Li River cruise and Yangshuo June 25th, Day 5

We had to delay a day in posting because our last venue was pretty remote and we did not even have a phone in the room, let alone internet access. We have had the most incredible time since we signed off last in Guilin. We took the boat cruise down the picturesque Li River to Yanhgshuo. Amazing scenery and sights. Our boat was filled with a large Italian tour group, and a few Spainiards and Germans too. It was a bit odd hearing so much Italian on a boat in the middle of China. Along the Li River we viewed the unusually shaped beautiful mountains, fisherman on their bamboo rafts, water buffalo grazing at the side or in the water and very lush vegatation. Our lunch was cooked at the back of the boat. Beside beer and soda, we were offered snake wine which we both declined.

Upon arrival in Yangshuo, we had to navigate all of the shops catering to tourists along West Street until we met our driver to take us about 15 minutes out of the town to the Yangshuo Mountain Retreat. It was a terrific setting with a river and mountains viewed from our room. We did river rafting on the bamboo boat which was very relaxing. We had a very quick rain prior to our boat ride, and we could distant thunder while rafting but it did not hamper our enjoyment. Later we had dinner at the retreat whcih included ginger beef, braised pumpkin (yes they eat pumpkin here), vegetable spring rolls and curry chicken rice. Melanie realized that a guest at another table was South African, especially when he said "100 percent". Sure enough not only was he from SA, but he was from her hometown of Port Elizabeth. Small world indeed.

Finally we went to the famous Yangshuo show called Impression which was directed by Zhang Yimou who is doing the opening/closing ceremonies for the Beijing Olympics. Unfortunately no pictures can describe this amazing show. The outdoor arena seats 3,500 overlooking the river and twelve mountain peaks which are all used in the show through the display of lights. The cast includes hundreds of local people dressed in their respective native outfits. Of course we could not understand the Chinese singing, but since our guide had given us information on some of the ethnic groups we were able to understand the show better. There were some brief periods of rain, but overall we were extremely fortunate that the weather held up.

To view more pics, click on this http://www.flickr.com/photos/7322989@N05/sets/72157600507065902/