Silk Route

Day 09 - Mon 24 Mar 08

Guilin -> Yangshuo

On the Li River, Guilin, China

Up just after 07:00 to get breakfast at the hostel, and then out to find an ATM - managed to obtain 1500Y. The tour started with a coach which shipped us down to the port (which was quite some way out of Guilin), transferred to the boat whose bow was made up to look like a giant fish. Then we cast off and headed down the river with a flotilla of other tourist boats.

The river twists and turns and slowly the Karst landscape appears before our eyes, these are small(ish) hills with very steep sides nestled right next to each other. we got lunch on board, with some ingredients are supplied by small fishing boats that chase after the tourist boats to deliver the catch.

Morning Sun Hotel

The weather today is glorious, and we arrived in Yangshuo at about 13:30 and disembark. There are many other boats dropping off so the town is mobbed. We find our chosen hotel (Morning Star), and check-in with no problems. After dumping all our stuff in the rooms we headed out for a quick look around. It appears that this place only exists to service the needs of tourists, and the vast majority of those tourists are Chinese.

Out in the evening for supper, and then back to the hotel to chill out. My room is very good with a little balcony overlooking a small stream/lake, but this is breeding ground for mosquitoes - and the bats that feed on them!