The Beautiful Li River Cruise

March 2, 2017 Paul Groves




Day 57 of 111. The Li River, China

We were up early to pack our bags, have breakfast, and board the bus for our trip down a portion of the beautiful Li River. This region of China is somewhat rural and known for its natural beauty. The rock formations are limestone and have tall, craggy mounds covered with green. On the banks, we saw bamboo and evergreen trees. We also saw cows and water buffaloes used to work the land. The boat had several sitting rooms. Our tour took up one of the rooms. We had tables and benches where we could sip tea, but most of us spent our time on the back or top deck looking at the scenery. The weather was very pleasant ranging from cool to comfortably warm.

On the front of all of the Chinese paper money is an image of Chairman Mao. On the backside, however, are various images from around China. The back of the 20 Yuen note has a view from the Li River. It is called the “20 Yuen View”. Our guide had her wedding photos taken with that view in the background. We shared the boat with many Chinese tourists and we were all vying for spots to take pictures of the scenery and selfies with our friends. Fun.

The layers of hills was my favorite part of the scenery, but the views along the shore were also spectacular from time to time.

We got off the boat just after the 20 Yuen view and boarded a ferry to a small coastal town for a little shopping time and then a bus ride to the airport. We got back on the ship in Hong Kong.