Day Eleven

We spent almost our entire day in Guilin on a cruise of the Li river. The Li river is one of the most famous sights in all of China. If you have ever seen a picture of China that featured tall misty rock formations, then you've likely seen a picture of the Li river. In fact, the Li river is so famous that it's picture is featured on the Chinese 20 Yuan bill!

We cruised down the river for nearly five hours, traveling almost 60 kilometers. While there isn't too much to write about, this entry will be rather picture heavy - so I can share the beauty of the river with you. It was truly incredible to see such an amazing sight. Thousands of giant spiraling rock formations surrounded the river for miles, creating beautiful and astounding sights at every turn.

Just look at the size of the boats in the picture below to get a glimpse of how truly massive these rock formations are. Can't see the boats? You probably have to click the image to get a decent look at them.The views are truly so spectacular that our guide, who told us that he has traveled the river countless times, said the he never gets tired of touring the river and he himself was still taking pictures. The massive rock formation to the right was one of his personal favorite's to take pictures of. Not only was the cruise itself incredible, but the food on the boat was quite interesting. I, for example, had some rather interesting deep fried crabs for lunch. I learned that, if cooked properly, you can eat entire crabs whole without even removing their shells. Don't believe me? Check out this picture!

After our boat finally landed, in a small nondescript town on the Li river, we were greeted by an old man who, for a small price, let us take pictures with his cormorants! Once we had let the boat we also browsed a local market, but at a temperature of nearly 100 degrees Fahrenheit we couldn't spend much time outside before we had to depart. Our last stop for the afternoon was the Guilin College of Art, where we saw many beautiful paintings by local artisans and art students (most paintings were of scenes from the Li river). After a tiring day on the river, we decided to grab dinner and get some rest - tomorrow we travel to Xian - home of the Terracotta warriors!