Again, a lot of climbing was required! While in the village, we enjoyed a fabulous lunch, including rice cooked in bamboo, and the best peppered beef!

On the way back to Guilin, we stopped at the Reed Flute Cave and Elephant Trunk Park.  

Topped it off with moon cakes to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival (Moon Festival).

Tuesday, 25 Sept: Drove south of Guilin to board a boat (really a very fancy barge) for a five-hour cruise down the Lijiang (Li) River. 

We have been told that a visit to Guilin is not complete without a Li River cruise. 

This location is the exact scene on the 20 renminbi (Chinese Yuan) note:

Disembarked at Yangshuo and checked into our hotel for a short rest. 

Later in the day we rode bicycles for about four miles

to a dock where we embarked on a 90-minute ride on a two-person bamboo raft down the Yulong River. 

We had to slide over a number of small waterfalls at little dams (no more than 2-3 feet), and at one place, these two knuckleheads were trying to ride a scooter across while carrying a long pipe or something. Right in front of us the tires slipped on the slummy rocks and they almost put the scooter in the water!

Another bike ride (six miles) through crazy Chinese traffic got us back to town. 

After dinner, we attended another fabulous show at an outdoor theatre overlooking the river. This one highlighted the unique ethnic groups of the Guangxi provence. In case you did not know, there are 56 different ethnic groups in China (one majority/55 minority). Think Bejing Olympics Opening Ceremony, on the water, with live water buffalos, and 12 mountain peaks all lit up in the background! 

Needless to say, we are staying very busy and packing a lot into this trip!!!! Thank goodness tomorrow is a travel day!