fun2rv: IMPERIAL JEWELS OF CHINA

DAY 14 - Guilin and Hong Kong

The schedule for today sounded very interesting. It included the Li River cruise, lunch on board the boat, walking tour of Yangshuo village and drive to the airport. This day turned out to be one of the best on our trip. Actually, it was undoubtedly the most special day we had.

Guilin means "forest of Sweet Osmanthus" and it is named after the fragrant and small evergreen trees located throughout the city. It is located on the Li River. Sadly, we only had one night here and it certainly would be worth a return trip.

After breakfast at the wonderful buffet, we boarded our bus to head out to the Li River cruise. Once again we were fortunate to be with Viking, as we were one of the first ships to leave for the tour. It turned out to be the most beautiful scenery we saw on our trip. The river is very busy and the surrounding areas are quite populated, but it soon became evident that this river was the source of employment and food for many. This was the China we had been waiting to see! The dramatic limestone peaks were breathtaking and we took many photos. We saw our first water buffalos and also saw the cormorants that the fishermen use to catch their fish. They put a metal ring around their neck and when the cormorant catches a fish, it cannot swallow it and the fisherman takes the fish from its beak. We had special seats on this boat with access to the bow and stern so we could take photos. We also had a lovely buffet lunch on board.

Our boat waiting for us to board

Many more boats ... a real tourist area

They brought us the customary Chinese tea

Passing boat ... booking on the stern

Local boats docked by their homes along the river

Water Buffalo

Local fisherman

Snake wine anyone ....... $5 a shot .... no takers

Cormorant

Magnificent limestone peaks

More beautiful scenery

Local taxi service

Waterfall

More scenic photos

The general haze in these photos is rather annoying. We don't know how people get these gorgeous photos with clear blue sky and no haze ... must happen seldom, but is really special when it occurs. This was probably the most frustrating time for us because we had to leave our Canon 7D camera home because of luggage regulations in China. It was very painful taking photos with our "point and shoot cameras". No matter, this place was so special and unique.

When our cruise was done, we were transported to a smaller boat which took us ashore. That was an adventure as anyone with physical problems would not have made it. Once ashore we boarded our bus and drove through the town of Yangshou on our way to the airport. The driver had to stop for fuel and several of the ladies on the bus decided they needed to use the washroom. They came out laughing because they were definitely not western toilets!

Our drive to the airport was fascinating. This was the "heart" of China. 55% of the population of China are farmers and we got a small glimpse of their lives. The farms are very small. We noticed many homes under construction and obviously abandoned. The story here was that they are not abandoned, but people leave the area because they cannot get work and work as labourers in the cities. They send money back home to build their retirement homes. Generally these homes are three stories and very sparse.

As we were driving through this area, Jimmy our guide had the driver stop the bus. He wanted to show us a typical farm home. Jimmy just randomly picked a home. The bus stopped at the side of the road and we got out. There were rice fields on the right side of the road, at various stages of development. We crossed the road and walked up a paved driveway to an area with several homes grouped together. Along the driveway there were crops planted on each side. Jimmy went ahead to talk to the people living in one of the homes to see if we could visit. Can you imagine these people having 26 "Westerners" arriving unannounced at their home!!

The home was very clean but so sparse. The only electrical appliances were a rice cooker and very small and ancient fridge. The home was constructed entirely of concrete and had no furniture. Chickens could be seen from the back entrance and certainly had free range in the home. The wife was very tiny and stooped over, the result of a lifetime of working in the rice fields. Her skin was like shoe leather and she had very few teeth. Her husband was also very tiny and had few teeth. They were so honoured to have us visit and it was truly a humbling experience.

The husband came out almost immediately with tea for us, in paper cups. It was a rather awkward time for us "westerners" as we really did not know what to do. We started to leave them some money and Jimmy rounded us up to get out quick. He later told us that these people were so proud that they would have wanted to feed us. The money we left them was more than they made in a month, but also it was probably very upsetting to them. This is another one of those experiences in life that we will never forget. We did not take photos inside the home as it simply did not seem appropriate. We look back at this time and try to image what these folk's thoughts and feeling were.

Outside their home, we did get a group photo taken, thanks to their granddaughter who was there. She had a cell phone and wanted photos.