Misty Mountain Hop - Led Zeppelin

China Li River 098

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3-12-07 Li River Cruise

The city takes away from the scenery a bit so I decided to head south on the Li River Cruise and then spend the rest of my time in Yangshou. The river is just unbelievably scenic and the cruise, well let’s just say it is as close as I’ll ever get to being a celebrity. The boat is expensive so I took the Chinese speaking cruise to save $40. Seemed a good idea at the time. Well, imagine 100 curious PRC Chinese and one American. Yep, I was stared at, said hello to and posed with the whole time. They did everything but ask for an autograph. The first time an attractive young girl asked me to be in her photo (which took me 5 minutes to understand) I thought I was the coolest. Then some old dude asked the same and I realized I was just a freak. Oh well, at least the amazing limestone peaks just littered the banks of the river. I expected to see one here and there. We saw hundreds, all mist concealed and right out of ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’.

China Yangshou 047

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So upon arrival in Yangshou I grab a room and head back out on the River Li. And why, because nightlife in Yangshou can be described with two words, duck fishing. Yep, just like it sounds, fishing with ducks or Corocants to be proper. For 30 Yan (4 bucks) they take you out on this little boat, sitting in chairs they stole from a kindergarten, and watch this guy on a bamboo raft steal all the goods from these submarining ducks. The ducks have rope around their necks to prevent them from taking off and of course, swallowing the fish. The fisherman forces the fish out of their mouths/throats into a barrel. I’m sure the WWF (no, not wrestling the wildlife fund) isn’t thrilled but what I want to know is why on earth the ducks keep diving after the darn fish when they don’t get anything from it. Afterwards the fisherman with the big pyramid hat stands their creepily smiling holding the duck for pictures (a yan a piece) while we snap away. Weird, not as weird as the folk eating fried chicken’s feet and crabs shell-and-all on the boat here but still pretty odd.