A tourist must-do: Li River cruise
Groups of lost tourists, who often don't even know their destination, who follow, without even listening too much, a guide with an umbrella that tries to escort them to places of (his) interest, and to encourage them to buy and eat in established places, are not the solution that I most aspire to when visiting a new place. The desire for independence, in the times, in the choices of places to eat, in unplanned detours, is the essential feature of every trip I make. Yet in China, often, you have to accept the compromise of participating in guided tours, because independent travel, if you do not know the local language, can be a complex and difficult matter. In the case of Guilin, the popular cruise on the River Li, which leads from the city to the village of Yangshuo and to which there are (almost) no alternatives to observe closely the karst landscape on the river, is a trap for tourists in which it is worth being caught!
Numerous, even too many, companies offer this type of activity. We have relied on our hotel to book two places for us on a cruise that sails at 9:30 in the morning. The price per person is 390 CNY, including a modest lunch on board the boat. The package includes a bus transfer from the hotel to the port of Mopanshan, lasting about half an hour. At 9:30 we set sail on one of the dozens of ferries that cross the river to bring tourists to Yangshuo. The boat has two covered rooms and two outdoor terraces from which you can admire the surrounding landscape while a recorded voice explains in English its characteristics.
This area is surprising from a landscape point of view: the boat crosses the great fluvial ribbon that crosses the space between very high karst peaks, covered by thick rainforests. The hills alternate against the sky in an infinite and majestic sequence, which from the boat can be slowly admired in all its facets.
After a 3-hour journey, we arrive at the village of Yangshuo. Although overcrowded, as boats pour hundreds of tourists into this small town every day, the agglomeration is very characteristic and pleasant for a walk of a couple of hours in the quiet back streets. A large shopping street runs through the village, where you can find all sorts of souvenirs, from tea to pearls still attached to the shell, at prices that are all too modest given the large number of tourists.
We decided to participate in the further (and not included) small excursion to the village of Shangri-la, a tiny center of wooden houses with the characteristic pagoda roofs that stands on a large and quiet stream. This village-museum, in which the inhabitants offer small shows of traditional music dressed in the historical clothes, for how much picturesque, turns out in reality a little false, and the very short excursion in boat in the waters that surround it is decidedly negligible.
The return to Guilin by bus, with a journey of about 1.5 h, can also be made staying in Yangshuo, where it is certainly pleasant to spend more time than that available before the extra trip. This costs an additional 100 CNY.
For those travelling in larger groups, however, there is a more picturesque alternative to cruising: it is in fact possible to rent a bamboo boat (although often made of plastic) with a guide and make a slower and more relaxed navigation. Moreover, being a private tour, it is possible to manage more autonomously the times and the stop-overs. For only two people, the price of these private excursions is less affordable.
This content is NOT SPONSORED, but based on my genuine personal experience. Spontaneous opinions, positive and negative, shareable or not, that I hope will help to live better travel experiences. My advice is a guide to lead you through world explorations, but the real journey, you build it!
