July 9 – Friday on the Li River

This morning we left the cushy Sheraton and piled back on the bus to drive an hour to the Li River where the flat-bottomed riverboats are launched. Because my group has a reputation for being spoiled, averse to heat and squatty potties, and generally a bit whiney…we were upgraded to a river boat that had western toilets, air conditioning, and a buffet lunch. I would have preferred a simple bamboo raft. The scenery was stunning and my camera really didn’t capture it (though I tried – particularly the point on the river that’s featured on a 20 yuan bank note). The people of Guangxi province include many minority groups, including the Yao, which look to me a lot like Eliza. She doesn’t notice this, and I think is generally annoyed with me any time that I point such things out. We saw many fishermen and farmers along the river banks, including fishermen that fish with cormorants (they tie little nooses to their necks and let them dive to catch fish – the ‘leash’ keeps the cormorant from swallowing the fish, which seems a bit cruel to me!). Though the air is clean and the water generally is clear, rural China is definitely more poor. The street vendors are quite aggressive and we’re perpetually warned to beware of pickpockets. Rafters would actually paddle to the riverboat and attach to it with hooks like pirates - all to try to sell us fake jade and other trinkets, and walking on streets is quite tiring – I devolve from polite smiles to ‘bu xie xie’ (no thank you) to ‘bu yao’ (don’t want it) to a scowl + sunglasses. Poor Eliza is fascinated by the beggars, which makes her a sitting duck for fiscal assaults. Wei assures us that most of them are faking it…but we saw a few people with such extreme deformities that it would be impossible to fake such things.





In the afternoon, the children swam at a rather algae-infested pool outside of the Yangshuo New West Street Hotel (we traveled 44 miles down the river so we’re staying in Yangshuo for 1 night before returning to the cushy Sheraton full of Italians and pancake breakfasts).



We had dinner for the ‘Mei You Café’ (very yummy), followed by a trip to the famous Yangshuo ‘Impression Show’, which is difficult to describe. Basically several hundred members of minority groups where traditional costumes and act out a traditional folktale, using the Li River as a stage. The music was magnificent and the use of light, sound, smoke, fire, and water was beautifully choreographed (actually, the director is a famous Chinese movie director whose name escapes me…who choreographed the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics). The mountains were lit up – somehow – with beautiful colored lights and we sat outside under the stars and mosquitoes. It was particularly impressive that none of the actors were professionals – they all were farmers who also were members of various minority groups – including their water buffalo and cormorants. The children were very into it, despite the heat.