China Day 8 -- Guilin Li River Cruise, Yangshuo

Guilin!

The town of beauty. The town of modernism. No joke, everything we saw in this 'burb is new, nice, pretty, or soft. Oh yeah, they have a lot of umbrellas too. No Mao hats or worker's "pajamas" seen in Guilin.

I like the street scenes, especially here. Colorful, vibrant, and youthful are the adjectives used to describe Guilin.

Today, the big event is the Li River Cruise. This is a four-hour boat ride with lunch where you cruise up the Li River. It's spectacular! We hop onto this imitation ferry boat and set off up the river.

This is the classic view of China, (not this photo as much, but in general these mountains of Guilin as seen from the Li River.)

In fact, a photo similar to this one is the picture on the local Twenty-Yuan note, about $2.60.

Like the Yangtze, there is a fair amount of traffic on the river. No barges, but lots of cool sampans, some with a chair strapped on top and "available for tours." This one is more for local living.

I hear this: "Lunch is served. Please make your way to your seat."

...and then I see this: I thought that it was a local delicacy or appetizer or something, and chomped down. How was I to know it was some kid's new pet?

Lunch on the hoof. Everyone loved seeing water buffalo in China, whether it was on the rivers or wandering through streams we passed on the bus. I think that it is because we were all looking to see "the real China" and maybe the water buffalo represented that.

Cruisin' cruisin' cruisin...

We have a nice-looking lunch, but some in our group were hesitant to eat given the less-than-clean lunchtime cooking operation. I tell all this to Lisa, but end up having a little soup and rice (somehow believing that these foods are immune from bacteria). After lunch, we are offered a glass of snake wine. Yes, that is real snake. Having had turtle milk for breakfast, skunk juice for snack, and rat brain soup for brunch, I passed up the wine.

And now, the latest (well, for more than 1,000 years) craze in China: Cormorant fishing! A traditional mode of fishing in China involves the use of cormorants to catch fish. Fishermen on bamboo rafts use strong lights suspended over the water to attract the fish. The cormorants, which are tethered with rings around the base of their necks, catch the fish and then are forced to disgorge them for the fishermen. When their work is done, the rings are removed so they can eat. The birds dive from the "fisherman's" outstretched arms and dive on command. One good cormorant can feed an entire family.

One tiny problem: The fishermen, birds, and shows are staged. Although it's cool to watch the whole procedure, and the Chinese continue to fish this way, few tourists get to see the real thing. This old guy made more money from the tourists than he did catching fish. I have no beef with the fishermen (sorry) making money, I'm just on my quest for the "real China."

Speaking of the real China, this sure looks like it, doesn't it?

The cruise ends and we head into a small town with a shopping area loved by tourists. Lisa and Candy bartered with the vendors for scarves. I felt sorry for the vendors.

After shopping, we headed to an art gallery where we got a lesson on Chinese paintings. Several in our group, as was common, bought several of the silks, paintings, and chops (jade, stone or wood carvings with your name as a stamp.)

Finally, it's dinner time and many in the group decide that it is time for American Grease. We all head for McDonalds for the best hamburger and fries! I love Chinese fare, but bring on the junk food.

The Micky D's was great! They bring out a picture menu for the Whiteys and we just pointed to the grease bombs. They have cucumber instead of lettuce, and the sauce a bit spicy, but other than that, it was the same as you would find in the USA.

After dinner, we are on our own (one of the few times) and we head out to the streets to walk around and shop. When I say shop, I mean walk around and listen to the vendors yell out, "Hallo, hallo, you want T-shirt?" I end up buying a light-weight tripod for about $9.00 and am happy.

In Guilin, we are staying at the Waterfall Hotel. The deal here is that every night, they have a waterfall that cascades over the top of the hotel and rushes down the backside of the hotel. It sounds weird, but looks pretty nice. It also draws quite a crowd of locals coming out at night with their families to watch the free water show.

Like everything in Guilin, it is spectacular and lots of fun. The water, when in full fall, rushes over the top and crashes down into a reservoir, where it is pumped back up to the top for effect.

As night falls, we wander around to Guilin lake to see the two pagodas. Like most tourists spots, this is a commonly photographed scene, but it gave me a chance to try out my new tripod.

Tomorrow, we catch a plane to Xian, the historical capital of China. Tombs, museums, and clay warriors permeate this grey, busy, industrial city, but we had no idea of the beauty that we were leaving behind. I'll miss Guilin, the city of umbrellas.