Guilin and Yangshou

Relaxing in Luang Praphang, Laos catching up on the blog after 3 weeks in China.  What a great decision to come to Guilin and China!  China is booming.  It just exudes vibrancy.  

The scenery around Guilin is breathtaking.  On our first day we took a walk around Elephant Hill Park.

Elephant Hill Park

 

Cormorant Fishing

 

Dressing up for holiday snaps

In the evening we took the Two Rivers, Four Lakes boat cruise.  The entire waterfront has been made into wonderful walking parks and lit up in the evening making for a spectacular cruise.  The Chinese do parks very well.

Guilin at night

 

Pagodas in Guilin

    The next day we went to the country side to the Longji rice terraces.

Longi Rice Terrace

Cultivating the steep terraces

The next day was a raft trip on a 'bamboo' (read poly pipe) raft down the Li River to Yangshou.  Stunning sights and the iconic beautiful scenery is on the 20 yuan note.

While in Yangshou we rented a bicycle and rode around country side.  Fantastic to be able to have our own transport and stop wherever we wanted, but a bit crazy in 35 degree heat.  By the end of the 4 hour ride Eileen was looking decidedly like a beet root.

Eileen by the Li River 

Bob on the bike

The lovely thing about China is that there are Chinese tourists, unlike Indochina where the majority of tourists are Westerners with a few Malaysians and Chinese.  Here in China, the majority of tourists are Chinese and Westerners are very few.  So we are seeing the sights the Chinese go to and can afford to go to.