A trip downriver in a bamboo boat

Friday 8 June

We're being proper tourists today and going on an organised coach ride to the River Li, from where we will motor gently downriver  in what is termed a "bamboo boat".  There are lots of tourists on the coach, Chinese and Western, and we have an excellent bi-lingual Chinese guide.

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It's raining quite heavily as the coach leaves our hostel, but just over 2 hours later, as we get off the coach and walk down to the river, the rain has eased, and we are engulfed by a sticky, humid heat.

A bevy of bamboo boats are ready by the river's edge; there are 4 tourists to a boat, 2 seats near the front of the boat and 2 more directly behind, rather like sitting on a bus, with a canopy roof over the seats.  The boatman sits at the rear, steering the boat.

Actually these more modern boats aren't bamboo at all, but made of plastic tubing, to look like bamboo, with cut-up car tyres around the edges to prevent damage if the boats bump each other.  We have to wear life-jackets, though the boatman doesn't wear one.  Reg and I are lucky enough to sit in the front 2 seats, though we do swap with the couple sitting behind us when we're on the return journey.

The scenery along the river Li is spectacular, with mountainous limestone peaks creating a raw and jagged skyline. Shrouds of mist and cloud swirl around the tops of the peaks, giving a magical, mysterious atmosphere to the whole riverscape.  This, along with our visit to the Great Wall, counts as a "not-to-be missed China experience".  Like the Great Wall, you can take numerous photos, but you just can't capture what it's actually like to be there, to be part of this magnificent natural environment.  We love it.

The boat trip lasts about 1½ hours, after which we are taken for a simple lunch of noodles with a couple of bits of meat and vegetables thrown in, all in a gravy type sauce. To be honest it isn't very appetizing. We sit next to an Australian couple, Steve and Bev Spence, who turn out to be Pentecostal preachers; they explain their faith to a young Chinese woman, who sits listening intently. The 2 preachers have a wonderful simple way of explaining what Christianity means, and the young woman is genuinely interested in what they have to say. She in her turn says that in China, young people are taught at school not to believe in God.

Steve explains how he was an atheist until he received amazing healing through the prayers of others, which eventually led to him becoming a Christian. Bev, like me, became a Christian at the age of 24. Their church in Australia has a congregation of about 1,000 people! Bev is the founder and director of an organisation in India which works with children who beg at railway stations; she's visited India 32 times. This couple are an inspiration and I can't help feeling that the Lord flung us all together at that lunch table!

After lunch we visit a simple Chinese country home; I am surprised that the family cook over a wood fire. The home is extremely basic. I feel uncomfortable that we, a large group of tourists, have “invaded” this family's home, but the guide says the family don't mind (no doubt they receive some remuneration for their trouble).

Local fishermen fish using real bamboo boats (which we see being made in the village). They also use trained cormorants to catch the fish – each cormorant catches up to 50 kilograms of fish a day. The cormorants necks are ringed to prevent them swallowing the fish – this may seem cruel to us, but it's a way of life for these Chinese villagers. We are able to take photos of the cormorants on the boats, but couldn't actually watch the fishing as the river water is too high apparently.

The village women also wash their clothes in the river; I watch a woman wring out the family wash in what seemed to me to be a very mud-coloured river.

Later we visit what is called a “minority” village, called Shangri-la, a very pretty spot where ethnic minority Chinese people are dressed in traditional costume, and practise traditional crafts, the end products of which are for sale. There is music, singing and dancing and a short boat trip. Reg and I enjoy this visit up to a point, but it is all extremely touristy and set-up to create an experience for us.

Back at the hostel we have a Chinese meal, I post the blog for the previous day and read my new novel on my kindle; we need relaxation and an early night after our long day out.