Cathy on our balcony at the Riverside Hotel in Xingping.
View from our balcony at the Riverside Hotel in Xingping.
The pork bao guy on the street in front of our hotel in Xingping was doing a brisk business at breakfast time.
Another example of the Chinese penchant for carrying heavy loads-- gourds, in this case-- in baskets hanging from their shoulders.
This breakfast spot in Longsheng served doughnuts which we dunked in hot, sweet soy milk. Everyone, including my wife, got a real kick out of seeing me sit on the kindergarten-sized stools there.
By coincidence, a funeral procession walked by the restaurant while we were chowing down on our doughnut and soy milk breakfast.
How do you know that this is not a western-style funeral? How about the thousands of firecrackers going off, for starters. (They scare off evil spirits that might cause problems with the soul's transition into the next life).
Mourners leading the coffin.
The coffin and pallbearers.
The coffin is covered in photos of the deceased.
The band playing the funeral dirge.
We took a cruise down the scenic Li River.
Typically Li River scenery: tour boats, a village, and limestone towers (so called "karst") rising up in the background.
More karst.
Even more karst!
While air pollution is a bad thing in the large, it did lend the limestone towers near the Li River a mysterious, ethereal quality.
Here comes the cormorant fisherman guy, getting ready to rendezvous with our tour boat. He trained those birds to fish for him, although unfortunately we didn't get there at the right time of day to see the birds in action.
Cormorant fisherman with his employees at either side.
Cathy with the cormorants.
Owen with the cormorants.