words from the world

Starting from Zhangjiajie, the city of Luzhou is a compulsory stop when you feel like going to the magical nature of the surroundings of Guilin. Trains are overcrowded and traveling on a seat is everything but relaxing. As we get out the Luzhou train station, Guilin coaches wait for travelers. It works as well as an all-included tour. As soon as we arrive we're in a hurry to find a hostal to make up for the sleeping time.
When we wake up, we get in a local travel agency, we book a cruise on the Li river down to Yangshuo for tomorrow. We also take an option on an excursion in the terraced rice fields of Ping'an, near Longsheng. In order to avoid the inconvenience of traveling on a seat, we head to the train station to book 4 berths on the 15-august train, that is to say in 4 days. They only have 3 berths left and we buy the last ticket as a standing traveler. Traveling by train in China and at the summertime is not easy. Without talking about the disastrous welcome of the counter clerks. We end the evening in a lively district of Guilin
Early in the morning, we leave by minivan for the cruise. The excursion is separated in 3 parts : 1h by minivan, 1h30 by boat and 1h by minivan to get to Yangshuo. We have a mini-barge just for us. We settle stools on the front deck while the boat sails off the bank. A special lure in this postcard-like scenery. We just have to sit down and marvel at the scrolling banks. The green-clad mounds take part in the magical impression of the cruise. It's like an underground seething liquid had puffed up a formerly flat green land. As we follow the twists of the river, new range of parabolic-shaped peaks is revealed.
















Unfortunately during this high tourist season, the high shipping activity disturbs the serenity of the water and deprives us of looking at a superb symmetry of the sinusoidal line given by the tallest peaks.
A thick rain has got up and forces us to get in the boat and admire the scenery from inside the barge. When we finish the cruise, a rickshaw drops us off at the small bus station of a village we go to Yangshuo from.
The western street (Xi jie) and its numerous perpendicular alleyways draw a perfect stage to hang around, to relax, to do shopping and to have something to eat.
The next day, with my mother, we hire bikes for a several-hour ride in the north of Yangshuo among fields, villages and endemic mounds.







We reach the dragon bridge before heading southward to the arch-shaped moon hill. Despite the persistent mist, we look out over the plain and attentively watch how the man cleverly covered the area around the hills with fields and villages scrupulously respecting the Chinese traditions



In the evening, we take the Guilin return bus in order to prepare the Ping'an excursion we have planned for tomorrow.