Whoever said that Yangshuo is a typical beautiful little Chinese town must really go see his physician because what you get is probably the touristiest spot you’ve ever been to.
If you’re planning a trip here, be sure to read the following article because we will only give you authentic and honest feedback on our impression of Yangshuo. Forget Loney Planet on this. We built on the writer’s impressions and fell flat on our face! What’s up Lonely Planet? Where are the honest words we got in previous guides?
Anyway, our insight won’t be embellished but only true and straightforward. I wish I had read an article just as honest before planning this trip because my destination would have definitely altered.
First impressions count.
We arrived in Yangshuo at 1am with the sleeper bus from Guangzhou. The bus ride itself was pretty comfy. If you’re not overweight or claustrophobic, it’s a great way to get a good night sleep and travel at the same time. So arriving in Yangshuo with heavy rain and no lights near the bus station was not good for a nice first impression. Luckily we knew where we wanted to go: Explorer Hotel. I read the Lonely Planet travel guide before and it said, that Explorer Hotel it was a cute & quite mid-range hotel. So we beckoned the local tuk tuk driver over and were on our way. During the 10-minute ride there, we started realizing, that this town was not a sleepy little Chinese village as we expected … Turning into the street of Explorer Hotel, it was one bar to the next with bright neon lights and loud techno music – with binge drinking highly appreciated. Seriously?! The tuk tuk driver also pissed us off when he tried to rip us off but we couldn’t be bothered and gave him the 10 Yuan more. After all, it’s been one hell of a long day and it didn’t seem to get any better.
No fatties allowed in the sleeper bus from Guangzhou to Yangshuo.
After checking in, the reception lady said that our room was on the third floor … and there was no elevator. Great! Two 20kg bags (one in each hand) and up we were … only to realize, that the room was already taken by someone else. Now I started to get a little grumpy. Ulli was a bit calmer since she had been on a four-week trip through Bangladesh and therefore wouldn’t lose her temper easily. “So sorry Missy, please take room in first floor.” So we did. The room was clean with two large beds, A/C and a nice bathroom – at least this worked out, otherwise I would have needed the consultation of a Chinese Psychologist.
It can’t get any worse, can it?
The sky cleared up the next day. It was cloudy but at least the rain stopped. Still a bit edgy from what we saw last night, we wanted to give Yangshuo a second chance. It’s said that everyone deserves a second chance … yeah … who in the world ever wrote that crap?! It was even worse than the night before. Imagine Rimini in Italy. Phuket in Thailand. Kuta in Indonesia. Or Downtown Siam Reap in Cambodia. Multiply this by 100 and you get Yangshuo in China.
West street in Yangshuo has a scary resemblance to Kao San Road in Bangkok …
I really started wondering on why I wanted to come here so badly and remembered the most amazing BBC Documentary “Wild China” where Guilin and Yangshuo were described as “the most beautiful spots in China”. Yeah sure, if you have the cash to fly in with a helicopter, shoot scenes from above or land in uninhabited placed. But reality looks very (very !) different: Huge highway roads. Tourist vendors along all the streets. Thousand of bamboo raft boats on the Li River. Bars and fast food places. Gigantic hotel building blocks. And of course, thousands of tourists. No sight of traditional China.
Even the fisherman with their cormorant birds were fake. Sure, they exist but they’re just another tourist attraction. These fishermen don’t make their money by selling the daily catch on the local market anymore. Much rather, they wait along the Li River for tourists to pass, who pay them to display their cormorant birds. By the way, the birds also look a bit pissed since no one lets them catch fish anymore…
A fisherman with his Cormorant waiting for customers.
I hope I was able to give you an insight on our impressions. Clearly you need to see a place yourself to fully understand the words but I think we did a good job filling in the blanks. Yangshuo once was a beautiful town worth a UNESCO World Heritage Site but obviously the development of the last 30 years didn’t make the area any better (in our opinion); the view of the karst mountain landscape is interrupted by signs, electric wires, (lots of) plastic rubbish and all sorts of tourist attractions. One thing is for sure … to get the picture perfect shot; you’d have to be a master at Photoshop.
Appearances can be deceiving.
All in all, the first day here had a few down sides but also a very nice up side: Moon Hill was fantastic. This place needs muscle and stamina to access so the crowds up there are thinning. But since this was such a great impression, I would like to write a separate article on it.
That’s such a shame to hear, especially since Sally at UnbraveGirl just posted very similar things about Yangshuo. At least you’ve got some great photos though! Also, friendly fyi, it’s YangshUO, not Yangshou :)
Hi Edna!
Yeah, it was a bit of a bummer but oh well … this happens when you visit places you’ve never been to before ;) It all turned out ok, because we had some amazing days at the Longji Rice Terraces. Really a stunning place! I uploaded a couple of photos to our flickr account and will publish an article as soon as I’m home.
All the best,
Nisa
P.S. Thanks for the hint ;)
I’m actually really glad you posted this article. We are pro photographers and we’ve wanted to see this part of China for a while. But not many people let you see the reality behind the lens. (i admit sometimes we do it too, i raise a guilty hand because i’m a photoshop wizard)
I think we will still visit Yangshuo but its good to have the heads up. We traveled India as well and you get a lot of disappointment there as well.
