During last week’s break from classes for Chinese New Year, Di and I travelled with our son Phillip, our daughter-in-law Michelle, and our granddaughter Zoe, to two of my favourite places in mainland China – Yangshuo and Lijiang.

Yangshuo is situated to the south of Guilin in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, and it is an area of spectacular steeply-sided hills and weird rock formations in a limestone-based landscape known as karst.  Yangshuo provided a great venue for some much-needed exercise, including cycling the 16 kilometre return journey to Moon Hill (followed by the steep climb to the top enjoy the beauty of the surrounding area), as well as a scenic if very cold trip along the river to Fuli on a bamboo raft.

One real highlight of our time in Yangshuo was attending a night-time performance of the  ‘Impressions Liu Sanjie ‘sound-and-light show.  Directed by the same person who co-ordinated the opening ceremony of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, the show involved some 600 performers recreating the fable of Liu Sanjie beside a section of the Li River, with 12 of the surrounding peaks dramatically floodlit for the occasion.  It was a great opportunity to experience many of China’s traditional folk songs within a very 21st century interpretation.

Our other destination, Lijiang, is situated to the north of Kunming in Yunnan province.  It is an area populated by a diverse mix of ethnic minority groups, the most numerous of whom are the Naxi people.  Lijiang enjoys a well-deserved UNESCO World Heritage listing, and the Old Town (Dayan) provided us with a fine glimpse into ‘old China’ with its wooden-fronted shop-houses, roofs with upturned eaves, old stone bridges, mountain-spring fed canals, cobble-stoned traffic-free streets and an impressive ensemble of traditional Ming Dynasty buildings.

Although we had planned to include a short trek through nearby Tiger Leaping Gorge, Zoe was somewhat unwell so we chose a less strenuous option of exploring the streets and laneways of the old town, including Mu’s Palace, the pagoda on Lion Hill, the gorgeous parklands

surrounding Black Dragon Lake, and my perennial favourite, sampling the food at the Sakura Café.

I have uploaded a gallery of images of Yangshuo and Lijiang from this trip which can be accessed HERE.

For family members and friends, there is a password-protected collection of family photos from the trip HERE.