Mozambique had a civil war going on for many years (starting back in 1977) and still isn’t back to square one and this can make things a bit tricky. With only about 2 weeks on our hands, we couldn’t afford to take up too many challenges, like for example going overland for long distances, therefore – after flying into Johannesburg in South Africa – we took a plane to Vilanculos, which is a town right in front of the beautiful Bazaruto Archipelago.

Where to stay:

• The resorts on this archipelago were out of question, because they were simply too expensive and a bit too much out of the local action. And also, only a beach near by is not enough for our taste because we love to look above the blade’s edge. So we decided to stay “Aguia Negra” – which was a fantastic choice.

Aguia Negra hotel in Vilanculos, Mozambique.

At the adjoining diving facility, we booked trips out to the various islands. It’s not a long trip but of course you still need a boat … The scuba diving there is truly fantastic! The area is well-known for whale sharks and we were lucky enough to see one as well. After returning from the underwater world, we settled on the sandy beach for a while. It didn’t take long and some locals walked by. It turned out, that one of the resorts was not too far away and the locals used this stretch of the beach as “station”. They simply waited until a fishing boat spotted them and picked them up to sail back to the mainland.

The beach in front of our hotel was always sort of busy; whenever you walked down there, some fishing activity went on – which wasn’t a bad thing btw. Some really huge fish or lobsters were carried past us and one day a group of men came running towards the beach spot. It was the local running club, maybe exercising for a place in the Olympic team ;) These guys are really tough because it had about 40° Celsius in the shade.

Men running on the beach near Bazaruto Island in Mozambique.

Vilanculos itself is a sleepy coastal town which is a bit stretched out and with more or less non-existing public transport – one is confined to walk the area. The center is small, with a market, a pharmacy, a few shops and a bus station where minibuses depart to other villages.

One thing to be a bit cautious about are drunks or druggies, who wander around the area. During the daytime it didn’t bother us at all but going out at night would not be advisable … we really felt some sort of weird tensions and were told to rather not walk alone as soon as the sun went down. But other than that, our vacation in Mozambique was more than relaxing with great food, scuba diving and fantastic beaches.

Ladies walking along Bazaruto Island in Mozambique.

Fishermen near Bazaruto Island in Mozambique.

Fisherman around Bazaruto Island in Mozambique.

Waiting for the next ferry off Bazaruto Island in Mozambique.

Sailing boats near Bazaruto Island in Mozambique.

Fisherman on the beach near Bazaruto Island in Mozambique.

Fishermen at sea near Bazaruto Island in Mozambique.

Sailing along Bazaruto Island in Mozambique.

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. Other than than, we also visited the Silver Cave, which was a nightmare as well before heading up North to the Dragon’s Backbone rice terraces – definitely the highlight of our trip!