Li River and Yangshuo
Trip Start
Jul 08, 2008
1
19
25
Trip End
Aug 15, 2008
Yangshuo,
Guangxi Zhuang,
China
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Li River
After the disappointments of the city of Guilin, it was refreshing to see that the Li River actually lived up to reputation. The scenery was breathtaking. It was raining when the cruise started, and the mountains were shrowded in mist. As the rain lifted, the gray and green cliffs seemed to light up in the sun.
I met some interesting people on the boat. There was a group of young workers from a fireworks company that is apparently the biggest supplier to the US and also got the contract for the Olympics. I sat next to an interesting middle-aged man from the northeast, not fare from Beijing. It felt GREAT to speak with a northern accent again. I'd been having a hard time in the south. He talked about the importance of learning other cultures and travelling, hoping that someday he and/or his son would have the chance to study in America.
Yangshuo looked interesting. It was another backpacking destination, sort of like Dali or Lijiang but much more mainstream Chinese. The food was much better than Guilin (beer fish!) although with the same crap bottles of LiQuan on the side. It might've been a nice place to stay for a while and launch on some kayaking trips or something. As it was, we spent a couple hours shopping and eating before busing back to Guilin to catch the bus to Hanoi, sort of.
