Day 8 - Tuesday 10 April - Drifting down the Li River

The morning commences with a relaxing boat-ride on the Li River to travel to Yangshuo, our base for some truly exquisite countryside and riverside exploration over the next two days. The short cruise gives us some opportunity to truly appreciate the stunning natural beauty of landscape as it unfolds before us.

A day of glorious and captivating beauty beheld from the deck of a boat as we cruise along the River Li. The land formation is in such stark contrast to any that I have seen before and I can truly appreciate why so many Chinese painters receive their inspiration from these hills. The Karsts jut up from the earth forming all sorts of shapes and images which, viewed from a distance, conjure up impressions of profiles like giants faces, witches chins, enormous birds and bats, horses backs and dancing dragons. This breathtaking landscape appears almost pre-historic and you might just expect to see a brontosaurus at the water’s edge as opposed to the water buffalo grazing on the grass and abundant variety of vegetation. The boat chugged along the shallow river which weaves its way through the sheer sided “karst peaks” that in some places were a neck craning 300metres high. Small fishing villages that have existed for a 1000 years or more come and go as we meander along, drinking in the peace and harmony of our surroundings.

We lunched on the boat as we glided along.