Everybody has a water buffalo

They say that Guilin is prettiest in the rain (Midnight in Paris, anyone?). Well it really is. We went on a three and a half hour river boat ride today, and I have to say that the Li River is the most beautiful place I have ever been to. The combination of the hills and the mist and the water is unbeatable in my book. We made friends with a Dutch couple sitting across from us, so we passed the time taking pictures, talking with them, and eating. At lunch time, there was a buffet with a dozen different dishes, all cooked homestyle in two woks at the back of the boat. It was the best meal we've had so far, and it's too bad I forgot to take a picture of it. So brace yourselves, here come my favorites of the 100 plus photos I took on the river:

Tonight we went to a restaurant in Yangshuo (where we're staying for the next two nights) that was a five minute walk from the hotel. Snails are a popular local food here, so I wanted to give them a try. Surprisingly, they were really good! Kind of tasted like sausage. We also got a tofu dish and green beans. Our whole meal cost less than $12. Yeah I can live with that.

and boy did the restaurant have a view

After dinner, we went to see an outdoor show called "Imitations," directed by the man who organized the Olympics opening ceremony performance in Beijing in 2008. Our guide didn't tell us much about it, so we didn't know what to expect. It was incredible (yes, today was a pretty awesome day). First of all, the show has 600 actors. Only a few of those actors are professionals; most are local people from villages who work their farms during the day, and come to perform in the show at night. The "stage" is the Li River, and the backdrop is mountains like those we saw on the boat ride today. Many of the performers stood and paddled boats; sometimes they had torches, and during one act they together pulled large ribbons across the river. It was a full house tonight, 3000 people in the crowd! It's kind of difficult to describe the show (kind of a you had to be there type of thing) but check out the pictures below to get an idea:

The view of the "stage" from our seats. Yes, those are real mountains in the background

Performers standing on boats, pulling ribbons across the river

Last act of the show, their costumes lit up!

Ok, now onto the real highlight of the day, and the title of this post...while on the river boat ride, we saw water buffalo. Soooo cool. I had never seen a water buffalo before, but let me assure you they're my new favorite animal. If any of you reading this want to get me one, my birthday isn't until May, but Christmas works too and is basically right around the corner. I mean, everybody has a water buffalo, right?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltG37Bbx1qk