Yangshuo and Half Moon Mountain

*NOTE* I used the large and medium size for all of the pictures in this post to make it more compact, but as always you can click on any picture and it will pop up in its full HD glory! Enjoy!

After a day on the Li and Dragon rivers, my new found Eurotraveler friends sat down for a meal at an out-door restaurant in Yangshuo.  We all had tickets for the something-something Chinese Musical On Water show later than evening (it was something like Sister Liu Impression... didn't make sense in English, but it was AWESOME. seriously.)

Whilst we were eating, this little Chinese boy caught out attention a tree a couple feet away.

Here he is drinking a water bottle

Here he is pouring water on the tree...?

Here he is hung over.
:(

Aha! There was a cicada on the tree, which he gave to us and I put on my shirt.  'Twas cool, no?

Sometime after we saw the Cicada, we mosed around the touristy sections and then made our way (rather   blindly) towards the ChineseWaterMusical...thing.  

It was really cool.  Here are some videos to prove it:

Afterwards we took a cool picture.

The next day, I woke up and rented a bike by myself and rode about an ... hour(?) out to a place called Half Moon Hill.  Which I assumed was thusly named because of the appearance of the hill.  My guide book told me it was one of the tallest peaks in the area and afforded good views of the scenery, so it sounded like a good bet for my final day in Yangshuo/Guilin.

Teh Water Buffalo

The alley where my hostel was.  Not nearly as sketch as it looks.

So I rode out to Moon Hill.  Which took quite a while.  A lot longer than I was expecting it to take. But the scenery was gorgeous, even if I was melting to death.  I wore a long sleeve (light fabric) shirt... I think b/c I was afraid of getting sunburned... but pretty much anything I wore would make me sweat to death, or wearing nothing would leave me red as a ... hot tamale.  So I chose sweating.

After some second-guessing myself (as to the route), very nerve racking round-abouts with giant trucks, and stopping to ask some Chinese people for directions in my atrocious Chinese... and running into some English speakers who were helpful, AND helpful some erstwhile lost other English speakers....

I arrived a Half Moon Hill.

 

The lady in the picture above where was persuasive in getting me to buy a very expensive soda, out of a lunch box she kept them in to keep them cool.  She informed me that while hers were expensive, the ones at the top would be even more expensive. She was right.

So I locked up my bike and started the long hike up the hill... in a long sleeve shirt and flip flops.  Woof.

The Top! These girls thought I was Shuaige (handsome) so they requested a picture. I obliged of course.

Teh View

The Half Moon of halfmoonhill

Quarter Moon?

This sometime around noon.  Its about... oh, a bazillio degrees. That is not fog, or a bad camera lense, that's straight up humidity.

Y U so sideways?! :(

Sooo shuaige!

Even taller (and dangerous to climb) peak behind half moon mountain

Probs some of my favorite scenery on the way back to Yangshuo.  I guess it was a slow day for tourists cuz none of the bamboo rafts were out and about.

Panorama!

Washed out panorama for cool effect!

Teh Natural Beauty

Teh Cool Picture.

Then I pedalled the rest of the way home.  Oh yeah, I met some other girls (20 somethings?) on the side of the road selling ice cream and water and such.  I asked for directions (again in my attrocious) Chinese and I'm pretty sure they wanted my babies.  Don't blame them. ;) They were like "you'll stop by on your way back, right?!" *pleading in their eyes* I told them yes. I think I liked.  But they were super friendly and helpful :)

Once I got back to Yangshuo it was time to catch a bus back to Guilin, but that's a... long story for another post.