Yangshuo: A scenic Li River town transforming into a major tourist destination

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Reflections near Yangshuo 1993. (Photo by Bruce Connolly/chinadaily.com.cn)

A day later, I was cycling back again past the giant tree to the Assembling Dragon Cave, with its underground limestone landscape. However, my main destination was directly west. Yueliang Shan, or “Moon Hill” was regularly mentioned in Yangshuo’s cafes, and locals offered to arrange visits. Seeking solitude, I went alone. The attraction was a wide, semicircular, almost 50 meter-high arch through the hill 150 meters below its summit. It is the remnant of a cave that once penetrated the limestone, most of which has been weathered or eroded away. It took roughly 30 minutes to climb the steps with an increasingly spectacular view. Beyond stretched a panoramic landscape of conical pinnacles set amidst river valleys dotted with villages and rice fields. It was an opportunity to take in some of Yangshuo’s finest scenery. One day it started off cloudy and damp, but in some ways it was fortuitous. Despite the weather I still cycled. Gliding past countless rice fields, the scene was indeed photogenic but too dull and gray for photography. While heading toward the point where the Yulong flows into the Li River, a ray of sunlight broke through the clouds, illuminating two farm workers bent over in the mud transplanting green shoots. This was a moment not to be missed, with only an instant to quickly fire off the camera in hopes such a scene could be captured in all its beauty. It was a memory among many of Yangshuo, as I wondered how many more days I could spend within this heavenly land.