ALILA YANGSHUO.

Photo: Noah Agemo

Hi there,
Guess what? I suddenly felt the need for blogging. And I figured I might as well try it out in English. After all, Im going to switch very soon anyways.

Me and Noah recently went to Guilin, China on vacation and I just wanted to share a little bit about our trip with you. The journey was very long, but we were prepared for it mentally so it all went very well. We traveled by plane, train AND car to get to our destination but it was SO worth it. Thank God for that haha. South east China really got us by surprise. We've never experienced anything like it before.

We got to the hotel very late at night so we didn't see the surroundings until the next day and were instantly blown away by the beauty. The hotel rooms were located in this massive concrete building with the most brilliant architecture. I was so inspired by the way they had constructed it and how it felt like every detail had been planned out very thoughtfully. Throughout the day there was this magical shadow play around the building and you simply couldn't stop taking pictures of it haha!

The hotel we stayed at is called Alila Yangshuo and it used to be an old sugar mill. Beijing-based studio Vector architects were given the task to transform it into a beautiful resort that would have to blend in with the surrounding nature. They most certainly succeeded. The main buildings, three old brick houses that had been beautifully restored, contained the hotel lobby, a restaurant, a bar (where you could watch VM day and night haha) and a library/gallery. There was also an underground spa on the property that looked cool, but we never tried it out.

Behind the main buildings there was this incredible pool area that had been made out of the old sugar mill's dock. The scenery from the pool was spectacular with funny looking sugar top mountains surrounding the beautiful river.

We had such a good time, relaxing at the hotel and exploring Yangshuo that turned out to be the most gorgeous place we had ever seen. Due to the humidity we were constantly soaking wet and when the sun was out it got really hot. So we lay by the pool a lot, but that was also the main reason for the trip. RESTING. And of course, getting inspired as well. At the end of our vacation I felt like I'd had a LOT of both of them and we kind of missed feeling a little more dry.