Blogs from Xingping, Guangxi, China, Asia - page 2

In a bid to escape the hordes and the hotel prices of Yangshuo, we decamped upstream to Xingping, whose own karst-surrounded stretch of the Li River is so renowned that it features on the back of the 20 yuan note. Rooms were a little less astronomically priced here, but the quality was lower and it also turned out to be an unsuitable base. Misty karst scenery in this region is a mainstay of Chinese landscape painting, and the received wisdom is that viewing the limestone peaks is best done from the water. It would be hard to overstate the popularity of this activity. Large tour boats ply the Guilin-to-Yangshuo-and-back route every couple of minutes with umpteen smaller craft (predominantly motorised bamboo rafts with seating for up to 5 people) buzzing around them. The parade of vessels ... read more