Guilin to Yangshuo: Li River Cruise

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Today we checked out of our Guilin hotel and headed toward the Li River for our 4+ hour cruise down the Li River to Yangshuo County. The river cruise is a popular tourist activity. The cruise ship was fairly nice - spacious and not crowded, air conditioning, first level was buffet/food, second level was seats/tables, third level was deck. All the passengers were tourists, specifically non-Chinese tourists. Cherry told us the boat we took was one of the nicest. It's called Guilin No. 1 or something like that.

There were tons of cruise ships, rafts, boats on the river. Man of the other boats looked crowded, non-A/C or dirty. So if you're booking a river cruise, make sure you ask about the boat standards. Lonely Planet says that the boat cruise can cost around 500 rmb; ours was included in the tour cost.

We went up to the deck and enjoyed the first 2+ hours seeing the beautiful karst mountains along the river. There are old local houses of fisherman along the river, water buffalo, fishermen on rafts, etc. I took a zillion pictures that all look the same. The sun got pretty warm; I got a little sunburn. I even embarassed CL and whipped out my umbrella part way through. I have to admit, I was the only one with the umbrella. However, after one of the Chinese tour guides saw me doing it, she pulled out hers too.

The views were nice, peaceful, and serene. Along the way, the tour guides point out mountains that look like something or another. (i.e. A woman waiting for her husband, a Buddha, a painted horse, a cat, etc.) As Cherry said, "You have to use your imagination." I really liked the river cruise and it's so neat to get closer to the karst mountains. I highly recommend a trip down the Li River.

The buffet on the boat was edible, but nothing great. The last hour we stayed in our air-conditioned seats and I fell asleep. 😊

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Photos

Li River cruise
Karst mountain scenery

Rafter trying to sell souvenirs
A local rafter latches onto the boat to try to sell tourists stuff. Fishermen were also trying to sell their fish to people on the boat!

Li River Cruise
We were there!

Li River cruise
Lots of boats

Li River Cruise
Painted Hill of Nine Horses

Li River Cruise
Inside of our boat

Li River Cruise
In the middle is Cherry, our tour guide.

Li River Cruise
This is where the image on the 20 rmb bill comes from.

Li River Cruise
Some portions of the river are very shallow. Cherry said during late fall, the river is made deeper by digging so the boats can go through.

Li River Cruise
Ok, you get the idea - four hours of this scenery.

Comments

[Jen]

Gorgeous!
What beautiful scenery!

[Dave R]

Been There
I took the same trip down ( or up ) the Li River to Yangshou in Nov 06. Beautiful trip and tons of pictures " that all look the same "