On the day we arrived in Yangshuo - the most touristy place in China - every single hotel proprietor relished telling us that the next week was the most touristy week of the whole year in China. First of May is Labor Day and that's a big thing in a communist country. A few years ago the government decided to boost Chinese tourism by extending Labor Day into a week-long holiday. And when you've got the largest population in the world, the majority of who are not able to leave the country, domestic tourism is huge. It's quite interesting when you hit these incredibly touristy spots loaded with kitchy souvenier stalls, cheap hotels and touts galore - but as white foreigners are totally ignored! It's all geared towards domestic travellers in their huge groups pushing hard through doorways with matching bright yellow baseball caps and following a screeching-voiced woman waving a little yellow flag. Well almost totally ignored, apart from the universal chorus of "Helloooooo!"
Where was I? Oh yeah, so from Sunday 1 May every hotel room in town was booked-rock solid and prices for everything quadrupled (at least). The local hoteliers and restauranteurs cover a years worth of costs in this week and the rest of the year kick back and enjoy the profit. We took the hint and booked a train outta there for Saturday night, but in the meantime decided to go and check out these rice paddy terraces for a couple of days. But that's for another post. I just wanted to put up this photo of the peaks around town from when I hiked up the nearest hill before dawn on our last day in town
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