Li River Cruise Through China's Karst Mountains
Li River Cruise Through China's Karst Mountains
One of the most interesting trips you can take in China is to start at the city of Guilin in Guanxi Autonomous Region (province) and take a river cruise down the Li River to Yangshuo through the Karst Mountains. These are the types of mountains that you see in many paintings of Chinese scenery, standing very upright and vertical. It takes more than half a day, so a fish and seafood buffet is provided at lunch time, but for the many universal tastes that exist, it consists of both Chinese and western dishes. The atmosphere is somewhat misty, if not outright polluted, but there is usually sufficient visibility.
The buffet lunch was served with fish that was fresh, having been taken from the river, and there were small shrimp fried in their shells but the shells were so soft they did not have to be peeled. I did pull the heads, tails and legs off, though. We (okay, this was before I found my wife, and I did have a guest with me) sat across from a couple from Europe who ordered special dishes that cost considerably extra, but they ended up hardly eating any of it. Unfortunately they remained at the table because if they had left we would have eaten their food too. I always did get hungry on a boat.
As you cruise down the river, you can look to your right and see many backpackers travelling the riverside trail. The cruise ends at Yangshuo, a town frequented by many westerners, so many that the main street is called West Street, having souvenir shops and various types of restaurants. At the end are a couple of photos taken in the general area of Yangshuo, one of the mountains in the distance and the other of an unusual shaped mountain that has a hole through the top resembling a half moon, and is in fact called Moon Hill.
I had arranged this trip through a tour company, buying the best trip they offered, so we were to have first class accommodations. They gave us a small room that had a window that overlooked another wing of the hotel about 10 feet away. I went and complained to the manager and told them I would tell the tour company about the crappy room they gave us when we had paid for the best. They capitulated and gave us a suite that had a huge picture window overlooking the mountains. Advice dont let yourself be cheated. Speak up and threaten.
Down at the river there were fishermen on rafts that had cormorants on leashes with rings on their necks so when they caught the fish they would not swallow them, and as well there was a hill that was shaped like an elephant with its trunk down into the water as if it were drinking. It had the original name of Elephant Hill. From there my guest and I headed by bus down to Lizhou, which is another story.
1 The cruise starts in this general area of Guilin. It being early morning it was fairly dark.
2 The cruise ships return up-river usually empty as it takes longer and the engines have to work harder and are noisier.
3 Ours was one of the biggest of the cruise ships, passing others.
4 Looking to either side of the river, little more than hills and mountains are to be seen. 
5 I think this one was a house boat.
6 Starting to look more like Karst mountains.
7 Other cruise ships seen astern.
8 More cruise ships, and more mountains.
9 Try mountain climbing the side of THIS one.
10 Looking more like the ones in Chinese paintings.
11 Disembark and go directly to West Street in Yangshou; meet with lots of other foreigners. 
12 On the side trip to Moon Hill, many misty mountain views are seen.
13 Moon Hill.
Hope you enjoyed the show.
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