weekend trip to Xianggongshan Mountain

Surely the last two days was the best weekend ever for my friends and me. We went to Sophie's home in the country side, which was well renowned place for taking photos of the sunrise, sunset as well as lights and fishing rafts during the Photography enthusiasts. We got on the bus to Yangshuo and got off at Putao town, and then rent a van taking us to the Xianggongshan, where Sophie's home located. Her parents and elder brother is running a guesthouse, I thought the guesthouse's condition is very basic before I arrived. It turned out that it had everything that we can found in a 3 star hotel in the city. The room is equipped with warm quilts, air-condioned and beautiful view from the balcony. Attached is the photos taken from the top of the mountain.

 

On Sunday morning, we got up at 6 and start to climb Mt. Xianggongshan at 6:30AM. There are newly built steps so it is very easy to get up to the top. Many cameras were set up on the mountain top already when we arrived at 6:45AM. It was a little misty and we cannot see the sunrise yet. Some of the tourists are coming from yangshuo from 3Am by taking a raft and then climb from the other side of the mountain, there are no steps, and they took 2 hours climbing up to the mountain top. At around 7:05Am, finally we saw the sunrise and the mountains became clearer with the sunshine. Sophie told us that the best time to visit is in April and May, as there is more water in the li river. The tourists need to pay CNY10 to climb the mountain, either from the mountain top or after they back to the mountain foot.

 

Another mountain the can be seen right from my room is Hebaoshan Mountain which got its name as it looks like a pouch--- "he bao" in Chinese. It is also called pingguo mountain when we do the li river cruise as the mountain looks like an apple. Attached is the photo for Hebaoshan Mountain.