Midnight mountain rescue in Yangshuo

Rain, rain and more rain in Guilin, flooding my hostel and washing down the dirty streets. During my busride to Yangshuo it's still pouring down, and I can't see anything other than thick white foggy clouds. However, as I arrive in Yanghsuo the weather clears a bit, and I'm hit by Yangshuo's beauty, full force. Quote me on this; Yangshuo is the most beautiful place on earth.

There you go, I've said it. Prove me wrong. I'm not joking here, Yangshuo will enchant you. It's magical, mysterious, unbelievable, crazy, extreme. If you haven't been to Yangshuo yet, start calling your travel agent, now. You will not regret it.

So after a tout picks me from the bus and drives me over to his hotel, I make myself comfortable in my room. I'm paying the same per night as in Guilin, but instead of a four share, I now have my own double bed, ensuite'd and all, so that is sweet as.

I sign up for a boattrip over the Li River, and my bus to the river leaves.. in a matter of minutes. Shite. Via a bus and on the back of a motorbike I'm the last person to be delivered to the boat, which sets off directly after I board. The scenery is nice; it's still a bit cloudy around the peaks, but at least it's not raining anymore. We anchor at a small bank in the river to be hassled by the vendors and to take some photos, and that's where I meet Niv.

Niv is a 29 year old Israelian running an import business who is travelling China mainly because of the Guangzhou Trade Convention. During the next couple of days I realize that Niv is by far the greatest traveller I've ever met. Not the places he's been to, but the way he gets amongst it, how he takes on challenges, how he isn't afraid to ask anything, his view on life and travelling.

Serious respect for this guy, I hope to be able to travel like him one day. We talk some and agree to team up the next day to hire some motors and explore the mountains around Yangshuo.

The day after we meet and proceed to find a motor. I'm going with a scooter instead, and we head out of town, in search of freedom. It's not hard to find. After a while we find a new highway being build. Still in progress, the road is not open for traffic, but with our twowheelers it's not hard to get up the ramp. Imagine a brand new road, totally empty (except for a big roadwork truck now and then), through the most magical landscape in the world. Imagine me, on a scooter. Imagine the freedom. Can you taste it? Feel it in your gut? I still can, every time I think back to that day.

Niv and I own the new Yangshuo highway. We stop whenever we like, talk with the roadside workers, take them for a ride or give them a lift to the worksite on the back of our bikes. We get off the road, visit a village where Niv practises his Chinese with the villagers. We have lunch with the locals and earn lots of smiles. Niv also earns lots of cries, as he has the miraculous gift to make every child cry just by paying attention to it. Good times.

We return in the direction of the ramp where we got on the road, but unknowingly drive straight past it. We continue on for a long time, enchanted by the landscape. We meet a Chinese farmer busy ploughing his ricefield and we have some laughs with him. He doesn't want to be photographed, but offers us the plough instead.

Wicked!! I waste no time getting of my shoes and get behind the plough. I'm ploughing away for five minutes, lightly scraping the plough over the ground. Niv's busy taking pictures and videoclips, and the farmer can't stop laughing at these funky westerners doing his work, for no money. Ploughing itself is easy enough, it's the beast that you got to learn how to control. All this is an amazing travel experience, and I'm really glad to be in a team with Niv. Without his help I'd have never discovered this spot, not would I ever plough a ricepaddy. But now I'm a chinese farmer!

After my super experience we suddenly realize we're running out of time fast to get back to Yangshuo, and luckily for us we find out that Yangshuo is on the way back, instead of the direction we're going in.

We head back as fast as we can, until Niv stops all of a sudden. Out of gas. Whoops. We decide that I should go on to Yangshuo, get to the gas station we passed on our way here and bring back some gasoline. Right on, except that I'm extremely low on fuel as well.

I'm driving for fifteen minutes when I see a tent alongside the road. I stop and ask for gasoline, desperately pointing to my scooter and tank. The roadworkers are not intrested though. They have no idea what I mean and can't be bothered. Luckily, the minivan passing does understand my problem and after failing to transfer some fuel of their tank to mine, they tell me to wait at the viaduct. Ten minutes later they're back with two half liter bottles of fuel. Legends! They refuse any money for the gas, and I'm off to Yangshuo.

Maybe it's the different fuel or the fact that I've been riding the scooter for a full day, but it won't do anything over 30km per hour. It takes me a full hour to get to the gasstation between Yangshuo and Baisha, and by this time it's seven in the evening. It's getting dark fast, and Niv is still in the mountains.

Unbelievably, the gasstation won't serve me, and sends me away. I make it to Yangshuo, fill up my tank at another station and ask them for a jerrycan to put some fuel in. No jerrycans available, but they do have a wateringcan for me. Nice. Mission: Mountain Rescue is about the go into phase two. It's almost eight when I arrive back at the ramp, and it's fully dark now. I follow the road, calling out for Niv and beeping my horn  every other second.

No sign of Niv. Just before nine I return to the spot where we last saw each other and where Niv would wait for me. No Niv. Shite. What to do? At this point I start to get worried. Niv is an experienced traveller and he can easily find a place to sleep and food in some of the villages of the main road. And having been an officer in the Israelian Armed Forces for four years, he doesn't look like the guy you'd want to mess with. But, what if? What if he got some gas from someone and hit a pile of rocks in the dark? What if he drove into one the gaps in the road and shattered his skull? What if?

I'm calling out for him and beeping all the time, and ask everyone on the way if they've seen a tall guy walking past with a motorbike on his side.

A lot of the people don't understand me, one gets out his mobile phone and calls an english speaking friend. Who offers me a Li River tour. And a hotelroom with good views. Right, thanks. By this time, it's ten at night, four hours since I've left Niv. It's pitchdark and it's now getting cold in the mountains. I've had enough of this game. Finally, I get to the ramp where I try to think of the best thing to do. Continue on for a bit, because maybe he missed the ramp again? Head back to Yangshuo, check his motorbike rental place and hostel? Return fifty minutes to the spot where we last saw each other? Try to inform the authorities? Give up, head to bed? When do you stop searching really?

And that's the point where I hear someone shouting, and revving a motor up against the ramp.

Niv. On a scooter. What?

Apparently, after waiting for a small hour, Niv figured I must've ran of gas as well, and started walking with his bike. After a while he came across some locals who sold him some gas, but not enough to return to Yangshuo. At a gasstation he bought more gas, drove to Yangshuo and alerted the rental place where I hired my scooter, knowing I would have to return there sometime. He also left a message at his rental place, turning in his motor, and lending a scooter from my place. Then he returned to the ramp, where he waited for my return.

I ought to kick his Israelian ass right then and there, but don't. Instead, we're teaming up the next day for some more exploring. Sigh, I know. This time we're making sure we have motors with working fuelmeters and extra fuel at hand.

Even better than the first day in terms of freedom, and this time it's Niv that ploughs a rice field.

Despite how I felt during my search for Niv, now I can look back at it with a smile. Those were some anxious moments, but all in all my two days motor riding with Niv in Yangshuo were two of my best days travelling so far. The scenery, company, freedom, experiences: simply amazing.