After visiting the creations of the powerful Qin and Ming Emperors, we flew south to the warmth and natural beauty of Guilin and Yangshuo.
Our first stop in Guilin was a visit to the beautiful stalagmite and stalagtites at the Reed Flute Cave. The cave was enormous and lit up with colored lights and signs that indicated what shapes they thought the formations liked like.
Check out the reflection of the people on the left side of this photo and their reflection in the shallow pool water. Can you see the difference in their shape from the shapes of the stalagmites and stalagtites that are reflected?
The Reed Flute Cave is so large in some areas that they sometimes use part of the cave to host wedding receptions!
After our wander through the cave, we went to the home of Lily, a Guilin tour guide, who invited us over to celebrate the New Year with her wonderful family. All the cousins, grandparents, Aunts and uncles were there. The Aunts and Uncles were all playing Mah Jong (and gambling) while the kids ate New Years treats and played games with Aliya and Asher.
Here we are sitting on Lily’s family’s sofa eating an endless supply of treats like homemade dumplings, chicken wings, fresh passionfruit juice, and chocolates.
We exchanged gifts and then Lily’s father told me about the 2 books he wrote about growing up in Beijing and his life as a young doctor.
Then all the kids went out to play a circular hop scotch game by the river before posing for this photo.
And jumping for joy!
After our New Years Celebration we drove to our Guilin Waterfall hotel, where the water rushed down the side of our room into a fountain 10 floors down.
Our next day, we set out early for our bamboo boat adventure down the Li River in Yangshuo.
This picturesque area of rocky, crumbling pitons jutting up along the long, windy Li river became famous after 1999 when a party official that was vacationing in the area decided that it was so picturesque that he wanted the jutting hills and flowing river to be featured on the back of the 20 Yuan note. Since then, hordes of Chinese tourists have been flocking to the area to ride on the motorized bamboo boats down the river.
So we hopped on our bamboo raft and snuggled up to stay warm as we putted down the Li River for 2 hours thanks to our our boat operator and the lawnmower engine attached to a rudder at the back of our raft.
Here are some of the beautiful shots of our cruise down the river:
After our boat trip, we took a little motorized cart to the town of Xingping, an old fishing village that has now become overrun with tourists, for a delicious lunch at a restaurant on the corner of one of the old narrow lanes.
Aliya was completely shocked to see this family of four all squished together on a little moped . . . . and they weren’t wearing helmets!
Next we hopped in our van for about a 45 minute drive to the home of an old woman who lives in a traditional house with no electricity or running water. So, we went to her house so that she could show the kids how she still pumps her well for water and churns the soybeans to make a soup to feed her chickens.
Asher loved helping her pump the water and churn the soybeans:
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On our way to our hotel in Yangshuo, there was a traffic accident because trucks and cars were stuck going both ways on a one lane bridge. I love this image of a truck carrying the bamboo rafts that had sailed down the river back to the top of the river to start their journey again.
After a long, fun day we arrived at our oasis hotel: the Yanshuo Mountain Retreat. The kids were so happy to find some grass to run around on and a ball to kick! While I was very happy to have a cup of afternoon tea and then lift my feet up into the hands of my foot masseuse by the banks of the river.
Check out the view from our hotel room window:
Here is a collection of photos of the amazingly tranquil hotel by the side of the Dragon River. Unlike the loud and heavily trafficked Li River, the Dragon River was narrow, and quiet with only a bamboo pole and muscles of the local guides to power the bamboo rafts down the river.
When Aliya and I were relaxing by the water, we met a wonder French family from Paris with a girl (12 years old named Eleanore) and a boy (9 years old named Alistair) who played with Aliya and Asher until we all decided to have dinner together at a table on the waters edge.
While we were eating, loud booms and bright bursts of color exploded all around us! I think we saw about 10 different fireworks displays before our hotel had their own fireworks show at 9pm.
The next morning I looked out the window to see people fishing in the water below.
After a spectacular breakfast of tasty juice, yummy eggs and pancakes, we were picked up by our driver & guide and taken to the markets of Yangshuo for our calligraphy and Chinese painting class. We learned how to paint bamboo and how to sign our names.
Then we went into the markets to buy some souvenirs.
Asher bought a magic set, while Aliya bought this beautiful flower headband which she had been admiring for a couple of days.
Of course, we had a couple of local Chinese people ask to take photos with the kids.
While some just seemed to stare at them when Aliya and Asher decided to fight in the markets.
