Guilin Li River, China
Frequently Asked Questions
Unlike anywhere else: there is no conventional port berth. The day consists of cruising down the Li River by excursion boat, among hundreds of vegetation-covered karst peaks.
Four to five hours of sailing, from the upstream piers to the town of Yangshuo. The piers are about forty minutes from central Guilin, and the return is by road in roughly an hour and a half.
Near Xingping on the Li River, where the bend of the water composes exactly the scene printed on the back of the banknote. Everyone crowds onto the deck at that point, and nobody regrets it.
Bamboo groves leaning over the water, buffalo bathing, villages with grey roofs and fishermen on narrow rafts. The peaks carry picture names, like Nine Horses Hill, whose cliff face is said to show nine equine silhouettes.
Mostly as demonstrations. Practised here for generations, it survives for visitors: the bird dives, brings up its catch, and the master rewards it with a fish. It is no longer a trade but a memory.
The twin Sun and Moon pagodas beside Shanhu Lake, one gold, one silver; Elephant Trunk Hill, the city emblem; and the Reed Flute Cave to the north, shown to visitors for more than a thousand years.
West Street is lined with shops and restaurants, and the immediate surroundings suit a bike ride among rice paddies and pomelo orchards. The Yulong River, more intimate than its big sister, offers a quiet pause before the drive back.
It means forest of osmanthus. In autumn the sweet scent of these trees drifts over the whole city, set between lakes and hills. That is the best season for an evening stroll here.
From an ancient limestone seabed, uplifted and then sculpted by millions of years of rain. Water dissolved the stone, hollowed the caves and isolated the peaks. The area is UNESCO-listed as part of the South China Karst.
Quite the opposite. The mist snagging on the summits at dawn gives the landscape that ink-wash quality suspended between sky and water that Chinese painters portrayed so often. A perfectly clear sky flattens the picture.
