We'd been in China for weeks, checking boxes on itineraries, fighting crowds, feeling like tourists in a theme park. Then we rented bikes in Yangshuo. No guide. No schedule. Just limestone karsts rising from rice paddies like ancient monuments, and us pedaling through villages where kids waved from doorways. The air smelled like jasmine and river water. For the first time since landing in Beijing, we weren't performing being travelers. We were just... there. Present in a place that felt both impossibly foreign and strangely familiar. I stopped taking photos halfway through. Some moments resist documentation. By sunset, we'd covered maybe 20 kilometers and discovered what we'd been missing: China isn't a destination you conquer. It's a country that reveals itself slowly, one pedal stroke at a time. 🚴‍♀️ #Travel #ChinaTravel #BikeLife