one of three non-China Climb staff in town I quickly became part of the group roping whomever had a day off into cragging (not a tough sell.)
The climbing is beautiful, from endless rain pockets, to obsene over-hanging jug-haulin' thuggery. I found myself pushing through some mental and physical barriers, and on my last day sending some difficut routes.
The scene here feels like the beginning of something prolific. I would find myself lowering off a climb, arms throbbing, chest pumping with humid sweat pouring down my face and would say something like:
"That was amazing. What's that one called."
"Don't know, some English guys put it up yesterday."
"SO AWESOME!"
Like all climbing excursions life is good and simple, working your body to the edge, eating well, sleeping hard and taking the occational swim. The community here is such that you can emerse yourself in the ambience of climbing. By the time you notice you've been smiling for 10 days you're allready bargaining for your bus ticket home: time slips through your fingers like water. I left late last night, pretty damn drunk on 3 yuan beer and a descent ChinaClimb sendoff and managed to surive another sleeper busride back to Shenzen.
Tomorrow begins a new adventure: further south and for the first time in my life... south of the equator. I'm gonna take a photo of my first flush.
posted by Michael J.P. Hall at 4:13 AM
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