At the end of the Li river trip we visited this little town of Yangshuo, which has basically developed as a tourist town, displaying and selling handicrafts. Well, it worked! I bought some things.
We saw this guy on one man's shop. He was very much alive!
We got into little carts and drove down this road into the countryside, past more fascinating sights.
Multiple artists had painted a full block of typical Chinese scenery.
We drove through this little village tucked up against mountain peaks
with a backdrop of a magnificent bamboo forest.
How come our bamboo doesn't look like this?
An old irrigation system
Working the rice fields
That night, back in town, but still along the river, we went out in another boat and watched two men fishing with their cormorants. The birds have been trained to dive into the water, catch a large fish and bring it back to the boat, where they are rewarded with a small fish or piece of a fish. They can't swallow the large fish because they have a band placed around their necks. This activity is now largely for the entertainment of tourists, because they have improved the fishing methods. Better for the fishermen maybe, but not as fascinating to watch.
They were balancing on raft boats like these, but with lights on them to attract the fish:
I'm jealous. I've always wanted to see those mountains - I think every basic geology text book has pictures of them.
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