Electric Biking around Yangshou

We took the local bus to the main bus station in Guilin which was quite a way south and somehow Zaine figured that taking a tout bus was better than the goverment one. Initial tout price offered was RMB 30/pax and final bargain price was RMB 15 for one person. 

Quite a long journey too around 40km to Yangshou and we made it in a good price I suppose. For me it does not really matter for the half price RMB 15 (Official Bus was RMB 30/pax) but the risk was unknown. If I were alone, this was a bad decision due to the unknown risk but I had Zaine company which effectively reduce the risk by half.

Yangshou Old Town

Lijiang River at Yangshou

Yangshou

Yangshou was stayed at a local hostel but we got a private room for RMB 35 each. I guess patnering up with Zaine really save up quite a few bucks by sharing accomodation. It helps too that he belived everyone is out to cheat him so had no issue asking for more than half the price discount everytime. 

The hostel turn out to be a great stay as the host and people staying at the hostel all had a good conversation exchange in the lobby.

First day in Yangshou, just chill and walk around the pedestrian street while figuring out the electric bike rental. We end up not bargaining for the bike which was rare for Zaine but I guess a full day rental of RMB 30 was well worth it.

Electric Bike for Rent

We went for the popular loop around Yangshou which was interesting on its own but skipped most of the attraction along the route as each one of them required a ticket. Only willing to part with RMB 20, we saw the only attraction which was the Banyan Tree including a small bamboo ride across a 20m wide still river.

Yangshou and surrounding was definately a new experience biking around China. Nowhere else in China no matter how touristy did we see something like this. Before we know it, we made the whole loop going almost 70km. 

Tianlai Butterfly Spring Spot

Darongshu Scenic Area 

Banyan Tree - Yangshou

The rental shop told us it was a 40km loop but I guess we kept venturing off the loop and with many U-Turns we actually cloacked 70km. The electric bikes maxed out at 40km/hr and battery only drop to half after using the whole day.

The second night in Yangshou we got home cooked meal from the hostel reception. The guy was a good cook and invited us for dinner. I tried to pay but he would not accept it and more or less treated the whole hostel guess to dinner. 

Scooting Around Yangshou on a Electric Bike

Longtan Village 

There was a girl that could speak a little english which had worked in Africa for a year once upon a time. She was just travelling around china for now, a retired old man which was also travelling for fun, a tik tocker young man of 20 which was bycycling around China and surviving by doing soooo many tik tok stream that he had nearly 10k followers. 

They say its nothing in China to have 10k followers ... its peanuts, but he earns barely enaugh to be a proper digital nomad which in my opinion a great pay which allow travel forever.

Traveled on: Dec 2023