A Trip to Guilin, China + Weekly Wrap

I went on another China adventure to the land of karst mountains and had so much fun! We hiked, we rafted, we explored, we ate and we laughed.

My membership with the American Women's Association offers me the opportunity to do many things including take trips around Asia. I've been to Kaiping, Harbin, and now Guilin where the famous karst mountains are located.

The morning that we took the bamboo raft ride was rainy and overcast, but it didn't dampen the fun at all. Our rafts were authentic bamboo with the driver using a bamboo pole to push us down the river (we would later see larger rafts with motorboat engines attached and be grateful that we had a genuine experience).

The views from our bamboo raft were absolutely stunning! The karst mountain peaks loomed all around us and the countryside was so peaceful.

We did have a few exciting moments as the rafts dropped over terraces. The first one was a little scary but then after that it was just fun.



We pushed our hiking trip to the next day and it was worth the wait. The hike began with a moderate climb to Xianggongshan where we had amazing views of the Li River and the karst mountains.

The rest of the trail took us through beautiful countryside including right through mandarin plantations. The employees were very friendly as we passed by and our guide gave us each a mandarin orange.

At the bottom of the mountainside our hike continued along the Lijang River to Xingping old town. 

The shore was lined with cormorant fishing boats. The cormorants are tied to the rafts and sent into the water to retrieve fish. We didn't see actual fishing, but the locals were more than ready to pose for photos, for a small fee. (I found this photo on Trip Advisor)

I signed up for this trip because I wanted to see the karst mountains and because we would hiking and bamboo rating down the Yulong River. I like sightseeing, but I like adventure sightseeing even more. It was exactly what I hoped.

And now I'm catching up on blogging. Here's the rest of my workouts for the week:
Monday - Trip prep - lots of walking!
Tuesday - travel to Guilin
Wednesday - Bamboo rafting and sightseeing
Thursday - 7.3km hike and travel back to Hong Kong 
Friday - REST
Saturday - 3 mile run
Sunday - Walk around the neighborhood

I’m linking up with Holly and Wendy for the Weekly Wrap!