Boating Down the Li River

We flew from Urumqi back to Xi'an and then Guilin, a small (1.5M) Chinese city popular among domestic tourists. It's known for its warm climate and unique limestone rock formations (called Karst).

We arrived late and left early in a two-deck sight-seeing tourist boat bound for Yangshuou, a smaller city four hours downriver. There I am, just another tourist with a backpack. 

The boat ride took us through some of the most beautiful scenery in all of China. There were small villages visible through the trees, sunbathers and picnickers on the shore, the occasional fisherman and the occasional boat full of locals determined to hawk goods to the tourists. Those guys tried to board us like pirates.  

This stretch of river is so famous that it's featured on the 20 Yuan note. Ellen, we were told, is shown here in the exact spot on the Li, but it's a little hard to tell. 

We also got lunch on the boat, with the seafood brought alongside the boat mid-journey. Now that's fresh seafood.