 Walking time: 5 to 6 hours
Food/water:
There are a few proper farmer restaurants on the trail. Since this is a popular walk, you can also find many traders (at least during tourist season) dotted along the way selling baked yam, cooked corns, water and sticky rice in bamboo leaves for less than Y2.00.
Access:
From Yangshuo bus station, catch a bus to Yangdi (Y8.00). The bus journey takes around 60 mins. For the return from Xingping, the bus (Y5.50) leaves for Yangshuo about every 15 minutes and takes only 45 mins. The last bus departs from Xingping at 19:00!!
Description:
This is a dramatic route through a winding valley along flat and gentle slopes. We went in early May when the weather was wet and the downpour was like a monsoon. It rained heavily a few times along the way, but generally only for about 10 mins.
Arriving in Yangdi, walk down to the Li River bank. You have to start the walk from across the river. Ferry tickets for the first two crossings (Yangdi and Langkuo) are sold near the riverside, now costing Y16 for the package. An alternative is to take the bamboo punt for roughly Y15 (negotiable). There are many touts offering punt rides, and if you are tired you can opt for one of these to carry you downstream (no doubt the price will go up if you look particularly tired!) - After the crossing, climb up a short and narrow muddy path, join a pretty route through the paddy field. From here on you will not see the river until the next village, Langkuo, about 45 mins away. When in Langkuo, walk up to the end of the village toward the river to board the ferry.
After the crossing, the path goes for long stretches on the walled riverbank so watch your steps!! It is nearly 3 hrs walks to the next ferry in Huashan village (Nine Horses Hill village). This is the most beautiful part of the trail. Walking along the bank you can enjoy the picturesque landscape of the Li River. There is a little island in the river with glazing grey bulls - typical scenery in Chinese paintings.
After crossing the river at Huashan (Y4), you have done 2/3 of the trail. It is another two hours' walk to reach Xingping. From Huashan, you go through a gravel road past little farmhouses, gradually getting busier as you approach the tourist metropolis of Xingping.
Instead of walking, you can take a three-wheeled truck from Huashan to Xingping for Y5. It saves your time and energy so that you can climb to Laozhai Shan 老寨山 standing next to the wharf in Xingping, and enjoy the most beautiful view of the Li River.
Xingping is beautiful and has a tourist attraction (Y16) where the scenery appears on the Chinese two yuan note.
Remember: cross the river three times by ferry boat in Yangdi, Langkuo and Huashan village and search the red mark in the intersection.
It's possible to walk from Xingping further to the Fishing village. You have to cross the river first in Xingping and then back near the fishing village. I suggest to take a boat to te fishing village, as it is the most beautiful part of Li river.
Updated by Eileen Jiun Tang in July 2006 |
