Guilin and Yangshou

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Tuesday

On any bucket list of must-do sightseeing in China, a cruise on the Li River must be in there somewhere. We boarded our boat after breakfast and spent 4 hours cruising through steep-sided gorges, admiring the stunning scenery on a sweltering day (30C). At the most scenic part we were joined by a flotilla of small bamboo rafts, carrying mainly Chinese tourists.

In the evening we went to see Impression by Sanjie Liu, who directed the Opening Ceremony at Beijing 2008. This was an Extravaganza with lights, music, singing, a cast of 500 and audience of 2,000 . The show was set on a large lake, with 100+ boats and a number of floating pontoons. The sheer size of the performance was stunning and technical implementation was spot on.

Wednesday

A rare lie in saw us bounce down to breakfast at 8am!! In 1962 everyone in China was allocated 300m² of farmland. We spent a couple of hours in the morning being shown around such farmland - it's quite remarkable that this system has not been replaced by large-scale farming.

We had a real treat in the evening. We all boarded a rather flimsy raft and sailed parallel to a 'Cormorant Fisherman' - an ancient skill involving the trained birds catching fish for the old fisherman. Even the photo-opportunity at the end where some of us had our photos taken with the old fisherman wasn't too tacky

Thursday

Firstly we drove to Guilin (2 hours) along a pot-holed B road. The approach here is to drive on any free part of the carriageway, irrespective of on-coming traffic, and to play chicken when swerving out of the way. Wild horses wouldn't induce me to drive on these roads!! First port of call, to calm our nerves, was the South China Pearl Company - many of the ladies (incl. Kate) took advantage of the retail therapy potential. Next we visited the Flute Reed Caves - mind blowing. I've never done illuminated caves before - I was staggered by the enormity and the colours. With a couple to hours to kill before our flight, we chilled at a delightful park/lake in Guilin - it was midnight when we checked in at Hangzhou. This trip is full-on!!

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