Tourist Trap, Traveller Paradise

Never has "hello" sounded so insidious as during my trip to Yangshuo.

"Hello, you need bike to rent?!"

"Hello! Water, cold water?!

"Hello, DVD?!

"Hello," with a hand on my arm.

"Hello!"

The hawkers and vendors of this small mountain town in Guanxi province were everywhere. They appeared at my dinner table. They blocked my path. One old woman chased me up a mountain. I just reached for that cold, dead spot in my voice and said bu - or, in the case of the old woman, used my long legs to put her out of breath!

Even my introduction to Yangshuo was poor. Arriving before sunrise, I found myself face-to-face with a crowd of people. One flashed a Hostelling International card and said he had space available. I said "okay", went with him. As he kept taking me to small hotels, though, not hostels, I knew something was wrong. I knew I was being sold something. But I put down money on a room, anyway. Perhaps I wanted him to stop talking. Perhaps I wasn't thinking.

Worn thin and grumbling, I walked into the brightening streets and looked up. There were the mountains. They reclined above Yangshuo, green and soft and easy. They were big, too, bigger than a picture or a painting. I had to stand back and turn around to see them. The sun, finally risen high enough, kicked off the water in front of me.

I actually said it aloud: "Look at where I am."

The next few days were full of hiking and some of the most gorgeous views I've seen. Hills in Yangshuo Park saw over the stalls and vendors to the Li River. At the top of Moon Hill, I looked out over everything with students from Guangzhou.

This town deserved to be hated - "Hello!" - but the beautiful scenery saved it. I just had to get (most) of my money back from the hotel owner-cum-used car salesman and find better accommodation.

I just had to say bu, keep walking and look up.