It was time for a truly authentic bamboo raft experience on the Yulong River, which is a tributary of the Li River in Yangshuo. These rafts are smaller and only take two people plus a helmsman who guides you down the river using a long bamboo pole. It was sold as a romantic tour with no engines or big ferry boats to disturb you but in China the biggest challenge is simply the number of people so it’s rare to ever have something all to yourself. That having being said it was beautiful and there was some excitement as you go over these 3-4 foot weirs on rafts that certainly haven’t been designed with that in mind. Our guide actually fell off the raft twice going over said weirs. The first time I felt sorry for him but after the second time I concluded that he just wasn’t very good.
all the rafts at the Chaoyang Dock starting point
beautiful calm water and scenery HDR
approaching the first weir
getting closer
going over the weir
and splash! (this was the point I realised having my camera out wasn't such a good idea)
one of the many floating restaurants you pass
some of the other boats having water fights with lots of screaming
looking back at other rafts going over a weir
The money shot - we are oblivious, our guide in the water & the people behind in shock
our guide fell off on this one too
bamboo forests on a narrower section of the river
getting a little crowded
Despite the crowds, restaurants and souvenir photo stations after every weir (which actually got a priceless shot of our guide falling off) it was a nice way to spend 2 hours with some more beautiful views of the Karst peaks beside the river and a little excitement going over the weirs.
We had actually hired mountain bikes to get to the Chaoyang Dock and they arrange for your bikes to be driven to the end of the cruise. They weren’t the most comfortable though, or perhaps I hadn’t been on a bike for a long time, so after riding back into town for lunch we decided to chill out that afternoon and enjoyed some Scrabble games on the deck at the hostel while sipping on some delicious honey-banana milkshakes.
Why Rory Alexander is in China 