China, Day 17. Guilin: Cormorant Fishermen

Our day was mostly a travel day. We flew from Chengdu (Sichuan) to Guilin (Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region). The Guilin area is famous for its karst landforms – round green mountains of all shapes and sizes that rise from flat ground.

Joe and the kids and swam in the pool while I did a brief evening tour of the town (which is considered a small town in China of just 5 million people). 

Our first stop was to see cormorant fishermen. They go out on bamboo rafts with a few cormorants who are trained to fish for them. Each bird has a band around its neck which provides it with enough space to swallow small fish, but forces it to cough up bigger fish into its owner’s bucket.

There are two lanterns at the front of the raft to attract fish and provide the birds with light for fishing. When not free flying, the owner removes the neck bands and ties the birds to a pole by their feet. 

After watching the fishermen, we stopped by some of Guilin’s nighttime highlights – lit up pagodas and other attractions.

Tomorrow we cruise down the Li River!