Yangshou

So arrived into Yangshou and everthing is crazy buisy.
The is "golden week" the big chinese holiday week where everthing touristy is packed and everwhere increases the prices 4 times.
The first people we met were unplesent accomadation touts.
I had been recomended an english language school which provides free accomadation and food in exchange for speaking english for 2 hours twice a week and a 1 hour speach. Well this is the sort of thing i like to do anyway, you know talking in english, so kind of a cushy deal. So with all the trains booked solid for the week this really is a great place to relax a little bit removed from the tourist mayhem but still able to enjoy the holiday nightlife and wonderfull scenery.
the landscape here is a bit inbelieveable, impossibly steep peaks stick up all over the place, there's even one with an imposible cave making a whole to the other side,
difficult to describe but beutiful.
The china hazy (fog or smog?) means skys are never fully clear, and some places are a bit over developed, but there are lots of nice cycles and walks.
The people at the school turn out to be really nice, helpfull, the food great, you get free beer while on duty speaking english. The students are really sweet and interested in the differences with "western culture".
It's amazing all the differences that you just take for granted, you can spend ages just trying to explain why people spend so much money on engagement rings or discussing whether those prot ests in tainmen sq ever happend (note: paranoid censor avoiding spelling).
Another big celibration is mid autumn day.
This is celebrated by eating outside and enjoying the full moon, the school had a nice bbq by the river bank.
So I met loads of really cool people, loads of foreign teachers and students on holidays for the week came to find other western people,
loads of chinese english students come as it's a good place to learn english.
I hung out for the week with a nice american guy, going to the bars nearly every night. Great fun.