Waterways

After a mere 22.5 hours, we arrived in Guilin. Our aptly named Oasis Inn rejuvenated us with such comforts as fresh air, food, and toilets.
We took a night walk by the lake, admiring the gaudy lighting of pagodas, trees and just about everything else one can string some LED's on or shine a multi-colored light at that seems to be an epidemic across China.
The following day, we were thoroughly disappointed to find that each and every landmark and famous site citywide was fenced off and charging admission fees. We refused to pay them, instead admiring what we could at a distance, (where the view wasn't blocked by carefully placed bamboo) and forging our own path through the city. Our wanderings led us to a rickety wooden bridge, spanning a dry riverbed, where we witnessed a man actually ride his motor-scooter across, despite the wobbly thing being hardly fit for walking; even the other Chinese pointed and snapped pictures in disbelief. After passing some chickens amidst bamboo, we found ourselves alongside the river proper, and, somehow, got onto an almost island, cut off and hidden by tall grasses from the city's sight. Here we stumbled upon a group of Chinese youths, who, for their sake, I hoped were doing something illegal.
That evening, after a cruise, we went to the ballet. Now, to be clear, I don't have anything against ballet, I happen to find the art quite moving and the physicality very impressive, but I still wanted to have a beer beforehand. Maybe two. The thing was, I wasn't sure if drinking in the street was legal in China--it was fine in Korea (for foreigners anyway, for locals it was considered shameful)--but, considering both the chaos on the roads, and everything else that went on in China, I figured that "anything goes", and if it didn't, I could always play the foreigner card.
The nearby police took no interest in our drinking cans of Tsingtao beer, sitting on a pair of cinderblocks in an alley beside a store where Hyangmi had bought a pack of duty-free cigarettes under the counter from a 12-year-old boy. The "Dreamlike" ballet turned out to be a combination of dance, acrobatics, and Kung-fu--the combination of tutus and swordplay proving especially satisfying.

Next day, we caught a bus South to the much smaller (and nicer) Yangshuo. There, we took a 2-hour cruise down the Li River. The scenery was fantastic. Huge karst peaks lined a narrow, meandering river, on the banks of which grew bundles of lush bamboo. Our raft drifted past cormorant fisherman and grazing water buffalo. At one point, Hyangmi shrieked, and I turned to see why: a man carrying a python from the river, the fat snake draped around his neck, like a scarf.
This brief cruise would prove to be one of the highlights of our time in China.

Yangshuo held other treasures. Biking through he countryside the following day--along the Wulong river--we arrived at a "Water Cave". After boating in, we were treated to an array of impressive rock formations, mud pool, and natural hot spring chamber. Laying in our rock baths, looking up at the cavern ceiling 50 meters above us, and listening to the gentle cascade of spring water, it was hard to say we had not chosen wisely.
That night we walked the neon-lit streets, scored some 5Y (75 cent) coffee & beer, and, after talking with a friendly Israeli couple, turned in.