Li River photos

Part II of our trip photos comes from our rafting trip down the Li River. We booked this through our Guilin hostel and, despite a series of mishaps, it was probably one of my favorite China experiences so far. We had arranged to be picked up at 10:00 a.m. from the hostel to be bussed partly down the river to begin our rafting journey (to the "most beautiful" section of the river.) Around 9:00 a.m., though, we were told that the driver would come to get us at 9:30 instead and when he showed up at 9:20, I had to retrieve Jeff from the bathroom so that we could keep up with him. From there, we were corralled, along with 10 other people from the hostel, through a series of alleyways to a small van that took us through incredible scenery to the river. That leg of the trip was relatively uneventful, though the driver did abruptly decide to blast rave music about three-quarters of the way into it. When we got the rafts, there was some confusion about how many we were supposed to have, and it took some time for a fourth raft to be summoned (by cell phone, no less, even in the middle of a river in the middle of China.) The raft itself was comfortable, though instead of being made of bamboo, the bottom was constructed out of recycled PVC-pipes and had a small motor attached. We rode with a couple from Denmark and had a blast taking in the incredible scenery (with pictures to prove it!) The river was full of other rafts and larger tour boats, so we exchanged many a "hello" and "ni hao!" on our way along. Midway through the journey, we stopped in a tiny village for lunch, where we were treated to a feast overlooking the river. Once we got to our final stop on the river, we were corralled again through a small town and onto what felt like a large golf cart, 12 people, luggage and all, which took us to the bus stop. There, we waited for a bus, which finally pulled up, but we were beaten by a mob of people who sprinted in front of us to catch it. We were pushed on (literally) anyway, with Jeff standing in the doorway, until the driver had us all get back off and wait for another bus. Finally, though, we made it to Yangshuo, and would surely do it all again if we had the chance!

Pictures (lots of them!) here: http://hsinchina.shutterfly.com/517.