As I mentioned before, there is a Chinese saying that “Guilin’s scenery is best among all under heaven.” However, there is often a second part added to that: Yangshuo’s scenery bests even Guilin’s. We got to see that scenery for ourselves today as we took a four-and-a-half-hour cruise down the Li River, the “mother river” of the Guilin/Yangshuo area.

The cruise took us down a winding 83-kilometer section of the Li River from Guilin to Yangshuo, a tiny hamlet situated in the karst hills. The scenery along the river was simply amazing, even on this foggy day. Chains upon chains of karst hills, which resemble the scales on the back of a dragon, line both sides of the river, and each time the river bends, a new formation comes into view. Many of the formations along the route are named based on what they look like, such as Yearning for Husband Rock, Guanyin Peak, and Nine Horses Painting Hill. The light fog enveloping much of the hills today added a special mysterious quality to them, and it’s easy to see why ancient Chinese people believed that mystics lived in these hills.

Just as interesting as the mountains was the scenery of daily life along the river that unfolded as we cruised downstream. The Li River isn’t just a tourist attraction, it’s also the home and lifeblood for many people who live right on its banks. We saw small farmhouses, people washing clothes right on the shores, orange growers digging on the banks for their groves, water buffaloes and home-raised ducks, and boats and shoreline stalls selling pomelos.

The most interesting sight had to be the souvenir peddlers. As I mentioned, fleecing tourists is a major industry in China these days. On the Li River, however, this is not as simple as shoving a pack of postcards in the face of a passing tourist, and the craft is taken to a whole new level. Souvenir hoarders drift on the river on narrow rafts made with four bamboo poles — just wide and long enough to hold themselves and a crate of merchandise. Pushing themselves along with long poles, they stake out certain points along the river. When a cruise ship goes by, they steer their rafts parallel to the ship, latch onto it by tying their rafts to a pole on the ship that seems to have been put there for that exact purpose, and start walking on the outter ledge of the ship while showing souvenirs to the passengers on the other side of the window. Not a single cruise ship goes by without at least a couple of these little rafts latched on to it like remoras to a shark. After a little while, these remoras break off from their “shark” and push themselves back to their original spot to wait for the next cruise ship t come through.

After coming ashore at Yangshuo, we fought our way through a chaotic pier flooded with the more conventional type of souvenir peddlers. Our tour guide had warned us beforehand to watch for pickpockets, and this was very good advice, as Courtney spotted a couple guys who definitely looked like they were eyeing the bags of passers-by. We made it through the chaos without losing anything, then walked through a long street of souvenir stalls to get to our hotel. After freshening up, we took advantage of the free afternoon to go back to that street to check out the stalls. There were a couple interesting sights:

• There were several stores called “Zhang Fei Beef”, named after the famous character from Romance of the Three Kingdoms. We checked one out and found that it was selling packs of cooked beef — not beef jerky, but snack-sized cooked beef of 20-some different flavors. As curious as I was about this, the thought of pre-packaged, unrefrigerated, cooked beef dissuaded me from giving it a try.
• There was a little bar/coffeehouse that offered a Western menu. It was kind of like a place for expats, although I can’t imagine Yangshuo having a big expat population. The thing that caught our eye was a sign on the outside saying: “We don’t serve Star Buck (sic) coffee. We serve real coffee.” With that kind of challenge, Courtney felt that she had to rise up to defend her beloved franchise’s honor and sample the coffee offered within. She got a coffee latte and proclaimed it good, but not better than Starbucks. It was definitely an interesting little place, though.
• We bought a couple of painted snuff bottles as gifts. The impressive part was that the girl at the stand wrote the names of the people who will receive these on the inside of the bottles in a matter of a couple minutes. She says that one of the small bottles takes her a couple hours to paint, while something more elaborate, such as a placard she showed us, takes days to finish.

After a relaxing afternoon, we attended a showing of “Impressions Liu Sanjie”, a show based on a popular Chinese movie from the 60s about the mountain songs that the local ethnic minority sings as part of its courting rituals. The show is directed by Zhang Yimou, and it certainly was in line with his other works in terms of scale. Set on the Li River, it utilized the river and karst hills backdrop perfectly and played heavily on interesting lighting and reflections. We got seats in the president-level boxes, which meant comfy chairs, binoculars, snacks, tea, and a thick blanket to protect us from the chilly night winds blowing in from the river. It was an entertaining end to a very relaxing day. I can definitely get used to Guilin, but alas, tomorrow is our last day in this beautiful and serene place.