On Top of the World in Yangshuo

While we love wandering among the ancient stone houses and relics of old China, the modern world is sweeping across this land like a tsunami. A glimpse through the doorway of a villager’s home showed us that while Chairman Mao’s ‘old’ China is still revered, there is plenty of room for a modern tele and a fan...

Our friends live very comfortably amid this change and, watching them, we get glimpses of what future life in Canada or England might one day become. Nowhere is the blend of old and new more striking than at Ruyi Mountain, where cable cars and glass bridges defy both gravity and imagination and take us to a place where the earth seems to touch the sky…

A ropeway carried us 700 feet above the valley floor as the world shrank beneath us…

Then, as if the mountain itself were playing with perspective, we glided two kilometres from one summit to another, suspended between peaks in a dreamlike flight…

From the cable car, we stepped onto a suspension bridge that seemed as fragile as a woven spider's web…

…Each step was just a heartbeat above the canyon far below.
Hundreds of stone steps led us onward to the very top of Ruyi Mountain, where the horizon unfolded like a painting. Mountains rolled endlessly in every direction, and for a moment, it felt as though the world belonged entirely to us…

But the adventure had only just begun. Hundreds of stone steps led us on a trail that wound around the mountains and across bridges high above the treetops…

… until we reached a lengthy glass balcony seemingly suspended in mid-air…

Hundreds of feet above the jungle canopy, it seemed impossibly delicate, and, while some experienced fear, we all felt wonder. By the time we returned to the base by cable car, we had walked ten thousand steps.
The ingenuity required to build in such a place is staggering. The mountains’ sheer faces, the soaring bridges, the delicate glass floors, all testify to a level of skill and vision that is almost unimaginable…

China’s modern marvels extend far beyond the mountains. Super new highways stretch like wide ribbons across the countryside, more than half the cars are electric, and even the most modest models are equipped for autonomous driving. Riding in them feels like stepping into a sci-fi movie as onboard cameras read road signs and traffic lights; watch for pedestrians, animals, and even single traffic cones; and constantly update our position vis-à-vis other vehicles…

The railways are equally breathtaking. More than fifty-thousand kilometres of high-speed track weave across the country, and luxurious trains glide along at over 400 kilometres per hour. The next generation of 600 kilometre an hour maglev trains are already being tested, while the Canadian government is planning to build its first "high-speed" line where trains will travel at a paltry 200 kilometres an hour.
China is a land of contrasts, where ancient traditions brush against the future, where every step upward reminds us that the sky is not the limit, but merely the beginning and, thanks to our friends Curry and Rose, our trip to the peak of Mt. Ruyi ended with a feast.
As we shared a delicious lunch with our hosts and some new found friends in a teahouse perched atop the Giggling Tree Hotel, we looked out over this stunning vista of karst mountains stretching endlessly into the distance and talked of our magical morning when we had scaled their heights…

From the heights of modernity today, tomorrow we will take you to visit old China at Fuli Farmers’ Market