When I first came to China, I settled in Yangshou……
TAO TRAVEL PRESENTS:
China’s Karst Country (Complete Itinerary with photos available upon request)
“Life is a dance, sometimes
you lead, sometimes you follow
you don’t need to know the steps
You will learn them on The Way.”
Excursions in and around Guilin, Yangshuo, Longsheng and Minority Villages of Guang Xi province in Southwest China.
Come join us as we “dance” through this magical landscape of towering “karst” formations, caves, peaceful rivers and terraced farmlands that have inspired poets and painters for centuries.
SIDE BAR: “LET’S DANCE”—The word “trek” has always seemed a heavy, plodding term to me. Webster’s tell us that to dance is “to move in rhythm, ordinarily with music, to move lightly and gaily, to be stirred into movement, as leaves in a wind.” That is what we want to do as we are stirred to flow through this magnificent landscape. Oh, by the way, there will be some moving in rhythm to music as well.
SIDE BAR: “KARST,” Some of the most beautiful scenery in the world is found in China’s Karst country. “Karst” refers to a variety of novel landforms from towering monoliths to deep depressions in the ground to large underground caves below the surface. These are formed as ancient uplifted limestone seabeds are eroded by wind and water. Water and carbon dioxide have combined to form carbonic acid and this slight acidity of the water dissolves the abundant soluble limestone rock deposits. All features that are created when water dissolves bedrock, either underground or at the surface, are known as “karst.”
THE DANCE OF YOUR LIFE
DAY 1. We will meet you upon your arrival at the Guilin airport. After a beautiful hour and forty minute ride we arrive at our homebase, Yangshuo. Check-in to room and get settled.
DAY 2. Yangshuo. Today you will get your bearings and get acquainted with your picture postcard home for the next week or so. Yangshuo means “Bright Moon.” It is a village laid out in a garden of haunting surreal stone towers. Swirling, contorted 300-foot limestone peaks sprout around every corner and in every empty field.
Yangshuo’s Xi Jie street (West Street) connects the Li River docks to the Guilin highway and is like no other in China, more like an old European cobblestone pedestrian promenade. A true international crossroads dotted with small outdoor cafes that cater to independent foreign travelers and Chinese visitors alike.
Today we will explore the local Yangshuo Park and Green Lotus Peak (Bilian Feng) at the Mountain Water Garden as well as some of the towns markets and back alleys.
Welcoming dinner at Cafe Under the Moon
DAY 3. To Moon Hill. Today will be a full day. Up early and after breakfast we will bike to Dragon Bridge. From there we will drift down the Yulong He river through some of most magnificent scenery on earth. Five hours silently (no motors here) flowing with the river on very basic bamboo rafts. Just you, the river and the mysterious karst figures emerging from the shore.
Stopping for picnic lunch and swimming if desired—otherwise just flowing.
At drift’s end we will walk about 15 minutes to the Moon Hill Inn. This is Wendy, our guide’s place and we will be her guest. Dinner and overnight after sunset picture taking.
DAY 4. Arise to the sight from your room’s window of Moon Hill,
An enormous stone arch with an opening shaped like the moon. After breakfast we will climb Moon Hill for its breathtaking views.(or we can do a sunrise climb before breakfast)
Return to Inn for lunch—optional cave exploring before beginning our bike ride through the country to Yangshuo. In the caves you could explore the underground streams, waterfalls and swimming pools. But my opinion is, “Why go underground when the most monumental stalagmites on Earth erupt aboveground under the blue sky beside a river.”
Arrive back in Yangshuo in the afternoon
DAY 5. We will stay close to home today resting up for the next 4-5 days of extended excursions. Local bike trips to nearby villages are an option. Trips to villages like Fuli and Xingping pass through extraordinary-countryside. Fuli holds an outdoor food and crafts market every three days.
In Xingping, located in the thickest concentration of karst peaks on the Li river, you can join a cruise down that river if you haven’t had enough.
