Gail and John's travels: Guilin

After a week in Hong Kong, Guilin is two hours by plane away and is in the middle of some of China's best karst and river scenery. The nearby Longji Rice Terraces are spectauclar and worth a visit as well. We spent 4 nights in this area before flying on to Xi'an and the Terracotta Army.

After night in a hotel in Guilin, we checked out and were on our way for a trip on the Li River through the magnificent karsts. A pity the sky was blown out by pollaze (pollution, haze) and as a result the photos were not up to my standard but there is nothing you can do about that!

One of many locals selling to the tourist boats on the river.

Setting off downstream on the Li River

Li River

Spectacular limestone country

Lunch being prepared on a boat we passed.

Recent rockfall

Leaving the river, after lunch on the boat, we headed for an early check-in at our hotel, The Moondance near Yang Shuo. To get there we crossed a causeway which was dry, but later in the day there was water flowing over it. There is a small hydro-electric scheme nearby.

The causeway to the Moondance

After checking in at the hotel is was time to take to some bikes for a liesurely cycle through the surrounding countryside.

The river near the hotel.

Rice paddies

After dinner back at the hotel we set off to Yang Shuo for an hour or so on the river to see how the locals go fishing. Each fisherman has around 6 comorants which are tied onto a pole at the start. The birds also have a tie around their neck. Ths is to allow them to feed on small fish but prevents them from swallowing larger ones.

Fishing comorant

Once the birds surface after chasing fish the small rope on their leg is hooked and the bird unceremoniously hauled aboard and made to cough up the catch. We didn't see too many large fish caught that night though.

The cormorant fisherman

After the comorant fishing trip we then went to the light show on the Li River - Impression Sanjie Liu, created by the Chinese movie director Zhang Yimou (producer of the opening ceremony, 2008 Beijing Olympics). This was an absolutely stunning show, one of the highlights of China. No photos here of the show - I respect the no photos request.

Next day saw another busy one which started off with some bamboo rafting on the Yulong River.

Bamboo rafting

Bamboo boatman

There are hundreds of bamboo rafts on the river here. This has resulted in a large number of locals finding jobs to supplement their income from their gardens and rice paddies. We certainly didn't mind contributing to the local economy.

Our boatman

Familiar faces enjoying the river

River lift

The lift here was followed by being literally tipped over the edge with the raft burying its front in the water before bouyancy took over, much to the relief of the passengers!

From the river our next stop was the village of Daxu. This is an old village on the Li River and used to be an important port before roads arrived in this area. Sadly the river traffic is now restricted to tourism in other parts as it ( the river) appears to have silted up here

Daxu in the middle of the day, siesta time?

Daxu

One thing I like about Daxu is the fact that the old part of town has not had much done to it terms of development and it is still as it was a long time ago. Restoration has been ongoing to keep things in their original state. There are lots of areas which are crumbling too.

Daxu

Artist Li Zhao at work

The artist above had some excellent monochrome paintings for sale. We commisioned him to paint one that was on his business card whilst we explored the rest of the town. He was pleased with making sales to other members of our small tour party too.