As well as being an excellent tour manager, Raymond is also a keen photographer and drone flyer. He was up before dawn and took this pretty amazing shot of the town.
Sadly for me this part of the tour is falling way below what I was expecting from the itinerary. Today we were to "spend the morning exploring the countryside, stopping for a photo opportunity on the banks of the River Li and meeting a genuine cormorant fisherman.
Bamboo scaffolding.
Firstly we drove for only about 15 mins .
We passed a place called Guilin Romance Park which sounds a bit like Disneyland: Guilin Romance Park reproduces the historic culture and folk customs of Guilin. It is a destination where all ages can enjoy themselves, rain or shine. The large scale dancing performance the Romantic Show of Guilin is a must-see show and a visual feast that brings emotional shocks. The park is customer-oriented and equipped with the third fairyland tourism complex covering tens of thousands of square meters with air conditioners, the wind and rain corridor as well as five-star toilets. The magnificent statue of the singing goddess, the live version of Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival painting, the wonder street and dozens of hi-tech and children-oriented programs are all here to surprise and amuse you. Yangshuo Ancient Village enables you to experience the unique farming and community lifestyle. Dozens of performing arts shows and hi-tech shows will please you so much that you never want to leave. Give us one day and we’ll repay you with thousands of years’ experience! Probably close to my idea of hell
We then parked up and walked around an almost derelict village. China has the same problem as many countries whereby the younger generations do not want to live in old, rundown, accommodation or do the backbreaking rural tasks anymore - they want new apartments with electricity and decent plumbing and a desk job.
This is Sam our local guide (very good). On the board are the names, addresses and contact details of the local council members should you want to contact them.
And this is the local bobby.
The red banners are supposed to ward off evil spirits and bring peace and prosperity to the household.
I peaked down an alley and saw this chap and of course checked he didn't mind before I took a quick snap.
l-r Abutilon megapotamicum, Bryophyllum pinnana, Impatiens sp. The middle one is widely used in traditional medicines as a gastro protective.
Obviously there wasn't much to see in the village so we were then taken into the grounds of a rather nice hotel.
Back out on the street and these bee hives were roadside.
Whether the drinks for sale were made from honey or something else we'll never know.
Opposite was this chap sitting on his front step. So I walked over and had a "chat" and with a bit of direction got him to look straight at me for this lovely portrait.
Loving the pink bike.
We then drove on for a further 15 mins into the "real countryside" but when we got off the coach we were told we had 10 mins - some walk!!! I was so disappointed as 10 mins did not equal "spend the morning" so I just took as many photos as I could in the short time I had.
I don't think she was as displeased to see us as her face would suggest!
Egret
Long-tailed Shrike
The scenery was absolutely stunning.
Hopelessly out of focus as my shutter speed was way too slow for a moving vehicle, but I thought it really cute how she was shading him from the strong sun.
Another of Raymond's fish eye photos - he really does like to over saturate the colours though.
Next up was supposed to be another highlight for me - a cormorant fisherman. Now I know that they fish at dusk and it was the middle of the day so I wasn't going to get quite the atmospheric shots I'd seen before like this one by Olwyn Ducker.
But we drove back into the centre of town, walked down and under a road bridge with cars and modern stuff in the background and I gave up all hope when we were introduced to our fisherman who Ian immediately christened Elvis because of his sunglasses.
I eventually persuaded him to take off the sunglasses and look directly at me, but clearly taking his hand out of his jacket pocket was going too far in posing. Even the wretched birds looked the other way.
Their eyes are like jewels.
What a disappointment - I had a good moan to Raymond who said that the practice has more or less died out now and they are hard to find. So how come we passed literally dozens of flat bottomed boats with cormorants sitting on them yesterday - maybe the problem is they are now all actors and that pays better! Just take it off the itinerary if you can't do better.
Whilst waiting for the others to finish their photos I spotted this Papilo memnon agenor close by.
Our hotel was in a newly built area and a long way from anywhere interesting but after lunch some of the group wanted a massage and so whilst they were being seen to, Ian and I decided to try and find the place we'd passed when we got off the boat. We soon realised that it was a good 25 mins walk away and it was very hot, so we just wandered around the area in the immediate vicinity to see if we might find anywhere selling the shirt I'd seen. But everywhere seemed newly built, pedestrianised areas
I think we've seen this lady several times before.
If you look closing you'll see the famous golden arches
This is a better idea than padlocks, at least the weight won't cause the bridge to collapse as has been the case in some places.
I couldn't find out anything about this statue.
Or this one!
Slicing up the nougat.
Just as we were almost giving up, Ian thought he saw clothing hanging outside a shop. When we got there it was rope or something similar but, lo and behold, next door was a clothing shop and they had the very thing. The shop was run by mother and son and although none of us could converse we had a jolly little bartering session and all walked away feeling the price was right.
We then went and sat in a park opposite the hotel until it was time to rejoin the group.
Absolutely.
Back at our end of town we still had several hours to kill before dinner and so we headed back to the underground supermarket and I tried to get us some more ice. Unfortunately a different fishmonger was serving and he wasn't nearly as generous but we made do.
Last shot of the Pink Panther.
