Friday, June 27, 2008

Our trip to Guilin part 2





On Wednesday morning we had a very rushed breakfast and checked out of the hotel in order to reach the pier for our cruise on the Li River. (We arrived just in time…) There we boarded a boat that probably seats about 50 people inside (air-conditioned) and has an upper deck from which to view the scenery. We were given tea and a bottle of water and then set off on the 3½ hour trip. The views were magnificent! We passed interesting hill formations and many small villages. We saw numerous “house-boats” moored along the riverbank and even water buffalo grazing or bathing in the water. Most people traveling on the river were on small rafts that float just above the water level. Two of these rafts even “hitched a ride” on our boat while they tried to sell souvenirs to passengers. There were frequently people scrubbing clothes along the banks as well. We saw (as we had in the bus on our way to and from Guilin) that most of the land was planted in rice with occasional corn or other vegetables. (Even steep hills were planted with some crop.) There (and in most parts of China that I have seen) we saw no tractors or other farm equipment being used. Rather we saw people working in the fields – most wearing “coolie” hats. (Keith bought one later in market of Yangshuo.) It involves hours of bending over in the full sun. The most common means of transportation appeared to be buses, bikes or a kind of 3-wheeled mini-truck, often with what looked like a lawn-mower engine mounted in front. Everything was GREEN due to the large amounts of rain in the areas.

We arrived in Yangshuo about 12:30 and walked through a small market on our way to the hotel. Yangshuo is a county of about 300,000 people. It is located in a small gorge or valley so most of the town follows one main road. Just after we checked-in to a modern, clean hotel about 15 minutes from the dock it began to rain. Once again we avoided most of the heavy downpours. We rested for a couple of hours and then set out walking to a shopping street. The temperature was above 90 degrees with nearly 100% humidity. The moment we stepped outside we felt the need for another shower… Mrs. Fan and our group did some shopping (including Keith’s hat and a few other items). The students got some practice bargaining!

At 6:30 we walked to a restaurant where we met our guide for dinner. Once again it was excellent, with a wide variety of dishes. It appears that the people of this minority region (non-Han Chinese) like sweets so we had many more sweet dishes than found in Xi’an. After dinner we attended a spectacular show on the river which was presented by over 600 “peasants” from the area. It was incredibly beautiful, though we did not understand the words. Most of the show was conducted on the kind of rafts used everyday to navigate the river. At one part of the show there must have been 500 people on floating “piers”, all with costumes that lighted up!

At the end of the show we headed back to the hotel for a good night of sleep. Unfortunately I'll have to continue this again tomorrow...so look back then for more pictures and information.

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