I'm embarrassed at how little I take advantage of traveling around Asia sometimes. I've been over here a couple of years now and have never ventured outside of Thailand. So when my friend Marshall told me he was going on a climbing trip to Yangshuo, China, I didn't hesitate for a second to invite myself.
Oddly enough, Yangshuo wasn't too much unlike the westernized version of Thailand; English speaking, pizza parlors, night clubs, all the knock-off shopping you can handle. I got about as much of a sense of Chinese culture as a tourist in Jackson gets a sense of the old west. That being said, the area is crazy beautiful. Surrounded by over 70,000 towering karsts, it's mind blowing just walking out your front door. Here is a video from the top of one of them. In addition, I'll go on record as saying the food there was as good as any I have ever had in my life. We literally didn't have a single meal that wasn't outstanding for the whole 2 weeks.
Of course, that was all just a bonus, because the real reason we came was for the climbing (video here of starting a warm up). One of my traveling companions, Josh Morris (also Pui's boss) is an avid climbing photographer. Please check out the photo album for some sweet shots.
Also I must say that my Chinese blogging efforts have been pretty weak. You can read a much more comprehensive review at my friend Marshall's blog.
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