Our final day and a half in Guilin. We have arranged to take one of the famous Li river cruises. A tour bus picked us up at the hotel and wound its way through Guilin picking up more passengers until all seats were filled, then dove another 25 km (40 min) south to the Mopanshan Passenger Wharf. Once we were filled, a lady took the microphone at the front of the bus and began a machine gun narrative. All in Chinese, of course. We were the only westerners on the bus. We assumed she was giving some narrative on the history, culture, geology etc of the Guilin area, but eventually we twigged that she was advertising things. She kept up her patter for the whole journey, gave away some free samples, sprayed stinky perfume on people, and even managed to sell some of the various items she was selling.Here is 15 seconds worth

At the wharf there were people everywhere. We were about the only westerners. Average local wage here is reported to be 75000 yuan (about AU$15000) per year but clearly some must earn more than average – the ferry cruise for a family would cost an average week’s wage or more. The cruise boats were lined up 5 or 6 deep at the wharf, and it was amazing to see them all fill up and cast off. The 9:30 sailing got about 60 boats, all holding about 100 passengers, underway within about 10 minutes.

We were on the 10:30 sailing so we waited around to the appointed time, found our boat and allocated seats and, spot on 10:30 off we went. Curiously, for most of the trip, Jill and I had the roof to ourselves, where we enjoyed the views of the passing mountains and river life. The other 98 passengers seemed to be happy indoors drinking tea. Lunch came at 12:30 on the dot (very regimented) as a prepackaged meal that turned out to be quite good, and very filling.

After 4 h on the river, the ferry left us at Yangsuo, from where we explored the local tourist trinket sellers, the West street shops and then, eventually, to the bus station where we managed to catch the correct public bus to get back to Guilin (AU$4 for the 85 km/1.5 h trip). Thankfully on this bus there was no advertising.

The bus station in Guilin was about 1.5 km from our hotel, but half way we were caught by a thunderstorm. We sheltered for a while, then found a restaurant for dinner, by which time the rain had passed.

After dark we had a look at the pagodas on the lake a few minutes from the hotel.

Next day we had the morning for sightseeing before heading to the airport, so we took a random wander along the river bank. Lots of people were out doing dancing, Tai Chi and other exercises. Down by the water, people were fishing, and a woman was doing her laundry in the river. We had fun, but the temperature and humidity were getting up so it was good to get back to the hotel for a quick shower before the noon checkout.