Great Pics, Great Blog.
J
Hwy Jmayel. Same here, I’m a bit of a Photoshop master too and of course, we try to get the best out of every single shot…
I’m glad you liked the article. I’m mean, I’m sure that if you have a bit more time to travel around the area around Yanghuo, there are amazing spots as well. But since we only had two weeks total, we decided to hit the road asap. I’m sure you’ll have a great time there but as you said, it’s always good to have a heads up ;)
What part of India did you travel to? So far we’ve only had amazing experiences there.
Cheers, Nisa
After reading your posts about the Dragon’s Backbone and Yangshou it had me curious about my own words about these sites. I would have to agree that the bar scene in Yangshou was a bit of a shock. Luckily we were way to busy riding bikes and hiking outside of the city to ever be to bothered by it. http://www.thetravelingdurrians.com/blog/?currentPage=9
While your assessment of the town is on the money I do think you have made the classic mistake of judging the book (the greater Yangshuo region) by its cover (West Street and surrounds). I live there for 1,5 years some 10 years ago and indeed the town itself has been wrecked beyond compare but that has not affected the stunning beauty of the region which does and should count as among the most beautiful in China. Unlike Halong Bay in Vietnam where you have minimal escape options since you are mostly stuck on a boat, in Yangshuo all it takes is a 20-30 minute bike ride and you will be alone in the countryside, peddling past tiny settlements and into a visual paradise. Had you made that effort instead of bolting at the first sign of commercial pandemonium, your assessment would likely have been very different. Maybe refrain from putting people off until you have spent a bit more time in a place. The same goes for all those negative reviews of Phuket, Halong, Goa, etc etc. The payoff is as great as the effort you put in. In these times of mass travel what makes you think you can just show up in a stunning and accessible place and find it unspoiled and undeveloped or non-commercial?
Hello Marc!
First of all, thank a lot for your honest comment, I really appreciate it.
I agree with you, that the area is absolutely stunning. The karst mountains and the landscape itself is beautiful! That was actually the reason why I wanted to visit in the first place. I wasn’t disappointed with the landscape at all, but with what mass tourism has made out of it…Yes, you might not be stuck on a boat like in Ha Long Bay, but there is no doubt about the fact, that mass tourism doesn’t help the beautiful landscape in the Yangshuo area…
We did leave the main town of Yanghuo (that was actually the first thing we did after spending some time there) and well, there were still tourist all over the place. Sure, we would have found some unspoiled spots for sure, but we didn’t have enough time to get there. And this what I’m sorry for, because first impressions do count, and this is a fact.
I don’t want to put anyone off from doing anything, BUT I simply wanted to write an honest review of the experiences we encountered there. And this is what I did. Further more, there were places I really did enjoy around Yangshuo, like Moon Hill for example. But the reason why this place is still free from crowds of people, is because you actually have to move a little bit…
Also, this doesn’t mean that the entire Guangxi region is like this – and I never mentioned anything closely to this. I’d love to visit other areas, but all I’m saying is, that Yangshuo is definitely not the place for us. Honestly, if I would have known that Yangshuo was a town like the one we came across, we would have NEVER travelled there but instead would have stuck to little villages like we usually do. But the reviews I read didn’t say a lot about this, rather people wrote that Guilin was a town to skip (we wanted to visit this town first). Turn out, we did enjoy Guilin for the short time we were there… So I also learned something: “Stick to your guts and do as you know best.”
Mass tourism at famous sights (not only in China of course) means lots and lots of people. And this destroys beautiful places. For example: We visited the Longji rice terraces a couple of days after Yangshuo and it was the most beautiful area. Really impressive and I could have wandered around there for days. BUT, the government is building a tram way all the way up the rice terraces, so that there is no need for a three hour walk through the stunning landscape area anymore. This will definitely destroy this part of China too and make Dazhai into another tourist town like thousands of others before. And for me personally, this is a sad thing and makes travelling less fun (at least for the kind of travelling that we enjoy).
I don’t expect to find unspoiled places easily. Believe me, I’ve been traveling all my life and I know how to get to these kind of spots. Yangshuo simply disappointed me, but that won’t keep me from traveling the region again, because it’s just one of the few cities there…
Best, Nisa
I think you really need to base yourself in Yangshuo and get a scooter or bike and go into the countryside everyday or stay in a less touristy town
I agree with alexi the town is not the site the countryside and people are
Definitely the right way to do it Alexi & Paul.
Still, it was a bit weird to visit Yangshuo which turned out to be the most touristy spot ever. We just didn’t expect this in the middle of China, because we’ve read, heard and seen different; we’re not fans of guide books, but when visiting an area for the first time, we always check out what other people write about … and well, Yangshuo was definitely described differently then how it was, that’s why we wanted to write out honest opinions.
As said though, the area around is beautiful and worth seeing…
Best, Nisa