Guilin

Guilin, in Guangxi province, is a small town by Chinese standards, only 1.25 million inhabitants. The Li river, running through limestone carst mountains has inspired generations of painters. It has long been acclaimed as the most beautiful place in the world by Chinese writers. They might not have seen much of the rest of the world, nevertheless it is definitely in the running.

Monday, May 21

	We arrive from Shanghai towards evening, flying over a mystical landscape. We are met by a local guide who has chosen the English name "Jelly" because "Everybody like Jelly." She tells us about the area on the way in. She emphasizes four characteristics: green hills; clean water; limestone caves; and grotesque mountains. She also mentioned that, unlike Beijing or Shanghai, the residents maintain an easy-going pace Guilin is expecting a major ecological conference next year (a good choice since it is the first city we have visited that has clean air) and they are re-building all of the infrastructure. As part of this they took out the old bridge that was between our five-star hotel and the modern airport.
		They are building a new bridge, but until it is finished, we have to go through the narrow streets of the old city, swarming with bicycles at rush hour. Behind the new bridge you can just make out Elephant Trunk Hill, a natural bridge which is a symbol of Guilin.
		Later we meet a couple of fellow tourists and go for a walk around the block. Everybody is out enjoying the evening. Some shops are cooking dinner, others are selling fresh fruits and vegetables. It is a friendly, small village atmosphere. The only people indoors are the ones using the computers at the Internet Café.

Tuesday, May 22

	We get up and have breakfast and go to the lobby to await our tour bus. A string quartet is playing Mozart, Chopin, and Strauss.
	We take the bus up the Li river to our embarkation point where we go aboard one of the fleet of sightseeing boats waiting for the days onslaught of sightseers. The boats tie up side by side and you walk across the ones in-between to get to yours.
	As we pull away from the dock a fishing boat nudges up to the stern (where the kitchen is) and sells a couple of fresh fish to the cook. This will be part of our lunch.
	We spend the morning sailing through some of the most wonderful scenery we have ever seen. We took about 300 pictures this day (let's hear it for digital photography!) below is a selection of shots.
	As we near our destination, lunch is served.
	We tie up by a waterfall in Yangshuo and head up to the vendor's stands.
	It looks like all the pedicabs in Yangshuo have made a deal to advertise Lou's Bakery. These pedicabs can hold up to three people. Luckily for the driver, the terrain is fairly level.
	The road back to Guilin goes through fields and farms, rice paddies and hills.
	To speed things up the bus drops us off across the river from our hotel. It is quicker for us to take the footbridge and walk to the hotel than for the bus to go up to the remaining bridge and fight its way back down through the back streets. We get back in plenty of time to catch our flight back to Shanghai.

Scenery Along the Li River

Mountains

People and Livestock

Shorelines