the li river

for the past few days we've been relaxing in the smaller city (pop 400,000) of yangshuo, just an hour south of guilin. the limestone peaks and landscapes are absolutely stunning and david and i have enjoyed exploring the countryside and small surrounding villages. we managed to charter a small private boat with a young chinese couple and enjoyed a 2 hour cruise down the li river. the cruise went from the village of yangdi to the village of xingping - through the famous river scene that is depicted on the backside of the 20 yuan bill. we were happy the couple was kind enough to point out the tidbit of info as we made way past the karst formations. pretty cool. to make things even better, it was the warmest day we've had in china yet. woo hoo - no thermal underwear! - alina