Yangshuo "Beautiful Reflection"

Yangshuo is a quaint town by the Li River, it is the countryside for sure. But like many beautiful places in China they have catered their businesses towards tourists both in aiding them and ripping them off. As soon as we walked off the bus we were strong armed into staying at crummy little hostel by a persistent Yangshuo local,who told us to call him "Ping". He "worked" at the Yangshuo Youth Hostel which was in our lonely planet guide, or so he told us. We ended up bargaining a fair price with him for a room and only realized this was not the same place as the hostel mentioned in the book after unpacking. Lesson number one never follow a pushy fellow to a hostel after a miserable eight hour bus ride. He could of set up a tent in the street and we would of slept there. Then as we are walking around the beautiful town that is surrounded by picturesque limestone peaks, "Ping" shows up on his honda motorbike wanting to "take us to get local food, at a good restaurant he knows." By then we were catching on to"Ping" and said thanks, but no thanks. He accepted this grudgingly but as soon as we were back to the hostel he was at our door pushing a ridiculously priced tour of the surrounding peaks by bicycle with a "knowledgeable, English speaking guide" and a boat tour of the Li river where we would see "beautiful reflections." After listening to him plead with us about taking the "amazing tour," and having him point to pictures of the river repeating "beautiful, reflection" about a million times, we talked him down to a third of the price. Finally we agreed to take the flippin tour to stop him from having an emotional breakdown, and to get him to give us some peace. He was persistant and it was only 20 bucks each so either way we would see something, or have a story. After agreeing this little con artist told us after "you will want to kiss me after, or buy me beer" ya right...
We got a story for sure, we ended up spending 4 hours on a bike tour with a lackluster guide who when asked about the region told us he found Yangshuo and the peaks "boring." Half way through the tour he took us to a peak called moon hill where we climbed without our guide (he was at the base chain smoking) for about 40 minutes. The enture trek we were being chased by Chinese village women with water bottles and coke for sale, yelling "lady you want water!" Half way up the peak I ripped my only pair of pants in the crotch, and got laughed at by the tout ladies whom I was trying to out maneuver. The only cool aspect of the tour was that we met a really cool Australian named Nick, who had just come from trekking in Nepal. He was of course miles ahead of us on the hike and decked out in North Face while I was in my ripped Joe's Jeans, a janky windbreaker and a Brass Plum scarf, needless to say I looked like I was dressed for a camp out in my backyard.

The bike tour was an experience and well we still had the "boat"trip up the river to look forward to. The next day we got on a mini bus with chickens and screaming babies to the Li river where we were forced onto a motorized raft made of PVC piping with a bamboo overhang, or as they say in China a "boat". It was freezing and cloudy and there were no bloody "reflections" we rode up the Li to and made a pit stop on a sandbank where people were selling crappy souvenirs. The rafts did have lifevests though, so go China water safety! Overall it was worth seeing and even though we got our first taste of being hustled it was worth the story. And from here on out we are not letting slick talking hostel workers convince us into taking ghetto tours.

After the boat trip "Ping" had the audacity to show up to our room, this time telling us he wanted us to promote the tour to two English dudes staying in the hostel, and if they book that we will get a cut of 100 yuan. what a tricky tricky lil dude. I said "I have my standards, I won't lie to my fellow traveler for under 200 yuan."