I published a blog post out of order. Sorry. If you have paid any attention to this at all and are slightly confused then the correct order to read the last few posts is:
- A little fish banged its head. “Dam” it said.
- Chasing a golden dragon in the Wu gorge
- What is worth two birds in a bush?
- Water buffalo and a spectacular show on water (This one)
In the morning we left the river boat and took the bullet train to Guilin. Standard procedure. Queues. Passport. Crowds. Luggage. More queues. Small seats. Five hours later we arrived at a rather nice hotel that faced onto a large lake. Guilin is one of China’s most popular tourist destinations. A famous Chinese saying about the landscape of Guilin is “Guilin’s scenery is the best in the world.” It is certainly quite interesting and picturesque. The topography of the area is marked by karst formations. Triassic period limestone and dolomite rocks. What this means is lots and lots of small, steep sided hills.
Once we had dragged our luggage into the hotel, we all went off for a walk around the lake. It was nice to be able to stretch my legs after the long time in the bullet train. By Chinese standards, Guilin is a small city with just 3 million inhabitants. While we were there this population was bolstered by plenty of tourists. Some of them, the prettier female tourists, often hire traditional dresses. They then sit by the lake to be photographed.
At the far side of the lake are two pagodas known as the sun and the moon temples. One of them sits on land, the other is in the water and looks inaccessible. We went inside the land pagoda, down some stairs, along an underwater tunnel to the sun pagoda and then up a lift. Eventually, after some narrow steps, we emerged at the top of the water pagoda to take in the views.
The Li River, running 83 km from Guilin to Yangshuo, is one of the city’s most celebrated natural features. Known for its emerald water and limestone peaks, the river section is a highly concentrated example of karst terrain. It is also a highly concentrated tourist area where we turned up the next day for a short cruise. This was billed a leisurely river cruise which, superficially sounded quite pleasant. Of course, I had forgotten the Chinese angle.
We queued to get onto one of a dozen or more boats that were all leaving at the same time. The boat was packed inside but fortunately, for me, there were very few people on the open top deck. After some jostling between cruise boats, we all set off – a great convoy of boats all heading in the same direction. In all, along the riverbank, I estimated there were about 200 river boats like the one we were on. All pretty much identical and being run by the same company. Each boat carrying 100 passengers.
The scenery was enjoyable. Ducks and geese by the waters edge. A few people fishing. The occasional heron. At the start of the trip, the riverbanks were empty. Then we started seeing a few people and by the halfway point there were people everywhere. It also became apparent that there were two other types of watercraft. An electric boat that looked a little like a raft and could carry a dozen people. And a smaller boat that was styled on a bamboo raft although it was clearly made of plastic pipes. Just the three types of boat. No variety. Possibly all owned by the same state run company. But very popular. As we pressed on, more and more boats appeared. More people appeared on the riverside. Buildings could be seen through the trees.
I spotted some people, mostly girls, with cormorants. They had a pole with a bird on each end and were striking a pose for the photographer. Later, I worked out that the cormorants were stuffed. I never worked out why the girls wanted to be photographed with birds on a pole.
There were some water buffalo. It was hot so they, very sensibly, were in the water. Seemed very happy swimming along and would occasionally put their entire head under water. We came across more people in costumes being photographed. There were picnics and games by the waters edge. There were more houses and then suddenly there was a quayside. We tied up and all clambered off. It had been an interesting trip although I don’t think I have ever seen a natural beauty spot with so many crowds of people.
We had arrived at Yangshuo and we were going to stay here a couple of days. Our bags had been sent by truck and would be waiting for us at the hotel. This meant that from the docks we could walk to our hotel. An interesting route that took us straight through the town.
In the evening we went to a show. The Sanjie Liu Night Show, an open-air show which is directed by Zhang Yimou, the creator of the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony. We arrived at a quite enormous amphitheatre which, of course, was jam packed full of people. The show was performed on the lake in front of us. Powerful lights illuminated some of the surrounding hills. Boats were used to move the performers around and some enormous speakers on an island carried the music for miles. It was a spectacle. I don’t think there was a story, just a sort of theme about working people. Lots of loud music and colourful lighting. It all ended with many colourfully dressed people singing while patriotically waving Chinese flags.
