Dragon Bridge

Today we picked up our rental bikes and headed to Kelly’s restaurant in town to eat a hearty Western breakfast before we hopped on our bikes for the 16-25KM bike ride out to Dragon’s Bridge. The first part of our ride was very much the same as our ride out to Moon Hill; we entered new territory as we wove our way through the rice paddies, guesthouses, villages, and bamboo selling posts that dominate the land between the mountains and along the riverside.

It is gorgeous countryside, winding dirt roads and tiny paths darting between flooded rice paddies and small villages with your errant dog lounging along the road and a sky with sunshine to spare.

While we had good directions, there was a strong possibility of getting lost (particularly since so many of the roads are dirt) – we stopped in a park to get our bearings when we noticed – The Red Motorcycle Man. Ulises thought that TRMM was as cop, someone there to make sure that lost Westerners like us don’t get taken (either literally or figuratively), I thought that TRMM was up to more nefarious activities – or at the very least trying to sell us something.

TRMM rode his motorcycle in front of us for miles, waiting for us at stops to make sure we went the right way, helping us avoid hawkers, and in general being very helpful – who is this guy and why is he so nice?

Ah the truth will come to light though. As the tired, sweaty and cranky peddlers (that is Ulises and I) reach yet another turn, which they believe will bring them to Dragon Bridge – what do you know – it actually does. This is when TRMM reveals his true motivations. He owns a bamboo boat and wants us to take a ride. – imagine that. Since we knew that the near 25 KM ride was going to take the piss and vinegar out of us, we were planning on taking a boat ride back anyway, so after Ulises negotiated a reasonable price, and we drank two ice cold green tea’s we hopped on the bamboo boat and set sail (so to speak).




This ride we were on the Yulong River, perhaps the most vibrant and beautiful of the rivers we have seen so far in China. The bamboo ride took us over small waterfalls. Past small boys jumping into the river, women doing their washing, bamboo parties near peoples homes on the river, and around floating bottles (which I first thought were trash, but are actually bobbers used by the fishermen to hold their nets in the water).

We floated our way down the river, to about half the distance we had pedaled, bid farewell to our guide and headed back out by bike. By now it was late afternoon, and the heat was intolerable –particularly since we had been relaxing for nearly an hour and a half on the bamboo ride. We pedaled for quite a while, but stopped when we crossed a Dutch guest house near the main road – and popped in to have a couple of milk shakes and an ice cold bottle of water.



We hopped back on our bikes and made our way back to Yangshuo on rubbery legs and empty bellies, but with a wonderful adventure behind us. After a quick shower, we had mass quantities of Chinese Food at the hotel restaurant and watched the illegal copy of Zodiac – prepping for the next day’s adventure in Guilin, and our flight to Shanghai.