China Post #39 Guilin Li River Tour

We woke up our first day in Guilin and headed out for Guilin ni fun, or Guilin noodles.

Basically rice noodles with some meat, an egg and all sorts of sour or spicy chopped veggies to put on top of them. After breakfast we were picked up by the tour company in a van, driven a short ways and transferred to a bus. It appeared as though we were headed for the docks for the Li River cruise which is one of the "must do" activities in many of the China guide books. How ever we were on a Chinese tour and not a Westerners tour. Shortly after the road sign to the docks we pulled into a little souvenir mall on the side of the highway. OK, just get through the 20 minutes we were going to be there and get on or way, they turned the bus off which meant that we had to go in since sitting in the bus in 90 degree temperatures is not really an option. Once we got on the road we immediately made a U turn, WHAT. Then it got better, the tour guide I guess said that we could take the regular road or if everyone would pony up some money we could take the toll way and get to Yangshuo faster. Pretty much everyone wanted the toll road so we made good time to Yangshuo and headed to a temple. By now we had figured out that it was not the Li River cruise that we were on but a tour that included a short excursion on the Li River. At the temple there were Buddha's and stairs, of course. There was also a.....
And here are Dylan and GonGong looking at the fish around the other "coptive anlimals"
We drove past Moon Hill on several occasions and had lunch across the street from the trail head which just made me drool since it is one of the feature crags of Yangshuo.
We headed to the dragon cave which was interesting. You take a boat through small lake at the entrance then walk through the cave which is filled with colored lights to highlight the different stalactites and mites.
Finally we were able to get on the Li River. The boats that we took were these things made out of sewer line sized PVC pipe.
Linda and Dylan on the boat with karst peaks in the background.
I really don't know how to describe it, there are peaks everywhere. It is kind of bizarre how they seem to be never ending. Here is one with a bunch of water streaks called "Painted Hill of Nine Horses" since it is claimed that there are nine horses, I could only see a few.
Taking a boat on the Li River is really amazing and totally worth the time. Even when you are subject to the hard sell. We were taken to a shop of sorts were they seat everyone in a room and talk about their product and how good it is then bring you into the show room and try to sell you stuff, all the time the door is kept closed so that you can't leave. Anyway, it was an adventurous day that got us to Yangshuo and on the Li River even if not for as long as we had hoped.