Li River Cruise
Cruising along on the Li River in China
A Cruise on the Li River and a Visit to Yangshuo
We rarely sign up for packaged tours. The idea of being tied to a group all day is not appealing to us and particularly not to me. On rare occasions, we have been on a guided day tour I often drift, and take photos and the guide has to reign me in when it is time to move on.
Di has a new description for me. When in my element I am like a dog off-leash. I follow interesting leads and although I may disappear momentarily, I always manage to find my way back.
The impressive mountain sides along the Li River
However, in Guilin, the Deluxe Li River cruise with an English-speaking guide seemed to be the best option. We made the false assumption we would be on an English tour. We were among very few English-speaking guests on the 57-passenger bus.
The first hour was on the bus to the pier and our travel guide had a lot on her mind and shared it via an extremely loud sound system. One minute in English for every ten minutes in Chinese. Spoken by 1.4 billion people, it is an interesting language but my patience was being tested due to the unnecessary high volume.
Li River Cruise selfie
We are on day two in China and we are already learning that you are rarely alone. Wherever we have been there are more people than expected. Perhaps if I had read the guidebook I would have known Guilin is a city with a population of 5 million.
Lured in by photos from the Li River I had expected something more quaint. No worries though as I laugh at myself. The mad dash to clear pier security; our guide yelling and running to catch the boat was an exhilarating experience.
The limestone mountains and karst peaks on the Li River
First things first; if you would like the better seats on the upper deck level there is a surcharge, if you would like a better lunch, there is a surcharge. We sit through another long Chinese introduction with no English this time. Again very, very loud.
I tried to escape and head outside to the outside deck but was stopped by a stern crew member with sign language. I complied. We were only 10 minutes in and did not want to get thrown off the boat.
To be fair, once the formalities were completed, it was a splendid day tour. The beautiful scenery from the upper deck was amazing. The limestone mountains and karst peaks, which are in every direction you look, are truly magnificent and river bamboo boats drift by from time to time.
We met a German couple, and an Australian/Chinese family, and had the nicest encounter with a cute six-year-old Chinese girl, her mother, and her grandfather. She sang the song from The Sound of Music, Doe a Deer, a female deer…
Di had a long exchange with her where she practiced all the English words she knew and mom and grandpa were very proud.
I gave another tourist a quick photography lesson and advised him to turn off his flash for the landscape photos and to turn his lens hood the right way. He thanked me with a big smile and looked totally pro after this tiny adjustment.
We lucked out with great weather for our Li River Cruise
A Visit to Yangshuo
After four hours on the river, we drew close to Yangshuo. Our travel guide thought we were staying in Yangshuo; so very glad Di double-checked before we docked. We took a picture of a hand-drawn map with a time and location for our bus back to Guilin.
We had three hours to kill and quickly moved away from the onslaught of vendors at the pier and found a quiet side street for a coffee and a game of Yahtzee. The bus was half an hour late and we were lucky to get seats together.
We drove through a mix of roads, most of them under construction, some two-lane, some four-lane. On the four-lane, we still had oncoming traffic from scooters and mopeds. The bus honks every 10 seconds and made a quick nap challenging.
The suburbs of Guilin look like one big work in progress and it is hard to fathom how they will ever pull it all together. A few minutes later we drive through modern development with neon lights on every building. We both agree it has been an adventurous day with many new impressions.
Travel Photography from the Li River and Yangshou
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The photos in this article are made using a Fujifilm X-Pro2. Lenses: XF 14mm f/2.8 R - XF 35mm f/1.4 R (links to my camera and lens reviews). Editing was done in Lightroom. I used Fujifilm film simulations in some of the photos.
