Day 183: Li River
We left our hotel at 5AM and got to the airport 3 hours before our flight to Guilin. This might seem excessively early to some, but when we saw the MASSIVE lines at security we realized we would barely make it through before our boarding time. We watched Chinese travelers with suspicion, as they tried to casually wander to the front of our line, “pretending to look at something” before edging their way in – nice try! We, of course, accidentally chose the worst line – which was actually three lines merging into one. By the time we realized our mistake, it was too late to start over and we just tried to take pleasure in denying anyone behind us the ability to cut by swinging our backpack back and forth.
When we got to the baggage x-ray and metal detector, Igor could barely keep his temper as the security agents ran his bag through the x-ray three times, and dropped his telephoto lens in the bin after inspecting it. We were confused as to why Chinese airport security bothers to have us walk through metal detectors, as everyone is also patted down by an agent with a hand-held metal detector. Up until now, we have always been patted down by agents of our own gender, but today Igor got a very thorough pat down from a female agent, who seemed to think he had explosives hidden in his underwear!
We were finally cleared to go, and we rushed off to the Executive Lounge where we stuffed ourselves with as many cookies and crackers as we could in the 15min before our flight began to board.
Once we arrived in Guilin, we caught a taxi to the Yangdi boat jetty on the Li River where we planned to catch a one-way bamboo raft to the “ancient” village of Xingping. Unfortunately, our timing was off and we reached the ticket office just as they closed for their hour and a half lunch break. Igor remained in the line, however, and viciously defended his spot when cutters tried to edge in front of him when the ticket agents reappeared. Since each boat fits four people, we were prepared to fork over double the cost, but luckily a Chinese tour guide waved us over and paired us with a French couple. We scored the front seats on the boat (#1 – yeah!) and finally had a chance to kick back, relax, and enjoy the beautiful scenery.
Gathering strength for our final travel leg in mainland China – we load up on packaged snacks at the lounge in Chengdu and power through the ticket line for our bamboo raft ride down the Li River
A couple of boots on a faux-bamboo raft, motoring past majestic karst mountains surrounding the Li River
The Li River flows past a towering karst mountain
Even though there are hundreds of PVC “bamboo” rafts at the dock, the traffic along the river is pretty dispersed, and we enjoy a serene 1.5hr voyage from Yangdi to Xingping
The scenic landscape of the Guangxi Province, China
Cruising down the Li River
Our boat drops us off at a quay a few kilometers outside the Xingping “ancient” city, where a few hawkers stand by with trained cormorants for tourist photos. We bypass the birds and continue on to the city, ready for an afternoon hike
After dropping off our bags at our hostel, we tried to follow their hand-written directions for the nearby fishing village, but after two hours wandering around the farmhouses and orchards outside the town, we were forced to acknowledge we had gone the wrong way, and gave up for the day. We headed back to the hostel for showers and a good dinner – we’ll try again tomorrow!
Following a dirt path out of town looking for the Fishing Village, we get horribly lost amid the tiny farms and give up
Pomelo groves surround the Xingping village
View of the Li River from our hostel window
Staying in a hostel?!? Yes! And *Igor* booked it this time! This Old Place Hostel is awesome – the staff is fluent in English and have a wealth of printed information about activities in the area, prices and schedules for buses, and even help fellow guests advertise they are looking for more people to share the cost of a tour. When dinnertime rolls around, we head downstairs to play cards and order some pizza from their wood-fired oven