Day 16 - Guilin to Yangshou

After a breakfast at our hotel overlooking the Elephant Rock, we drove to the terminal to start our Li River cruise from Guilin to Yangshou. We were surprised at the number of boats moored up - they were moored up 4 deep, and there must have been around 20 boats, all medium sized; the Li River cruise is very popular with domestic tourists.

We boarded our boat and 20 minutes later we were off down the river with our guide, Boon. We were happy to see that there were maybe 50 people on the boat, so it didn’t feel crowded at all, and we had plenty of space for sightseeing and photography. And what sights! After all our city experiences in China, it was amazing to see the extraordinary peaks and scenery.

The Li Rivet was very shallow - the boat must have had a flat bottom, as we could usually see the stones and rocks on the river bed. We would definitely struggled to have sailed down it! But the shallow waters meant we could observe the local wildfowl and wildlife. Phil had a distant view of some water buffalo, and we also saw Ducks, Geese, Cormorants and other birds.

Speaking of cormorants, the Li River is famous for its traditional Cormorant Fishing, which has a history stretching back 1,000 years. The trained Cormorant perches on the fisherman’s bamboo raft whilst waiting to catch fish. The fisherman then choose a shallow section of the river, then commands the bird to dive into the water to go fishing. When the fish are caught, the cormorants don’t swallow them, but keep the fish in their mouth to return to the fisherman.

As we cruised down the river, admiring the ‘lost world’ landscape, we passed some famous landmarks - 9 horses mountain (you have to use your imagination to make out all 9 horses!) and a section of the river made famous by its use on the 20 yuan note, as the background for a bamboo fisherman.

We had a good lunch on board, which was just as well, because when we disembarked in Yangshou there was to be no break for us - we walked through the town and markets to be shuttled to our bike rental, and then we were speeding off through the idyllic countryside next to the Yulong River (speeding off = a gentle pace!).

Of course as we have found out during our trip there is always something happening no matter where you go in China; we cycled past day trippers on the river perched precariously on bamboo rafts, youngsters on the fields taking photos in traditional costume (we joined in of course), small improvised cafe stops, and locals tending to their allotments; these allotments were clearly very important - they were all in good condition, and we could see many working on rice, sweet potato, even sugar cane. Boon told us that the land had been allocated to them by the government, on the condition that the produce was for personal consumption or bartering, and could not be sold.

After a quick coffee and cake stop at The Secret Garden (a hotel in a traditional building that had been restored by a South African) it was time to return the bikes and head to our new hotel for the next 2 nights (with a view overlooking the river - very nice) to check in and freshen up before returning to Yangshou for our last experience of the day - a water based light show.

The show was absolutely stunning - it is an outdoor experience, with the audience in a 5000 seat amphitheater, and tells the story of the legend of Liu Sanjie, the ‘singing fairy’; it was directed by Zhang Yimou, who also directed the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics (thanks google!). It is set on the Li River, and the 600 performers, the mountains, the river, and the lighting combined to make for an unforgettable spectacle.Read more