Back at home in Yangshuo for the evening we will observe the popular attraction of Cormorant Fishing. Fishing with cormorants is an ancient tradition in many parts of China—The birds are outfitted with a noose, tied around their long necks. They dive for fish, capturing them in their beaks and returning to the boat the noose preventing them from swallowing the fish. The fisherman collects the fish on his flat narrow raft as the cormorant returns to the perch on his outstretched arm—waiting to dive again on command. It is said that a good cormorant can feed an entire family.
This might be the night to try a local delicacy, “Yangshuo beer fish”—a whole fish braised in hot spicy beer sauce.
DAY 6. Leave for Longshen and the celebrated terraced rice fields of Long Ji and surrounding minority villages. The Yao people over the centuries have sculpted the most amazing terraces called, “The Dragon’s Spine Rice Terraces” on up 2000 foot mountain sides. These terraces are truly magnificent—amazing engineering feats of elegant simplicity, completely “organic”(of the place in which they reside) fully integrated with the lay of the land and flow of water. They would make any permaculturist proud.
Evening Dance performance by local Dance Troupe
Overnight: Pi’an, Countryside Inn
DAY 7. Explore terraces and nearby villages. The fields and the minority villages nestled among them are like beads on strings of green and silver ribbon wrapping around and winding up the hillsides. Walking these ribbons and visiting the industrious people that made them is a thing to remember.
Overnight Countryside Inn
DAY 8 After breakfast we will leave for Chengyang, home of one of China’s most celebrated protected National Relics, the Dong’s “Wind and Rain Covered Bridge.” Chengyang is 19 kms northest of Sanjiang City. This remote mountain valley region where Guangxi, Guizhou and Hunan provinces meet is the traditional homeland of China’s Dong national minority. Thanks in part to the remote and rugged topography of Southwest China, the Dong people inhabiting this area continue to display the richness of their cultural heritage as excellent musicians, superb architects and makers of high quality textiles. This is a land of song, the Dong are especially famous for their chorus singing. Traditionally the Dong had no written form of their language. Instead, their history and ancient legends were embedded in song. Dong festivals occur throughout the year, including the most colorful Chorus singing competition festival in……. If we are lucky we may catch up with a local chorus boning up for the competition
Overnight: Dong Village Hotel
DAY 9 Today we will a walk through the Chengyang villages at a leisurely pace and see wooden houses, drumtowers, bridges, rice fields and their ingenious waterwheels.
The Bridge of Wind and Rain (Fengyu Qiao) was built by the Dong villagers in 1916. It took 12 years and is considered the finest of the 100 wind and rain bridges still standing in China. These beautifully crafted covered bridges not only serve as meeting places where people exchange village gossip protected from the wind and rain, but as the location of religious shrines.
Overnight Dong Village Hotel
DAYS 10-11 Return to Yangshuo for a cool down period and one more hit of our homebase. You’ll have time to pick up that last minute gift and catch another local day excursion, if you wish.
Farewell Dinner or maybe just another great dinner to begin your newly extended stay.
DAY 12 – We will get you to your flight connection in Guilin and say goodbye.
APPROXIMATE LAND COSTS: $1,200
Now here’s the catch, a deal like you have never seen before. Our land cost is ALL INCLUSIVE—INCLUDES ALL COSTS, ALL TRANSFER FEES, ALL LODGING, ALL MEALS, ALL ADMISSIONS WHEN YOU ARE WITH US (like a travelling ClubMed). When you are on your own and purchasing personal items, the cost, of course, is yours. But The TAO Way is that you pay us only once.
AIRFARE; You are on your own for the airfare to and from Guilin. We can help and probably get you a fare of $800-$1,000, if you wish.
ABOUT THIS ITINERARY: This is a suggested first twelve days of an indefinite stay here. There is a lot more to do and even some flex time in the proposed itinerary above (the all-inclusive cost quoted is for this 12 day itinerary). I could compress it down to 7 days (although I wouldn’t recommend it) or expand it indefinitely. I want to meet your needs—you tell me what you want and we will arrange it. You can even add to your agenda once get here. I have done it the other (normal) way for years and I want to do something different. I am treating this as entertaining friends at home and you are a welcomed guest. Let’s give it a go.
Contact me ASAP to schedule your visit.
Taotravel@hotmail.com (website coming soon)