China Day 8

Ahh, refreshed and rested we’re ready for the 8th day of our trip. Today is October 1st and it is the National Holiday in China. Everybody gets this day off and most get the whole following week off to (it’s known as Golden Week). This is the time that the Chinese do a lot of traveling so it is particularly busy here in Guilin since it’s popular with the Chinese. To celebrate the holiday, we headed out to catch a river cruise down the Li River to soak in some of the natural beauty of the area and take some (hopefully!) great photos. The cruise started at 9:30 and took us on a leisurely journey through some of the most stunning scenery. Giant hills shrouded in the morning haze grew out of the gentle landscape and cast a prehistoric feel to the whole area.

Water buffalo swimming in the river.

There is an ancient Chinese poet from the Tang Dynasty who once wrote about the Li River…


The river winds like a blue silk ribbon,
While the hills erect like green jade hairpins.

As a part of the cruise we were served lunch of which the most fascinating part was watching them make it. As we were in a line of cruise boats on the river, we had a front row view of the kitchen of the boat in front.

Yes, that’s open air. And the dishwashing area was like this…




Cannon and I quickly decided that we weren’t so hungry for lunch.

The other interesting part about lunch was the “special orders”. You see the standard lunch was a buffet, but you could also order off a special menu that included local specialties like river shrimp, crabs, snails and fish. The boat captain then called in the order to the local fishermen who pulled up to the side of the boat and passed over the requested catch. Did you catch that part about the “calling in” – yes, they had cell phones! So not only in the middle of nowhere do they get a signal, but these dirt poor fishermen have cell phones. I’m quickly realizing this is a very Chinese thing.

So after a float down the river, we ended up in Yangshuo, a smaller town down river by 30 odd kilometers. Yangshuo’s thing is its market which is very touristy, but also very interesting. They actually had some really nice things so we ended up doing quite a bit of souvenir shopping. I found in the back of one shop some pairs of Chinese binding shoes all hand sewn and beautifully ornate. The lady assured me they were from the Ching dynasty which means they could be from anywhere between 99 and 366 years old! I’m not sure about that, but they do seem pretty authentic to me! We also bought this incredible hand sewn picture from a shop selling products from one of the “local minorities” – the Miao people. Apparently there are quite a lot of local minorities in this area, in fact so much so that this area is considered an independent region instead of a province. Anyways, their handcrafted work was amazing, so detailed and delicate I thought they were paintings until you got up close and looked at the thread work. Each work took over a year to make and I can believe it!

Emmy with one of the Miao ladies.

So after blowing our wad of money, we headed back to the hotel for a short rest before going to a cormorant fishing show. The people of this area discovered about 1,100 years ago how to use cormorant birds to fish. They take the birds out at night on the bow of a long bamboo raft and let the birds dive into the water to fish. The trick is, the birds have their necks tied so that they can’t swallow the fish they catch (unless they’re small). So if the bird catches one too big to swallow, he hops back up on the raft and the fisherman milks the fish out of the bird’s throat. Yes, it does seem cruel. I’m sure PETA doesn’t know about this yet. The cruise was very kitschy, but still a part of the culture that was interesting to observe.

Our guide, Gary, has been very informative, as all the guides have, and we have learned a lot about Chinese culture and life. This is such a different place from the US and even from other East Asian countries that we have seen. It is socialist, but it is democratic. It is rooted in history, but growing at a rapid pace. It is not uncommon to hear the guide say something is “forbidden by the government” or that the government wants to control something. For instance, even though Hong Kong is now officially part of China (for over 10 years now), the mainland Chinese must acquire a certificate from their local police to travel there. And did you know that Hong Kong still has their own currency. I feel accepted here, for the most part, but still at times we think we have been photographed for the government, or followed by guards. One guide even told us that all mailed letters to him are opened before he receives them.