Where to go for your autumn adventure
Autumn travel is for colour, culture and smaller crowds – as these six destinations prove. When Britain’s summertime ebbs away to autumn,
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Guilin, in the southern Guangxi province, is regarded as one of the most beautiful parts of China and has been the subject of innumerable paintings and literary works. The surrounding countryside is reminiscent of traditional Chinese landscape painting. This appealing and quite bizarre scenery is formed by limestone karst hills jutting out of the paddy fields and around the Li River.
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The traditional practice of cormorant fishing still takes place on Guilin's celebratedb four lakes, which used to act as the city's moat system and are connected by the Li river and its tributary. The local fishermen stand on bamboo rafts lit by lanterns, and use their cormorant birds to dive into the water and catch their fish. The bird is prevented from swallowing the fish by a ring that is placed around the neck of the bird, then the bird is rewarded by the fisherman for its successful catch.
North-west of Guilin the landscape rises into hilly country. The Sanjiang and Dong ethnic groups live in this region, an area of small villages and farms that are typical of rural China. Not far from the town of Longsheng, which sits on the fast moving Rongshui river, is a landscape of extraordinary rice terraces that reach up to a string of 800-metre-high peaks. The rice terraces themselves are called Longji Titian, meaning 'Dragon's Backbone'. They have been carved out over a matter of centuries and are among the most spectacular terraces in China. Get away from the fast pace of modern life and stay overnight in a small lodge in Ping'an, a charming and peaceful village that has no cars or roads, and only stone footpaths to lead the villagers from house to house.
The Li river has its source north of Guilin in the Mao'er mountains. It flows south through Guilin and Yangshuo until it merges with the Gui river, finally reaching the Pearl river where it enters the sea at Guangzhou in southern China. The section between Guilin and Yangshuo is particularly scenic, where the river meanders through dramatic limestone karst peaks and forested hills. A cruise here is a wonderful way to see this part of rural China, sailing past terraced rice fields and picturesque villages where you may catch a glimpse of locals fishing, washing clothes or bathing their water buffaloes.
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