A cast of thousands part II

When I visited Yunnan provence we went to an amazing show with 1000's of cast members choreographed by the same director as the Beijing Olympic ceremony.  Whilst visiting Yangshou we got the opportunity so go to another by the same director. Despite the rain the show was outstanding set on water with a back drop of incredible limestone peaks. 

Yangshou - Last days in China

Yangshou, near Guilin is famous for towering limestone peaks and flat farm land. Its is also rumoured to be the place which James Cameron visited before creating Avatar, but for our family it is known as the place where my sister got engaged. 

I visited during my last weekend in China and packed everything in to a short weekend with a 12 hour sleeper bus at each end. But arriving sleepy, hungry and disoriented and waking up to this view made it all worth while. 

On our first day we walked the length of the Lee river and stopping for lunch we were presented with the above menu. We watched this old man pose for 100's of chinese tourists with his Cormorant fishing birds and watching the children play in their idyllic town- happiest children in China!

The next day we hired out bikes and went on a muddy demanded cycle ride to the dragon bridge. 

The end of the day and into the night was spend in the famous Monkey Janes roof top bar playing a classic game of chinese beer pong (who said there isn't an internationally spoken language?!)

One amazing year.

I think the pictures speak for themselves. 

What an amazing year with so many amazing people, China really is the land of opportunity. 

Tomorrow my visa ends and I will fly to Vietnam. The next chapter...

Highlights Of Yunnan

The last remaining photos of our trip to Yunnan

Yack you can pay £2 to have your photo taken on.Tourist dressed up and being photographed under the Shangri-La mountains. A wooden wishing tree. View of the mountains with pray flags. Boy in a Tibetan tourist village. Dried corn. Prayer flags. Traditional flower head band on my friend.  Tibetan prayer flags.... (again)..!  

A cast of 1000's

With the Olympics coming up in London it was pretty impressive to see this show in Yunnan choreographed by the same man who created the opening ceremony for the Beijing Olympics in 2008. The cast was made up of 100's of men and women and horse too! 

The show told the story of the people of Yunnan and their relationship with the surrounding mountains. I watched the Opening ceremony in Beijing again the other day, I really hope that London will match in creativity.

Lijiang At Night

The first few pictures were taken at a Tibetan meal that we went to, yes that is yacks milk and those are people dancing around after the meal to celebrate ...well life?!

The remaining photos are taken of Lijiang at night. Lijiang is famous for its network of water ways and canals and is not unlike Suzhou near Shanghai. The town was alive at night with restaurants and bars and people taking an evening stroll. We stayed in a hotel that over looked the whole city, framed in the morning by the misty mountains, truely stunning and the pearl of the province. 

Also it has a large KFC (thumbs up!)