Located at the terminus of the Li River cruise from Guilin, the small town of Yangshuo has long been a mecca for backpackers, but long before that, it was a geomancer's delight too.

 Here the vast landscape is reduced to a garden scale, nature in microcosm, where hills, mountains, oceans, and rivers are reduced to rocks, karsts, streams, and pools. Set amid an awesome cluster of limestone pinnacles -- a zigzag, serrated skyline superior even to that of Manhattan -- Yangshuo is more beautiful, less expensive, and significantly less crowded than Guilin. Some of the most impressive karst scenery in Guangxi can be found just a short bike ride outside town. With its inexpensive hostels and Western-style cafes, some foreigners have been known to stay for months, sometimes even years.

Once a sleepy little town, today's Yangshuo is being overtaken by upscale hotels, new shops and bazaars, and hordes of eager tourists. Perhaps it is no longer the unknown, quiet idyll of years past, but it remains a lovely and relaxing place to break a journey and to soak up some of China's most beautiful scenery.